The Man Who Came Uptown
- Автор: Пелеканос Джордж
- Год: 2018
- Язык: английский
- Год: Mulholland Books / Little, Brown and Company
- ISBN: 978-0-316-47982-0
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «The Man Who Came Uptown». Краткое содержание книги:
“What was that about?” said Rick.
“He’s a good guy.”
“He’s a criminal. And you told him where we lived.”
“I identified our neighborhood, that’s all. He doesn’t even know our last name. I go by Anna Kaplan in the jail, remember? Besides, Michael would never bother me.”
Rick shook his head. “Don’t be so naive, Anna.”
Maybe she was naive. But she thought Michael Hudson was one of the good guys, and she was happy for him. It seemed like he was doing fine.
Later, after the restaurant had closed, Michael approached the bartender, Callie, who was using the soda gun to rinse out her nets and asked her if he could have a look at the credit card receipts from the night. It was probably against the rules, but Callie liked Michael and she let him do it.
After midnight, Ornazian and Thaddeus Ward sat on a street off Georgia Avenue in Columbia Heights, near a bar that was identified solely by an illustration of a nine ball on a light box. Its plate-glass window had been tinted nearly black and the window was mostly covered with posters advertising twenty-dollar buckets of Corona and single bottles of limed-up Bud Lights for two seventy-five. The writing on the posters was in Spanish and there were small-statured men going in and out of the spot and some who stood outside the door catching smokes. There was a video camera mounted above the door.
Ornazian and Ward were in a Lincoln Mark, one of Ward’s black cars. They were parked tightly behind an SUV that was blocking a view of their front license plate. Down the street toward Georgia, a half a block away, stood a simple, unremarkable row house. A preteen boy sat in a chair beside the front steps, cell phone in hand. Above the front door was a short pole holding a rolled-up flag. A video camera was mounted on the brick wall over a second-floor window.
“Lotta cameras on this block,” said Ward.
“Lot of cameras everywhere,” said Ornazian. “Takes the sport out of the game.”
A white windowless van pulled up in front of the house. The boy got on his cell and spoke into it, and then five Hispanic men got out of the van and entered the house.
“That lookout kid just talked to someone inside,” said Ward. “And I’ll bet if that flag is unfurled, it’s some kind of sign too. Like, ‘We got lawmen on the premises, don’t come in.’ They got this shit wired up tight. You said they using MS-Thirteen for security?”
“They call it security. But I think it’s the opposite. It’s payoff money to keep MS-Thirteen off their backs.”
“You reckon our boy Gustav got his own men in there with iron?”
“I would think. But we’re not going to take him off in the whorehouse.”
“Would be good to get a look inside it.”
“They don’t let anyone in but El Salvadorans.”
“Remember my employee Esteban?” said Ward. “You met him. He’s from that neck of the woods.”
“Esteban is Spanish for Stephen.”
“For real?”
“I’m sure he’s a nice guy, good school spirit and all that. But we don’t need Esteban.”
“You mean you don’t want to cut him in.”
“That too.”
“We could darken you up some and send you in. But then you might have to partake. And I know you wouldn’t do that. ’Cause you’re — what’s that word? Monogamous.”
“It’s from the Greek. Monos means ‘alone.’ Gamos means ‘marriage.’ But gamo is also the Greek vulgar for ‘fucking.’ So monogamous means ‘one fuck.’ If you want to get deep about it.”
“You call that deep?”
Ornazian got into the photos in his iPhone and found what he was looking for. He handed the phone to Ward. “Here. That’s why I don’t stray.”
Ward looked at the photo. It was Ornazian’s wife, Sydney, lying nude on their bed in a provocative pose.
“Damn, boy. She’s finer than a motherfucker. How did an ugly-lookin dude like you hook up with that?”
“I’m like a can of Coke down there.”
“You mean when you shake it, it pops off.”
“Funny.”
Ward handed Ornazian the phone.
Soon three men walked out of the Nine Ball and headed down the block toward the brothel. A swaggering overweight man with a cat mustache, wearing an ill-fitting sport jacket and a thick tie, was clearly the leader. Another man, short of stature, built, with the clean-shaven face of a native Central American, walked beside him. A third man, predictably goateed and with gelled hair, trailed them.
“The fat man would be Gustav,” said Ornazian.
“So that Wladislaw-lookin cat next to him would be his top gun.”
“Wladislaw?”
“Charles Bronson in The Dirty Dozen. Like everything I speak on, it’s before your time.”
“If that’s Gustav’s segundo, his name is Cesar.”
The men entered the brothel.
“We’re gonna need a driver,” said Ornazian.
“This does look a little more complicated than our usual thing,” said Ward. “You got someone in mind?”
“Yeah. There’s a guy who owes me a favor. Stand-up dude, can handle a car.”
“How do you know him?”
“He was up on felony charges and was looking at five years. Pulled a rip-and-run on a marijuana dealer.”
“And?”
“The dealer called 911 on my man and his partner as soon as they robbed him.”
“That’s against the code.”
“You’d think. Police arrived on the scene and gave chase as he and his partner were pulling away. My man lost them but they made his plates. He was driving his mother’s car.”
“That’s not smart.”
“I think he’s aware of that now. When he was arrested, he refused to give up his partner. My man took the gun charge even though he told me he never touched one.”
“And why does he owe you?”
“I got him off.”
“How’d you do that?”
“I found the marijuana dealer and told him that he needed to think very carefully of the health and welfare of his family.”
“In so many words, you threatened his wife and kids.”
“Semantics. I would never have done anything to his spouse or his children. You know that. The point is, he made the right decision and opted not to testify.”
“And you did this why? Sayin, what was the reasoning behind you sticking your neck way out for this driver?”
“I was banking a favor. The way things are for you and me, we got a little business going now. Like any business, we’re gonna grow. The jobs get more complex, we’re gonna need help. I knew this dude could handle a car. And I saw that he would stand tall if he got under the hot lights. What I’m telling you is, he was a find. I knew I could use him up the road.”
“Huh,” said Ward.
“What’s that mean?”
“Witness tampering. You could get a dime for that. When’s the last time you took a job and did it clean?”
“It’s a war out here,” said Ornazian. “I’m trying to feed my family.”
“I been in a war, young man. This ain’t it.”
“Feels that way to me.”
“The more you cross the line, the harder it is to come back. Believe me, I know.”
“Let me worry about that.”
Gustav, Cesar, and the third man came out of the brothel and went toward a black Range Rover Sport that was parked across the street. Cesar was carrying a leather briefcase. He got behind the wheel and Gustav took the passenger seat. The third man got into a blue Mustang GT and cooked the ignition. The SUV started and pulled off the curb. The driver of the Mustang followed.