Rock Chick

Chapter Eighteen Naked Gratitude

For better or worse, I followed Lee down the hall.

He knocked twice on the surveillance room door, used his fob and went in.

“It’s time,” he announced.

Vance got up and walked to a desk. Monty leaned forward and flipped some switches and some monitors came on. On the monitors, I could now see Brody working, the empty hall and a room with a bed, a toilet and a sink, a guy lying on his side on the bed. I couldn’t see much of the guy and then Vance was in my way. He had a gunbelt doubled up in one hand, he put it behind his back, opened it and strapped it on. It had the same stuff mine had, plus a real gun and cuffs.

He lifted his hand, his dark eyes locked on mine and flirty look was gone. He pointed to the door.

I walked out behind Lee, Vance followed me and closed the door.

Lee walked down to the end of the hall to the last door, the only door Lee hadn’t opened to show me what was inside.

“You know where your weapons are?” Lee asked.

I felt around my belt and nodded. I felt like Super Idiot with the belt on, not Super Cool like Vance looked. Lee wore no gunbelt, just the killer dark brown leather one holding up his faded brown cargo pants.

Lee jerked his head at Vance. Vance used a fob and a light went green.

“Follow me in,” Lee said to me, opened the door and walked in.

I did as I was told and, once I was in the room, I saw Terrible Teddy, Coxy’s goon who hit me what seemed like years ago. He turned in the bed and stood.

I sucked in air.

He had a bandage across his nose and a wicked black eye, both nose and eye were grotesquely swollen to almost Rocky-Balboa-post-Apollo-Creed-fight size.

Teddy spared me only a glance, then he turned cautious eyes to Lee.

Vance stood in the door, one hand resting on his taser.

“You’re free to go. Vance’ll escort you from the building,” Lee declared.

Teddy’s glance swung to Vance. Vance had unholstered the taser and was gesturing with it for Teddy to leave the room.

My mind was reeling. I was trying to count the days since I’d had my brief encounter with Teddy, remembering that Lee told his boys to pick him up. Had he been in this little room that long? And furthermore, how did his face get like that?

“Free to go?” Teddy asked.

“Yep,” Lee answered.

“Just like that?” Teddy went on.

No one said anything. Teddy looked at me. I didn’t say anything either. Lee told me to keep my mouth shut but even if he hadn’t, I was too shocked to speak.

“I don’t get it,” Teddy said.

“Rumor’s spreading that you talked,” Lee told him. “I don’t know how that happened.”

Lee looked at Vance, Vance shrugged.

They were playing with him.

Lee kept talking. “Coxy’s at war with me and he’s tryin’ to impress Indy. You remember Rick?” Teddy nodded slowly. “Coxy put a bullet in Rick’s brain. He fucked with Indy and hurt her. Yesterday, Coxy gave Indy Rick’s body as a present, half his head blown off. You hit her and marked her. Now you’re out. Good luck.”

“Fuck,” Teddy cursed, looking at me like I could help him out. He hit me and I was pretty sure he was a bad guy, but I had to say I felt sorry for him.

“Let’s go,” Vance put in.

Teddy turned to Lee.

“I talk, he kills me, I don’t talk, he kills me,” he said as if trying to explain.

“Life’s a bitch,” Lee replied, turned his back on Teddy, jerked his head to me and I walked out of the room, followed by Lee. Vance went into the room after we left it. I kept walking until I got to Lee’s office and he stopped me, opened the door, pushed me in and lifted his fingers, stared me in the eyes giving me a three, two, two. I nodded and he closed the door.

I locked it.

Holy shit, shit, shit.

Not five minute later, the knock came. Three, two, two.

I opened it and Lee walked in “He’s gone, time for lunch. Let’s roll.”

I waited until we were rounding the Brown Palace when I asked, “How did Terrible Teddy’s face get like that?”

“Me.”

“You hit him?”

“He touched you, you said it hurt. I found him and beat the shit out of him.”

Oh… my… God.

“Please tell me you didn’t do it in that little room,” I said quietly.

“It was before he was put in the holding room.”

At least that was something.

I was silent while Lee drove. I’d taken off the gunbelt and put it in the trunk with the one Lee took from a drawer in his desk. His was stocked like Vance’s.

Lee parallel parked the Crossfire in a choice spot in front of Las Delicias.

