It Was a Very Bad Year

FIFTY-SEVEN

I swung up in front of the Sands, waved through by the valets, who recognized me. Jerry jumped into the passenger seat and I took off again.

‘Did you get the two grand?’ he asked.

‘No,’ I said, ‘since we don’t intend to pay him, I didn’t bother.’

He showed me a brown envelope. ‘I put some brochures inside.’ It looked like it was thick with money. ‘Just in case.’

‘Good thinkin’, Jerry.’

We drove downtown to the warehouse where Jerry thought he had succeeded in scaring Barney Irwin half to death.

‘I don’t get it,’ Jerry said. ‘If he’s got money from the kidnappin’ why would he bother to come back here? Why not get lost?’

‘Maybe it’s worth it to him to get back at me,’ I said.

‘That’s what I mean,’ Jerry said. ‘Amateurs. He shoulda just forgot about it and took off.’

‘He claims he didn’t get a cut from the kidnapping,’ I said. ‘If that’s true it could explain why he’s back, but it doesn’t explain why he’d settle for only two grand.’

When we pulled up to the warehouse there were no other vehicles around.

‘Might be around back,’ Jerry said.

I started the car again and rode around the building. No cars, no trucks. Once again I stopped near the front door.

‘You got a gun?’

‘A forty-five.’

We walked to the door and tried it, found it unlocked. The inside was dark. There seemed to be a single bulb burning somewhere in the center. Probably the one that had been hanging over Irwin’s head last time.

I could barely see Jerry but he gave me some hand signals which I assumed meant he was going to lay back in the dark. I nodded. He handed me the envelope full of brochures.

I advanced toward the light. The chair Irwin had been sitting in was still there. This seemed more and more like a trap, Irwin looking for payback, either because he was still afraid of Jerry, or because I was the one who put him in that chair with Jerry.

‘Barney!’ I called. My voice echoed in the empty warehouse interior. ‘Come on, Barney.’

There was a moment of silence, then a voice said, ‘Come to the center of the room. I wanna make sure you’re alone.’

If he had gotten there first — which he obviously had — he was pretty dumb if he hadn’t been watching the parking lot to see if I would come alone.

I walked, eventually entering the small circle of light thrown by the naked bulb.

‘You got the money?’ the voice asked. It sounded like Irwin, but I couldn’t really tell.

‘I’ve got it.’

‘Put it on the chair.’

I walked to the chair, laid the envelope down, then stepped back.

‘Come on, Barney, stop playin’ games. I’m not just gonna leave this on the chair. Come on out.’

‘I ain’t so sure I wanna come out,’ Irwin said.

‘Barney, come on. . what’s this all about. Why’d you call the cops and tell them I killed your friend Wayne?’

There was a pause, then he said, ‘Somebody killed Wayne?’

‘Yeah, well, I figured it was you, and you were tryin’ to jam me up with the cops by givin’ them my name.’

No reply.

‘It didn’t work. I’m still walkin’ around free.’

‘You had no right,’ he said, finally.

‘No right to do what?’

‘What you did to me,’ Irwin said. ‘You ruined my business, you left me alone with that. . that animal, and then you short changed me.’

‘Barney, I don’t think I ruined your business, I think I put it out of its misery. As far as leavin’ you alone with Jerry, that was your own fault. And finally, you got more money than you deserved.’

Again, silence.

I heard the sound of feet scraping on the concrete floor. I hoped it wasn’t Jerry. Then again, maybe it would have been better if it was Jerry. As it was, two figures stepped into the circle of light, coming from different directions. It was the Rienza brothers, my old buddies from Reno.