Josh Sticks and Murder
Chapter 10
1
Brian James was at a loss as to what to do. If he did what Walker wanted him to do, Ironside would hunt him down. Of that, he had no doubt. He would tear San Francisco apart looking for his foster daughter. The detective was not a stupid cop. He would eventually find her...and consequently him as well. He did not want to spend years in jail courtesy of Donnie Walker. On the other hand, if he didn't do as he said, he was a dead man. Even if he ran, Walker would find him. He had done it with other guys in the past.
James had heard the stories Billy Morton and Davie Fryman had told him. They had come with Walker from Chicago. Both of them had been working for Walker for years, going from city to city when the police got close to enough evidence to arrest him, and shut down his operation. Brian wondered just how close Ironside was to that now. Would he be better off making a deal with the cop? He could help Ironside, He had been working for Donnie Walker since he had come to San Francisco. He saw no sense in kidnapping Ironside's foster daughter. He had lived in this city most of his life. Having watched crook after crook be arrested by the crippled cop, he certainly did not want to become one of them.
He had to make a decision. He could not go on this way. If he did, he was either going to be wasted by Donnie, or arrested by Ironside. But what decision should he make? If he went to the cop, he was known as "No Deal Ironside." Still he might be able to get a deal from the district attorney if he helped them take down Walker. He would have to serve some time, but at least he would be alive. That is more than Donnie would give him.
Brian James had made up his mind. He was going to go to Robert Ironside. He was his only chance. Donnie Walker did not trust him. He did trust Billy and Davie. Picking up another guy like himself would not be a problem for Donnie. There were many guys on the street that would be more than happy to work for Walker and Brian knew it. San Francisco was not a city that was short of crooks.
Brian's mind was made up. He was going to take his chances with the San Francisco detective. He had a much higher chance of staying alive.
2
The end of their shift was approaching. Ed Brown and Fran Belding were not looking forward to telling their boss they had been unable to locate Brian James. Ironside was reasonable; he understood there were times they just could not produce what he wanted. They had combed the entire city, interrogated known associates of Donnie Walker, and gone to places James was known to hide out. After almost the entire day of searching, they had not even come close to locating the man.
The officers entered the elevator that would take them to their boss's office. Fran looked over at her co-worker and said, "Well, which one of us is going to deliver the bad news?"
Ed smiled. "That depends entirely on what kind of a mood he is in. If it is good, I'll tell him. It will sour his mood, but at least the roof won't come off the office. If he's already in a sour mood, he's all yours."
Fran chuckled. "Coward."
"When it comes to Robert T. Ironside, you bet ya!" Ed laughed.
The door to the elevator opened. The detectives stepped out. Ed motioned for Fran to go first, thinking he was being a gentleman, but apparently Eve didn't take it that way.
"A gentleman would never let me go into the lion's den first," she said.
Ed just chuckled and followed Fran up the ramp to Ironside's office door. She reached for the knob, turned it and pushed the door open. The detectives entered the office and went down the ramp. Robert Duvalier, Chong and Mark were sitting at the table with the chief eating dinner.
Ironside studied his officers for a moment before saying, "You didn't find him?"
"No, Chief," Ed said. "I swear we checked every place we could think of, and talked to everyone that knows him or associates with Walker. No one knew where he was."
"Or they are not talking," Fran said.
"Did you check Walker's place?" Ironside asked, knowing they would have. Both his officers were very good. They did not forget much.
"Three times, Chief," Ed said. "We were hoping he would report back there."
"He may not only not report back there," Robert said, "but he may not go back there at all. Consider the predicament he is in. If he sticks with Walker, my father is going to take him down. With everything that has been going on, he has to know Walker is in trouble. My money is on him running."
Ironside looked at his son. It was not a bad piece of deduction, but it wasn't completely correct. "He won't run, Robert. He knows Walker's reputation for hunting down those that desert him. No, he is not going to run."
