Void Moon

30

THE Cherokee was found easily enough. It was parked in a driveway in front of a small house on Citron. As Karch drove by he wondered why Renfro hadn't put it into the garage. He kept driving and continued around the block, looking for anything unusual or suspicious. He then pulled the Lincoln to the curb a half block away from the Cherokee. He worked his arms back into the sleeves of the jumpsuit and zipped up. He got his Sig out of its holster and attached the silencer. Leaving the Lincoln unlocked in case a quick escape was necessary, he headed down the street on foot.

Before approaching the house Karch got down on the pavement next to the Cherokee and reached underneath for his satellite equipment. He pulled it off the pan and jerked the wires free. He then went to the rear of the car to recover the disk antenna and put the equipment in the mailbox at the foot of the driveway. He planned to grab it later on when he headed back to the Lincoln.

Curious about Renfro's decision to park the car in plain sight, he walked to the garage and shined his penlight through one of the small windows on the door. The garage was completely filled with stacks and stacks of champagne cases. He assumed it was a stolen shipment and wondered if it would be worth his time and efforts later to have the shipment removed and sold. He could probably sell it all to Vincent Grimaldi for a nice profit.

He dismissed the idea and focused on the task at hand. He crossed the front of the house and moved down the left side, carefully looking for indications that Renfro had dogs. He wasn't concerned with alarms. People who worked the wrong side of the tracks rarely had alarms. They knew how easy they were to compromise, and they didn't want any kind of security system that could possibly bring the police to their door.

There was a wooden gate halfway down the side of the house. Karch easily scaled it and dropped over. He ran the light over the grass and in the shrub beds running down the side of the house. There were no dog droppings anywhere and no sign of any digging in the plants. He flicked the light off and continued down the side to the backyard. The moon was bright and he didn't need the light.

At the rear corner of the house Karch stepped out and saw the glowing blue surface of a pool. Just as he began moving along the back wall, he heard a sliding door open. He scrambled back to the corner and took a position giving him a view of the rear. A man stepped out through a sliding door and walked to the edge of the pool. It was the man from the mail drop. Renfro. He looked down at the pool and Karch saw an automatic vacuum moving slowly along the bottom. The man then looked up and seemed to be staring at the moon. Karch stepped out from his position and raised his gun.

Because of the background hiss from the nearby freeway Renfro never heard him. Karch put the cold end of the muzzle against the back of his neck. Renfro tensed but that was all. People in his line of work expected sooner or later to feel the cold muzzle of a gun against their neck.

"Nice clear night, eh?" Karch said.

"I was just thinking that," the man said. "Are you the ace of hearts?"

"That's me."

"I looked but I didn't see you."

"That's because I wasn't there. You're about a decade behind, Leo. I put a satellite bug on your car. I didn't need to follow you."

"Live and learn."

"Maybe. Let's go inside and talk. Keep your hands up where I can see them."

Karch grabbed the back of Renfro's collar with one hand and held the gun against his back with the other. They headed back toward the house.

"Anybody else inside?"

"No, I'm alone."

"You sure? I find anyone else in there I'll kill them just to make the point."

"I'm sure you will. There's no one."

They went in through the open sliding door into an office. Karch saw the desk at one end of the room. One entire wall was covered with more cases of champagne. Karch roughly pushed Renfro toward the front of the desk and let him go. He then reached back and closed the sliding door.

"Stay in front of the desk."

Leo did as instructed. He kept his hands held up, chest high. Karch came around and went behind the desk. He noticed that sitting on the desk was the padded envelope he had left for Renfro at the mail drop as well as the envelope that had already been in the box. The flaps on both envelopes were torn open. Karch sat down in the chair behind the desk and looked up at Renfro.

"Been a busy man, Leo."

"Oh, I don't know. Things are kind of slow."

"Really?" He nodded in the direction of the wall of champagne. "Looks like you're about to start celebrating something big time."

"It's an investment."

Karch picked up the padded envelope and shook it until the ace of hearts dropped out onto the desk. He tossed the envelope over his shoulder and picked up the playing card.

"Ace of hearts. The money card, Leo."

He put the card into one of the pockets of his jumpsuit. He then picked up the other envelope and looked at it.

"I'm curious. What does the seven-seven-three mean? That some kind of code?"

"Yeah, it's a code. An area code."

Karch shook his head.

"I should've known. Where?"

"Chicago. It's the new one."

"Yes, that's right. You work for Chicago."

"No, that's wrong. I don't work for anybody."

Karch nodded but the smile on his face indicated he didn't believe Renfro. He picked up the other envelope and shook it. Two passports fell onto the desk. He picked up one and opened it to the photo page. Paper-clipped to one side was an Illinois driver's license and two credit cards. But Karch was more interested in the photo.

"Jane Davis," he read out loud. "Funny, that looks like Cassidy Black to me."

He looked up at Renfro to catch his reaction. For a moment it was there. Surprise, maybe even shock. Karch smiled.

"Yes, I know a little more than you think."

He picked up the second passport, expecting to find Renfro's picture inside it. Instead, it was a photo of a little girl. The name below the photo was Jodie Davis.

"Well, maybe I don't know everything. Who have we got here?"

Renfro didn't answer.

"Come on, Leo, work with me here. We can't have secrets, you and I."

"Fuck you. Do what you have to do, but fuck you."

Karch leaned back in the chair and looked over Renfro as if appraising him.

"You Outfit guys think you're so untouchable."

"I'm not with the Outfit, but fuck you anyway."

Karch nodded as if amused by Renfro's protestations.

"Let me tell you a story about the Outfit. Long time ago in Las Vegas there was this magician. He'd been around a long time, worked all the casinos, never really caught on. Always the warm-up, never the headliner. Raisin' a son by himself on the side. Anyway, he had a gig in the Clown Room lounge at Circus, Circus. No big deal. Just a table act for chump change – tips mostly. And so one night he's dealing three-card monte to a table of these three guys and they keep telling him to do it again. You know, 'Do it again and I'll get it this time.' Only they never got it. They never picked the ace. And it went on and on and it got one of them hotter and hotter. Like he thought this magician was personally makin' a fool of him or something. So skip to the end of the night. The magician punches out and is in the back garage walking to his car. And guess who's waitin' for him but those same three guys from the bar."

Karch paused but not for effect. The story always got to him at this point. Every time he thought about it or told it, the anger seemed to boil up in his throat like acid.

"And one of them, the boss of these three guys, had a hammer. They didn't say a word. They just grabbed the magician and bent him over the hood of his car. One of them used his tie to gag him. Then one by one the man with the hammer broke every one of the magician's knuckles. At some point he passed out and when they were done they just left him lying on the concrete next to his car. He never worked as a magician again. Couldn't even palm a quarter anymore. Every time he tried, it just dropped on the floor. I used to sit in my bedroom and hear him trying gags in the other room. I'd hear that quarter fall on that wood floor over and over again…

"He drove a cab for a living after that. Cancer finally killed him but he was dead long before that."

Karch looked at Renfro.

"You know who the man with the hammer was?"

Renfro shook his head.

"That was Joey Marks. The Outfit's man in Vegas."

"Joey Marks is dead," Renfro said. "And like I said, I don't work for the Outfit or anybody else."

Karch stood up and came around the desk.

"I came for the money," he said quietly. "You stole from the wrong people and I've come to set it straight. I don't care if you're with Chicago or not. I'm not leaving here without the money."

"What money? I sell passports. I invest in champagne. I don't steal money from people."

"Listen to me, Leo. Your spotter's dead. So is your cameraman. You don't want to be like them, do you? So where's the money? Where's Cassie Black?"

Renfro turned so he was facing Karch and his back was to the sliding door. Behind him the pool glowed brightly in the dark. He lowered his chin as if looking inward and coming to a decision. He then nodded slightly to himself and looked back at Karch.

"Fuck you."

Karch shook his head.

"No, Leo, this time it's fuck you."

He lowered the barrel of the gun and calmly fired. The bullet blew out Renfro's left knee. It passed cleanly through the bone and tissue, hit the tile floor behind him and bounced up into the sliding glass door. The door shattered into large jagged pieces of glass that crashed down onto the floor and shattered again. Renfro dropped to the floor and grabbed his knee with both hands. His face was a mask of agony.

The breaking glass was more noise than Karch had planned on making. The door was shattered except for one large jagged piece of glass held in the bottom of the frame. He figured the house must have been built before safety glass was required. He looked out into the yard and hoped the freeway noise had covered the sound.

Renfro started gasping and moaning as he rolled over the glass, cutting himself on his arms and back. The floor was quickly becoming slick with blood. Karch stepped over and leaned down over Renfro.

"Give me the money, Leo, and I promise I'll end it quick and painless."

He waited but got no response. Renfro's face was scarlet. His lips were pulled back, exposing teeth gnashed together.

"Leo? Leo, listen to me. I know you're in a lot of pain but listen to me. If you don't give me the money we're going to be here all night. You think it hurts now? You can't imagine what – "

"Fuck you! I don't have the money."

Karch nodded.

"Well, at least we're making progress, right? We're now past the 'What money?' stage. If you don't have it, then where is it?"

"I gave it to Chicago."

The answer came too quickly for Karch. He looked closely at Renfro's face and decided he was lying.

"I don't think so, Leo. Where's the girl? Cassie Black, Leo, where is she?"

Renfro didn't respond. Karch stepped back a pace and calmly fired a bullet into his other knee.

Renfro let out a loud scream that was followed by a stream of epithets that dissolved into delirium and moans. He rolled over onto his chest, his elbows tucked in and his face in his hands. His legs were sprawled behind him, twin pools of blood leaking from his knees. Karch looked out the broken door, across the pool, and checked for lights or any indication that the neighbors had taken notice. All he heard was the freeway. He hoped it would keep him covered.

"Okay, okay," Leo blubbered into his hands. "I'll tell you. I'll show you."

"Okay, Leo, that's good. Now we're getting somewhere."

Renfro raised his head and pushed himself up onto his elbows. He started crawling forward, toward the shattered door, his dead legs dragging behind him and leaving a trail of blood.

"I'll tell you," he choked out through pain and tears. "I'll show you."

"Then talk to me, Leo," Karch said. "Where are you going? You can't go anywhere. You can't even walk, for crying out loud. Just tell me where it is."

Renfro moved another painful foot closer to the door. When he spoke his voice was ragged and was delivered through clenched teeth.

"See… you see… it was the fucking moon… the void moon…"

"What are you talking about? Where's the money?"

Karch realized he had gone too far. Renfro was delirious with pain and blood loss. He was quickly becoming useless.

"The void moon," Renfro said. "It's the void moon."

Karch took a step along with him.

"Void moon?" he said. "What's that mean?"

Renfro stopped moving. He turned his face and looked up at Karch. The tightness had gone out of it. He almost looked relaxed.

"It means anything can happen, motherfucker."

His voice was strong now. He suddenly raised himself off his elbows onto his hands. He raised himself up to full extension and lurched forward into the sliding door frame. His neck came down on the jagged piece of glass still held in the frame.

Karch realized what he was doing too late.

"No, goddammit!"

He reached down and grabbed Renfro's collar and jerked him up and off the glass. He dropped him to the floor and then grabbed his shoulder and turned him over.

He had acted too late. A deep, wide gash extended across Renfro's neck. He had cut his own throat. Blood was burbling out of the left side where the carotid artery had been severed.

Leo Renfro's eyes were bright as he looked up at Karch. A bloody smile formed on his face. Slowly he reached a hand up and used it to hold his neck together. His voice was a whispered croak.

"You lose."

Leo dropped the hand and let the blood flow from his neck. He kept the smile on his face and his eyes on Karch.

Karch dropped to his knees and hovered over him.

"You think you beat me? Huh? Huh? You think you won?"

Leo could only answer with his smile. Karch knew it said Fuck You! He raised the gun and pressed the muzzle into Renfro's bloody mouth.

"You didn't win."

He leaned back and turned his face away. He pulled the trigger. The shot blew out the back of Renfro's head and killed him instantly.

Karch pulled the weapon away and studied the dead man's face. His eyes were open and somehow he still had the smile.

"Fuck you. You didn't beat me."

He leaned back on his heels and looked around himself. He saw a drop of blood spatter on the white instep of one of his two-tone Lite Tread spectator shoes. He used his thumb to wipe it off and then wiped his thumb on Leo's shirt.

He stood up and looked around the office. He sighed loudly. He knew he had a long night of searching ahead. He had to find the money. He had to find Cassie Black.