After everything he did for me. I never helped him.
I met him when I was four. He came for my fifth birthday bringing gifts, cake and ice cream and every birthday after. He’d always slip me cash on the side and tell me to keep it hidden. He’d meet me for lunches or dinner when Mom wasn’t around and ask if I needed anything.
As a pre-teen, I knew he watched out for me. I’d see his shadow in a shop doorway as I walked home, or his car in an alley. Never interfering but making sure I got home safely. I’m pretty sure he warned off some guy in high school.
There’s no father listed on my birth certificate. Mom told me she didn’t have any idea who it was. I wanted Phil to be my real dad.
Scrubbing the tears from my eyes, I look down into the alley below. He died in another alley trying to get revenge for her death.Oh Phil, I wish you would have told me. I would have helped. We could have done it together.
“Where’s his car?” I ask. “It wasn’t in his carport. He may have hidden the evidence inside it.”
“Do you have a license plate number? I can get it but it would be quicker and more secretive if we don’t have to.”
I rattle it off. “He let me use it whenever I wanted. It’s an old Lincoln. Navy blue, white interior. He said it was a classic.”
I turn toward them. “I need to see him. I need to… say good-bye.”
CHAPTER 8
Rico
“Why don’t you take a shower and try on the clothes. Let us do a little work and see what we can arrange. We’ll catch you up when you’re done.”
She nods and heads to the bathroom.
Kade speaks first. “I can’t stand seeing her hurt like this. These fuckers have to pay.”
“Phil was a good guy. I liked him. Now some of what he said makes more sense. He was a man bent on a mission. We need to finish this for him and Fancy.”
Running a hand down my face, I look at Kade. “Can Diego help us out again?”
“I’ll check.” He picks up his phone and heads to the kitchen.
By the time Fancy rejoins us we have everything arranged.
“A friend can get us into the morgue at shift change in an hour. He’ll meet us and have a mask and wig to disguise you. It will have to be quick. We’ll only have a few minutes. Adorno may have eyes there, too.
“Another body was found in the same dump truck which makes us suspect the same dumpster. It’s a young woman.Would you be able to look at the picture? See if you recognize her?”
“Yes. Anything I can do to help.”
Kade has the photo showing on his laptop. Fancy looks at it. “That’s Susie. She’s new in housekeeping. She was having a hard time finding her way around the back halls. The bruising on her neck? She was strangled?”
“Yes,” Kade says.
“I wonder if she got lost and saw something she shouldn’t have.”
“Exactly what we suspect. Maybe the killer when he walked back in covered in blood,” I add. “Can you change into something dark, put your hair up in the skull cap, and wear the hoodie? We need to leave in five.”
Working our way through the back alleys we take one of the alternate vehicles we have hidden around the area. Following Diego’s instructions, we pull up behind the morgue where the trash cans are. Kade nods at me. “You go with her.”
In the morgue, I can’t hear the words she’s softly speaking. Her expression shows her pain, the tears and her grief. She smooths the hair from Phil’s forehead before kissing him goodbye. Back outside, we drive a couple blocks to where we agreed to meet Diego. “Watch your back. Adorno and some of the other low life recently lost their inside legal man, Belcher. It won’t take too long to replace him, but they’re more vulnerable right now so their fangs are showing. Watch your backs and stay frosty.”
“Roger that.”
Back at the hotel Fancy goes to the bedroom and shuts the door.
“She needs time,” Kade says. “We’ll let her be for a while.”
