Taken! Alphabet Series - 26 Original Taken! Tales (Donald Wells' Taken! Series Book 14) (11 page)

“We’ve been after Vinnie D for years, and if your brother agrees to press charges we’ll finally put him away.”

“That’s for Jimmy to decide, but an assault charge wouldn’t send this Vinnie D away for long, would it?”

“He’d get five years maybe, but we’re hoping for more than an assault charge. If he also gets convicted on loan sharking charges, he could get ten years.”

Before leaving, the detectives told them that they would be back the next day to take Jimmy’s statement, as Jimmy was sedated and wouldn’t awaken for hours.

After checking into a chain motel on the highway for a few hours sleep, they were back at the hospital in the morning, where they found Jimmy awake and sitting up.

His injuries slurred his speech some, but he was able to tell them everything that happened, and also admitted to lying to them.

The $5,000.00 he borrowed from them was simply interest on the $25,000.00 he actually owed Vinnie D.

Jessica gave her brother’s hand a squeeze.

“Jimmy, why didn’t you tell us before?”

“I didn’t want you to worry. The five grand should have bought me some time, and I figured that I would think of something else by then.”

He spoke to Jimmy.

“Who did this to you, Vinnie D?”

“He’s got two pet gorillas, huge dudes, and one held me from behind while the other one went to town on me.”

“This couple you mentioned, where can we find them?”

“The Dawsons? They own a restaurant called
Le Chic
, it’s right on Main Street.”

“Have the cops talked to you?”

“They left right before you came here, and I told them that I would... press... charges,” Jimmy said, and Jessica saw that the medication he was receiving intravenously was making him drowsy.

She leaned over and kissed her brother on the cheek.

“You get some rest and we’ll be back later.”

Jimmy nodded, as he fought to keep his eyes open.

“I love you, Sis, Bro,”

“We love you too, Jimmy,” Jessica said, and watched as he faded off to sleep.

***

B
ob Dawson pointed to the front door of his restaurant.

“Just leave us alone; like we told the cops, we don’t know anything.”

Although the upscale eatery had yet to open for the day, they had pushed their way inside when Jenna Dawson opened the door.

Jessica pleaded with Dawson.

“Please, my brother needs your help.”

“Lady, I’m sorry about your brother, but we don’t know anything,” Bob Dawson said.

He sighed, and saw Jessica do the same. There was no point in pushing the couple to come forward. He could see the fear in Bob Dawson’s eyes, while Jenna Dawson wouldn’t even meet his gaze.

Jessica reached out and gripped Jenna’s arm in an attempt to gain her attention, and the smaller woman winced in pain, before rolling up her sleeve and rubbing the point of contact. When she saw that Jessica had spotted the bruises on her arm, she lowered the sleeve and moved away from her.

“Do we have to call the cops to get you to leave?” Bob Dawson said.

Jessica shook her head.

“We’re leaving, but please reconsider and tell the police what you witnessed. This Vinnie D should be locked up before he hurts anyone else.”

As they were driving away, Jessica looked over at him.

“Did you notice?”

“The bruises on Mrs. Dawson’s arm, yes.”

“That poor woman, she surrounded by abusive men.”

He drove faster.

“It’s time to meet this Vinnie D.”

***

V
innie D’s Bar & Grill
was in a less fashionable section of town, and stood in the center of a large, gravel parking lot that was bordered by trees on three sides, but like the Dawsons’ establishment, it too had yet to open for the day. However, the front door was unlocked, and so they simply walked in. 

Vinnie D was behind the bar yelling at his brother, Richie, as he held the smaller man’s face in the grip of his right hand. When he spotted Jessica and her husband, he released Richie and sent them a smile.

“We don’t open for another half hour, folks.”

Jessica walked over to the bar.

“I’m Jimmy White’s sister.”

“I hope you’re here to pay his debt.”

“Jimmy has given you all the money he’s going to, and he’s pressing charges against you.”

Vinnie D smiled his crooked smile.

“The cops have been here. I gave them my alibi for last night, they’ll check it out, and the case will be at a dead end. Jimmy owes me twenty-five grand, and one way or another, I’ll get it.”

