Art Reasoner returned to the scene of the crime.
The late evening crowd was smaller at the Taconite Lounge. The conversations quieter.
Jenny, the hostess, looked up from her station.
"Did you forget something, Mr. Reasoner?"
"No, Jenny. I'm here to see Vittorio. Is he still around?"
"I think he's in his office. I can check for you."
"That's okay. I'll see myself there."
Reasoner went around the bar. He pushed on the swinging door. Vittorio's office was at the end of the hall, closer to the wine cellar. Pungent cigar smoke wafted out of the partially opened office door. Reasoner knocked on the wall.
"Yeah," Vittorio said, his faux European accent now replaced by the nasally Michigan 'A'. "Come on in."
Vittorio sat at a desk. A crate of amber wine bottles took up a portion of the desktop. The box pushed up against an ashtray that held the aromatic cigar. A tendril of smoke curled and rolled toward the ceiling. Vittorio squinted at Reasoner through the cloud.
"Reasoner. I had a feeling I'd be seeing you again."
"Before I ask you what I need to ask you, could you maybe open a window?"
"Why? My cigar offend you?" Vittorio puffed out a smoke ring.
"That's a cigar? It smells like something burning at McFeeley's pig farm."
Vittorio tapped off the smoldering ash. He waved a hand at the window. Reasoner unlocked it. He lifted the frame.
"Better?" Vittorio asked.
Reasoner looked out the window. He'd never thought of it before but now he couldn't ignore what he saw. He became overly aware of the alley behind the Taconite. A stack of palates rested below the window, the perfect height for someone to use to break into the restaurant, make their way o the wine cellar...and what? Randomly spike a bottle of wine?
Vittorio scoffed. "Come on, Reasoner. It ain't that bad."
"Try breathing it through my nose." Reasoner pulled over a straight-back chair. He sat. "That the stock the tainted bottle came from?"
"That's why it's there. Police are on their way to take it to the lab."
Reasoner took a handkerchief from his coat. He wrapped it around the neck of a bottle and lifted it from the crate.
"Fuzzy Rabbit VIneyards," Reasoner said reading the label.
"Local guy. Dirk Sommers. He runs a vineyard east of Eastdale. Between here and Bad Axe."
"Says here this white zinfandel is the winner of the Great Lakes Vineyard Association's Silver Tastevin Cup."
"That's why I bought a crate."
"What the hell is a tastevin cup?"
"Taste. Vin." Vittorio corrected Reasoner's pronunciation.
"What did I say?"
"Tasty-veen."
"So what is it?"
"It's that silver scoop thing I wear around my neck. I'm supposed to use it when I don't have a wine glass available instead of shotgunning it from the bottle."
"How many of these bottles did you open?"
"Just the one. Miss Proust is always game for something new. I told her I had an award-winning white zin."
"Did you try it?"
Vittorio shook his head. "One of the servers poured. Don't ask me who. I was busy with a large party."
"Belinda told me she and Jilly had slight reactions. The third woman had the most severe."
"If these are spiked, it was added at the winery. If they aren't, then someone here added whatever caused your friends to trip."
"Doctor over at the hospital says the additive is undetectable."
Vittorio examined the crate. "So the only way to know if something foreign is in the wine is to drink it."
"Looks like it. Any recent problems with disgruntled employees?"
Vittorio shook his head. "Not in my department. I haven't heard anything going on with the waitstaff."
"Angry customers?"
"I don't know. Somebody inevitably regrets getting the vegetarian plate and wants to send it back for the veal at no extra charge."
"So, our culprit could be anyone." Reasoner stood up to leave.
Jenny the hostess blocked the door. "There's an Officer Duggan here to see you, Rio."
Vittorio slid the ashtray and cigar into a desk drawer.
"Yeah," Reasoner said. "That's going to help." He gave Vittorio a cube of purple bubble gum.
"What do I tell Officer Duggan?" Jenny asked.
Vittorio popped the gum into his mouth. "Send her back."
Jenny's jaw stiffened. "How'd you know she was a woman? No. Never mind. I don't want to know." Jenny turned with a huff.
"Something going on with you and the hostess?"
Vittorio shrugged. "You ever work in the food service industry?"
