Unleashed (A Sydney Rye Novel, # 1) (36 page)

“Yeah. But don’t you think that taking the treasure is punishment enough? I mean, don’t you think leaving him alive to realize that his treasure is gone is better than killing him? Also, then we don’t face any legal repercussions. He’s not going to call the police and report it missing.”

“Mulberry I’m going to kill him. That’s it. There’s nothing else to talk about here.”

“Fine.” Mulberry frowned and looked away. I smiled. ”You don’t have to be there,” I said gently. “We’ll get the treasure out, and then I’ll go and take care of him myself. You’ll be long gone by the time he’s dead.”

“OK.”

“So, back to this theory of yours. If Tate and Kurt were accessing the river via the basement, then so could we.” Mulberry nodded. “Theoretically we could carry it out the same way they carried it in.”

“Right.”

“The question is, how do we turn the treasure into money?”

“I think I know a guy who can help with that.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve got a meeting with him tonight.”

“Can I come?” The waitress came over and refilled our coffees. After she left Mulberry said, “No.”

“Why not?”

“He’s a very private man.”

“It’s a man, then.”

“Shut up.”

“Fine, talk to your man.” I stood up. Blue hurried out from under the table and stood next to me. Mulberry stood up, too.

“Where you going?” he asked.

“I’ll call you.” I started to walk away from the table. Mulberry tried to follow but a manager—a big, hairy man—asked him how he would like to pay for his check. Blue and I kept walking while Mulberry struggled to pull his wallet out.

I led Blue around the corner and out of Mulberry’s sight. I turned into a building. The lobby was empty except for a security guard standing next to a bank of elevators. He watched as Blue and I stood up against the wall.

“Can I help you?”

“No. I’m fine.” I saw Mulberry come rushing around the corner. He looked up and down the street. I watched the frustration set itself in lines on his face.

“Ma’am, is everything OK?” the security guard asked, eyeing the lingering bruising on my face. The bandages were gone, but the scars looked fresh, pink, and scary.

“Yes. Thank you. I’ll leave in just a second.”

“Are you hiding from someone?”

I smiled at him. “Of course not.” Mulberry turned back toward the restaurant. I waited a few more minutes, watching people walk by.

“Is that the guy you’re hiding from?” the security officer asked, pointing across the street at the bus stop. Bob stood large and conspicuous, surrounded by tired women holding plastic bags. “I think he knows you’re in here.”

“Yeah.” Bob was looking right at us. “Looks that way.”

I stepped outside and waved to Bob. He nodded. Then I headed over to Jackie Saperstein’s house. I wanted to talk to her. I had a feeling she knew something she hadn’t told anyone that she was just dying to tell me.

Soon, Very Soon

Cecelia opened the door for me. “Joy, this is a surprise. Elaine told us you no longer wanted the route.”

“That’s true, but I want to talk to Jackie.”

“Come in.” She closed the door behind me. “I heard about what happened to your brother, and I wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”

“Thanks.” I didn’t want to talk about it, and she dropped it. Jackie and Mildred sat across from each other at the small kitchen table. Snaffles waited for me at the gate, his tail wagging.

“Joy,” Jackie said. “This is a surprise.”

“Hi, how are you?”

“I’m alright. How are you?”

“I’ve been better, but I’ll be OK. Mildred.” I nodded at Mildred. She nodded back. “Could I speak to you alone?” I asked Jackie.

Cecelia took Jackie’s place across from Mildred, and we went into the living room. Almost blinding sunlight filled the room. Jackie closed the curtains. “It gets really hot in here if I let the sun come in all day,” she explained. The sun struggled through the dark-blue drapes, and the room took on a somber tone.

“I wanted to talk to you about something your husband was involved in.” She sat down on the couch and motioned for me to sit next to her.

“What kind of involvement?”

“It has to do with treasure.” Surprise was all that registered on her face. “The basement of Eighty-Eight East End.” Her surprise was tainted by guilt. “What do you know about the basement?”

“Nothing.”

“I think it was you.”

“What?”

“I think it was you seen leaving the emergency exit.”

“But—”

“I don’t think you killed your husband. In fact, I know you didn’t. I think you were there, though.” Her eyes, large and frightened, stared at me.

“How?” she asked in barely a whisper.

“I want you to tell me what happened. I won’t tell the police or anyone else, ever. I give you my word of honor.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Will you tell me?” I could see that she wanted to. Her story pulsed inside her.

“I followed him,” she started.

“From here?”

“Yes. I was here when he came back from his jog.”

“He came back here? Why didn’t Michael see him?”

“I don’t know. He was probably looking at himself in the mirror. Or maybe he went out for coffee. I don’t know why.”

“OK. So, he came back here.”

“He was here when I came in. I sneaked in the delivery entrance after leaving Julen. Joseph was packing a bag. He was wearing his jogging outfit and his stupid toupee, and he was packing a bag.” Her words spilled out of her, angry and desperate. “When he saw me standing in the doorway, he jumped. He was obviously scared. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. He brushed past me like I was the maid. But I was his wife. I followed him into the hall, and I grabbed his toupee off his head. He tried to take it back, but I didn’t let him.” I had an image of Mrs. Saperstein standing on the couch, the toupee held high above her head as the late Mr. Saperstein tried to claw up her body to get it back.

“It was so stupid, so childish of me. I told him he couldn’t leave me, that I loved him, that I wanted to save our marriage.” She watched her hands resting in her lap. “He looked at me with such disgust—like I was nothing. I don’t know how it got to that.” She paused. “We were really in love once, you know. We,” she smiled sadly, “thought we would be happy together forever.” I nodded. “So, um, he gave up trying to take the toupee. He told me I would hear from his lawyer and stormed out.” She stopped talking.