“As my wife said, you’re not getting another penny. I also want back the money he gave you yesterday.”

Vinnie laughed as he looked over at his brother.

“Do you believe the balls on this guy, Richie?”

Car doors slammed in the parking lot, and soon Vinnie’s enforcers, Andor and Beck entered the bar.

Vinnie called to them.

“Boys, say hello to Jimmy’s brother-in-law. Give him a taste of what you gave Jimmy.”

Remembering what Jimmy had said about being held by one man while the other beat him, he waited for the closest man to attempt to grab him. It was Andor, and as he reached out to encircle him with his arms, he ducked, pivoted, and then shot his head up to impact with the man’s chin. There was a loud
CLACK!
sound as Andor’s teeth snapped together, and the behemoth stumbled backwards into his equally mammoth brother, causing both men to topple to the floor near a row of tables.

Andor let out a bellow of pain as blood began seeping from his mouth. Apparently, he had bitten through his tongue. Beside him on the floor, Beck had freed his gun from the holster on his belt, only to have it yanked from his hand.

He pressed the gun against Andor’s head.

“Give me your weapon, slowly.”

Andor did as commanded, and then mumbled something unintelligible.

Jessica shouted his name, and he spun around to see Vinnie D running towards his office. He ran after him, and as he passed her, he handed Jessica one of the guns.

“If they so much as blink, shoot them.”

Vinnie had just opened the top drawer of his desk when he raced into the office behind him.

“Reach into that desk and you’re dead.”

Vinnie froze, and when he walked over to stand beside him, he saw an old Colt Commander lying in the drawer.

He shoved the drawer closed and placed his gun against Vinnie D’s chest.

“I want the five thousand that Jimmy gave you.”

“Anything you say, since you’re the man with the gun, but I have to open the safe.”

“Do it.”

Vinnie walked over to a corner of the room, got down on one knee, and opened a three-foot high black safe.

“Jessica?” he shouted.

“I’m good!” she answered.

Vinnie began emptying the safe of its cash, which must have been over $30,000.00.

“Just the five, we’re not here to rob you.”

Vinnie gave him a strange look, but separated out $5,000.00 and locked the rest away.

He took the money and told Vinnie to walk back into the bar.

They then herded the two sets of brothers out into the parking lot, where he spoke to Vinnie one last time.

“Forget Jimmy and forget us, or I will put you in the ground.”

Vinnie stared back at him without speaking, and then they climbed into their car.

As soon as he started the engine, he saw Vinnie D rush back inside.

“He’s going for his gun,” he said, as he accelerated away.

By the time Vinnie rushed back outside firing wildly, they were far beyond the Colt’s reach.

***

T
hey returned to the hospital to find that Jimmy had been moved to a different room under a different name, and was being kept under guard, as a precaution.

The two detectives were there, and they spoke with them outside Jimmy’s room. Vinnie D’s alibi was holding for the time being, but the detectives told them that they were applying pressure to the Dawsons and had high hopes of finally nailing Vinnie D, who had long eluded them.

As they were talking, Jones’ phone rang and she answered it. When she finished her call, she looked at the two of them with fire in her eyes.

“I’m told you went to see Vinnie D and nearly got yourselves killed.”

“Told by who?” he said.

“That doesn’t matter.”

“You have an informant, don’t you? Is it the man named Richie?”

Smith and Jones gave each other nervous looks, and Jessica suddenly understood.

“Your informants are those other men, the two large ones, the men who assaulted my brother?”

Jones cringed, as Jessica’s words echoed down the corridor.

“Jesus, Doctor, quiet down, please, yes, those two are our informants. They’re facing deportation and so they’re willing to sell Vinnie out, but in the meantime... they have to follow his orders.”

“Such as the order to beat my brother nearly to death,”

“Yes, but listen, Vinnie is meeting with a drug dealer on Thursday to discuss laundering money, once we record that conversation, we’ll also be able to add racketeering charges, and that will put him away even longer.”

He looked at both detectives in turn.

“Your case sounds weak; those two thugs hardly make for good witnesses.”

