The ring of my cell phone roused me from my slumber. After the job last night myself, Wade and Kyle had hit a few bars after dropping off the cash. The sound of the phone drilled into my skull noisily as my head was aching after the previous night’s activities. I reached to one side and grabbed the phone from where I had left it on my bedside table. Without bothering to check whom it was I answered.
“Hello.” I said groggily. “Johnny.” The voice at the other end hissed. It took a few moments to register as to whom it was. “Morning Franco.” I replied. The voice at the other end laughed coarsely. “It’s three in the afternoon Johnny. Anyway I wanted to congratulate you on some fine work last night.” I didn’t reply. I realized that Franco would only be calling if he actually wanted something; right now all I wanted was for him to get to the point.
“I’ve got another job for you if you’re interested.” Franco continued. This wasn’t exactly true, as it didn’t matter to Franco if I wasn’t interested. To Franco I had already taken the job, it was the way it worked that’s all. “Sure.” I replied hastily. "Come by the club later this afternoon and we’ll talk.” Franco said. Before I could further reply he had hung up.
I lay there for a few more minutes before forcing myself out of bed. I pulled on my tattered dressing gown, which had been a present from my Mom when I was younger. I wandered into my kitchen, which as always was in a state of disarray. I found a reasonably clean cup and made myself a coffee. The caffeine woke me slightly but only reminded me of how much my head was hurting. I found a couple of aspirin and downed them along with the remainder of the coffee. I headed off to the bathroom for a quick shower before dressing. I pulled on a pair of black pants and a matching black shirt.
I headed out to my car. A battered old station wagon, I did intend to buy a decent car at some point. It was just at the moment I had very little motivation or reason for doing so. I got in and started the engine. It slowly came to life. Franco’s club was in other the side of town, in an area most people called the ‘business’ district. Most people knew to steer clear of it. Franco ran the area, anyone who did any kind of ‘business’ there had to pay Franco some kind of tithe or they ended up wishing they had.
It was around four in the afternoon when I got to Franco’s club. Franco was technically my boss but I knew that Franco just ran all the ‘businesses’ for his own father. I pulled into the car park of the club. The club was a strip bar masquerading as a gentleman’s entertainment club. If you knew the right people you could get a hooker or join one of the many games of poker that went on there. The police never bothered Franco as they had a sort of agreement. I got the impression that Franco’s agreement was along the lines of ‘You don’t bother me and your wife gets to keep her head attached to her shoulders.’ In a town like this a policeman could earn more in bribes a night than his monthly wage.
I stepped out of my car and noticed a shiny Ford Plymouth parked a few spaces away. It made me look, as it wasn’t the sort of car I normally saw around here. Ignoring the car I went on inside. Being the late afternoon it was fairly quiet in the bar. There were a few other ‘employees’ of Franco that I recognized. I walked over to the bar and pulled up a stool. The barman Floyd wandered over to me. His eyes shone with realization. Floyd was in his sixties. He was a Texan as his accent clearly showed.
“Franco’s in the back.” He told me with a slight drawl. I got up from my seat and headed off into the back. It was small cramped little corridor lined with unmarked cardboard boxes. Franco’s office was at the other end of the corridor. I headed over to the door and knocked on it. I waited outside for a moment.
“Come in.” I heard Franco say from behind the door. Casually I opened the door and stepped inside. Franco’s office was quite small and covered in various pieces of sports memorabilia. Franco was at his desk behind him was a pennant for some baseball team. Franco was a large guy. He wasn’t fat exactly; just a guy who had been well built in his early years, but his figure had slipped when he hit middle age. He had slicked back black hair and I noticed he was gradually growing more and more bald.
“Sit down Johnny.” He said pointing to the empty chair in front of his desk. I sat down in chair and looked over at Franco. He flipped open a small box on his desk and took out a cigar. I guessed they were probably Cuban’s. He turned the box towards me.
“Smoke?” He asked. “No thanks, Franco. I replied. “That was some good work you did the other night Johnny. I heard Kyle put the driver in the hospital.” Franco smiled at that last remark. “All in a night’s work.” I replied coolly.
“As I said I’ve got another job for you Johnny. I’m guessing you saw the Plymouth outside as you came in?” He asked. “Yeah.” I replied. “Well I need you to get rid of it.” Franco explained. “Why?” I asked. “Evidence.” He responded. It was obvious Franco wasn’t going to give me any more information as to what kind of evidence he meant.
“I need you to take it over to a little place called Mayview. It’s about twenty or thirty miles or so out of town. There’s a guy there called Early who runs a junkyard. He trashes stuff for us when we need cars to disappear.” Franco explained. I heard him pull open a drawer from his desk. Franco tossed a set of keys and a roll of dollar bills to me.
“Five hundred should cover any expenses you might need. We can talk payment when you get back.” Franco told me. “Thanks Franco.” I replied. I pocketed the money and the keys and got up. I threw my own set to him. “Take care of my car till I get back." “Sure.” He responded.
I left his office and headed out to the Plymouth. From what Franco said it sounded like this was going to be a fairly easy job. Take the car to Earl in Mayview and then get back here. Easy enough. |