You owe me, p.3
You Owe Me, page 3
‘Okay, said Billy Ray, we’ve done enough for today. Got ourselves out of harm’s way for a while anyway, so I suggest we leave any decision making until tomorrow, go back to the boat, turn in and get an early night.’
‘Amen to that,’ said Jerry. Billy Ray went to sleep thinking about what would happen to them if Valentina’s husband caught up with them, and then had the beginnings of an idea as to where they might hole up for a while.
CHAPTER 6
BEFORE
FLORIDA19 MARCH 2017
Chuck Mainous had turned in his badge early and had gone private, but still maintained good relations with some of his old buddies in the Miami Criminal Investigations unit, and still saw some of them socially. They understood his move was out of a desire to save his failing marriage and so far it looked as though it might.
‘Hey, George buddy, how’s it goin’?’
‘Hey yourself Chuck To what do we owe the pleasure?’
‘Just wonderin’ how my old pals at the department were doin’.’
‘You are the worst liar in the world Chuck. We talked last week at Jim’s barbeque so don’t give me all that bullshit. What do you want?’
‘That transparent huh?’ George laughed.
‘You are Chuck, always were, so come on, I’ve got a shitpile of work to get through today.’
‘Okay, George, well I’m on a mispers case, and I need to know if the guy I’m looking for, a Mr Billy Ray Ballantyne, has made any recent credit or debit card transactions, withdrawals etc. Need to get a fix on him.’
‘Okay, full name address, bank details etc.’ Chuck gave his friend all the information he’d been given by Joe Nelson.
‘Okay, well I’ll need some time to look into this. I’ll call you back within the hour if I find anything.’
‘Thanks George, I’ll go for a coffee.’ Chuck waited in a coffee bar in Fort Pierce, the last known location for Billy Ray. He’d checked out the marina Joe Nelson had said was the last place he knew of where Billy Ray had moored the boat and established he’d been there but neither he nor the boat was still there. Twenty minutes later his cell chirruped.
‘Hi George, that was quick.’
‘We aim to please. Got a hit at a place called Melbourne Harbor. A marina north of Fort Pierce Florida.’
‘That fits, when?’
‘Yesterday, 1543 hrs.’
‘Thanks George I owe you.’
‘Glad to help, have a good one.’ Mainous looked up the precise location of Melbourne Harbor on his cell, then slurped the last of his coffee asked for the check, paid, left the coffee shop and got on his way.
CHAPTER 7
BEFORE
FLORIDA 19 MARCH 2017
Jerry didn’t need much sleep and was always up at the crack of dawn. The next morning, he was padding around the cabin quietly so as not to wake the other two. That first cup of coffee was the best. He was about to switch on the coffee machine when he felt the boat move. He went over to Billy Ray’s cabin, knocked gently and opened their cabin door.
‘Billy Ray,’ he said in a loud whisper.
‘Wake up; there’s someone up on deck.’ Billy Ray shook his head to clear the sleep away and motioned to Valentina to be quiet as she started to open her eyes. Billy Ray got out of bed and dragged on some shorts then crept out into the main cabin, Valentina followed. Jerry had armed himself with a mace spray in one hand and a telescopic steel baton in the other, fully extended. He motioned for Billy Ray and Valentina to go hide in the head then went to crouch under the stairway. The cabin doors to the deck opened quietly, and a man dressed in dark clothes slowly made his way down the wooden companionway into the main cabin. When he reached the bottom rung, Jerry came out from behind the stairway. The man swivelled around. Jerry pointed the mace at his eyes and sprayed. Then whacked him with the baton. The man screamed and folded. Billy Ray and Valentina came out of the head and helped Jerry pick the man up, drag him to a chair and tie him up. He came round, eyes streaming, gasping for breath. They searched him and found a cell phone and a gun in a shoulder holster, which they took and placed on a table.
‘Water, please.’ He managed to say in a croaky voice. Valentina got some water in a cup and brought it to his lips. He slurped noisily, then breathed out. ‘Could you wipe my face with the rest?’ he managed to ask. ‘Jesus Christ my head,’ he said as the initial shock wore off. Valentina got a flannel and wiped his face and eyes. Tears were still streaming from his now red eyes. Jerry took the lead.