“Then what happened?” I asked.

“That’s it.”

“Come on, finish it.” She looked at me, her eyes glistening. She appeared to be drowning on the inside.

“I took his toupee and I followed him,” she whispered, “I took the stairs, and I followed him out of the building. He didn’t turn around even once. He walked straight to this hatch in the ground in the park, near the cherry trees.” She looked to see if I knew the hatch she was talking about. I nodded that I did. “Joseph opened it and then looked around to see if anyone was watching, but he didn’t see me and he went down. I followed him. He had started wearing this awful cologne. A gift from his girlfriend, I guess. I could smell it. Isn’t that crazy? I tracked him through the halls by his smell, like a dog.” She was waiting for me to say something.

“I think it’s impressive you were able to track him so cleverly.”

“Sure,” she laughed, “clever, not psychotic. Whichever it was, I followed him. I saw him go into a room, and then I heard him inside the room. He was apologizing, and I heard a man tell him it was too late. I ran around the corner and hid. They came out of the room and walked in the opposite direction. I went after them. They went through the emergency exit. I was about to follow when I heard a bang.” She paused. “I thought it was a truck backfiring. How silly.” A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, leaving a track in her makeup. “I opened the door and saw Joseph on the ground.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t remember doing it, but I must have dropped the toupee.” She choked on a sob.

“It’s OK. You can stop now.”

“No. I want to finish. I saw him lying there. He had no face.”

“I know.”

“And he was in his own blood. I was standing in the doorway looking at him when I heard Chamers yell to me. I ran. I ran blindly through the halls. Somehow I found myself back at the room that Joseph came out of, and I went into it.”

“What was in it?”

“It was so strange. It was just a bunch of wooden crates marked fragile.” Her eyes were unfocused, staring into the gloomy light coming through the curtains. “I keep going back there, but I still don’t understand.”

“That’s how Snaffles ate the rat poison?” She turned her head and focused on my face.

“Yes, I took him with me for the company.” Her breath caught in her throat, and I could almost see the fear race through her veins. “You won’t tell anyone?” she begged and questioned in the same breath.

“Not a soul,” I promised. “Have you figured out what your husband went down there for?”

“No.” She smiled without her eyes. “I haven’t a clue. The boxes are all empty. I don’t understand it.”

“Thank you for telling me.” She looked at me but didn’t say anything. “I’ve got to go,” I said breaking eye contact. I stood up; she followed.

“Do you know why he went down there?”

“I think so.”

“Will you tell me?”

“Later.” She reached for my hand and held it lightly.

“Please, tell me. I can’t sleep.”

“The answer won’t help you.”

“Please.”

“I can’t tell you now. I promise you that I will explain it all soon.” I took my hand away from her. She reached toward me. “I promise, soon.”

Information

Bob was waiting for me outside. He followed me back to the Excelsior where I sat in my room until the sun set. Mulberry called. I told him to come over. He arrived with Chinese food.

“You trying to fatten me up?” I asked.

“Someone’s got to do it.” He pulled out General Tso’s, moo shoo pork and spring rolls. We ate directly out of the cartons. I didn’t have any plates or bowls.

“I did some research today after you ran off,” Mulberry said, a piece of shredded pork hanging from his chin. I motioned to it. He tried to get it with his tongue.

“Lower,” I told him. He stretched his tongue as far as it would go. I laughed.

“Did I get it?”

“No.” He took his hand and wiped just below it. I laughed harder.

“Shut up.” Mulberry reached into the bag, found a napkin, and vigorously wiped the wrong side of his face. “Hmm?” I shook my head, laughing. Mulberry got angry. “Just get it off me.” I took the napkin from him and was about to grab it when I burst out laughing and had to slap my knee. “Joy!” he yelled. “Come on.” He thrust his chin out toward me. I leaned over and wiped at the pork with the napkin.

We were just inches away from each other. Mulberry made eye contact, and it felt like electricity bolted between us. We both turned away quickly.

The detective grunted. “Like I said, I did some research today,” he started. I smiled at him. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“What?”

“I’m not cute.”

I laughed. “You are when you have pork on your chin.”

“Listen to me, OK?”

“OK.”

“There is a drainage system underneath Eighty-Eight that drains into the river. It goes under the highway straight to the river.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large folded piece of paper. Mulberry unfolded a map onto the coffee table and showed me which one of the hundreds of lines was the tunnel we could take to the river.

“We just have to find how to get into it?” I asked.

“Exactly.”

“I found some stuff out today, too.”

“Yeah?”

“I know what room Joseph Saperstein walked into in Eighty-Eight right before he was murdered.” Mulberry’s jaw dropped. I savored his surprise for a second before I continued. “It was the room with all the empty fragile boxes.”

“I know what you’re talking about,” Mulberry said. I popped the last bite of spring roll into my mouth.

“I think we should check it out tonight,” I said, my mouth full. Mulberry looked at me. I swallowed. “What?”

He cleared his throat. “Nothing, nothing. Let’s check it out tonight.”

“There’s one thing.”

“Yeah?”

“We’re going to have to evade Bob.”

“Who?”

“That’s what I call my tail.”

“Are you on something?” Mulberry asked.

“No, really. There’s a guy who’s been following me. I call him Bob.” Mulberry just stared. “He works for the mayor. He’s the same guy who threatened me on the subway.”