Something’s Up

Something’s Up





The night sat heavy on the city. Something was up. I felt it deep, like when you know someone has died. You couldn’t possibly know, but you do. If something was up in my town I wanted to know about it. I’ve been on top of things in this town since Billy Bob Carter was the president’s brother. I had to make some calls.

My first call was to Louie down at the Daily Fish-wrap. He didn’t have a clue, but I kind of expected that, seeing as how he started on top, with a big New York rag and, after eighteen years in the business he’d worked his way all the way to crap editor at the second biggest birdcage liner in Podunk. He obviously never had a clue.

My next call proved a little more productive. I called Jimmy up at the Channel 6 newsroom. He’d heard a rumor some big drug ring bust would go down in three days, but hadn’t been able to confirm it through any of his trustworthy sources. Trustworthy my ass. I’ve been steered left on a right hand curve once too often to do anything without confirming through a source that I know is reliable, which are becoming darned hard to come by these days. Still, it was enough for me to keep digging. It probably was nothing like reported, but in my experience, if there’s a rumble coming there’s probably an earth mover coming behind it. I began my investigation in earnest. I called Mackie down at the city police. She would know something if there was something, but getting it out of her could be a tough.

“I know why you’re calling, and the answer is no.” Mackie was always busting my chops like that. She just likes to negotiate. I’ve spent a lot of dough on negotiations with Mackie. Dinner, movies, long walks on moonlit beaches. I’m still working on those negotiations. I do a little better getting information from her than romance lately, but give me time.

“You don’t have to start like that. Give me a break. Can’t I just be calling up to say hi and invite you to Mario’s for some spaghetti?”

“I’ll go for the spaghetti, sure, but I still know what you’re up to and I aint saying nothing about nothing that you are wanting to hear. What time will you pick me up? My shift ends at five."

“I’ll pick you up at five and drive you home. I can wait while you get ready. I think there’s a game on.”

She told me all that I needed to know by the time we got to her apartment, so I settled in and caught the end of the game while she showered. I had my information, but the night's negotiations had only begun.

Mackie told me that it was a shipment of arms, not drugs, that was going down. The cops were onto it and planned to bust the transaction in a warehouse down on the waterfront the day after tomorrow. It was supposedly the largest shipment to hit town in nearly a decade, dwarfing the Valentine’s Day bust two years ago. The mayor was staking his re-election to the success of this bust. He’d been in trouble for months and would be lucky to make it to the election without being impeached on a multitude of ethics charges, including taking bribes from organized crime. His double-dipping in the underworld was legendary in my circles. The guy is as slimy as they come. If it weren’t for politics, he’d probably be scamming old ladies out of their life savings or kidnapping kids for ransom. How these guys ever get themselves elected, I’ll never figure out. Must’ve slept with somebody. It’s definitely not his charm.

While while for Mackie to get ready I decided I’d heard enough to assume the story to be true. They were going to bust the biggest deal of the year. There were over ten million dollars involved. Someone was going to be extremely unhappy about this by the time it was over. I had one more call to make. I hit number two on my speed dial. (number one is Mom.) It rang once.

“Yeah.”

“Vinnie, Jack. They’re on to the Thursday drop. Change it to tomorrow night and move it to the warehouse on Sixth. Oh, and for giggles, plant an email in the Mayor’s box. Make it look like he’s the leak.”

“Done and done, boss.” A click and then nothing. Vinnie would see to everything.

I sat back and looked at the score on the TV. The Sox were losing again. I will enjoy dinner tonight regardless and then, you never know.

Romance is in the air.



THE END