House of the Rising Sun

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The address on the burglary report was for a small apartment complex off Franklin Avenue. Two months ago, someone had smashed out a window on Sylvester’s car and boosted his stereo. What was amazing to Shane was that Sylvester had filed a police report. The guy’s a career criminal-dope, robbery, assault-somebody grabs his radio, he calls the police like a regular citizen, like he had been violated.

The building was decent, not too much trash on the ground and only one junked car in the parking lot. A sign out front boasted that a resident manager was on the premises.

Sitting in his car, starring at the door to Sylvester’s apartment, Ray decided he didn’t have any more time to waste. Sylvester might not be home. It might be hours, maybe even days, before he came back. If he was home, he might not leave for hours or days. He might not even live there anymore. What Ray needed to do was get inside that apartment. Right now.

Too bad I don’t have a gun.

Sylvester’s apartment was on the ground floor. As Ray approached the door he felt his heart hammering against his ribs. Sweat dripped down his back. He really wished he had a gun.

He stood to the side of the door and knocked. No answer. He knocked again. First trying the old soft-knock trick, then gradually building to the standard police pounding. Still no answer. The next-door neighbor stuck her head out. She was about twenty-five, skinny, with shoulder-length brown hair. Ray pegged her as an ex-junkie, probably with a kid she was trying to take care of. “Who you looking for?” she said.

There was no sense lying to her. “I’m looking for Dylan.”

She shook her head. “He moved out.”

Another dead end. “You know where he went?”

The girl looked him up and down. “You a cop?”

“Just a friend.”

“You’ll have to ask the manager. He might have left a forwarding address or something.”

“Where’s the manager?”

“Apartment fourteen,” she said.

“How long ago did he move out?”

“Last month sometime. Right after all them cars got broke into.”

“Thanks,” Ray said. He headed toward apartment fourteen.

Ray told the manager Sylvester had rented a TV and was three months behind on the payments. “I’m supposed to get the TV back or get the money,” he said.

The fiftysomething manager sat at a round table in her kitchen with one elbow propped on the chipped Formica top, a cigarette burning between her fingers. She wore a threadbare pink housecoat. Between drags on her cigarette, she said, “He still owes me two months’ rent.”

“You got any idea where he went?”

She shook her head and pursed her lips for another drag. Then she stopped and snapped her fingers. “One time, right after all that trouble we had with them kids breaking into the cars, he told me he was going to move out to the East, to one of those complexes that has security.” She traced a circle on the table with one yellowed fingertip. “One with a security fence and a guard.

Never before had Ray realized how many apartment complexes there were in New Orleans East. He started his search just past the high-rise, the bridge that arches high over the Industrial Canal. He cruised up and down Morrison Avenue, then searched along the major cross streets, then finally rolled down the interstate service roads.

What he was looking for was Dylan Sylvester’s car, described in the burglary report as a blue Buick four-door, and registered to a woman named Belinda Sylvester, born twenty years before Dylan. Ray figured Belinda was Sylvester’s mother. No self-respecting crook ever put a car in his own name.

Cruising apartment parking lots, looking for the blue Buick, Ray had time to think about coincidences, about how he didn’t believe in them, and about the odds of all this happening by chance.

Salazaar and Sylvester knew each other. They had been arrested together and had once served time in the joint together. And Ray had arrested both of them. There was nothing really unusual in two butt-buddy scumbags like that getting together to pull off a job. That could be a coincidence.

But where Ray quit believing it was a coincidence was the point where Salazaar and Sylvester got together with two other mopes to rob the Rising Sun, the place where Ray-the cop who had arrested them both-just happened to work.

Then there was the incredible timing: the four masked gunmen showing up while Hector was taking a leak, and just when Ray was watching the door, the one time he had done that since he started working at the House. Ray was no math whiz, but he knew enough to know that the odds of all that happening by chance were very slim, like winning-the-Powerball slim.

Then there were the dead bodies. Michael Salazaar, aka Scooby, standing outside his apartment, gunned down in a drive-by shooting. Hector disappearing right after the robbery. Tony having to hunt for him, finding him hiding out in a shit motel. Hector still trying to run. Tony-moron that he was-shooting the only witness they had.

Ray realized someone had to be setting him up. But who? Just among those working inside the House, there were twenty or thirty possibilities, and those were just the people who didn’t like him. With three hundred grand involved, it could easily be someone Ray didn’t even know, someone just using him for convenience.

