Memory Lapse: A Slater Vance Novel (21 page)

With his lips drawn into
a grim line, Slater said, “Don’t waste my time. What do you want, Linear?”

Wiseman Linear looked
down at his drink, slowly twirling the straw in his drink. “I… we are in
trouble.”

“Please tell me what you
think we have in common that would link us in trouble. Let’s face it… you’re a
piece of shit, and well, I’m not,” Slater said snidely.

Linear exhaled and sat
back heavily to study Slater intently. Slater watched a myriad of emotions
cross the other man’s face. Wiseman would never be a good poker player. Slater
felt the first twinges of unease settle over him. No matter what it was that
was going on, Wiseman Linear was sincerely afraid.

After several minutes,
Wiseman leaned forward and folded his forearms on the table to bring himself
closer to Slater.

In a low voice so as not
to be overheard, Wiseman said, “About a month ago, I was visited at my home by
Sylus
Trusworth
.”

Slater looked at him
blankly. “Who’s
Sylus
Trusworth
?”

Wiseman sighed heavily,
“Remember the tape my ex-wife sent you?” He paused until Slater gave slight
nod. “
Sylus
was the other man on the tape. He,
through his corporation, is a major stockholder in Linear Avionics.”

Slowly, Slater asked,
confused, “Okay… what does this have to do with me?”

“Well,
Sylus
didn’t actually ever know that particular phone call
had been recorded – or that it had been sent to anyone – much less the private
investigator we used to set up Curtis Roane,” Wiseman said, looking down at his
cup once more.

Confused, Slater
scratched his head. “Okay, so what happened to bring it up now? It’s been over
a year.”

“I’m not sure how he came
into this particular piece of information. But he wanted information about you.
And as our only link is the Curtis Roane thing, I’d say it’s a safe bet that
it’s the recording.”

“So, I ask again. What
does this have to do with me?” Slater asked.

Wiseman nervously licked
his lips and swallowed. “Have you ever heard of
Arthuro
Trusworth
?”

“As in,
the man who was indicted for money laundering?”
Slater asked with raised eyebrows.

Cocking his finger like a
gun, Wiseman pointed it at Slater. “That would be
Sylus’s
proud papa. Well, the senior Mr.
Trusworth
obviously
didn’t make his money… let’s say… legally. I assume
Sylus
and his father are now…” Wiseman made air quotes, “concerned the information
you possess could in some way incriminate
Sylus
.
Apparently, the junior
Trusworth
isn’t quite as
stoic
as his old man, and he is hesitant to go to jail.”

Slater sat back and ran a
hand through his hair then rubbed it across his face. “They have to know the
tape would be inadmissible in court.”

“I don’t think they care
what can or cannot be proven in court,” Wiseman said grimly.

With a shake of his head
and with his palms upraised, Slater asked, “Well, what exactly do they want?”

Waving a finger in the
air between them, Wiseman answered simply, “
You and me
– gone, disappeared, removed, rubbed out… you pick the descriptive phrase you
like.”

“This is a bunch of shit,
Linear. I assume they are the ones responsible for breaking into my office and
my house?”

With a slow shake of his head,
Wiseman gave Slater a doubtful look. “Seeing as how you are sitting here and
not in a pine box, I’d say no, it wasn’t them.”

Slater once again ran his
hand through his hair. “So what do you want from me?”

“We need to figure out a
way to take them down,” Wiseman said smoothly.

“Linear, this isn’t
television and we’re not wise-guys. Don’t be stupid.”

Leaning forward, Wiseman
said animatedly, “No, we’re not. But I know for a fact that you possess…
special skills.”

“So, let me get this
straight, you want me to what… take them out?” Slater said, sitting back and
folding his arms across his chest.

Wordlessly, Wiseman gave
a simple nod.

Slater sat silently
staring at Wiseman Linear for a long time before saying, “You are a stupid
son-of-a-bitch. I’m not a damn
hitman
. You are going
to get me everything you have on
Arthuro
and
Sylus
Trusworth
, and I mean
everything. I want it by tomorrow morning. We will meet here at eleven. If you
are not here by eleven-fifteen, I’m coming after you, you worthless piece of
shit. And remember those special skills you expounded upon? I will make an
exception in your case. I detest you, Linear, and have since you sucked me in
to set up Curtis Roane. You are an asshole and it would do my heart good to
kill you with my bare hands. Do I make myself clear?”

Nervously, Wiseman wiped
away the moisture which had appeared on his upper lip. As before, he wordlessly
nodded.

“Eleven o’clock.
Tomorrow.
Don’t be late or you’ll be very sorry,” Slater
said, snapping to his feet.

Shit! Shit! Shit!
Slater thought as he made his way to his rental car. His life
was going to hell in a big hurry. Damn Wiseman Linear. Crawling behind the
wheel, Slater took a minute to take a deep breath. He needed to keep a clear
head. What should he do first? He needed to find a place to hide out until he
could come up with a plan.
Dammit!
He
hit his steering wheel with the palm of his hand. An image of Janet Jackson
popped into his head; it wasn’t just him he had to consider. He also needed to
talk to his brother. They might decide to go after Tucker to get to him once he
went missing.
What to do, what to do
.

Pulling out his cell
phone, he scrolled down to Tiger Monroe. He answered on the third ring.

“Tiger, I need your
help,” Slater said with no preamble.

◊◊◊

Slater sat across the
street from the bank until it closed and both Noah
Stephano
and
Tangra
Lamont had departed. Flipping a coin, the
decision was made to follow
Tangra
Lamont. Through
his camera lens in between the flitter of the shutter, Slater watched
Tangra
slide into a yellow Mustang GT with black stripes up
the side. Good, it’d make tailing her a lot less complicated.
 