"I don't see him going back to Walker," Robert said. "After all, Walker has to know by now that we are looking for James. Even if he doesn't know that James tried to tip you off, he has to know he can't trust him. He is not like the other two men. He is weak. If we get hold of him, he will sing like a canary."
"Chief, I have to agree with Robert," Fran said. "Brian James knows too much about his business. He is not going to let him live. He can't take that chance. Especially if he wants to stay in business in San Francisco."
Ironside looked over at Ed. "Do you agree with that assessment, Sergeant?"
"I do. It all makes sense. If he sticks around here, he either gets arrested and taken down by you, or he is killed by Walker," Ed repeated.
"You fine people are forgetting one other option open to him," Ironside gruffly said. He watched his officers to see if any of them would see what he considered obvious. When all he got was dead silence from them, he shook his head. "Think, what else might he do to save himself?"
"He could come to you, Father," Chong said.
Ironside turned and looked at his foster daughter with a smile. "Thank you, Officer Chong." She smiled back at her father.
"I don't buy it, Chief," Ed said. "He could have done that the night he approached you, but he didn't."
"He would not have been ready to. We had not shut down the bar and rousted him yet," Ironside said. "He didn't want anything to do with kidnapping Chong, that is why he warned me. Now, the situation is different. He has been a member of this community most of his life..."
"He knows the chief's record, has seen the papers and watched him on television," Mark Sanger interrupted his boss with his own explanation. "He probably figures the chief is the only way he is going to come out of this alive."
"But, if he comes in here, it will most certainly mean a prison term," Robert said.
"It's better than being dead," Ironside countered.
"He might not think so, Chief," Fran said.
"I still think he will chance running," Robert said.
The door to the office opened, Brian James walked in and came down the ramp. "Chief Ironside, I believe you are looking for me."
Ironside looked over at his son and grinned.
3
Donnie Walker watched as the workman continued to correct the violations the health department had listed in their report. Walking back to his office, he went in and shut the door. He sat down at his desk and started going over figures. The kitchen was going to cost him a bundle. That was where they had most of the violations listed. He was being forced to redo the entire room.
He had been having his employees wash the dishes by hand, but no, that was not good enough for health department. Walker had to put in one of those commercial dish washers that had water so hot, you had to wait five minutes after the dishes were done for them to be cool enough to handle them.
The bar was another area that was costing him a lot of money. They didn't like the dispensers he was using for some of his beers. They were forcing him to replace all of them and redesign the entire bar. It was all bullshit as far as Donnie was concerned. Ironside had the entire damn city in his back pocket. If he said jump, they said how high. Well, Ironside's days were numbered. Donnie had dealt with cops like him before. They thought they were smarter, when most of them were just plain dumb. Ironside had never had to deal with anyone like him and he would prove to the stupid cop that you don't mess with Donnie Walker.
He knew what the first thing he had to do, and that was to eliminate Brian James. He never should have hired that weakling in the first place. Donnie should have allowed his boys to go out and find a man for that position. After all, they were perfectly capable of finding a man just like them. Davie and Billy had been with him for over ten years and they never let him down. Even when they had gone to jail, they kept their mouths shut. Donnie always hired a lawyer for them and paid their bail. He took good care of them, and they knew if they ever had to serve time, they would be taken care of while in the pen and after they got out. Both of his boys were completely loyal to him. Neither one was afraid of jail time if it became a reality.
Brian, on the other hand, was a wimp. He would never keep his mouth shut. If he had been more like the other two, he would do for him what he did for the others. Unfortunately for Walker, Brian was weak, extremely weak. He could not allow Ironside to get his hands on him. If he did, everything he had set up in the city of San Francisco would be for nothing. He would lose everything.
Walker was not about to let that happen. He had enjoyed Florida when he had a set up there. Chicago was far more profitable with all the crime the city had. He could operate right under the noses of the police and make a bundle of money, way more than he ever made in Florida. Florida is where all the old people retired. They never needed money, not if they retired to that state. Although he made a decent living, it was nothing like he had made in Chicago. Of course, he had not made that kind of income in San Francisco, but the city had much promise. Every big city had its share of crooks and the criminal element. This one was no different. The only difference he saw with San Francisco was Ironside. He had been a thorn in his side ever since he arrived here.
