Angel Dance (Danny Logan Mystery #1) (17 page)

“You’re okay now,” Toni said, reaching over to pat her on the shoulder as Kara grabbed a tissue. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you now.”

Kara nodded, wiping away her tears.

“Can I ask you to do two things?” Toni said.

Kara looked at her without answering, so Toni continued. “First, I think it would be helpful to get a couple pictures of you, particularly of your bruised face. I can use my cell phone.”

“Why?” Kara asked.

“Just to make a record,” Toni said. “I won’t show them to anyone outside our team without your permission. But if we ever need to document what this bastard did to you, we won’t be able to do it after your bruises and cuts have healed.”

“Okay,” Kara said. “But no one sees them without my permission.”

“Agreed,” Toni said. She snapped off a dozen photos of Kara’s face, neck, and arms from different angles. While she did this, I considered Eddie Salazar. He was already on my shit list for being an asshole over the phone and threatening us, particularly Toni. Now, though, he’d threatened Gina and beat up Kara as well. Congratulations, Eddie, I thought. You’re now my new public enemy number one.

“Second thing, why don’t we back up for a second and have you tell us how you know Gina?” Toni continued.

Kara nodded. “Gina’s dad owns Pacific Wine and Spirits—you probably already know that,” she said. “Gina runs the finance operation there. I run finance for Northwest Evergreen Markets. We buy beer and wine from Pacific. Gina and I met at a seminar we both attended.”

“About how long ago was that?” I asked.

“Two years,” she said. I scribbled in my notebook.

“We started going to lunch, and then, seeing as how we’re both single I guess, we started going out together at night.”

“Do you know if Gina has any boyfriends?” Toni asked.

“No one serious,” Kara said. “That didn’t seem to be her style. She’d go out with a guy for a few dates, then move on. No one really connected with her, I guess.”

“Why’s that, do you think?”

“I don’t know,” she said, thinking. “She’s like, twice as smart as anyone else. She’s always in control, even when it seems like she isn’t. Nothing surprises her. Nothing seems to get to her. Most guys can’t even begin to keep up with that. I think she gets bored with them and just moves on.”

Been there and done that
, I thought.

Toni was reading my mind. “Seems consistent with your experience, Danny?” she asked.

Ouch
. She just had to get that in. I smiled my best “fuck you” smile.
Thanks a bunch
.

“How did the two of you end up going to Ramon’s Cantina?”

“It was Gina’s idea,” Kara said. “I normally wouldn’t go within ten miles of a dump like that, but I think she liked to live on the edge. She took me there a couple of months ago.”

“How did she meet Eddie Salazar? Was it there?”

“The first time I went with her to Ramon’s, she already knew him,” Kara said. “I don’t know how she met him. He was hanging all over her. First, she would tease him; then she was cool to him. I could tell it was driving him nuts. She was playing with him, and he never seemed to catch on.”

“When was this?” I asked.

“June. Two months ago,” she said.

“How often did you go to Ramon’s after that?”

“Maybe once a week or so. I don’t think we ever went more often than that.”

“Did you see Eddie Salazar every time you went?”

“He seemed to always be there. Looking back and knowing Gina like I do, she may have told him that we were going to be there in advance, and she just didn’t tell me.”

“Do you think that Gina would have gone to Ramon’s without you?”

“Sure. She told me she did.”

“Interesting,” I said.

“Did you ever notice Eddie hanging out with other people—other guys—at Ramon’s?”

“Oh, yeah. He seemed to know a lot of people. They all treated him with respect, like he was an important guy. When we went there, I don’t think I ever saw him buy anything. People would send over drinks all the time.”

“So it was like a private party there at Ramon’s?” Toni asked.

“Yeah, sort of,” she said. She thought for a second before adding, “I guess it was fun in a weird, scary sort of way.”

“Did the party ever move to other locations?” Toni asked.

“Not for me, it didn’t. Not for Gina, either, at least not whenever we were together. I’m not sure about what she did when I wasn’t there—I know she knew where he lived because she told me she’d been to his house a couple of times. I always got the impression that she was teasing Eddie, and it’s possible they had some sort of history together. But she never provided any details. She was kind of private that way. And she never got passionate with him in the club, at least not that I ever saw. I think part of the fun for her was driving him nuts.”

