House of the Rising Sun

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Ray drove his Mustang east on Chef Menteur Highway. Past the strip bars, the Asian sex spas, the Vietnamese village, then out into the swamp where Chef Menteur lost its name and became just U.S. Highway 90. He drove all the way to Sawmill Pass, on the north side of Lake Catherine. Still inside the city limits of New Orleans but so different from the densely packed urban decay of the rest of the city that it might as well be on the dark side of the moon.

Out here there was nothing but rednecks with shotguns, pickup trucks, and shrimp boats. The year Ray had spent in the Seventh District, he had answered maybe three calls out here. These people took care of their own problems.

The only reason he knew where he was going was because on slow nights some of the cops would drive by the Messina camp. The older Seventh District hands were like teenagers, spinning tales to younger kids about a haunted house in the neighborhood. According to police legend, the secluded camp had been the site of at least a dozen mob murders and more than a few torture sessions. The walls were painted red to hide the bloodstains. Ray’s old sergeant said the swamp around Carlos’s place was a watery grave, hiding the bones of dozens of people who had crossed the Don, and that alligators nested there, waiting for their next meal. But Ray didn’t believe that stuff, at least not all of it.

After his accidental meeting with Carl Landry, Ray had gone back to his motel. For the next several hours he had thought about Jimmy LaGrange, about the whores on Tulane Avenue, about the Rose Motel, and about one teenage whore in particular, one he knew was dead. Thinking how the whole Vice Squad went to prison except for Jimmy LaGrange. Thinking about Jimmy the Rat.

Finally, it was time.

Ray had left his room at 9:00 PM. Old Man Carlos was supposed to be a reasonable man, so maybe he would recognize the truth when he heard it. It was ugly, but it was still the truth.

It had been years since Ray was there, so he almost missed it. An unmarked gravel drive that ran off the highway, back toward the lake. Messina’s camp sat on about five acres of land, the front half of which was densely wooded. The only way in was the single-lane driveway.

Tires on gravel make too much noise, so Ray killed his lights and parked on the soft shoulder of the road. From the trunk he pulled the leather bag holding the money and Dylan Sylvester’s Smith amp; Wesson. He thought about leaving the gun behind. You didn’t win friends or people’s trust by pulling a gun, but he decided to keep it in the bag, just in case.

The camp was a hundred yards from the road. It was a single-story, wood-framed house set on thick pylons nine feet above the ground. A wide staircase led to a screened-in porch on the front. Looking under the house, Ray could see a second, smaller set of stairs in the back, on the lakeside. Parked on the cement slab beneath the house were two cars, a black, four-door Cadillac Deville-spaghetti and meatballs, mobsters and Caddies-and Priscilla Zello’s maroon Jag.

As he stood looking at the house, the only sounds Ray heard were the crickets in the woods and the gentle lapping of the water against the boat dock out on the lake. Even though it hadn’t rained since last night, the ground was still saturated from the recent downpours. Through the front windows, Ray saw a couple of lights burning inside.

By fishing camp standards, the place was big, at least 2,000 square feet, with unpainted, rough wooden siding that gave it a rustic look. On three sides the woods were cleared back twenty yards; the lakeside was cleared a little farther, thirty yards down to the water’s edge. The ground between the woods and the cabin was covered with grass. As Ray stepped off the gravel driveway, his shoes sank in the soggy earth.

Creeping toward the house, his feet made sucking sounds each time he lifted them, then sloshed as he took his next step; but it was better than the crunching sound of his footsteps on the gravel. He passed the front steps, went under the house, past the two silent cars, then paused at the foot of the back stairs. They rose to a covered porch with a wooden railing, much smaller than the screened-in patio on the other side of the house. A dim light shone through the glass panes of the French doors.

Ray thought about slinking away, about how stupid this was, about taking the money and leaving town. Instead he tightened his grip on the double handle of the leather bag and tiptoed up the stairs.

I must be crazy.

On the porch, Ray stood to the side of the doors and peered through the glass panes like a Peeping Tom. The master bedroom was lit only by the light from the half-closed bathroom, but that faint glow was plenty enough to see by. Plenty enough to see Carlos Messina’s big fat ass thrusting rhythmically between a pair of soft white thighs.

The sound of the Old Man’s panting and grunting drifted through the door but was nearly drowned out by the shrill screams from the woman under him. Ray couldn’t see her because Carlos’s big, bald head was beside hers, facedown on the pillow, blocking Ray’s view, but he had no doubt who she was.

There was no way he could get a fair hearing if he interrupted, so he waited, but he couldn’t turn away. Like someone passing the scene of a horrible accident, he had to look. After a few minutes the Old Man’s thrusting grew deeper and quicker while the woman’s shrieks became sharper and shorter.