How the crippled cop had found out about his operation so quickly was unbelievable. It had to be Brian James. How else could Ironside have caught on so easily. He didn't believe for a second all the hype Brian had spewed regarding the cripple. After all, Brian was so easily frightened by the police. Ironside as the big, bad wolf was all in Brian's head, and Walker was going to prove it.
A knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts. "Come in," he told his visitors. The door opened immediately. Billy Morton and Davie Fryman walked in. Walker could tell the answer of the question he was about to ask them by the look on their faces. "How much did you collect today?"
"Nothing," Billy reported regretfully. "Every time we tried, there was a cop there to stop us."
"Damn Ironside! He is putting the squeeze on us. This place is costing me a bloody fortune to bring up to code. Even after it is done, I don't know if Ironside will succeed in keeping us from getting our liquor license back. I am spending a bundle of money and there is nothing coming in because of that damn crippled cop!"
"Boss, we have a suggestion," Davie said. "We have been talking about it all day. It is time we make Ironside pay for what he has done to us. You can't possibly believe that Brian will pick up Ironside's daughter. Even if he does, he hasn't got the temperament to do what has to be done. We would like you to allow us to pick her up. We will hold her and draw in Ironside. We will lead him to believe that the husband is responsible. The thing to do is draw in Ironside, kill his daughter in front of him, and then kill him. Than we are back in business."
Walker thought about it for a minute. It sounded like a sound plan. How much trouble could it be to take the cripple out in the first place? He had allowed this to go on far too long. He liked their plan, and he knew he could trust them to carry it out successfully. "Alright, but first I want you to waste Brian. We can't have him talking to Ironside."
"I am afraid it is too late for that," Billy said.
"What are you talking about?" Donnie said.
"We have been following him most of the day after we finished our collection rounds. We left him when he went into the police station," Davie said.
"Damn that piece of..."
"Relax, Boss. We have it taken care of," Billy said.
"How?"
"Remember the kid you helped a while back. The one that stole from a jewelry store and when he came out the police were waiting," Billy reminded him.
"Yes, I remember. He ducked down an alley and we picked him up so he could avoid the police. What about him? I suggested he apply for the advertised job of serving the prisoners in the jail. Since he has no record, he got the job and has been snitching for us ever since."
Billy grinned. "That's the one. We paid him a healthy chunk of money to kill James. He will be armed with a nice big knife. Owens will take Brian James out right there under their noses."
"What if he gets caught? We can't depend on him to keep his mouth shut. Ironside would scare the hell out of him."
"The beauty of that is he will claim James is sleeping after he kills him and no one will know it until he is out of the building," Davie said.
"So what?" The police will know who he is. They would trace him right back to us if he talks, and he will when Ironside gets done with him."
"Not if he is dead, he won't. We will be there to pick him up. When we get done wasting him, we'll dump him in the bay," Billy said. "Problem solved."
Walker nodded. "I can live with that. Okay, do it, but make sure it works. We have enough problems as it is." Walker watched as the two men left his office.
4
"Come in, Mister James," Ironside called out. "Mark, get him a cup of coffee."
Brian came down the ramp and walked over to Ironside. The chief could see the man was extremely nervous. He just stood there in front of the detective looking at the floor.
"Sit down, Mister James," Ironside told him.
"Then you know who I am?" Brian said.
"I saw you at Walker's bar. It did not take much work to find out who you were from there," Ironside told him.
James continued to look down without saying anything. He was at least sure he had made the right decision. He would have gone down with Walker had he stayed there. Maybe he could get a deal from Ironside.
"Why did you come here, Mister Walker?" Ironside asked, softly. He did not want to intimidate the young man. He was already frightened.
