The Outsider (James Bishop 4) (35 page)

‘All
right
,’ Dario said.

‘Hey, you cracked it,’ Rylander said.

Bishop tried
7695
on the other rotary dial. He slid the release tab to the side. There was another click and that latch snapped open too.

He quickly glanced at the three anxious faces above him, then he opened the briefcase.

Lining the black, padded, faux-leather interior were stacks of used fifty-dollar bills, each one wrapped in a blank paper currency band. Bishop guessed there were maybe fifteen or sixteen stacks altogether. And assuming each stack contained a hundred notes, that meant there was somewhere between seventy and eighty grand in there. So it looked as though Strickland wasn’t the only one who believed in keeping a little extra tucked away for emergencies. Not that it had done him much good in the long run.

Rylander’s eyes were wide. ‘Whoa.’

‘Is that for real?’ Emily asked.

‘Wouldn’t be much point in locking it all away if it wasn’t,’ Bishop said.

Money wasn’t all the case contained, though. He’d already spotted a flash of something grey under one of the stacks. He moved the money out of the way and underneath was a Sony microcassette recorder. It was only a small thing, measuring about twelve inches by six. He opened the front lid and inside was a TDK MC-60 cassette, wound back to the beginning.

Bishop had never seen anything so beautiful.

He almost smiled until he remembered the tape could contain anything. There were no certainties yet. He pulled the cassette from the player, pressed the Play button and watched as the two sprocket wheels began rotating in tandem. So even after all this time, the batteries were still working. That was good. He replaced the cassette and snapped the lid shut.

He looked up at Dario. ‘There. Didn’t I tell you?’

But Dario’s concentration was on the stacks of money in the case. The young hood lifted one of the bundles and flipped through it slowly. He smiled just as slowly, his mouth making smacking sounds as he continued to chew his gum. He stuffed the money in the left-hand pocket of his leather jacket, and then pulled out three more wads. They went into the same pocket.

‘That’s not your money,’ Bishop said.

‘Sure it is,’ Dario said, grinning. ‘Look.’

He reached down and grabbed the rest of the money and stuffed the wads in his other jacket pockets. ‘You got a problem with that, amigo?’

Bishop ignored him and turned to Emily. ‘Look, I really want to thank you two for helping me out here, but you should probably head on back now. I think the less you’re seen with me, the better.’

Rylander was frowning at Dario. ‘Yeah, I think he’s right, Em.’

‘Okay,’ Emily said. ‘I really hope things work out for you, Bishop.’

‘You and me both,’ he said. ‘Thanks again.’

She nodded once, then she and her husband went over and got in the Chevy. Bishop watched as Rylander started the engine and slowly backed out of the space until they were pointing the way they’d come. As they pulled away, Bishop slid the now-empty briefcase into the van’s interior and stood up, still holding the microcassette recorder.

Dario slid the side door shut. ‘I wanna hear this tape.’

‘You’re not the only one,’ Bishop said. ‘Let’s get inside first.’

Because if it turned out the recording was no use to him, he’d be in a much better position to put Dario out of action if they were both sitting in the front seats. He’d already decided that a knife-hand strike to the throat would probably work best, although he hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.

He opened the driver’s door and got in. Dario got in the passenger side. Shutting his door, Bishop thumbed the cassette recorder’s volume control to its maximum setting, set the machine down on the dashboard and pressed Play.

First, there were some muffled clattering noises as the recorder was turned off, then on again. This was followed by a high-pitched giggling, then a child’s voice said, ‘
And thank you for that, studio. I’m gonna—
’
Something covered the microphone for a few moments, and then the same voice said,
‘
Hey, no
way
. You’re not allowed to touch it, Julia. Mom told you before, it’s
my
present, and you gotta wait your turn
.
You ain’t—
’ This was followed by sounds of a scuffle, as though somebody was trying to grab hold of the cassette recorder.

The voice had sounded as though it belonged to a boy. Maybe five or six years old.

‘Hey, what is this shit?’ Dario said.

‘Be quiet,’ Bishop said.

The unidentified sounds suddenly stopped and another child’s voice said, ‘
Okay, get on with it then
.’ This once sounded female, so possibly the aforementioned Julia. And she sounded a little older than the boy. Seven or eight, maybe.

The boy said, ‘
Okay, then. Right. So, like I was saying, thank you, studio. And now … and now this is ace reporter Richy Hartnell at the scene, reporting for ABC …
’

Bishop and Dario glanced at each other at the mention of Hartnell. Sounded like these two were his own kids then. And from the sounds of it, it was either Christmas or this Richy’s birthday.

The boy went on, ‘…
and yes, the fire is
totally
out of control now and I think they’re gonna have to call in the army to put it out
.’

‘
That’s the fire brigade,
stinko,’ the little girl said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
‘Army’s for riots and wars and things. Don’t you know
any
thing?
’

‘Shut up
, Julia.
You’re
the stinko, not me. And you gotta wait until I ask you the questions. You can’t just say stuff when you want
.’

‘
Okay, okay
.
Ask your dumb questions before the tape runs out
.’

‘
Right
.
Okay, then. So you saw what started this fire, right, Miss?’

‘
Yeah, I did. It was this big fat elephant with wings, and he kept aiming his trunk at the buildings and rays of fire shot out of his trunk, and one of them hit …
’

Both kids collapsed into uncontrollable giggles that went on for about ten seconds. This was soon followed by more clattering noises as the boy messed around with the Pause and Play controls.

Dario gave a loud sigh and turned his face to the window. On the tape, Bishop heard silence for a while, and then the sound of somebody knocking on a door. ‘
Can I come in,
Daddy?
’ the boy said.