I loved Las Delicias, it was the best Mexican restaurant in Denver if you didn’t count El Tejado. Though, I really didn’t have to choose since El Tejado was officially in Englewood.

I was also silent while they sat us in a booth and Lee slid in beside me rather than across from me.

I turned to him, looked down at the seat then up at him.

“Let me guess, you aren’t much of a booth sharer?” he remarked.

I shook my head.

“Me either but I’m attempting to control the environment.”

I looked beyond him. He was turned toward me, his back to the restaurant.

“Wild Bill Hickock got shot with his back to the door,” I informed him.

“I’m not controlling the room, I’m going to attempt to control you.”

Uh-oh.

The waitress came and slid a basket of chips and a bowl of salsa on our table.

Neither of us had opened our menus. We didn’t need to.

Ally and I went to Las Delicias or El Tejado at least twice a month, sometimes more. Dad joined us on occasion. Hank joined us most of the time, even when he was on duty, he’d come in for a dinner break. Every once in awhile, and looking back, much more often in the last year or two, Lee came. He was with us so often, I could order for him. He’d have three chicken burritos, smothered with lettuce and cheese, a beer if it was evening, iced tea during the day.

Lee looked up at the waitress and ordered a diet pop for me, an iced tea for him, his burritos and my bean tostada and burrito chicharrone smothered with lettuce and cheese.

I guess Lee could order for me too.

He turned back to me.

“We’re here because it’s good and it’s fast. We have things to do.”

I nodded. I was still dealing with being totally freaked out so I wasn’t processing much. I was just hoping I could process my burrito and tostada or I’d be paying for a professional cleaning of the Crossfire.

Lee’s arm came behind me on the booth and he twisted fully toward me.

“First, Teddy. Bottom line is, he’s not a good guy. Hittin’ you is the least of the shit he’s done. There’s all kinds of justice, Hank delivers justice his way, I do it my way.”

Um… yikes!

“I’m in a dangerous business and I have enemies. You’re in my life now, I have to let it be known that if anyone fucks with you, there will be consequences.”

“Simple as that?” I asked, trying not to let on that he was kind of scaring me.

“Not simple as that. I didn’t like standin’ in my kitchen listenin’ to you tell me someone hurt you. It was a pleasure puttin’ my fist in Teddy’s face and feelin’ his nose break. He’s a big guy, he could have really hurt you. He’ll think twice before hitting a woman again.”

Holy crap.

“Do you have a problem with any of that?” Lee asked.

“Yes,” I answered honestly.

“Can you deal with it?”

“Yes,” I answered, again, honestly.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

That was no lie, either. I really didn’t want to talk about it. In fact, I was going to deal with it by using denial so talking about it would automatically defeat my dealing with it strategy.

Lee watched me closely, as if he was reading his special Indy Lie Detector Test and then he leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine.

Guess I passed the test.

The waitress came back with the drinks.

If there was any fairness in the world, everyone would be able to have salsa from Las Delicias. Crisp, fresh onion, just enough cilantro. After a few margaritas, Ally and I could even make a case for salsa from Las Delicias bringing peace to the Middle East.

I picked up a chip and scooped a healthy serving of salsa.

“What’s gonna happen to Teddy?”

“If he’s smart, he’ll skip town,” Lee said, scooping his own chip.

“Is he smart?”

“Not really. Coxy had two smart guys, Rick and Pete, though in the end, apparently not that smart. Rick’s dead, Pete’s in jail facing kidnapping, assault and possibly murder, two of those against a cop’s daughter. They’ll want to give him his shoelaces but they’ll do everything by the book and be thorough to make sure he gets nailed. Pete’s fucked.”

I grabbed another chip and broke it in half, the better to scoop the salsa. I didn’t have a lot of time to spare Pete, who I suspected was the guy I called Sandy. Pete had tied me to a chair and shot at me, twice. I didn’t know what Lee was talking about with regards to shoelaces but I had no problem that he was fucked.

“Who do you think has the diamonds?” I asked Lee.

“I have the diamonds.”

“What?”

Okay, I shouted it. The other diners turned to stare. But, what the fuck?

“Keep your voice down,” Lee warned.

“Did you just tell me you have the diamonds?”

Lee nodded, still turned toward me, eating his chips and salsa with his right hand, his left arm fencing me in on the back of the booth.

“You better explain before I start plotting your murder.”