‘Okay pal, who the fuck are you?’
‘The name’s Mainous, Chuck Mainous I’m a PI working for your uncle. Assuming you’re Billy Ray that is.’
‘I’m not, he is,’ said Jerry nodding in the direction of Billy Ray.
‘Oh right, can’t see too well at the moment.’
Billy Ray spoke.
‘I told Uncle Joe not to come looking for me, Jesus what do we do now?’ The question never got answered. One of the treads on the wooden ladder squeaked, and they all looked around.
‘Lenny!’ Valentina gasped as she recognised the man, now halfway down the stairs and pointing a handgun in their general direction, silencer attached. They froze. The man was no more than twenty feet away. Jerry was the first one to move. He turned grabbed his mace spray off the table with his left hand. Still holding the steel baton in his right, he raised the spray and the baton and lurched forward towards the intruder. Lenny didn’t hesitate, took aim and shot Jerry just once through the forehead. The noise in the small cabin was deafening. Valentina screamed as Jerry collapsed in a heap on the floor. Billy Ray looked on in disbelief at the summary execution of his dearest friend. He recovered enough to pull Valentina to him, a protective arm around her shoulder. With her head buried in his chest, she sobbed uncontrollably. The man called Lenny kept his gun trained on them as he walked towards where they stood. He saw the gun on the table and put it in his pocket. He picked up the cell phone.
‘This his?’ he said nodding at the man tied up in the chair.
‘Yes,’ said Billy Ray. It was a flip phone. The gunman opened it, snapped it in half and threw the pieces on the cabin floor.
By now Billy Ray had pushed Valentina behind him as if to shield her from harm. Chuck Mainous struggled with the ropes but had been well and truly immobilised. Lenny casually grabbed a chair and sat down facing them all gun at the ready. He seemed to be mulling things over.
‘You two stay just where you are.’ He said to Billy Ray and Valentina. ‘And you are?’ He asked Mainous, pointing the gun in his direction.
‘Chuck Mainous, Private Investigator?’
‘Working for?’
‘This guy’s uncle.’ He nodded his head in the direction of Billy Ray.’
‘And you are?’ Mainous asked the gunman.
‘Not sure you’re in a position to ask questions,’ he replied, ‘but what harm? I work for this broad’s husband. See, he’s a bit ticked off at her running away with this bozo, so he sent me to find them. And now here we all are.’ Lenny stood up stroking his chin, thinking. He spoke.
‘Okay, well we have ourselves a little problem here Mr Mainous. I mean what am I going to do with you?’
‘You’re going to let me go. I’m an ex Miami Police detective, so if any harm comes to me, you can bet your sweet ass that my old police buddies won’t let it go. They’ll come after you, and you know what they’ll do to you when they find you. Cops always look after their own, and cop killers live very short lives. Untie me and let me go.’ Lenny stood there saying nothing, then seemed to come to a decision.
‘You,’ he pointed his gun at Billy Ray, ‘untie him.’ He turned back to Mainous. ‘One wrong move...’ Mainous nodded. Billy Ray undid the ropes. Mainous stood up rubbing his wrists. ‘Now go while the going’s good,’ said Lenny. Chuck Mainous walked towards the stairway. As he got to the foot of the stairs, Lenny brought his gun up and shot Mainous in the back twice. Billy Ray gasped, Valentina screamed. Lenny walked over to Mainous’s now inert body and kicked it. ‘As if?’ he said to nobody in particular and smiled. Then he walked back towards Billy Ray and Valentina who were clinging to each other.
‘Right, here’s the rules, he said, ‘I’m gonna be very clear, so there’s no misunderstanding, okay? If I see, or even think, either one of you is making a move against me, I’ll shoot the other one in the leg, or maybe I’ll shoot to kill like I did with these two? I’ll shoot without hesitation, so don’t give me any excuse okay?’ He looked at each one of them in turn and waited for them to nod in agreement.
‘Valentina, get your purse and cell phone and don’t even think about trying to call anyone, or both of you are dead. And you,’ he said still pointing the gun at Billy Ray, ‘are going to reach into your pocket slowly and hand your cell phone over to me.’
‘It’s in the cabin,’ said Billy Ray. Lenny nodded then shouted.
