The photo Rothman had taken had to be worth at least a hundred grand if handled right. It could also get whoever had the photo killed. Even if Scalise could’ve trusted Colgan not to screw things up, he wasn’t about to share a hundred grand with him, which meant Colgan had to die that night no matter what Scalise might’ve thought about him.
Scalise didn’t mind the rough stuff he did for Big Joe Penza, which included robbing banks, extortion, collections, and hijacking the occasional truck. The truth was, he enjoyed it, but what had it gotten him? After fifteen years of working for Penza, he had a closet full of tailored suits, a new Lincoln, and twenty grand stashed away. That was it. He was never going to get rich doing this shit. Three weeks ago he had met a Russian who told him how he could make millions by embracing new technologies, namely something called ransomware. The way he explained it to Scalise, this was a computer virus that would screw up someone’s computer unless they paid money to make the virus go away. They’d only charge each victim two hundred dollars, but if the virus spread to hundreds of thousands of computers, it would add up. This Russian had a team of computer experts in one of those former Soviet republics with a name that was impossible to pronounce, and he promised Scalise he could get a ransomware concern off the ground with a seventy-five grand investment, and they’d be fifty-fifty partners. Scalise believed him, which meant the moment Rothman showed them his photo, Colgan was a dead man.
Scalise said a silent prayer for the soul of his ex-partner, then rolled Rothman’s corpse into the grave.
He first filled up the hole, then layered stones, leaves, and other debris on top to hide the freshly dug grave. While he did this, he thought about the story he was going to give Big Joe Penza about Rothman’s disappearance, and Colgan’s also. By the time he was done, he was satisfied with what he had come up with.
During his drive back to Los Angeles, Scalise thought only about how he was going to use the dynamite Rothman had given him.
Chapter 8
Over the last three days Lucky had gotten used to people knocking on Lori’s office door, and when her boss, Alice Green, stuck her head in, the oversized Rottweiler-Doberman mix barely budged.
Alice, who was a slender and attractive woman in her early fifties, grinned and asked how the big galoot was doing. That had been her nickname for Lucky from the start, and even though Lori didn’t know at the time what it meant, the nickname sounded so right that she started calling Lucky it also. When she later looked the term up online, she couldn’t help smiling thinking how perfectly it fit the big guy.
Lucky lifted his enormous head from the floor, fixed his yellowish-reddish eyes on Alice, and let out a deep-throated moan before dropping his head with a thud back to the floor. Since his skull was probably harder than concrete, it was doubtful he felt the impact.
Alice shifted her gaze to Lori and asked how the Cheswick assignment was coming. “Do you think you’ll have it done by five?”
“Faster than that. I should have it finished up within the hour. Do you want a sneak preview?”
“Sure.”
Alice came around Lori’s desk and positioned herself so she could get a look at the computer monitor and the graphics Lori had been designing. “Excellent,” she said, beaming. “You made a good decision adopting that big galoot.” Somewhat maternally, she added, “You’ve been so much more relaxed and at peace since doing that, and it’s showing in your work.” Before turning to leave the office, she gave Lori’s shoulder a friendly squeeze.
Lori wiped away some moisture from her eyes. “Thanks again, Alice, for letting me bring him to work.”
“I’m happy I did.” Alice was still beaming. “He adds a nice presence here. I have to admit, I didn’t think that would be the case when I first saw him.”
That was an understatement. When Lori brought Lucky to the office that first morning, he certainly raised some eyebrows. She had discussed with Alice about her wanting to get a dog and bringing him to work, and she even confided in her boss her reason why, although she lied when she told Alice she knew her fear was unreasonable. Her fear was the opposite of that, even though the idea of it was insane. But she knew in her heart he was out there and she knew he was waiting to do terrible things to her, even though she didn’t have any idea who he was. At the time Alice gave her blessing, but that first morning Lori could see concern flooding Alice’s eyes when she saw what she was getting with Lucky, and that she was on the verge of changing her mind and banning the dog from the office. But Jerry Harrison in accounting, bless him, fearlessly approached the dog, and Lucky proved to be a gentle soul, even with his big galoot appearance. After that others in the office approached him, including Alice, and he ended up winning over the office.
Looks could be deceiving. Lucky turned out to be a big softy even though he looked like he could scare the bejesus out of the demon dog from The Omen. Still, Lori had no doubt that when the time came, the dog would save her from him. She knew that this man existed in the real world and not just in her nightmares. She also knew he would be coming for her soon. He’d wait until late at night when she would be alone in bed and helpless. She couldn’t say how she knew this, but she did and with the same certainty as the knowledge that she needed to breathe to live. And she knew that when he came for her, Lucky would become every bit as ferocious as he appeared. And because of that, she felt safe.
She focused her attention back on her work so she could finish the assignment within the hour as promised.
Chapter 9
Morris was running late, and it didn’t help that he had to park three blocks away from where he was meeting Charlie Bogle. He half jogged to his destination, and by the time he reached the front door of the Bottom Shelf his neck was damp and sweat dotted his forehead. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was twenty past eight. Yeah, he was going to get grief for this.
The basement-level watering hole was a block from the Wilcox Avenue precinct, and for the past three decades it had served principally as a hangout for cops. It didn’t surprise him that at that hour on a Friday night the place was packed. Almost any night after eight the Bottom Shelf was full with brothers and sisters in blue. He squeezed his way through the crowd, trading handshakes and small talk with officers he knew. He spotted Bogle sitting alone at a table in the back nursing a beer. When Bogle saw him approaching, he showed nothing in his expression. Morris took the seat across from him.
Morris said, “Yeah, I’m late. Sorry.”
“Never mind that. Where’s your twin?” Bogle deadpanned.
Morris smiled thinly. His hair, which was cropped close to the scalp, was still mostly dark brown with only some gray at the temples, while Parker’s fur was white, but with his short, compact body, spindly legs, thick long nose, and big ears, he and Parker proved the old adage of an owner resembling his dog. Given his somewhat comical looks, it made it all the more remarkable that he had ended up with a dark-haired beauty like Natalie.
“Nat doesn’t work Fridays, so the little guy’s keeping her company. You’re looking good. Babysitting the Hollywood elite seems to suit you.”
He hadn’t seen Bogle since his investigator had left MBI two months ago, and the change seemed to have done him a world of good. The heaviness that had been weighing Bogle down since he was shot in the chest was gone. But there were other changes, too. He looked more fit, more tan. When a smile cracked Bogle’s face, Morris caught a familiar glint in his eyes, one that he hadn’t seen since that fateful day.
“I do more than just fix problems for spoiled brat actors,” Bogle said. “That’s part of it, of course. Some of it’s pretty heavy lifting. For example, I had to deal with a nasty piece of blackmail just last week. But the studio has standard investigation work also, like intellectual property theft and employee background checks. Anyway, going to Starlight Pictures has been a good