Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 150, Nos. 5 & 6. Whole Nos. 914 & 915, November/December 2017
- Автор: Фузилли Джим, Харрис Шарлин
- Год: 2017
- Язык: английский
- Год: Dell Magazines
- ISBN: 0013-6328
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 150, Nos. 5 & 6. Whole Nos. 914 & 915, November/December 2017». Краткое содержание книги:
“Hell, you thought you slipped one by, boy? That I didn’t know? I knew the day after it happened. Always figured to get even with you, just took awhile for things to fall into place.”
“Sweet Jesus, you knew? And you set this up?”
“Nah, Bones set it up. He took all the credit in his goodbye note. And about now, I expect he’s steppin’ off a plane in sunny Santo Domingo. That’s in the Dominican Republic, son. No extradition from there. He’ll probably drink himself to death in a month, and this whole thing will go away. Until my next movie opens. Then all this free publicity will put my numbers through the roof.”
“You miserable son of a bitch—!”
“Easy, young Toby,” he said, clamping onto my wounded arm. “Mix it up with me, you might suffer a bad relapse. And if you even think about talking to the law about this, just remember you’re the one who shot Clete, not me. Out of jealousy. Because he took your place with my wife.”
I didn’t say anything. Couldn’t.
“Good, I can see it sinking in now. So here’s the rest of it. You’ve been hurt on the job, kid. You should go home to heal up. You’ll find a check waiting when you get there. Severance pay. Cash it or burn it, it’s all the same to me. But don’t come back. Ever. You’re done in this business, son, you’ll never make another movie. Cross me, and I’ll make you sorry we ever met.”
“I’m already sorry.”
“You’ve had some bad luck, Toby,” he said, gesturing at the room, the bed. “But things could be worse. For you, and for people you care about. Are we clear, son?”
“Crystal,” I managed.
“Good. Get well soon, now, you hear?” And he gave me a love tap on my wounded shoulder that nearly dropped me to the floor.
Big Mack sauntered out, and was immediately surrounded by a swirl of reporters and fans in the corridor. And in the blink of an eye, he was as gracious as a department-store Santa, joking with strangers, signing autographs, giving a young girl a horsey ride on his shoulders, both of them smiling for the smartphones.
Big Mack McCray. The new John Wayne. I couldn’t help thinking the critics were totally wrong about him. Now that I’d seen him up close and personal? He was a much better actor than anyone realized.
As for me? I needed a stiff whiskey and a friend to drink it with.
I found both in the Desert Lodge bar. Early afternoon, the place was nearly deserted. A young couple in the corner murmuring sweet nothings, a few extras dressed Western, sitting at the bar, watching Spanish soccer on the overhead TV.
And all the way down at the far end, away from the other customers, a one-eyed cowpoke with a wooden leg.
I eased down on the stool next to Jocko. He turned enough to give me the once-over with his good eye.
And as usual, even with one eye gone, he could read me like a billboard.
“You and Mack had it out, didn’t you?” he said. “You know what he did.”
“Some of it. Maybe most of it. But I don’t understand why.”
“A cop buddy told me once that ninety percent of all crimes involve money, love, or drugs. With Big Mack, it’s just the two. Money and love.”
“What money?”
“Big Mack can’t afford a divorce. Neither can the studio. Noreen would get half of everything, and Internet trolls would ruin his reputation overnight. The gunfight fixed all that. Noreen’s lovers took each other out, scared her back to bein’ a good little wifey, and the free publicity makes Mack’s movies big box office again.”
“Jesus H. Christ, Unc. And you knew about this?”
“Not all of it. Not until it was too late. Mack had me track down Bones Benedict. Stony Greco explained his part of the deal and got him on board. It wasn’t hard. Bones has been living hand to mouth since he got fired. They needed a fall guy, and Bones jumped at the chance for a major payday, plus a house on the beach in the Dominican Republic. He can live like a king down there the rest of his life. All he had to do was take the blame for somethin’ he was already guilty of.”
“Why the hell didn’t you stop it? Go to the law?”
“With what? I had no evidence. Mack and Stony could say it was all talk, a movie plot. And I’d end up in the same gutter I hauled Bones out of. I only work a few months a year on Mack’s movies, Toby. I don’t want to die on welfare.”
“So you went along with a murder?”
“I went along with a gunfight! Clete knew he was firing live rounds the moment he saw you get hit. And you damn well knew it too!”
“It happened too fast to do anything but fight,” I admitted. “I’ll have to live with the way it turned out. But so will you.”
“I warned you to pull out, kid! Hell, I even offered to go with you.”
“You told me to run, Jocko. You didn’t say why.”
“I couldn’t. Even now, the law can’t do a damn thing. All we got is a wild story. The cops got an open-and-shut case, complete with a signed confession. Mack’s got the studio behind him and an army of lawyers. Kick up a fuss, and they’ll trample you like a midnight stampede. You know it’s true.”
I chewed on that a moment, then swallowed it down, hard. Jocko might be a rat bastard, but that didn’t make him wrong.
“So what happens now?” I asked.
“You do the smart thing, kid. Take Mack’s money and go home. You don’t really have much choice.”
I chewed over that one too. And he was right again. But it was no easier to swallow.
“Maybe I’ll do that, Unc. Eat dirt, and run like a scalded dog. But that won’t change things between us. You sold me out.”
“Damnit, Toby, I tried to warn you—”
“You should’ve tried harder! You’ve been a friend to me my whole life, Unc, so I won’t burn you. Probably couldn’t if I tried. But we’re done, you and me, Jocko. You’re out of my life. Find a friend to drink with someplace else.”
“Toby—”
“Get out, old man! Before I change my mind!”
Jocko rose stiffly, looking down at me, searching for some scrap of what we’d been to each other. Couldn’t find it. It wasn’t there. Not anymore.
He turned and gimped out of the saloon. Sad exit, stage left.
I turned back to my whiskey. And some very dark thoughts.
We pay a high price for living. We lose people along the way. Friends, family, lovers are taken from us by time and circumstance, and all you can do is suck it up and push on. Live with it. Because... Well. It’s all we can do.
But the deepest cuts? The ones that hurt most? Are the ones we make ourselves. The tough choices we make, choices we can’t change or call back.
And watching that old man limp out of my life?
It was the hardest damn thing I’ve ever done.
Didn’t have much time to brood on it, though.
Leah Bronstein found me before I’d finished my second whiskey. She took Jocko’s stool, then pushed my glass out of reach.
“I stopped by the hospital,” she said. “They told me you checked yourself out against medical advice. You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m good.”
“No, you’re not, Toby. You’re in serious trouble. What happened between you and Big Mack McCray?”
“Nothing I care to share. It’s personal.”
“Not anymore. Big Mack’s gotten you fired, Toby, and blacklisted. He’s doing his damnedest to make sure you never work in movies again. And he swings a lot of weight.”
I nodded at that. Didn’t comment.
“Chet Maleski, my ex-boss, even stopped payment on your severance check. You can sue the studio for it, but it won’t be cost effective.”
“Probably not,” I conceded, “but I really don’t— Wait. Your ex-boss?”
“I blew up and quit. On the spot.”