Finally Carlos tensed up, thrust one last time as he let out a long moan, then collapsed on top of the woman. Almost immediately she started to squirm under his weight. The mob godfather rolled off her and onto his back, then used the sheet to wipe the sweat off his face. Priscilla Zello scooted away from Old Man Carlos’s mountain of sweaty flesh.

Ray reached out and grabbed the door handle. He had been ready to kick the door open if it had been locked, but it wasn’t. He just pushed it back and stepped inside.

The bed was to Ray’s right, centered against the wall, a nightstand on either side. Mrs. Zello was sitting up on the far side of the bed. Carlos Messina lay on the side nearest Ray, the mob boss on his back, eyes closed, his furry chest bathed in sweat.

Priscilla saw Ray first. She screamed, a high-pitched, piercing shriek that made the hair on Ray’s arms stand up. The scream was real this time, not like when she was taking Carlos inside her. Like a frightened cat, she backed against the headboard and froze. The Old Man’s eyes popped open and he rolled onto his side, facing Ray. His expression went from shock to anger.

Ray held out his free hand, palm first. “Mr. Messina, I need to talk to you. It’s an emergency.”

Priscilla screamed again. Carlos Messina jerked around and looked at her. Too late, Ray realized the Old Man wasn’t looking at her; he was looking past her, to the nightstand on the other side of the bed, at a Beretta 9mm lying on top of it.

Ray dropped to one knee and let Tony’s leather carryall fall to the floor. He jerked open the zipper and snatched the Smith amp; Wesson pistol from inside. Carlos rolled across Priscilla, one arm stretching toward the gun on the nightstand. Ray ran around the foot of the bed to the far side. Priscilla rolled to her left, out from under her overweight lover, away from the nightstand and the Beretta. With the gun thrust out in front of him in a two-handed combat grip, Ray aimed the Smith. 40 caliber at Carlos Messina’s head. “Stop!”

Carlos looked to his left, stared into the muzzle of Ray’s gun, just four feet from his face. Ray saw the Old Man’s hand freeze less than a foot from the Beretta.

“I just want to talk,” Ray said.

“Kill him,” Priscilla screamed from the other side of the bed. “Kill him!”

Carlos looked at the pistol lying on the nightstand, and then again at the gun pointed at him. Ray sensed him running through the geometry, figuring angles and distances. Evidently, he realized he was going to come up on the short side of the equation, so the Old Man sighed and sat up.

Priscilla looked at Carlos like she had never seen him before, her eyes wide, her mouth open. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

He turned to her and with a calm voice said, “Shut up.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” Then he turned his attention back to Ray. “What do you want?”

Ray relaxed the death grip he had been holding on the gun. “Just to talk. I’m not going to hurt anybody.”

“You expect me to believe that you broke into my bedroom and pulled a gun on me while I was getting a piece of ass just so we could talk?”

Priscilla Zello snorted at the piece of ass reference.

Ray took a deep breath. “I had no choice.”

Carlos stared at him.

Ray moved back around the bed and picked up Tony’s bag. “I want you to look at this.”

“What is it?”

Priscilla Zello’s eyes narrowed. Ray thought he saw recognition in them. He tossed the bag onto the bed. It landed slightly on its side, across Carlos’s outstretched legs, the unzipped top angled toward Ray. Nodding at Priscilla, Ray said, “It belongs to her husband.”

“That’s a lie!” she said.

Carlos gave her a look that shut her up. He left the bag across his legs but otherwise didn’t touch it. From his angle he couldn’t see inside the bag. “What is it?”

Ray glanced back and forth between the two of them, both sitting with their backs against the headboard, both naked, neither making any effort to cover themselves. “Money,” he said to Carlos. “I didn’t count it, but I figure it’s somewhere around three hundred thousand.”

Carlos bent forward, grabbed one of the handles, and rolled the bag closer to him. He looked inside. Then he nodded, as if his practiced eye agreed with Ray’s guess about the amount. Then he looked at Priscilla.

She shook her head. “That’s not Tony’s bag.”

Ray said, “Look at the tag.”

Carlos turned the bag around so he could read the luggage tag tied to one of the D-rings. He looked at Priscilla again. “It’s got his name on it.”

Priscilla looked at Carlos, but jabbed a finger at Ray. “I can’t believe you’re listening to him.”

Carlos said, “He’s got the gun.” His voice was calm, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

She nodded toward the nightstand. “You’ve got a gun, too. Why don’t you use it?”