Smith spread his hands.

“It’s all we’ve got for now.”

***

T
hey left the hospital after visiting hours, and parked outside
Vinnie D’s Bar & Grill
. 

Jessica looked around at the packed lot.

“This place does a good business, and the patrons appear to be respectable types.”

“Smith told me that the bar is legit. It’s owned by Vinnie, but managed by Richie, who is also Vinnie’s younger brother.”

A short time later, he noticed furtive movement in the side view mirror.

“We’ve got company, Smith and Jones,”

Smith extended a finger and rotated it in a counterclockwise circle, indicating that they should lower their windows.

“Dr. White, I thought you agreed to stay out of this.”

“I’ll do what I think is best for my brother.”

“If Vinnie D spots you, there will be trouble.”

“What’s the D stand for?” he asked.

Smith answered with a smile.

“His name is Vincent Darling. If I was a mobster and my last name was Darling, I would hide that fact too.”

He pointed out the window.

“There’s movement.”

Jones squinted at the figure walking out of the alley.

“That’s the brother, Richie, and he looks to be in a hurry.”

A few minutes after Richie left, Vinnie D came out and got in his car.

Smith and Jones scowled at them.

“Go back to your motel and let us do our jobs,” Jones said.

He ignored them and followed along at a distance, to a new development of upper-middle class homes. There were twenty or so houses built in a horseshoe shape that was carved out from a stretch of woods.

They had driven past several similar developments on their way there and they all looked so much alike that he wondered if the residents ever turned into the wrong street by mistake.

Vinnie D left his car and walked towards a house in the middle of the horseshoe. As he went up the steps, the front door opened and he went inside.

When they were spotted by Smith and Jones just moments later, the detectives charged at them, and he lowered his window.

Smith pointed at him.

“Leave right now or we’re placing you under arrest for obstruction of justice.”

The shots startled all of them, and Jones whipped out her gun and ran towards the house.

“Leave now!” Smith ordered, and followed her.

As Jones reached the house, Vinnie D bolted outside, following behind him was Jenna Dawson, and she was holding a gun.

“Drop that weapon!” Jones said.

Jenna Dawson came to a stop and stared at her.

“I said drop it.”

The gun fell to the ground, and then Jenna pointed a finger towards Vinnie D, who was being frisked by Smith.

“He killed my husband!”

Vinnie gawked at her.

“The bitch is crazy. She called me here, said her husband was out playing poker and she wanted to see me, then as soon as I stepped inside, I heard shots coming from upstairs.”

Smith cuffed him and began reading him his rights.

From where they were parked, Jessica caught sight of something moving among the trees at the rear of the property and pointed it out to her husband; it was the bobbing and weaving of a flashlight beam as it was carried across uneven ground.

He went in pursuit, by driving away and into the neighboring development on the other side of the trees, where a similar collection of homes stood.

When the man emerged from the thicket of trees and headed for a car, he came up behind him.

“What’s going on, Richie?”

Richie Darling spun around, looked at him, and began to cry.

***

T
hey took him to their motel room to talk.

Richie was shaking with slight tremors, as he came down from the adrenalin his body had fed his system, during the previous hour of stress he’d endured.

“I killed Bob Dawson. The son of a bitch was abusing Jenna and needed to be put down, but actually doing it... I almost vomited afterwards.”

“You love Jenna Dawson, don’t you?” Jessica asked.

Richie nodded, as a small smile appeared.

“We first met months ago, at a restaurant supply house. I came around the corner pushing my cart and saw this wounded angel. She had a nasty bruise on the side of her mouth from where her husband had hit her, and the make-up covering it only highlighted it more. I walked over and touched the mark lightly, and then she reached up and caressed the bruises on my own face. I think we fell in love with each other right then and there.”

“You used your brother’s gun, the one he keeps in the desk?” he asked.

“Yes, I was to kill Dawson and make it look like Vinnie did it, while Jenna killed Vinnie in self-defense, and then the two of us would be free, but Vinnie’s still alive, isn’t he?”

“Yes, the police stopped her.”

Jessica placed a hand on Richie’s arm.