His eyes crinkled. “You’d never get away with it.”

“At this point, I don’t mind doing time.”

Lee took a tug on his iced tea then said, “I found the diamonds at Duke’s the morning after Rosie left my condo. I have you to thank for that. Duke knows I have them, my contacts in Sturgis told him when they found him.”

“Your contacts?”

“I farmed out the job to other PIs and bounty hunters in places I thought Duke would go. They looked around, asked a few questions, picked up his trail and the boys in South Dakota tracked him down.”

“If you cost five hundred dollars an hour, what did that cost?”

“Let’s just say you’re not a cheap date.”

My eyes narrowed. “You’re getting paid for this, remember?”

“I’ve got three jobs involved with this mess and one of them was finding the diamonds.

I found them the first day. Making sure Duke was alive and safely home in Evergreen was something I did for you.”

Even though I was pissed off, my chest fluttered. “I’ll pay you back.”

His hand went to my hair and he wrapped a lock around his finger.

“You don’t have to pay me back.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I said, “Thank you.”

“You can thank me tonight when you’re naked.”

Jeez.

The waitress came and slid our plates on the table. I unwrapped my cutlery from the weird perma-glue tab and napkin.

“Before we talk about naked gratitude, let’s talk about how you’ve been lying to me for days about the diamonds.” I forked into my burrito.

“I haven’t lied, I’ve given creative answers.”

“Uh-hunh.”

He let go of my hair and turned to his food. “My having the diamonds was need to know information. You didn’t need to know.”

With effort, I swallowed my mouthful of burrito. “Excuse me?”

Lee downed his own bite and turned again to me catching my Polar Freeze Glare.

“All right,” he said, “there’s not much I can say but I’ll tell you what I can.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“Some explanation first,” he began, “crime is very organized at the top. Criminals have levels of management, they have training, they have territories. Most of the time, these operations are multi-faceted, running guns, drugs, girls, extorting payment for protection, whatever. People know who does what and they deal their own shit in their own neighborhoods.

They step over the line only when they have the power to back up a takeover.”

I nodded while Lee took another bite and he continued. “Coxy doesn’t play that game. Coxy does what he wants, where he wants. He’s messy, greedy and insane. He’s also determined, tenacious and, I’ll repeat, insane. He’s been causin’ problems with Denver crime for a long time. There’s something to be said for organization, even in crime. Mess is just mess, in this case more drugs, more guns but worst of all more dead bodies. Coxy used to be a nuisance but that’s escalated. The criminals want him taken out just as much as the cops.”

“I don’t understand, why don’t the criminals just… um, take him out?”

“Family ties.” I stared at Lee and he kept talking. “His mother’s Italian, she’s from New York and her family is powerful. Coxy had backing, if something happened to Coxy, there would be New York retribution. Or at least that was the word and New York backed Coxy in a number of jobs and cleaned up a number of messes.”

“Are we talking about the mob?” I whispered.

Lee finished his second burrito and just slid his eyes to me.

Holy shit.

“Problem is, Coxy’s made so many messes, rumor has it New York is done. Who knows how much backing he ever really had. His mother married outside the family, outside New York, to a straight and narrow guy from Denver who was worth a fortune. Maybe the ties don’t stretch that far and Coxy pulled them to the breaking point. He’s not a made man, hasn’t been through the program, as far as anyone knows, he’s a pipsqueak cousin in Denver.”

I picked up my tostada and munched in an effort at acting nonchalant when really I was thinking about Tony Soprano and getting a little flipped out.

“Is all of this new?” I asked.

“No, it’s been goin’ on for years. The rumor that New York is out is new but unsubstantiated. To restore order, a deal was struck. Coxy had to be taken out but it couldn’t look like he was taken out. That way, New York wouldn’t feel the need to act and all would be well in the world of crime again.”

“What does this have to do with you?”

“I have connections on both sides. Eddie and Hank used me as go-between with Marcus and Darius.”

I sat there with my tostada held aloft and stared at him.

Eddie Chavez and Darius Tucker were Lee’s two closest friends in High School.

Eddie Chavez was good-looking, smooth-talking and morally dubious, exactly like Lee… and then some. Everyone was pretty certain Eddie was going to go over to the dark side and spend most of his time doing time. Instead, he became a cop. He was now vice, considered a definite maverick (according to Dad, with hints of admiration) and a loose cannon (according to Malcolm, with hints of disapproval).