‘Valentina, bring this guy’s cell phone as well. Same rules apply. She came back with her purse and Billy Ray’s phone which she handed to Lenny, then she dug into her purse and handed her cell phone over to him as well
‘I’d better not see you’ve attempted to make a call.’
‘It’s not even switched on,’ said Valentina.
He opened the flap on her phone and checked. Then put both cells in his trouser pocket.
‘Okay, you,’ he said pointing at Billy Ray with his gun ‘drag your friend’s body next to the other stiff. You,’ he pointed at Valentina, ‘sit over there, keep quiet and don’t move.’ Billy Ray did as he was told. ‘Okay, now we’re all going to go up to the wheelhouse or whatever it’s called and go for a nice little sailing trip.’
‘Where to?’ asked Billy Ray.
‘Just out to sea, far enough out that no one can see us dumping the bodies. Not too far, I don’t like boats, get seasick.’ Lenny signalled with his gun for Billy Ray to lead the way up to the deck and stood back, letting Valentina walk up behind Billy Ray. ‘One wrong move and she gets it, then you. Understand?’
‘Yeah yeah, tough guy with the gun,’ replied Billy Ray defiantly.
‘Hey, less of the lip or I just might shoot her anyway. Move it’ Billy Ray led the way to the wheelhouse cabin. Checked the fuel, inserted the key, then started the engine. He reversed the boat out of its mooring conscious of the gun trained on Valentina. He changed to forwards and began to manoeuvre the boat out of the harbour and into the ocean. The sea was calm, though with a slight swell
‘Head out there, and I’ll tell you when to stop,’ said Lenny pointing. Billy Ray steered the boat towards the horizon and gunned the engine. The boat’s bow rose up as the craft picked up speed then settled into a steady cruise. After a few minutes Billy Ray turned to the gunman and asked.
‘Just out of curiosity, how did you find us?’
The gunman laughed.
‘Same way our friend lying downstairs did I guess. Let me ask you a question. What was the first thing you did when you got to Melbourne Harbor?’
‘I checked in with the port master and paid for two nights mooring. But I misspelt the boat’s name, gave him a false name for me and paid in cash.’
‘Smart move, and then what did you do?’
‘Then I fuelled up.... Shit?’
‘Yeah shit.. for brains. That’s right, you used your credit card.’
‘And you have access to that sort of information?
‘Don’t be dumb; you can buy anything.’
‘And the PI?’
‘Come on; he’s an ex-cop, or should I say was an ex-cop?’ Lenny chuckled at his own joke, ‘so he probably just pulled a favour. Lucky for me he got to you first, and bad luck for you. Could have been the other way round, me lying on the floor down there instead. Now enough with the questions, just shut the fuck up and drive.’ After another five minutes, the gunman spoke.
‘You got one of those depth finder things right? Switch it on.’ Billy Ray did as he was told. ‘Okay, that’s the bottom right?’ asked the gunman, pointing his finger at the screen display.
‘Yes,’ said Billy Ray, ‘that’s the ocean floor.’
‘Okay then. The next big dip in the ocean floor, bring this tub around and anchor up.’ Billy Ray did as he was told. The anchor chain clanked nosily as it descended to the bottom of the sea.
‘Find some spare chain. And don’t give me all that shit about not having any. There’s always chains on boats. Oh, and no heroics, don’t forget what I said about shooting your pretty girlfriend here.’ Billy Ray went to one of the lockers, found some chain and brought it back. ‘More,’ said the gunmen. Billy Ray went and got more. When Lenny was satisfied they had enough to weigh two bodies down, he shooed the couple downstairs and followed them, covering them all the time with his gun. He told them to haul the bodies up to the deck. Billy Ray took the heavier end of Jerry’s body under the armpits, back walking up the ladder. Valentina struggled behind, holding the body by its ankles. They repeated the process with the body of the private eye.
Once both men’s bodies had been hauled up on deck, Lenny told them to drag the bodies round to the side of the deck hidden from the shore. Lenny then instructed Bill Ray to wrap some chain around both bodies. Billy Ray did as he was told and wrapped some chain round the body of the PI, then tried to turn his face away from the gunman as he wrapped some more chain around his friend Jerry’s torso, tears streaming down his face as he carried out the task.