The Old Man glanced at Ray, giving him a can-you-believe-I’ve-got-to-put-up-with-her look. Ray shrugged, and for a second they were just two guys sharing a little joke. Then Carlos said, “Where’d you get it?”

“That’s not Tony’s bag,” Priscilla repeated. “I’ve never seen that-”

“I’m not going to tell you again.” Carlos raised a finger in front of her face. “Keep your mouth shut.” He nodded at Ray.

“I got it from Tony’s house,” Ray said. “My guess is, that’s the money from the robbery.”

“What were you doing in my house?” Priscilla demanded. Carlos didn’t say anything to her for disobeying his order to keep her mouth shut, didn’t say anything to Ray, just let the question hang.

Ray understood. It was a good question. From the corner of his eye, he saw a chair against the wall near the bathroom door, shaped aluminum tubing and cushions. He pulled it over and sat down. “I went in there to get a gun.” He turned the Smith over in his hand. “This gun.”

Since Priscilla got away with it the last time, she tried it again. “He’s lying. That’s not Tony’s gun.”

Old Man Messina ignored her.

Ray said, “I didn’t say it was his gun. I said it was his bag. He had the gun, and I needed to get it back.” Ray pointed to the bag in Carlos’s lap. “I found that in the bedroom closet.”

“You went in my closet!”

Ray used the. 40 caliber like an extension of his finger, pointing it at Mr. Messina. “You’ve got people in the Eighth District. You’ve got the captain in your pocket. You’re putting his kids through school. You didn’t need me looking for those guys.”

“It was my brother’s idea.”

“I bet if you check, you’ll find out it was really Tony’s idea.”

“Why?”

“To frame me. The money was in his…” he jabbed the Smith at Priscilla, “In her closet.”

Priscilla turned to Carlos. “He admitted breaking into my house. He stole that bag and put the money in it to frame Tony.”

Looking at Carlos, Ray said, “The money was already in the bag.”

“Liar!” She pulled her legs under her and scampered toward him.

Ray pushed the muzzle of the gun toward her and she stopped. “You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “Either you’ve never seen that bag, or I stole it from you to frame your husband. One or the other.”

Carlos shoved her down in the middle of the bed. “Sit down.”

Priscilla covered herself with the comforter.

Messina looked down at the money again, then stared into Ray’s eyes. “You got some balls coming in here the way you did. And I don’t think it was just to tell me a bullshit story.” Carlos pointed to the bag. “Why didn’t you keep it?”

“It’s not mine.”

“You could have run. A lot of guys would have.”

“I thought about it,” Ray said. “But I don’t like running.”

The Old Man nodded.

“The doorman,” Ray said, “a kid named Hector, got caught up in it and Tony killed him. Two of the mopes on the crew, the one who shot your nephew and another guy named Sylvester, turns out I arrested both of them when I was a cop.”

“There were four of them.”

“I didn’t know the other two,” Ray said. “They were hired help.”

Priscilla started to get up. “I’m not listening to this bullshit anymore.”

Carlos held her down. He pointed to the French doors. “You move again, I’ll throw you through that glass door.” She sat back down, arms folded across her chest.

Carlos looked at Ray. “What about my brother?”

That was a subject Ray would rather skirt around. He was sure about Tony, but much less sure about Vinnie. Now was no time for speculation, but he couldn’t avoid the Old Man’s penetrating stare, so he gave the most neutral-and truthful-answer he could. “I don’t know.” It was probably the wrong answer.

Carlos’s face tightened and his lips barely moved as he spoke. “What the fuck do you mean you don’t know?”

“What I’m sure of is that Tony set up the robbery with people he could tie into me. Then he insisted I go after them. All the while he’s planning on putting the whole thing off on me. But as to whether your brother was in on it, that I don’t know.”

Carlos Messina was silent for almost a minute. Ray started sweating. He could smell it on himself. It smelled like fear. His whole life hung in the balance, waiting on the decision of an old man, sitting naked on a bed, his big belly hanging over his crotch. Meanwhile, Priscilla stared daggers at Ray.

Carlos looked down at the money in the bag, then nodded. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch myself.”

Ray didn’t know if he was talking about Tony or Vinnie. He never found out because Priscilla Zello sprang across the bed, right over Carlos’s lap. She stretched out her long body and grabbed the Beretta pistol off the nightstand.

“Crazy bitch,” Carlos yelled as he wrapped his thick arms around her chest, squishing her bare breasts, but not able to stop her.

Ray sprang out of the chair, knocking it over behind him. He stepped to his right, toward the back door-a moving target is harder to hit-as Priscilla one-handed the pistol across the front of her body and fired at him.

