In the Blink of An Eye by Jerry Baggett (ebook reader for surface pro TXT) 📕

we find out where the problem is.” Marino was quiet a moment, before asking, “When was he released?”

“I don’t know, exactly, boss. Sometime recently, I think.”

“OK, Hans, I’m on the Davis situation now. I’ll let you know what’s needed.”

Marino terminated his call with Hans and looked up to see Mack, the evening bouncer and assistant club manager, waiting inside the door. “What’s up, Mack?”

“I want to give you an update on Maria’s lover boy, if you have time.”

“Yeah, let’s have it, Mack.”

“The guy’s a little too old to be a lover boy type, but Maria likes him. Mostly, all he does is work, and wait for Maria so he can get laid. His only other contacts have been at that place he works and one time he met with the boyfriend of that Brooks woman, at his hotel. We thought his last name was Grant, but that’s his first name. His last name is Davis. We checked with his employer at the restaurant. He’s retired Coast Guard.”

Oh, shit, not now. He bit the soggy end of his cigar off and damn near swallowed it before he realized what he was doing. It can’t be the same guy, Marino thought. “You say his name is Grant Davis?”

“That’s it, boss, an older guy.”

“Thanks, Mack. I’ll take it from here.”

This could not be happening. He wanted to yell. He wanted to throw something. There’s no such thing as coincidence here. Can’t let Mack and the others know what’s going on. Excitement creates too much curiosity. Must keep things calm. That guy with the Brooks girl. He could be another plant, a DEA Fed.

He thought about the bartender. What a waste. Davis has probably sucked her dry, everything she’s ever heard about our operation, how she started hooking. She’s puked up her guts, I know it.

He climbed the stairs to a small loft, set up for naps and occasional romps. He opened the slider and stepped out into the cool, moist air and stared at a few light clouds moving across the full moon. Moments later he went back inside for the night.

He hadn’t slept well. The anxiety he’d felt the night before was still there, a low-grade fever in the blood, an itch that couldn’t be scratched. He called Hans back. “A change of plans, Hans. We have work to do. Get here as soon as you can, but stay under the radar.” Marino made his decision. The girl has to go.

Chapter 25

Dick pulled a half-gallon jug of ice tea out of the small refrigerator. “Grab those glasses off the table and let’s go out on the deck. We might as well enjoy the nice breeze coming in off the water this morning.”

Grant propped his feet on the railing. “It’s the money, Dick. It’s always the money. I’ve found most of the prisoners incarcerated today are locked up for violent drug related offenses. It’s the damn money that’s behind so much inhumane brutality. I hope you never see it first- hand. The federal system, where I was, had some of the most violent killers. Big money in illicit drugs is too attractive for those people looking for an easy ride. It’s a cash business, drawing both men and women, with little to lose, down a fast road to hell. There’s no exit ramp on that slippery road.”

He turned to Dick. “Looks like we have one thing in common. We’re both in temporary quarters here. I hope your relationship with Samantha’s more permanent.”

“I’m with you, there. We’re in the early stages of something wonderful. Right now, we have to see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. I’m more concerned about the threats to Sam, and I might say, to you, at the moment.”

“I appreciate that. Hunt asked me to brief you on what I know about our adversaries. Hope you’re ready to find out just how brutal some in our human race can be.” He stared at the horizon for a moment. “I have no illusion about the personal danger to myself, or my niece.”

Dick said. “What do you know about this bunch of people we’re facing? We need information on specific individuals. Have any been identified that you know about?”

“Hunt has more information than he lets out. The prison inmates eventually began to trust me. They became a storehouse of facts in my quest for answers. There’s little evidence for some of what I’m giving you, but it’ll prove to be useful.”

“You heard what Hunt said about Big Ugly, better known as Hans Hempel. He works directly for Harvey Marino. Harvey owns multiple nightclubs, or, as some call them, titty-bars. He serves good booze and dishes it up by hiring attractive young women as topless dancers and bartenders. Now, I’m going to shock you. Harvey Marino was Samantha’s little known step-father. At the time of her mother’s death, Harvey was well connected to San Francisco’s underworld. His club there was a hotspot of drugs and prostitution. The city fathers were bringing enormous pressure on law enforcement, demanding a thorough cleanup of the city. Samantha’s mother, Stephanie, caught his eye and he pursued her with everything in his arsenal. She panicked when my brother died and Harvey stepped up to the plate.”

He hesitated several moments. “You and Samantha should know this. Harvey was only married to Stephanie a few months, before she divorced him. She had not seen him for three or four years, when she was killed. I’m convinced the man I glimpsed in that dark room, on that fatal night, was none other than her ex-husband. She probably had information he believed dangerous. Samantha knows nothing of this. After Stephanie had been shot dead and then stabbed, the man smothered the child with a pillow. I was told the child recovered, quickly, and screamed her head off for hours.”

Dick sat quietly. I’m not