"I want out, Mister Ironside. When I went to work for Donnie Walker, no one said I would be beating up people to collect money from them. Neither did they say I would have to kidnap anyone. I just thought I would be working in the bar as a bartender."
"Why not just leave?" Robert asked him.
"Because Walker hunts down guys who run and kills them. Davie and Billy have told me about some of the guys they killed on Walker's orders. Running would get me killed. Staying with Donnie would get me arrested by you and I would serve a lot more years, that is if Donnie didn't kill me anyway."
"So what are you expecting from me?" Ironside said.
"A deal. Maybe not from you," he said as he saw the look on Ironside's face, "but maybe the district attorney." Brian looked into the detectives eyes.
"I think we can do better than that." Ironside turned to his sergeant. "Ed, the district attorney was in the building earlier. See if he still is. If he is, ask him to come up to my office."
Brown immediately went to the phone and began dialing.
"I couldn't be part of kidnapping your daughter, Mister Ironside. It was bad enough I had to beat up people to get them to pay, but I can't be part of a kidnapping."
"You have a right to an attorney, Mister James. You don't have to talk to us without one. You have rights," Ironside told him.
"I don't need an attorney. I am here willingly and will talk," Brian told the detective.
Ed Brown came back to the table. "The District Attorney will be right up, Chief."
While Ironside allowed the young man to talk, they waited for the district attorney. Within a few minutes, Paul Mantee walked into the room. "You wanted to see me, Chief?"
"Yes, come on in, Paul." Mantee joined them at the table taking a seat beside Ironside.
"This is our district attorney, Paul Mantee," Ironside said, introducing him to Brian James.
"I have information for you that will help you put Donnie Walker behind bars," Brian told him as he faced him.
Mantee sat back in his chair. "That would be a prize. What kind of information?"
"Paul, I have no doubt the information he has will do exactly that. Can we give him some kind of deal?"
Mantee looked at Ironside. This was uncharacteristic of the detective. He usually did not appear to anyone that he was willing to give them a deal. He might talk to him privately and make a suggestion of a deal, but never in front of the person seeking it. "What are you proposing, Chief."
"Immunity or community service. The worst this young man has done is be a muscle man for Walker. You know as well as I do, he could not have just walked away," Ironside said.
Mantee smiled. This was too good to be true. He wanted Walker and it seemed he was going to be handed to him on a silver platter. Paul Mantee said nothing for a moment before finally speaking up. "Okay, I will not prosecute if I consider the information you have will lead to the arrest and conviction of Donnie Walker."
"I can give you names of the people Walker ordered Davie Fryman and Billy Morton to kill, and where they are buried. That will also give you the information you need to arrest Fryman and Morton. I can also give you the entire list of people Walker is collecting from. Maybe some of them will turn on him as well. Also, he ordered me to kidnap Chief Ironside's daughter. In other words, I know everything Walker has been into in this city," Brian said. "I have proof of everything I am saying. I have copies of his records."
"Well, Paul?" Ironside questioned.
"You have yourself a deal, Mister James." He looked at his watch. "It is getting late and I have another appointment. I trust you will hold Mister James overnight until we can have a long talk in the morning, Chief?"
"I will. Thanks, Paul. I will have the records he has picked up," Ironside told him."
"Alright then, until tomorrow, Mister James. You made the right decision." Mantee got up and left.
"Where are the records you are talking about, Mister James? Ironside asked.
"In my sister's apartment in Sonoma. She is away visiting friends in New York City. I am watching her apartment for her."
"Give the address to Ed. Tell him where they are and he will pick them up," Ironside said. "Robert, take Mister James to the jail. You will be safer here until we can pick up Walker," Ironside said.
"I understand. Is there any chance I could get something to eat? I haven't eaten all day," Brian said. He handed Ed the keys to the apartment and gave him the address.
"Tell them to send him a tray of food," he told Robert.
Ed left the office as Robert took Brian James downstairs to the jail.
"Fran, I see you took notes."
"Yes, Chief, I did," Fran confirmed.