As Ray rolled through the streets of New Orleans East, an idea wormed its way into his brain that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. What if the person who set up the robbery knew Ray was going to get the job of looking for the shooters? What if giving him the job was part of the plan, the part that made him look like he was covering up the fact that he was the inside man?

And who gave him the job? Who forced it on him? Who insisted that since he was an ex-cop he was the best man for it? Who had motive, means, and opportunity? Who was the most inside man of all?

Vinnie Messina.

Tony Zello kept looking at his watch as he paced up and down in front of Fausto’s Italian Restaurant on Dumaine Street. It was eight o’clock.

Never trust a cop, not even to be on time.

A few minutes later he saw Jimmy LaGrange two blocks away, strolling up the street, wearing an off-the-rack department store coat and tie. Tony waved for him to hurry up, but LaGrange just kept ambling along.

When the detective finally reached him, Tony tapped his Rolex. “You’re fucking late.”

“I got held up.”

“He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” He grabbed LaGrange’s elbow and tried to steer him toward the front door.

LaGrange jerked his arm away. “I don’t like meeting gangsters in public. Why couldn’t we handle this over the phone?”

Tony softened his tone a little. He needed this to go smooth. “He wants to meet you in person.” Then he draped an arm over LaGrange’s shoulders. “Don’t worry so much. Everything’s gonna work out fine, you’ll see.”

As they stepped into the restaurant, LaGrange said, “Is this going to get me back on the payroll?”

Tony nodded, not saying what was really on his mind, thinking how it was always the same with cops. They only cared about one thing-money. No wonder they were called pigs. Respect, honor, and loyalty were concepts that meant nothing to them.

“And you’re going to take care of my problem with Shane?” LaGrange asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony said. “I’m gonna take care of everything, but don’t bother Mr. Messina with that mundane crap.”

LaGrange scanned the restaurant. He looked nervous. Tony ran his hand up and down the detective’s back, feeling for a wire. He didn’t find one. He asked LaGrange, “What’s wrong?”

“I told you, I don’t like meeting in public,” LaGrange said. He pushed Tony’s arm away. “And I don’t like being felt up by a fucking queer. You want to know if I’m wearing a wire, ask me.”

Tony stopped and grabbed the cop’s tie, pulling them face-to-face. “You want to remember where you are, and who you’re talking to. If you got a problem”-he pointed to the door-“you can carry your sorry ass back outside.”

LaGrange took a deep breath. “I don’t have a problem.”

They walked on.

Vinnie Messina, dressed in a dark suit and tie, sat at a table in the back of Fausto’s. A couple of trifold rattan screens separated his table from the rest of the diners and provided an air of privacy. Rocco and a thug named Joey sat on either side of him.

Tony pointed to an empty chair opposite Vinnie and gave LaGrange a nudge. “Have a seat.” The detective sat down and Tony slid into the chair next to him. Baskets of garlic bread and two bottles of wine were already on the table. Tony poured himself a glass. He hoped the cop was smarter than he looked, hoped he would phrase everything just right. After a sip of wine, Tony looked at Vinnie. “Mr. Messina, I’d like to introduce you to somebody.” He nodded to the detective. “This is Detective Jimmy LaGrange.”

Vinnie stared at LaGrange. Then he glanced at Tony. “Is he clean?”

Tony nodded.

Vinnie gnawed a hunk of bread. He took his time, washing the bread down with a gulp of wine. Then he wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin. When he finished, he tossed the napkin on the table. A waiter hovering nearby jumped in to pick it up and replaced it with a fresh folded one. As soon as the waiter had stepped out of the way, Vinnie said to LaGrange, “I hear you got something to tell me.”

The cop was sweating. “I have information about Ray Shane.”

“How do you know Shane?”

“We worked the Vieux Carre District together. Then later we were partners in Vice.”

“And you want to sell this information to me?”

LaGrange nodded.

“Why?” Vinnie asked.

The detective looked uncomfortable as he shot a glance at Tony. “I got bills to pay.”

Vinnie nodded. Then he bit off another hunk of bread. He chewed on it for a while, but there was still a tiny piece crawling around inside his mouth when he said, “You and Shane were partners, right?”

LaGrange nodded again.

“And now you’re willing to sell him out,” Vinnie said.

Tony saw beads of sweat shinning like sequins on the detective’s upper lip. For several seconds, no one at the table said a word. Tony could hear everything going on around him: the clink of rings on crystal glasses, forks scraping china, the thrum of indistinct conversation, a woman’s high-pitched drunken laughter.

Then LaGrange said, “Ray Shane isn’t my partner anymore. He’s not even a cop. I don’t owe him anything.”