"I was in the war and now I'm a gumshoe."
Officer Duggan stepped through the door. "Maybe Mr. DiDonato here will give you a legit job, Reasoner."
"Kate. Always a pleasure."
Officer Duggan narrowed her eyes and scoffed.
"This is the lot the wine in question came from, Officer Duggan." Vittorio lifted the box. "You want me to carry it to your car?"
"I'll take it," Kate said. She took the wine from Vittorio. "Call the desk sergeant for a receipt."
Duggan turned to go.
"See ya, copper," Reasoner said.
Duggan exited the room with an icy glare at Reasoner.
"Something going on between you and the officer, Reasoner?"
He opened his mouth to answer Vittorio but Duggan answered from the hall. "Not anymore."
"I'm going to wait a minute or two," Reasoner said. He unwrapped a cube of grape bubble gum.
"Good plan." Vittorio sat back in his chair. "So, what were you going to ask me?"
Reasoner shook his head. "You answered it without me having to ask."
"I didn't poison the wine."
"I didn't say you did."
"I don't know how it got in their drinks."
"Maybe it was along the rim of the glass."
"Maybe your friend took something before she came."
"Maybe it was in the drinks we had on the train. I have a hat full of maybe. Hard to know."
"You came back here for a maybe?"
"You ever hear of a Club Two-Fifty-Four in the warehouse district?"
"No, but I have heard of pop-ups in that area."
"Pop-ups?"
"Yeah. Some chef hot out of the culinary academy at Pinny Tech desperate to share his or her or their menu ideas will rent a space for a couple of weeks then close down to go legit in a more permanent location that sees more traffic."
Jenny came back into the room. "I punched out."
"I'm leaving, too," Vittorio said. He looked at Reasoner and used his faux accent. "Caio!"
"You kids behave." Reasoner left the room before Vittorio and Jenny did. Behind him, Jenny unloaded a barrage of questions about Officer Duggan.
The night was cool. A thin fog rolled in from Wolf Head Bay on the back of a lake breeze. Parts of Wharf 49 remained busy. Reasoner could see the Glow Wheel turning at Pier Walk. The boardwalk amusement park stayed lit up until the bars closed. Until then he'd used the neon lights of the rides as his beacon.
He'd gone deep into the warehouse district along the 200 block. He passed a lot of interesting doors. A couple of times he backtracked for a look and a listen.
Most of the alley doors were unmarked. A few had faded names painted on rusting steel or faded wood. Almost none of them had numbers and when they did, they were never sequential.
Reasoner realized he could be at this all night. Sometimes a task felt too monumental to tackle. Reasoner knew from experience the longer the chase, the less likely the lead would pan out.
He chased Club 254 to find out who poisoned the wine. He followed the lead because there was a chance the Phyllis Nurse Weaver spoke of could be the missing wife of his client, Louis Norton. Unintentionally, Reasoner searched for Club 254 because he did not like the idea of some new, undetectable, psychotropic drug being pushed on the streets of Port Pinnebog.
A door opened. An older man looked both ways along the alley. Reasoner tucked back into a darkened doorway once again to watch a new scene play out in a new alley. This was no tiger mom defending her whelps.
The old man turned and spoke softly to someone inside the room behind him. A moment later a younger woman exited the building. She and the older man held hands. They spoke softly. She kissed the man who closed the door. The woman walked in Reasoner's direction.
Reasoner whistled. He stepped backward and knocked on the door. The wood vibrated under his hand and not from striking it. He put his ear up to the door. The door tingled as if electrified but not in a dangerous way. More like holding a buzzing Junebug in one hand as it flew back and forth inside the closed palm.
"Anyone in there?"
Reasoner put an eye up to a gap in the planks. Across the room, a fan turned. At least he thought it was fan. The hub glowed bright pink then yellow then pink again. The blades churned at alternating speeds. Reasoner kept staring at the machine that spun and hummed.
Something dark passed in between the closed door Reasoner peered through and the glowing fan. Reasoner stepped back as the woman as she passed behind him. He nearly knocked into her. The woman stepped out of his way.
"Excuse me," Reasoner said. She kept walking. He spoke louder. "I'm looking for Two-Fifty-Four. Ever hear of it?"