There followed the sound of a door opening. Then a deep male voice said, ‘
Hey, if it isn’t my little birthday boy. You enjoying all your presents?
’

‘
I’m a reporter for ABC, Daddy
,’ the boy said. ‘
I’m here to interview you.
’

‘
A reporter, huh? Well, I don’t know about that. What about?
’

‘
You know. Stuff. And you too, Uncle Dom.
’

So it was Hartnell
and
Callaway, both in the same room.

‘
Well, as long as it’s short, Richy
,’
Hartnell said.
‘
Daddy’s working, you know? What do you want to ask us?
’

Bishop heard something that could have been somebody sitting on a leather seat, or a couch. Then the boy said, ‘
Okay, you first, Daddy. I’ve just got a report that all the animals in the zoo have been let out of the cages. Now when the rhino and the lion get into a fight with each other, who do you think’s gonna win?
’

‘
Well, I’d have to go with the lion on that one, what with him being a carnivore and all. And let’s not forget those teeth.
’

‘
Thank you, sir,’
the boy said.
‘And what about you, mister?
’

‘
I don’t think you can rule out the rhino
,’ a familiar voice said. Callaway. It was him all right. ‘
That horn of his could do a lot of damage, Richy.
’

The boy coughed.
‘
Yes, I see. Thank you, sir. Now I’d like to ask you about the dinosaurs. If a Tyrannosaurus—
’

A woman’s voice suddenly interrupted them. ‘
Richy, what are you doing in here?
’

‘
I’m interviewing people for ABC News, Mom.
’

‘
You know you can’t interrupt Daddy in his office like this. Come on, now. Let’s go to the kitchen where Daisy’s making lunch.
’

‘
But, Mom—
’

‘
No buts. Come on now. Let Daddy get back to work.
’

‘
Better do what Mom says,’
Hartnell said
. ‘You can finish up some other time.
’

‘
Oh,
all
right.
’
There was a muffled scuffling and then a few seconds later, the sound of a door being closed.

Hartnell’s voice said, ‘
So where were we?
’

Bishop smiled to himself, and watched Dario slowly turn from the window to listen. It was obvious to both what had happened. The boy must have not only left the cassette recorder in Hartnell’s office, but left the tape still running as well.

‘
I was only saying you had nothing to worry about, Felix,
’
Callaway said.
‘
I kept things tight all down the line and I’ve cleaned up after myself. Of the five men I used for the job, only one’s still walking around, and I’ll be taking care of him tomorrow night.
’

‘
Which one is it?
’

‘
Ayers. It’s all arranged. It’ll look like a gangland dispute that got out of hand.
’

‘
Why can’t you do it today? Or tonight?
’

‘
We set up this whole meet a week ago and if I change it now, he’ll suspect something’s up. Also, one of the men I’m using is finishing up another job right now.
’

There was a sigh. ‘
All right, but the sooner this is all sealed up, Dom, the better. I don’t need to tell you that if our wetback friend ever discovered we were the ones behind his sister’s death, there’d be war on the streets. You know how emotional they get down there. If Rafael ever got his hands on us …
’
He left the sentence unfinished.

Bishop’s heart was already beating a mile a minute. The tape was turning out to be everything he could have hoped for and more.

‘
Yeah, I read you
,’
Callaway said.
‘
But after tomorrow there won’t be anyone left who can connect us to that whole mess. And now Rafael’s got his bloodlust out of his system, everybody’s happy again.
’

‘
Well, let’s wait until tomorrow before we start celebrating. Come see me once it’s done, okay?
’

‘
Naturally. I better shoot off now. I still got a few details I need to finalize. Want me to send Mechner through on my way out?
’

‘
Yeah. Send him through.
’

Bishop reached over and pressed the Stop button. They’d heard the most important part, the rest they could hear back at the apartment. But it sounded to Bishop as though Mechner had been summoned by the boss for whatever reason and sat in the same spot Richy had been sitting. He must have seen the tape was still running, decided it was an opportunity he couldn’t ignore, and taken it away with him to listen to later. Which had been a pretty risky move for him at the time. But one for which Bishop was now profoundly grateful.

As he rewound the tape back to the beginning, he checked the clock and saw it was already 11.52. Time to go. He handed the tape machine to Dario and said, ‘You better call Geraldo and tell him the good news. And that we’ll be about half an hour late.’

Smiling, Dario pocketed the player. ‘Sure, I’ll call him, amigo.’

Bishop started the engine, then backed up and got them out of there.

Since there hadn’t been any police presence coming in, Bishop decided to shave a few minutes off the driving time by taking the I-44 all the way back to Tulsa. Dario seemed in a good mood for much of the return journey, chewing loudly and humming to himself as he surfed the net on his phone. But then eighty grand for a minute’s work would make anybody happy. Oddly enough, Bishop hadn’t heard Dario mention Hartnell by name when he’d updated Geraldo. Or maybe he simply didn’t want to be the bearer of bad tidings, preferring his boss to find out for himself. Geraldo had just told them to get back as fast as they could.

It was 13.22 when they reached the Lakewood Apartments. Bishop parked the van in the same spot as before and saw Clea’s Explorer was still in its rightful space. The moment he turned off the engine, a stack of cash landed on his lap.

He turned to a now-grinning Dario and said, ‘What’s this for?’

‘Gift from me to you. You keep that, I keep the rest. Nobody else needs to know about it. Are we good?’

Bishop spent a moment thinking it over. Then he smiled and stuffed the money in his own jacket pocket. It would come in very useful later, assuming Guzman kept his word. ‘We’re good,’ he said.