Deadly Treatment (23 page)

T
he drive along Wilshire to Echo Park had been quite a respite for everyone except Nick. As they silently passed showroom after showroom of luxury and prestige cars, and stores with world-famous clothing brands, they all had a chance to think about the information they’d uncovered over the past few days. If Malone’s theory was correct, then Joshua was in the hands of some particularly nasty people, and time was against them. They had all seen the mess that was once a house, and god knows what other things those guys had been up to. They had to find them and soon; the thought of what they might have planned for Joshua scared him, but the thought of what they might already have done to the boy scared him even more.

Arriving at Echo Park, the detective turned to Nick and told him it was time to lead them to the contact, and to tell them all about their meeting in the minutest of detail as they went.

‘I made a call to the number I woz given from a geezer I know and had to leave a message sayin’ can Victor Tims buzz me back urgently.’

‘Vic-tims’; victims. That’s so pathetic!’ the detective muttered.

Nick continued, ‘I gives em me number and a fake name and within fifteen minutes, the geezer gives me a call back and tells me where to meet. He told me to meet him here in Echo Park, over there on the bench opposite the fountain.’

‘What does he look like?’ Erin asked

‘Normal lookin’ geeze, but with a nasty syrup and glasses. He woz dressed in a black whistle.’

‘Syrup? Whistle?’ The others asked.

‘Syrup of fig – Wig and Whistle and flute - A black suit,’ Nick said impatiently.

‘Can you stop with the slang and talk English!’ the detective snapped.

‘Alright, keep your alan whickers on. He kept me waiting for about ten minutes, then he shows up and stands beside me asking if I know Victor. We talks about the job and I think I must have gone a bit over the top coz of wot happened, but I was only tellin’ him what Ron said,’ Nick blushed slightly.

‘He thinks for a while, and then tells me a price. I had an idea of how much it’d cost, but it cleaned me out.’

They all wanted to know how much the job cost him, but let him continue.

‘He takes the wad an’ asks me when I wants it done, so I tells him the dates that Ron is out of town an’ he tells me that it will be taken care of. He shakes me hand and walks off in that direction.’

Nick points in the direction of the city.

‘Like I said, I’ve never dealt with this geeze before, so I makes like I’m goin’ off in the opposite direction, and I doubles back and follows him to his office.’

Following Nick’s directions, Rodriguez drove down Glendale Boulevard to West 2
nd
, and then as they went under the Pasadena Freeway, he pointed to South Flower Street and turned into West 4
th
Street.

‘This is it right here!’ Nick called out excitedly, as the detective pulled up opposite a medium-sized office block.

‘You have to be joking,’ Malone said as he stared at the name on the side of the building. The sign announced that Jackson - Harrison Insurance Brokers could be found inside.

They all looked at Nick, ‘You’re telling me that the guy you met works as an Insurance Broker?’ the detective asked.

‘Yep, but it’s worse than that; I think he’s one of the partners. I couldn’t believe me eyes when I saw ‘im go in the building. I thought I was getting set up. So I followed him in and saw where he worked — he works on the second floor. His desk is by the window, right there. Nick pointed to the window directly above the I in insurance; there, sitting side on to the street, was a guy with thick glasses and even thicker hair.

‘Is that him?’ asked Erin as she reached for the door handle.

‘Sure is,’ Nick replied.

‘Hold on,’ the detective said to her. ‘You sit tight here while I go and have a word with our insurance broker. After all, I am still the only policeman here.’

He got out of the car, tucked his black folder under his arm, and crossed the road to the broker’s office.

‘You mean; you’re not a cop either?’ Nick asked Malone who just smiled back at him.

‘Well, can I go now then?’ came a feeble request from Nick.

‘
No!
’ they all yelled in unison.

Rodriguez took the elevator to the second floor and flashed his badge to the receptionist. She smiled sweetly and asked him what she could do to help.

‘I’d like a word with the guy who works behind that door.’ The detective said pointing at the door that hid the man in the window.

‘Mr. Harrison?
’ asked the intrigued receptionist. She got up and went over to the office, knocked on the door and entered.

A few moments later, Mr. Harrison came out of the office and with the receptionist scampering behind him, walked over to Detective Rodriguez.

‘What can I do for you officer?’ Harrison asked apprehensively, his eyes magnified through his thick glasses.

The detective flashed his badge again. ‘Do you have somewhere a little more private for us to talk?’ he asked quietly.

‘We can go into the conference room,’ Harrison replied. ‘But can I ask why?’

‘Great, please lead the way,’ the detective said, ignoring the question.

Once they were in the room, the detective patted down his own pockets as if searching for something while he asked Harrison for his driver license.

‘For the last time, Detective, what’s this all about?’ he asked again as he handed his license to him.

‘Please take a seat Mr. … er, Richard Harrison,’ he said reading from the license. ‘I just need to make this call.’ He pulled out his cell phone, flipped it open, and quickly tapped in the digits of the station. Once connected; he confirmed his badge number to the operator and requested a background check on the name and date of birth he gave her, telling her he’d hold.

‘Won’t be long,’ he said to the agitated man as he paced around the room, phone to his ear.

‘Right, Aha, yep, when was that again?’ He held the phone under his chin while he put his weathered leather folder onto the desk and opened it. The image of one of the arsonists stared up at him and he slowly moved the loose pages over to one side and scribbled down some notes on the pad. He finished with, ‘Ah, great, thanks,’ then snapped the phone shut and sat down opposite Harrison.

Appearing to be slightly slow or somewhat dimwitted, the detective started, ‘Sorry about that, Mr. Harrison; background checks are all the rage at the moment; according to the training manual, you never know who you’re talking to or if they’ve got some dark secret from the long distant past that we should be aware of…’ Knowing that Harrison had seen the image, the detective let his words hang for a second as he handed the license back.

‘That’s okay detective, and please; call me Richard.’ Rodriguez was impressed by the way Harrison had managed to hide his reaction.

‘Anyway, I tend to get all the jobs that no one wants — but someone has to do the real police work — huh?’ Once again he paused, ‘I’m following up on a few loose ends to do with some fires around the city, and I was told by your partner that you handled several of the cases, so I guess I could do with your help.’ The detective watched as the blood ran from Harrison’s face. Of course the part about speaking with his partner was a lie, but for a few reasons, he needed to play a bit of a game with him. First and foremost, he didn’t have time for Harrison to shut down and lawyer up. Secondly, and not half as important, he didn’t want to give away Nick as the source — he felt that Nick still had his uses. And finally, he just enjoyed playing with the guilty; with so much of his job now being mundane computer and paperwork, he liked to get his fun when he could.

‘Sure, I’d love to help, if I can,’ Harrison said uneasily.

The detective made a point of flicking over pages as he rummaged through his notebook and appearing to be trying to find some names, names he was making up on the spot.

‘Thank you Mr… er, Richard. Ah. There was a fire in a pet store called Wooferz Boutique on Melrose. Then, a week later there was a small fire in Spillers Partners, a lawyer’s office around the corner from here in West 2
nd
Street.’

‘Hold on a minute officer, neither of those premises ring a bell with me. I’m happy to check my records, but I think you may have me confused with someone else,’ Harrison butted in, visibly more relaxed.

Shuffling through the pages, the detective consulted his notes again. ‘Could be my mistake, never been good at taking notes. It would be most helpful if you could go and take a look though. Oh, and while you’re there, if you could check your records on a fire in a toy warehouse in Inglewood — owners name is…’ Again, Rodriguez turned a few pages then told Harrison the name. He kept his voice all business and monotone, with a hint of boredom thrown in for good measure.

Immediately Harrison went stiff. ‘I, uh, sure, I’ll go and check for you.’

As Harrison left the room, a smile found its way onto the cop’s face.

Harrison returned to the room with a file in his hand. He’d obviously had a chance to compose himself because the colour had come back to his cheeks, and he seemed slightly more confident.

‘I’ve checked my files, and sorry, I can’t help you with the first two names; as I said, they’re not my cases.’ He laid the file he’d brought with him onto the table. ‘Although, as it turns out officer; I did handle the toy warehouse case, but it’s been paid out, and according to this — for us, it’s basically closed. Apparently, it looks as though there was some form of fight amongst the soft toy people, probably a pillow fight,’ he joked

‘I don’t get it, Richard,’ the detective said vacantly.

‘Pillow fight…soft toys…’ Harrison shrugged and said, ‘I can have this file photocopied for you if it’ll be any help.’

‘Thanks Richard, that’s going to be very helpful. But now you’re gonna have to help me with another thing. You know, I said it’s funny what dark secrets some people can have? Well Richard, you see, while you were out checking your records, I got a call from the station; they’ve had an anonymous tip. It would seem that your name has come up in association with two guys who were seen at the scene of another fire, a fire at a house on Mulholland Drive.’ It was the detective’s turn to go to his file. He turned over the two pictures and laid them out on the table, pictures of an Indian and a long-haired, bearded hippy.

Harrison’s mind was suddenly filled with images from his last conversation with Scott and Vince, humorous banter about them getting dressed up to do the Mulholland job.

‘What do you know about these two guys here, Richard? And believe me, Dick, now is not the time for bullshit!’

Detective Rodriguez had seen the look so many times. Split or surrender, run or resign, tales or the truth — it always turned out the same, with the suspect giving up the story. The only real difference was the time it took, and this one had to be fast-tracked.

‘The one thing I will add is that the longer you take to tell me what I want to know, the worse it’s going to be for you. Do yourself a favor and give them up, it’s them we want, not you. But with one call, our focus can changed. Believe me; you don’t want to be the one looking at serial arson charges, abduction, and murder…’

‘Murder? They haven’t killed any… Oh, fuck.’

The detective smiled, he had him.

Harrison slumped in his chair.

‘They haven’t killed anyone have they?’ he asked

‘No, not yet, but it’s only a matter of time.’

‘And the abduction, you made that up too?’ he sighed.

‘No, that I didn’t make up. They’ve been spotted with a young boy called Joshua.’

He pulled out a picture of Joshua from his folder.

‘You’re kidding me!’ Harrison was incredulous.

The detective shook his head.

‘From what we can piece together so far, they grabbed him at the torching of the toy warehouse.’

‘Fuck. Look at the size of him.’ He stared at the photo.

‘But this doesn’t make sense; they’re arsonists not abductors, and certainly not murderers. In fact, they go to great lengths to ensure no one get hurt on their jobs.’