"If you have to ask, you don't belong." The woman turned down a cross street.
"Okay. Thanks!"
Reasoner stood in the alley sensing he wasn't alone.
Maybe it would be a better idea to search from the street in front of the buildings. At least then he could follow the addresses. Reasoner headed down a cross street to the main avenue.
"Hey, buddy," a man said. He was younger than Reasoner. "I can take you to where you want to go."
"You've been there?" Reasoner asked. He watched the man whose head and eyes never seemed to stop moving. The young man's hands never left the pockets of his jacket. Reasoner kept walking.
The younger guy shook his head. He trotted alongside Reasoner. "Inside? No. But I've been outside it. Come on, I'll take you there. We're almost there now."
The younger man caught Reasoner's arm. Art felt the younger man's grip tighten. The guy pulled something from his pocket with his free hand. Reasoner waited for the inevitable click of the switchblade.
"That will be unnecessary, young man."
Both Reasoner and his would-be tour guide turned to look in the same direction. An imposing figure stood just inside the shadows of the alley lamps. Whoever it was, the younger man didn't stick around. He ran off down the closest cross street.
"You should be more careful, Mr. Reasoner."
Reasoner stared at the man. in the shadows. "Do I know you, mister?"
"We've never met until now but I have followed your work."
"You a private detective?"
"Not in the least."
"You're not going to tell me who you are, are you?"
"Who I am is inconsequential. Suffice it to say my cohorts and I provide a service." The large shadow drew a wet, heavy breath. "The establishment you seek has been dealt with. It is no more. However, know this. While we have removed the thorn, the bush from whence it came continues to grow."
"You're big on vague metaphors."
"Allow me to spell it out for you. The people who manufacture the product they are slowly introducing to. the fine citizens of Port Pinnebog call it Delirium Six. The street name is Captain Coughs because the lozenge looks and tastes like a mellow, mint cough drop."
"You seem to know a lot about it."
"We are not the ones making the tablets if that is what you are alluding to. We've only recently discovered its presence."
"You keep saying 'we', mister. Who are you?"
Headlights swept over the walls as a car turned down the cross street.
"Leave, Mr. Reasoner. You will find no answers here."
The car came closer. Reasoner turned to see who was driving in the alley. When he turned back, the large man was gone.
"You call for a cab, Artie?"
Reasoner shielded his eyes from the headlights. He recognized the voice.
"Betty Dempsey."
"The one and only."
"I didn't call."
"I'm well aware. I gave up waiting for you to ring me."
Reasoner felt the dig. He drew in a breath to capitulate. Betty cut him off before he could.
"You need a ride or not?"
"Absolutely do."
"Good. Let's go. This isn't my favorite place to be."
Reasoner got in the cab.
"I don't suppose you saw who I was talking to just now."
"You kidding?"
"No. I was being reprimanded by some big, slurpy-breathing, shadow."
"You were the only one standing there when I stopped. Where am I taking you?"
"My office. You remember where that is?"
"Better than you do my phone number."
"I think I stood a better shot of coming out of the alley unscathed than I have in this cab."
"You're tougher than that, babe. It's why I like ya."
"It's good to have friends."
"Friends? Do friends bounce the way we bounced?" Her eyes met his in the rearview mirror.
Eager to redirect the conversation, Reasoner asked, "You hear anything about Captain Coughs?"
Betty scoffed. "You put up too many walls, Arti."
The conversation in the cab quieted. Just when Reasoner had given up learning anything, Betty said, "I hear it's bad. Lowers inhibitions and makes you feel euphoric. Invincible. But the crash is worse than the morning after one too many Polynesian Pearl Divers at the Hawaiian Isles. By then you're body is hungry for more of it. Why you asking? You're not looking to score, are you?"
"No. My administrative assistant and my office manager were slipped some tonight in their wine."
"That's how they hook you. Give it to you free for a while and then lower the boom on you with having to pay for it."
"Ain't that the truth. Like cigarettes. Got them free in the war. Came home I had to buy them."
"I thought you quit."
"I did. I'm trying. Now I'm addicted to grape bubble gum."
"It's always something."
Betty drove down the alley. Reasoner looked out the window as they passed a door marked 2-5-4. He decided it was pointless to stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment