Killing the Blues - Michael Brandman [17]
“All the better,” Jesse said.
The BMW fell in line behind the Chevy as they both drove off.
Jesse pulled the wiry man from the bushes. The man was still groggy but beginning to awaken. Jesse removed the binding from the man’s wrists and ankles. He also removed the gag.
He looked in the man’s wallet, and from his driver’s license, made note of the name, Santino Valazza. Also from Fall River.
Jesse left the barely conscious Valazza to fend for himself, then headed back down the driveway toward his Explorer.
Jesse returned to the station and slipped into his office. He looked up as Molly entered carrying a cup of hot coffee, which she placed on his desk.
“Non-precedential,” she said, as she sat down. “You look like shit, Jesse.”
“It’s amazing how much police work agrees with me.”
“You’re not too old to consider a career change.”
“Was there something you wanted, Molly, or did you plant yourself here solely for the entertainment value?”
“I wanted to see how it went.”
“So far, so good,” Jesse said.
“So we stick with plan A?”
“We do.”
“You sure about this, Jesse?”
“Not entirely,” he said. “But it’s better than the alternative.”
“Which is?”
“Play by the rules and do nothing.”
“Well, when you put it that way,” she said.
The phone rang, and Molly answered it. She handed it to Jesse.
“Captain Healy,” she said, and left the office.
Jesse picked up the call.
“It’s on,” he said.
17
The safe house was located in a failing neighborhood on the outskirts of town. A bank foreclosure, it had been unoccupied for months. In anticipation of his need, Jesse had earlier arranged to borrow it with the help of his friend Marcy Campbell, a local real-estate broker, who had an in at the bank.
A fair amount of preplanning had gone into the alteration of the house. Jesse had worked with Suitcase and Perkins on it, keeping knowledge of its existence to a small need-to-know list. The three police officers had discussed the questionable legality of what it was they were about to undertake. He had offered both Perkins and Suitcase the chance to back out, which they both declined.
The changes that they made to the house were minimal. They had focused their attention on one small bedroom, the one with an adjoining bath.
They cleaned the room thoroughly. They placed bars on the outside of the room’s single window. They removed the door and replaced it with one of their own, which had been fitted with a pair of heavy-duty dead bolts. In the bottom half they fashioned a slot large enough so that food trays could be passed through it. In the top half they installed a one-way mirror.
They removed the shower rod and curtain from the tub. They also removed the towel racks. They stripped the room of anything that might be used as a weapon.
The furniture in the room consisted of a futon, which doubled as both sofa and mattress. A blanket, a towel, and a bathrobe had been placed atop it. There was also a single straight-back chair.
They used a generator to power both the bedroom and the room adjacent to it. This they would use as their base.
Perkins and Suitcase arrived at the house within moments of each other. They parked their vehicles in the multicar garage, from which they could achieve direct access inside.
Together they lifted the now semiconscious Robert Lopresti from the Chevy. They got him on his feet and walked him to the bedroom. They took him inside.
They placed him on the futon. First they removed the binding from both his hands and his feet. Then they removed the blindfold as well as the rest of his clothing.
Satisfied, they took the blindfold and the clothing and left the room. They locked both of the dead bolts behind them.
18
The tinkling of the piano keys in the Gray Gull was nearly as soft as the lighting.
Jesse stared admiringly at Alexis Richardson. She was wearing a close-fitting black dress that emphasized everything. She was drinking an apple martini. He was having a scotch.
“So then what happened,” Jesse said.
“I told him that I wouldn’t sleep