"Type them up in the computer and leave me a paper copy before you leave."
"Yes, sir."
"Mark, clear off this table, would you please?" Ironside requested. Mark Sanger started removing the dinner dishes and coffee cups and taking them to the kitchen.
"It will take Ed about two hours to drive out there, pick up the records and return. I want them spread out on the table so we can see exactly what we've got," Ironside ordered.
5
Robert left Brian James with the officers in charge of the jail, telling them James was not under arrest but was under protective custody. Once he was in the hands of the officers, he left. On his way back to his father's office, he stopped at the kitchen and requested they send a tray of food up to him.
Kent Owens heard Robert's order. This was as good a time as any. He had been told to kill Brian James as soon as possible. Well, it seemed as if it was going to be possible tonight. Checking to see where the cooks were, Owens moved slowly towards a set of knives that were in a wooden holder. While their attention was elsewhere, he reached over and picked up one of the larger knives that could be concealed in his shirt-sleeve.
"Hey, Kent. Take this tray of food up to the new prisoner they just brought in. It is left overs. I am off in ten minutes. I am not cooking anything for the crook tonight," the main cook called out.
Kent went over to him and picked up the tray. He walked out of the kitchen and headed down the hall to the jail. This was working out better than he thought. He just hoped the guy didn't yell out when he shoved the knife in his chest. He had to get away in order to spend all that money. Kent pulled out his phone and sent a text message to Billy Morton.
When he arrived at the jail, there was only one guard on duty. That was a break. With two of them there, the guards might have insisted they take the tray to James. One had to be at the desk at all times. He entered the room and said, "Tray of food for Brian James ordered by Ironside."
The guard looked up at the kid. He had no choice but to send the kid back into the cells. He got up and unlocked the main gate. "Take it back to him. Here's the key." He hoped his partner got back, this was against protocol. He really should make the kid wait, but his partner had just left to get some dinner himself. He might not be back for an hour. Food was not normally delivered to prisoners at this hour.
After the officer unlocked the main gate, Kent Owens went through and closed it behind him. He went down until he found Brian James. Another break! He was lying on the bed sound asleep on his stomach. Balancing the tray on one hand, he unlocked the cell with the other. Kent set the tray down and approached James. He allowed the knife to slide down his arm, out of his sleeve and into his hand. Kent had to do this right. He could not afford to be covered in blood. He would never get out of here if he was.
Fortunately, since James was not considered a prisoner, but in protective custody, he had not been forced to change into a prison uniform. He was in jeans and wearing a blue-jean jacket. Kent was taught by Davie and Billy exactly where to stab him to stop his heart instantly. Standing over James, he raised the knife and with all the force he could muster, he stabbed him exactly in the middle where he had been told. Fortunately, the jacket absorbed the blood. It did not splatter all over. He checked James's pulse and smiled. He had done it right. Brian James was dead. Now all he had to do was get out of here before the guards found out his condition.
Kent Owens left his cell, locked it and walked back to the main gate. The guard opened it and he came out. "Wouldn't you know, he asked for food and then falls asleep before it arrives," Kent said.
"Well, he can eat it if he awakens. If not, he will get breakfast in the morning. We won't disturb him," the guard said.
Kent left the jail and headed for the elevator. Billy and Davie would be waiting for him. He just wanted to collect his money and get the hell out of San Francisco before Ironside got wind of his dead witness. Taking the elevator to the main floor, he walked over to the desk and checked out. He had to stop himself from running out of the building. As promised, Billy and Davie picked him up.
"Is he dead?" Billy asked, looking at Kent in the rear view mirror.
"He's dead, I made sure," Kent said.
"Excellent!" Billy said.
"When do I get paid?" Kent asked.
"Right now," Davie said. He pulled a silenced gun out of his jacket pocket, turned around and shot Kent Owens in the head. The boy slumped to the floor of the vehicle.
Morton and Fryman took him to the San Francisco Bay and dumped the body in the water.