Vinnie held up his hand, commanding silence. “No need to explain. I just wanted to find out where we stood with each other.” He reached into his jacket, pulled out a white envelope, and threw it on the table. “Say what you got to say and get the fuck out of here. They’re about to bring my dinner.”

LaGrange glanced at Tony, who gave him a nod. Then the detective looked back at Vinnie. “Shane was desperate when he came to me. He had the names of two guys who he needed to put his hands on, so I agreed-”

Vinnie snatched his envelope off the table. He glared across the table at Tony. “This is something you could’ve told me. I don’t need to hear this from him.”

Tony raised both hands, pleading for patience. “Just wait.” Then to the cop, “Tell him the rest.”

LaGrange nodded, then gulped down a couple swallows of air. “As I’m looking up the information Shane asked for, I see something strange.”

Vinnie laid the envelope on the table again and reached for his wineglass.

As the detective’s eyes tracked the white envelope, he continued, “Both these mutts I’m looking up are guys Shane already knows, guys he has a history with.”

The glass was halfway to Vinnie’s mouth. He brought it back to the table without taking a sip. “What do you mean, a history?”

“Shane arrested both of them a while back. Then later, when the feds arrested Shane, the two guys were in the parish prison at the same time Shane was. All three of them were in there together.”

Tony Zello couldn’t help but grin. Although the detective had gotten off to a shaky start, he was hitting on all cylinders now.

Vinnie asked Tony, “You check this out?”

Tony nodded. “There’s more.”

“What?” Vinnie asked.

LaGrange cleared his throat. “One of the guys Shane was looking for is now dead.”

Vinnie stared at Tony. “Is he saying Shane killed the guy?”

Tony shrugged. “If not, it’s a hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

Vinnie shook his head. “But it doesn’t make sense. If Shane set this up, why did he need help from a cop to find these guys? He would already know how to get in touch with them.”

Tony knew from long experience, you had to let Vinnie believe he was on the cutting edge, or at least close to the cutting edge, even if he were miles away. So Tony took his time before he answered. When he did answer, he made sure to sound as if he were just getting a grip on the idea himself. “That’s what I couldn’t figure out. Then I got to thinking about it. Shane’s a dumb fuck anyway. Say he gets these two guys…” Tony circled a finger at the cop, wanting him to supply the names.

LaGrange, taking the cue, said, “Michael Salazaar and Dylan Sylvester.”

“Salazaar and Sylvester,” Tony repeated. “Sounds like a law firm.” He took a sip of wine. “Okay, so Shane works out a plan with these two, then they either bring in two more guys, or Shane brings in two he already knows. Either way, Shane ends up with four shooters. Then he gets Hector out of the way, pays him, threatens him, maybe Hector doesn’t even know what-”

Vinnie’s eyes slashed at Tony. “Too bad we can’t ask Hector about it.”

Tony shot a glance at the detective sitting next to him. Crooked or not, he was still a cop and Tony wasn’t about to admit to a homicide in front of him. He also wasn’t going to let the conversation get sidetracked. “Maybe after the robbery, these guys get greedy, or Shane gets greedy, or they get pissed at each other. Whatever happens, they have some kind of beef and all of a sudden Shane can’t find them. Either that or he’s just trying to play us. Acting stupid, like he can’t do anything, and hoping his incompetence gets back to us.” Tony pointed at Vinnie. “Remember how he was when you told him you wanted him to find these guys?”

Vinnie nodded, then tilted his head back until he was staring at the ceiling. He stayed that way for almost a minute. Then he said to Tony, “Are you telling me Ray Shane is responsible for killing my son?”

Tony nodded, then realized Vinnie wasn’t looking at him. “I think so.”

“I hired him,” Vinnie said, looking down, his voice thickening. “I brought him into the House. It was me who introduced him to Pete.”

“There’s something else we need to discuss in private.” Tony nodded toward LaGrange.

Vinnie slid the envelope across the table to the detective. Tony saw that at least the cop had the class not to count it. Silently, LaGrange slipped it into the inside pocket of his cheap, dime-store sport coat. Then he stood up and left without a word.

Vinnie told Rocco and Joey to make sure Detective LaGrange left the restaurant and then to stop by the bar and have a drink. He needed a minute with Tony.

When he was alone with Vinnie at the table, Tony said, “Shane is trying to set you up.”

Vinnie stared at him, but his eyes were glazed over. Tony could almost see Pete’s reflection in them. When Vinnie finally focused on Tony, he said, “Why is Shane still here? Why didn’t he take the money and run?”