“You say she knew where he lives? Did she tell you where? Do you know what kind of car he drives?” Toni asked.

“I saw him driving a silver Mercedes once,” she said. “It looked pretty new to me. Gina said he rented a house across from a cemetery in Kent.”

Toni turned back to her notes for a second, and then turned to me again and asked, “Enough background?”

“Yeah,” I answered. I turned to Kara and said, “Let’s talk again about last Thursday. As accurately as you can remember, what happened?”

“I talked to Gina earlier in the day, and she said that we’d get together that weekend. At about eight thirty that night, I get a knock on my door. It’s Eddie. I didn’t even know he knew where I lived. He barged right in past me and slammed the door. He started asking me questions about Gina. At first I was pissed. But then, I discovered that he was really angry. Then I got scared instead. He asked me where Gina was. When I told him the truth and said I didn’t know, he hauled off and slugged me.” Kara started crying again as the pain of the recollection hit her. She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue she was holding. “He slugged me, the bastard. I was stunned. I never knew something could hurt like that. He knocked me down and it felt like my fucking head exploded. I saw stars. Then, he dragged me back to the sofa, real rough like. Now I’m petrified. He slammed me down and he asked me again. Like I suddenly remembered, right? I told him the same thing—that I didn’t know—and this time, he slapped me, hard! This went on for about twenty minutes or so, before I guess he either got tired or maybe he believed me.”

She sniffled and fought back the tears, then continued. “Then he pulled out a knife and put the point under my chin. See?” She leaned back, and I saw a healing wound from a knife point. “He told me if I saw Gina, I’d better call Ramon’s immediately and leave a message for a guy named, Armando—let me think—Armando Martinez, that’s it. I was supposed to call and leave a message for Armando Martinez to call me back. Then I was supposed to tell him what I’d seen. He told me if I didn’t do what he said, or if I told her he was looking for her, or if I called the police, he’d be back and he’d cut me open.” She cried for a second, then got control of herself.

“I take it you’ve not heard from Gina,” I said.

“No, not a word. Next morning I called in sick at work. I spent the weekend in bed, doing nothing. I felt like I’d been run over by a damn delivery truck. I still looked like shit on Monday, so I called up and arranged a two-week vacation. I didn’t want to go in and be seen like this, and I didn’t want to have to explain what had happened. I called Nicky and he’s been staying with me ever since. That’s pretty much it.”

“Have you heard from Eddie since last Thursday?” Toni asked.

“No, nothing—thank God.”

“Wow. That’s quite a story,” Toni said. She turned to me. “What do you think, Danny?”

“I think this guy Eddie Salazar is a psycho nutcase, that’s what I think. And based on the way he’s been acting, and the people he surrounds himself with, he’s dangerous. I think it’s pretty obvious, Kara, that you’re in danger here. And,” I continued, glancing toward Nick, “it’s the kind of danger that Nick isn’t going to be able to do anything about with that Glock in his waistband. If Eddie Salazar shows up and he wants you dead and you’re here, you’re dead. Period. End of story. He’ll show up with three or four of his flunkies, and they’ll just blast the whole damn building. If Nick is here, he’ll be dead, too. You can see that this guy won’t think twice. He most likely has no conscience that we would recognize.” I paused for a second, thinking, then continued. “I have no idea what game Gina might have played with him, or might still be playing with him, for that matter. But if he caught her, it’s pretty damn clear that she’s dead, too.”

I let all of that sink in, and then I said, “I hate to say it, but I think the only way you can be truly safe now is to get out of town until this thing sorts itself out. In all honesty, if I were you, that’s what I’d do. You said you just put in for vacation. Go ahead and take it somewhere you can’t be found. Give us a chance to find this idiot before he comes back here for round two.”

Kara started to cry again. “What about the police? Can they protect me?”

“They didn’t protect you last time,” I said. “Chances are, they won’t be around next time he comes calling either. They’re not going to give you a personal bodyguard.”

“Do you guys do that?”

“We do, but we already have a case—we’re trying to find Gina. The good news is that us working that case also helps you out.”

She sniffled and reached for another cigarette. “Do you really think he’ll come after me?”