Darius Tucker was much the same, but he was also absolutely hilarious, so funny you’d nearly wet your pants laughing. He had soulful eyes and a dry shoulder to cry on (especially for the girls). Everyone was certain he’d quickly get married and settle down and make some woman a good husband. Instead, his Dad was murdered when he was seventeen and he went off the rails and off the radar. I hadn’t seen him in years and I missed him. He was a good guy, he’d made me laugh and he’d let me cry on his shoulder plenty of times. According to Malcolm and Dad, he was now bad news.

I didn’t know anyone named Marcus.

“Darius?” I said when I could say anything at all.

Lee pushed his plate away and turned to me again. “Yeah. The deal was, we all work together to cause problems for Coxy, delayed shipments, missing deliveries, cops turnin’ up at inopportune moments. I shared information and me and the boys caused some of the complications that Hank and Eddie couldn’t cause. Coxy’s network of buyers and suppliers started to alternately freak or get pissed off and his men began to defect. Rick and Pete decided on early retirement and, to augment their pension, they stole Marcus’s diamonds.”

“Marcus?”

“A leftover from when I did security. He keeps us on retainer for certain jobs. He’s powerful and not someone who appreciates being stolen from. I was in DC and got an urgent call from him when his diamonds went missing.”

“Why’d he call you?”

Lee shrugged.“I’m good at finding all different kinds of things.”

Oh dear Lord.

I had a feeling this was one of those cases where I didn’t want to know.

I changed the subject.“How on earth does Rosie fit into all of this?”

“Rosie had a good operation going, small but popular and not quiet which was not smart. Coxy heard about it and wanted a piece, so he coerced Rosie into giving him one. Then he coerced Rosie into doing other things for him, things Rosie didn’t want to do but didn’t know how to say no. Rick and Pete decided to play innocent about the diamonds until they had their shit together enough to move to Brazil, which was only supposed to be a day or two. They stashed the rocks with Rosie, thinkin’ he was scared enough to do what he was told. Apparently, he was pissed off enough to use the diamonds to blackmail Rick and Pete to get him out from under Coxy. Unfortunately, he was playin’ out of his league. In the meantime, word went out the diamonds were gone, Coxy found out his boys had gone renegade. Even Coxy isn’t crazy enough to out and out kick sand in Marcus’s face, especially not with his systems breakin’ down. So everyone was in a rush for the diamonds. Enter you.”

“I’m a little confused.”

“I would be too if I came in at the end of this shit. It’s fucked up.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’m gettin’ paid.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“No, it’s not. I should say I’m gettin’ paid a lot.”

“Is it worth it?”

His arm slid behind me on the booth and he twisted toward me again. I’d abandoned my tostada half eaten and was turned toward him.

“I like what I do but it’s like football. Your career has a shelf life. I intend to be retired by forty-five with the cabin in Grand Lake and a condo in Florida, a damn good boat in both places and enough money to make life good until I die.”

“So, what you’re saying is, it’s worth it.”

He went back to wrapping a lock of my hair around his finger. His voice changed and so did his eyes, from all business to warm and soft.

“Yeah, it’s worth it. Do you like Florida?”

My stomach did a clutch. “Would Florida come with a housekeeper that puts your towels on the rail after you throw them in the sink?”

His eyes got warm. “That’s the ‘make life good’ part.”

“Then I might like Florida.” His finger tugged my hair playfully but I ignored it and asked, “Who’s paying you?”

He let go of my hair, leaned forward and took out his wallet.

“Story time’s over. We have to get back to work.”

“I guess question time is over too.”

His eyes slid to me again telling me question time was definitely over.

We were in the Crossfire when I told him we had to go to Tod and Stevie’s to pick up Chowleena.

“Sorry?” he asked.

“I’m watching her for a couple of days.”

“We’ll go get her later.”

“We can’t go get her later! If we go get her later, that wouldn’t be me watching her, that would be her, alone, at home with no one watching her.”

“I’m not takin’ a chow dog out to work with me.”

“She’ll be good. I swear, she’s a great dog.”

“No.”

I had to pull out the big guns.“There’ll be naked gratitude in it for you.”

Lee hesitated, but just for a moment.

“Shit,” he mumbled.

He steered the Crossfire toward Baker District.