Easing out into traffic, Slater maintained a
four car-length distance between them. Slater knew from the information
provided by Nash Burkes and then vetted by
himself, that
Tangra
lived with her grandmother in an apartment
complex, the
LaRosa
Circle Apartments. Between the
bank and the
LaRosa
Circle Apartments,
Tangra
made two stops: one at the dry cleaners and another
at a hamburger drive-thru.

Slater parked across the
street at a neighboring apartment complex and sat on
Tangra
Lamont until almost six-thirty. Exhausted, Slater slowly made his way home.

Chapter 14

The mood of those
gathered around Slater’s table was somber. He looked around at the faces of his
brother, Thompson Bridges, Tiger Monroe, and Janet Jackson.

“Can’t you contact the
authorities and let them handle this?” Tucker asked, still dressed his
Rabata
– black shirt with the white collar and black pants,
from his visit with the Bishop.

Tipping his beer to his
lips, Slater wiped a hand across his mouth. “I told you, I sent the tape
recording to the DA when it was sent to me a year ago and they said it was
inadmissible.”

“Well, what do you need
from us?” Bridge asked.

“My first thought was to
vacate the premises for a while and go underground until I figure out what to
do. But, these are nasty people and will use any means necessary to get what
they want, so I need to stay put. I don’t want them going after anybody to get
to me. But I do have a complication…” Turning his head, he glanced at Janet
Jackson. “It might be best if Janet goes somewhere else…”

Janet interrupted him.
“No, absolutely not.
I want to stay,” she said emphatically.

Slater raised his brows.
“I don’t really think that decision is yours to make.”

Janet didn’t answer but
folded her arms over her chest defiantly.

Exhaling deeply, Slater
turned to Tiger. “Tiger, I need you to hang out here for a while… especially if
the Queen of Rock,” he jerked his head in Janet’s direction, “is planning on
staying.”

“Hey, dude, it’s your
dime. I’ll stay whenever you want me to. ”Tiger said, flashing his gold teeth
at Slater.

“Bridge, I need you to
pull whatever favors you can to get information on the
Trusworths
.
I’ll get what I can out of Linear tomorrow, then we’ll combine it and roll the
dice from there. As an officer of the law, I mainly want you to be aware of
what’s going on, just in case.”

“Just in case… what?
“Tucker asked apprehensively.

Silence surrounded the table
with the exception of a couple of nervous coughs.

“Tucker, everything is
going to be fine. This is what I do,” Slater said.

With his lips tightening,
Tucker said, “That didn’t stop you from getting attacked twice, did it?”

“That was different. I
wasn’t looking for it. Now I am. I’m sorry, Tucker, but the die has been cast.
I’m just playing the hand I’ve been dealt. I want you to keep your distance for
a little while; just until things have been resolved, okay?”

Tucker didn’t answer but
drew his lips in a grim line.

Ideas and plans were
tossed about the table for nearly an hour. By the end, every player understood
their role. Bridge left and Slater went to show Tiger his new room for the time
being.

Tucker leaned a hand over
to cover the thin, pale arm of Janet. “How are you doing… really?”

“Better than yesterday,
thanks for asking,” she answered.

“Slate told me you might
be interested in a job?”

Nodding her head, she
said, “Yes, I think I need to move forward. Even if I’m not sure what forward
is exactly. Slater told me I could stay here as long as I needed to and I have
the car, so I might as well be productive.”

“I agree. In fact, I
might be able to help. A member of my parish owes a small television station
and is looking for a gal Friday. Would you be interested?”

“Is the person aware… of
my difficulties?” she asked quietly.

“I discussed it briefly.
It’s more of a ‘bring my coffee’ kind of job. You’ll be fine,” Tucker said
encouragingly.

“Then I’d love that.
Thank you.”

Once Tucker left, Janet
slipped out through the sliding glass doors to the swing. It was darker now
without the fullness of the moon to light her way. The night was warm and humid
and the grass was wet beneath her bare feet. She sat in the swing and gently
pushed it back and forth. She knew she should be afraid, but found she wasn’t.
That fact made her happy in a way. Maybe she had eventually faced her fear and
found the courage to take control of her own life. But what had she allowed to
happen to her child?

She wasn’t aware of
Slater coming out until he sat down next to her.

“I was wondering where
you got off to. You might need to stay in the house after dark, just until…”

“Okay,” she answered
quietly.

“How are you holding up
with everything?” he asked.

“I’m not worried. Hey, I got
a job… or at least I think I do. Tucker found it for me. Isn’t that great?”

“Wow! That is good news.
We could all use some right about now…” he trailed off before adding, “Do you
think it’s wise… you staying here?”

“Where else would I go?”
she smiled gently.

Purposefully
misunderstanding her, he said, “I can help you find a place, that won’t be a
problem.”

“Do you want me to go?
Have I overstayed my welcome?” she asked vulnerably.

Laying a hand over hers,
he said, “Of course not. I just want you to be safe, that’s all.”

“Then I’ll stay,” she
said, liking the safe feel of his hand over hers.

Standing, Slater reached
down a hand. “In that case, shall we go in? Tomorrow is
gonna
be a hell of a day, I’m afraid.”

Chapter 15

Once everyone was down
for the night in Slater Vance’s house, he grabbed a stiff drink and headed to
his office. Slowly, he lowered himself into the chair and leaned back, placed
his drink against his forehead, and closed his eyes. Things in his nice,
orderly life were suddenly going to hell in a hand basket, as his mother used
to say.