‘Okay, no more blubbing. You two, get these fuckers over the side.’ Billy Ray caught Valentina’s eyes and gave the slightest shake of his head. He and Valentina tried to lift the body of the PI, but Valentina kept dropping her end under the weight. They tried twice more, then Lenny lost his patience. Looking a bit green, he pushed Valentina out of the way, tucked his gun in his belt and got hold of the PI’s ankles.
‘Okay, lift bozo,’ he said to Billy Ray. And they lifted, but instead of Billy Ray heaving his end over the side, he put all his weight into pushing forwards and threw Lenny off balance. Lenny fell backwards. His gun came free from his waistband, clattered on to the deck and slid away from him towards Valentina. She looked at it horrified. She’d never fired a gun in her life, or even handled one. She grabbed it, and to Billy Ray’s dismay, threw it over the side where it plopped as it hit the water. Billy Ray launched himself at the gunman who was trying to get up, but he was wearing the wrong shoes entirely for boating and slipped on the shiny deck. Billy Ray took his chance and hit Lenny with all his might, full in the face with his balled fist. The man fell backwards, laid out cold. Billy Ray leaned over and hit him hard again for good measure. Billy Ray stopped and looked down at his right hand; his knuckles were skinned and bleeding. He stood back up and landed a vicious kick into Lenny’s prone body.
‘That’s for Jerry, you murdering bastard.’ He stopped to get his breath back then shouted at Valentina,’’ Come on, help me get these chains off Jerry’s body.’ She recovered enough to help. As gently as they could in the circumstances, they unwrapped the chain. Then Billy Ray started to wrap the chain around Lenny’s waist, through his legs and back around his waist. He made a crude knot, sufficient for his purpose.
‘Help me drag him aft; the rails are a bit lower there.’
‘I can’t Billy Ray; I can’t do this. I’ve never even seen a dead body before.’
‘Look we got to get rid of this body and quick. Another boat could come along any minute. You want to go to jail?’ She shook her head. ‘then grab his other leg and heave.’ They each took a leg and began to drag the gunman’s body towards the rear of the boat.
‘Stop!’ said Billy Ray and kneeling down, he searched the man’s pockets and recovered all three cell phones, including the gunman’s. He got up and stuffed them in his short’s pockets.
‘Okay Valentina, pull.’
They managed to get him right to the rear of the boat then propped him up against the rail and turned him, so he half flopped over the side. Billy Ray squatted down, got hold of the gunman’s ankles and lifted. As he did so, the gunman started to moan and wake up.
‘Have a nice swim you fucking murdering bastard,’ shouted Billy Ray as he gave the final heave. Lenny screamed as he was pitched over the side, the chains ensuring he made a speedy descent to the bottom of the ocean.
‘What about the other two Billy Ray?’
‘We have to throw them in as well, but I want Jerry’s body to be found. I owe that to him at least.’ They rested just long enough to get their strength back, then manhandled the other two bodies into the water. Billy Ray stood by the rails for a while looking at Jerry’s body as it floated off. Valentina began to cry.
‘Look I’m upset as well Valentina, but we ain’t got time for grieving, we can do that later.
‘Okay Billy Ray,’ said Valentina.
‘Good girl, said Billy Ray, kissing her on the forehead. ‘Look, first we’re going to have to get that carpet up and ditch it overboard, then I’ll set a course for Fort Pierce. Once we get there, we leave the boat, and get my truck.’
They arrived back at Fort Pierce City Marina, moored the boat and disembarked as quickly and as quietly as they could, then made their way to Billy Ray’s truck. He exited the car park and drove slowly through Fort Pierce.
‘Why’re you driving so slow Billy Ray?’
‘Looking for a car park, a big one, preferably multi-story. I need to change my plate. Not taking any chances this time Valentina. Soon as I do, we can be on our way, and I think I know where we can go where no one will find us.’
CHAPTER 8
BEFORE
FRANKIE
His war experience dramatically changed Frank’s outlook on life; more it seemed than the others he’d served with. At first, he’d kept in touch with quite a few of his army mates, then apart from Barnsie, gradually withdrew as he tried to forget and carve out a new life. He’d married Penny within three months of getting back.