“Where would he go? He’s a federal convict on parole. He misses an appointment, his parole officer violates him and puts out a warrant for his arrest. But if he plays it cool, gets those other guys before they get him, he gets to keep all the money and stay straight with his P.O.”

“What do you mean he’s setting me up?” Vinnie asked.

Tony downed the last of his wine, then reached for the bottle. As he refilled his glass, he said, “Shane’s been asking a lot of questions.”

“What kind of questions?” Vinnie’s voice sharpened.

“About the money.”

“What about it?”

“Same kind of thing he was asking before, how come we had so much cash in the counting room.”

“That wasn’t my-”

Tony cut him off. “That’s not all.”

“What else?”

“He asked about Pete’s school.”

The sound was like a gunshot as Vinnie slammed his fat fist down on the table, rattling it so hard that Tony’s glass almost tumbled over the edge. Vinnie’s words came out like a bark. “He asked about my son’s fucking school.”

“He asked how much it cost.”

“What business is that of his?”

Tony shrugged.

Vinnie leaned forward. “What’d you tell him?”

Holding his hand up, Tony said, “I said he asked about it. I didn’t say I told him anything.”

“What the hell is he up to?”

“I heard he was in the Hog’s Breath talking to Charlie Rabbit.”

“He don’t even know Charlie Rabbit.” For a few seconds Vinnie furrowed his forehead like he was trying to remember something. “Right in my office, I think that was the first time they ever said one word to each other.”

Tony shrugged. “Then it’s funny them two being together, huh?”

Vinnie picked up his fresh napkin and wiped his face. “Maybe they were just having a drink.”

“Think about it. Shane talks to Charlie, convinces Charlie to go back and tell your brother he thinks you might have robbed the place yourself.”

Vinnie actually shook with rage. “He’s trying to backdoor me with my own fucking brother?”

Tony nodded. “That’s what I’m worried about. Way this went down. .. with nothing like this ever having happened before, and coming on our watch, so to speak, some people could say this makes us look bad. Some people might even lay the blame on us.”

Vinnie looked down at the table. “But if Shane set it up from the inside…” Vinnie was starting to warm to the idea. “There’s no way we could have known about it. There’s no way anybody could blame us. What we need to do-”

Tony raised a hand. “We’ve got to be careful. You don’t want to make another mistake.” Wondering how that line was going to fly. But Vinnie didn’t seem to notice. Tony pressed on. “Let’s wait, just a little while, so I can check out some things.”

Vinnie sat hunched over, staring at the checkerboard pattern on the tablecloth. He was lost in his own thoughts, mumbling to himself. “I was good to him. It was me gave him a job, and this is how he repays me. It’s always the ones you trust the most. He’s a fucking Brutus.”

“Vinnie,” Tony said, his voice soft, almost a whisper.

The chair creaked as Vinnie looked up and shifted his weight. “You really think he’s setting me up?”

Tony nodded.

The older man’s lips compressed into a thin line. “I want you to find Shane and bring him to me.” He pointed toward the bar. “Take Rocco and Joey with you.”

Again, Tony raised the hand of patience. “Vinnie, I really think we should-”

Vinnie pounded the table again with his pudgy fist, this time toppling his own glass and spilling wine onto the tablecloth. “You bring that traitorous bastard to the House.”

Tony watched the red stain of Vinnie’s wine spread out across the table as he thought about what Vinnie had just said. When his boss said things like that, it made Tony wonder if Vinnie had ever actually done any work when he was coming up, or if he had just ridden his brother’s coattails. “Bringing him in ain’t going to be that easy.”

“Why not?”

Tony cleared his throat. Like explaining something to a kid. “The guy’s dumb, but he’s not that dumb. When we find him, he’s not going to jump in the car with us and go for a ride. Not voluntarily. You’re talking about stuffing him in the trunk, driving him through the city, then sneaking him into the House-all without attracting attention.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying what if the feds are watching the House? What if they have it under surveillance or something? If we bring Shane in and he never comes out, next thing we know we got them going over the whole place with those black lights you see on TV, looking for traces of blood, matching DNA, all that shit.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Once we find him, it’d be easier if you came to us, instead of me bringing him to you.”

“How are you going to find him?”

“I’ll wait for him at his place. Eventually everybody goes home.”

Vinnie nodded. “Call me as soon as you have him. I don’t want you talking to him until I get there. I want to hear everything he has to say.”

Tony stood up. He was smiling.