“He might. He already has once. You’re a loose end, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he suddenly figures he doesn’t like loose ends. That’s bad. Worse, he told you he wanted to kill Gina. Apparently, he doesn’t care that you know that. That’s scary. He was probably going to just watch you and see if you lead him to Gina or if she might show up around here. But I wouldn’t put it past him to come back. I definitely think you’d be safer somewhere where he can’t reach you. At least for a while.”

“Give us some time, Kara. We’ll find him.” Toni said. “We’re going to get him, and then it will be safe for you to come back.”

Kara looked at Nick. He nodded at her. She turned back to me.

“When does this end?” she asked.

“When we catch the sick bastard,” I said. “How soon can you leave?”

~~~~

Kara assured us that they’d be gone in two hours and that they’d call us when they got to their destination, which I told her I didn’t need to know. We said our good-byes, and Toni and I left the apartment.

“She’s scared to death,” Toni said as we walked down the steps to the parking lot.

“Yeah, well, that’s probably healthy for her,” I said. “Salazar can’t get to her if he doesn’t know where she is.”

Just as I stepped off the bottom stair, I saw from the corner of my eye a large stick making a fast arc directly for my head. “Look out!” I yelled to Toni as I ducked and simultaneously threw my left arm out to block the blow.

The stick—turned out to be a two-by-four—glanced off my forearm, deflected off the very top of my head and thwacked into the wall behind me, throwing a shower of stucco chips into the air. I heard Toni scream, but I was unable to look back or help her because attached to the other end of the stick was the tall bald-headed Mexican gangster we’d confronted at Ramon’s two nights ago. My left arm hurt like hell, and I’d seen stars when the two-by-four had whacked me in the top of my forehead, right where my nose had been one second earlier. I felt the blood trickle down my face. I staggered forward, determined not to go down. Still bent over, I looked up.

For his part, Mr. Big and Tall apparently hadn’t considered he might miss me with the two-by-four at point-blank range. Having it slam into the wall must have surprised him for a moment. He stared at me, wondering whether I was hit or not, wondering whether I was going to go down. The blood on my head added to his confusion. When he saw that I was still alive and well, he started to regain his wits. He began to pull the board back for a second go at me. This wouldn’t do—I didn’t want him taking another swing. I was halfway dazed, but I recognized an opportunity. Since I was already bent forward and down below him, while he recoiled to swing at me again, I hit him with an uppercut to the groin with everything I had as I stood. The force of the blow, backed by my full 180 pounds, nearly picked him up off the ground. His eyes went wide, and his mouth made a little O—no sound came out. The two-by-four fell out of his hand. In that instant, before he could recover, I head-butted him across the bridge of his nose, and he dropped to his knees, as if ready to pray. He knelt there, motionless, for a second, before collapsing forward in a heap.

I turned to help Toni just in time to see her drive a hard elbow into the gut of Mr. Short and Round, who had appeared behind her and tried to put her into a choke hold. He held on. She elbowed him again and then once more before he let her go. I took a step toward her, and she yelled at me, “Get back!”

I looked at her face as she spun around to face her assailant. There was no fear—only rage. Krav Maga teaches us to change from defense to offense as soon as possible. She confronted Short and Round and automatically dropped into a fighting stance. He threw a big sweeping right hand at her head, which she easily ducked. In response, Toni threw a sharp left jab, which smacked solidly into his nose. He blinked his eyes. Before he could recover, she hit him again in the exact same spot. Then, she started a flying back kick. Not technically a Krav Maga move, the kick was nonetheless very effective if you knew how to pull it off. Toni did. Her Doc Marten connected at full speed directly on the nose of Mr. Short and Round and essentially pulverized it. He screamed as blood gushed down his face and onto his shirt. He fell to the ground.

“Asshole!” Toni yelled at him, stepping back and watching him fall.

With both assailants down in only a few seconds of intense action, I was about to tell Toni to watch out for others when a gunshot exploded in the parking lot, directly behind us. We both spun around to see Eddie Salazar standing in the lot, smoking revolver pointed in the air. He leveled it at me before we had a chance to reach our own weapons. He stared at us for a few seconds, no emotion visible on his face. Then he seemed to get pissed.