Ray saw the flash, a yellow spurt of flame bursting from the muzzle, but adrenaline had diminished his sound perception, so he heard only a dull pop. Priscilla lay on her right side, sprawled on top of Carlos, who still had both arms locked around her and was trying to toss her off the bed. The Old Man had probably thrown her aim off just enough to save Ray’s life. Only six feet away, he didn’t expect her to miss again. With the Smith amp; Wesson thrust out in front of him, Ray yelled, “Drop the gun!”

Priscilla arched her back like a wrestler, pushing Carlos into the headboard. He held on to her with one arm and reached his other hand out, trying to grab the Beretta, but she moved it away from him like they were playing a game of keep-away.

Ray sidestepped all the way to the door. He yelled again, “Drop the gun!”

Priscilla rammed an elbow into Carlos’s gut. He grunted as his breath exploded through his lips. He dropped his hands. Priscilla rolled up onto her knees in front of Carlos, then leaned forward, bracing herself with one hand on the bed. She stretched the gun toward Ray.

Ray aimed the Smith. 40 and squeezed twice on the trigger-BOOM! BOOM! As far as he could tell the first shot missed, and the second whizzed under her hanging breasts and hit her in the thigh.

The Beretta flashed as Priscilla fired again. Ray heard the bullet THUNK against the wall behind him. He started pulling the trigger again-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The first shot caught her in the neck and lifted her onto her knees. The second one hit her low in the stomach, just above her dark patch of pubic hair. The third one missed and dug out a chunk of drywall just above the headboard. Priscilla fell back on top of Carlos, her eyes rolling up as one hand fell over the edge of the bed. Ray heard the Beretta clunk to the floor.

Carlos moaned. His breath was a wet sucking sound. Ray stepped to the side of the bed, his gun down by his leg. The Old Man’s eyes darted from side to side and although his mouth moved, all that came out was a gurgle. Blood bubbled from a hole in his chest, just above his left nipple.

Priscilla lay on her back, on top of Carlos, her smooth white skin punched through with three jagged black holes. The blood from her neck partially covered her breasts like a red bib, but her heart had stopped and so had the bleeding.

Carlos reached a hand out to Ray. Instinctively, Ray took it. Then he heard a rattle deep inside the Old Man’s chest as he breathed his last breath. Ray sank to the floor. He knew one thing for sure. He was fucked, absolutely fucked. No way, absolutely no way, could he get out of this. When the Guidos found out he had killed-

A thought, like a single razor-thin sliver of light sliced through Ray’s brain. The thought was nothing but a single word- IF. If they found out he killed Carlos Messina.

He looked at the two bodies. Naked bodies, entwined together in bed. Lovers caught in the act. Lovers shot dead. A crime of passion, a crime of insane jealously, a crime committed by an enraged husband.

Ray picked up the Beretta. He de-cocked the hammer and jammed the pistol in his waistband. The chair went back against the wall; then he wiped off the aluminum tubing with his shirttail. He looked for his footprints in the blood but didn’t see any. Once he got away, he would throw away his shoes just to be safe.

He backed toward the door, carrying Tony’s bag and the Smith amp; Wesson, scanning the room for any identifiable sign that he had been there. At the door, he used his shirt again and wiped off both sides of the handle.

Standing in the open doorway, Ray pulled Tony’s lighter out of his pocket, the ugly “Z” lighter Priscilla Zello had given her husband.

She bitches about my smoking. Says it ruins all her clothes.

Tony’s wife didn’t smoke. So it stood to reason that if Tony’s lighter was at Carlos Messina’s camp, Tony must have brought it. If it was on the floor, Tony must have dropped it. When he caught his wife in bed with Carlos and killed them both.

Ray smeared his palms over the metal surface of the lighter. Lab techs had to find smudges on things, otherwise those things looked planted. He tossed the lighter onto the floor, then closed the door behind him.

Ray tossed the Beretta in the swamp. Driving back toward the city, he stopped at the first gas station he came to on Highway 90. The station was closed. People out here went home early. The pay phone was attached to the corner of the building, over by the restrooms. He used his shirttail to hold the handset.

Ray told the 911 operator that he was a neighbor, out walking his dog when he heard shots coming from the Messina camp. No, he didn’t want to give his name. That’s why he was using a pay phone. Didn’t she know who Carlos Messina was? He didn’t want to get involved. He was just reporting what he had heard in case someone needed help.

Was anyone hurt? the operator asked.

He didn’t know for sure, Ray said, but he heard gunshots and didn’t that usually mean someone was hurt? Before he hung up, Ray told the operator one more thing: just after the shots, he had seen a man pulling away in a green car. He wasn’t sure what kind, but it was big, one of those luxury cars, maybe a Cadillac or Lincoln.