Chapter 10: Mum's the Word

The Daisy was in full swing, but the Marigold was still the biggest spot in town. Mordecai knew this. Asa did, too. Asa was sitting at the bar, in a wash of bittersweet emotions; just a month and some change prior, he'd owned St. Louis. Now he had to share. Sure, his only competition was a place that predated him by a year or two, but it certainly didn't feel nice. He looked up and saw Mordecai walk into the room, and almost immediately made eyed contact with him. Mordecai walked over to the bar and looked the barman dead in the eye. "Glass of water."

"Water?"

"Water. Cold. Please?" He looked over at Asa. "Evening."

"Evening, Mister Heller." Asa said. He smiled gently. "You never seem to come here."

"Meeting someone." Asa leaned back, eyeing suggestively at Mordecai. "Found some other spook who haunts the streets at night? What's her name? Or his? You know I don't mi-"

"I'm meeting him for business." Business? If it was business, his boss ought to know about it! "What sort of business?" Mordecai sighed and looked him dead in the eye. "I'm buying a new car. He sells them. I told him I work here and he wanted to meet me." He said. He looked around the room, scanning for any sign of his man. He found him. "There he is...promised I'd be on time." He said. Asa started to get up. "Why don't I come and meet him?"

"He wants to talk to me and me only. He's a very nervous man."

"A nervous man who sells cars?"

"This is his first time at a real speakeasy. Last one he went to was the Daisy before that angel donor." Asa rolled his eyes. "Ahh, yes. Well, have fun with your, eh...car salesman friend." He winked. "Kiss him once for me, casanova!" Mordecai rolled his eyes as Asa laughed at his own unfunny joke. He walked up to the man calmly.

Eric Holmes was a tall man who dressed finely and stood with perfect posture. He, on this occasion, was wearing a pinstripe suit with a plain black tie and white shirt. He noticed Mordecai walking up to him. "...evening."

"Evening. You're new here, aren't you?"

"Well, only been around town for a few months now. But this is a nice spot...are you that hitman?" Mordecai furrowed a brow. "Beg your pardon?"

"I heard one of the boys in the band the other night talking about a hitman, you seem as frightening as he described." Eric's accent was indeed thick, but Mordecai had heard worse. Mordecai shook his head. He'd had to naturally explain that away once or twice, and he didn't skip a beat. "No, you must be mistaken. I've been told I give off that impression, but I assure you it's just how I'm built."

"Oh. Well, that's honestly a bit of a shame, really. I've been looking for that man." Mordecai spotted a chance. "What for?"

"Well, my last one's still in Ireland."

"You don't sound very Irish."

"Blackpool. I worked in the Irish Free State a while back." He pointed at the scar on his cheek. "I'm looking for the boy who did this. I tracked him here."

Mordecai nodded. "You know, I'm close to the hitman. I could give over any information you wanted." Eric chuckled. "You sure?" Mordecai sipped a bit of his water, his tail swaying lightly, to give off a more calm expression. "Indeed. Would a cop be in a place like this?"

"I suppose not."

"Who were they?" Eric holmes took himself and the stranger who knew the hitman to a corner of the room. "His name is Calvin McMurray. He and his friend Ronan are in the city." Mordecai flittered an ear. "And just why did they scar you?"

"I hit the Calvin boy. He starts goin' nuts and gives me a fresh cut right here. Would've kept going, too. He's a brute, that one. Small, but he'll kill you."

Mordecai wrote all of this down. Taking notes for the hitman would be his excuse, but from the lack of mentioning it seemed that Eric had assumed that as well. "Why did you strike him?"

"He's giving me some jaw. Boy picked a fight with a policeman." Mordecai wrote that down, too. He was sure he knew the true story, that a man got scratched and lost his job because he was irresponsible, but couldn't handle taking responsibility for the consequences. He didn't egg it on, though, as that would just give him away. "Ahh. Well...you mentioned the name Ronan? Do you mean Ronan Flannery?"

"I do. How do you know him?"

"He applied for a job here as an enforcer. It would be a shame if he happened to, oh, I don't know, stumble into the park tomorrow and wait by the bridge over the reservoir around...9 o'clock?" Eric grinned ear to ear. "That would be bad for him, definitely. If only the hitman was there."

"Why do we need the hitman? You have a gun, don't you?"

"How'd you know?" Mordecai smiled. "The way you carry yourself." Eric leaned back in his chair and whistled. "Phew...you're good. You work here?"

"I'm the hitman's apprentice, you could say."

"So you could arrange for him to be there?"

"Of course."

"Perfect. If you don't mind, arrange it for 3 nights from now? I have some other business to attend to for work; I help down at Quilton Searles. The Yacht company?"

"I've heard of them." Mordecai nodded. "Nice to meet you by the way, mister…?"

"Holmes. Eric Holmes." He shook Mordecai's hand.

"Rudy Getler." And with that, the two parted ways.

Meanwhile, Mordecai went back up to his office and phoned Calvin. He waited a while again. If he was going to have to wait for him every time he called, he- "Hello?"

"It's Mordecai. Meet me with Ronan at my office in the Marigold. Room 312." He hung up. Must've been important. He got on a jacket and cap, and headed over to Ronan's place. He picked him up and they walked to the Marigold.

"You think it's very important?" Calvin asked.

"I hope it's just knowledge that it's over n'done with, bein' honest witchye."

"I doubt it's over, but it's gotta be a development."

"He knows how urgent it is, right? That we hurry?"

"I told him last night." Calvin Said. They went to the elevator. "3, please." The elevator man nodded silently. Ronan tipped him with a quarter when they got off. They walked to 312 and knocked on the door, and Mordecai came out of the door and took them both in. The office was outlandishly clean, with very little decoration. His desk was well organized and he had a large shelf of books; maps, histories, things like that. Mordecai looked at them both as they sat down.

"Gentlemen, I had a meeting with Mr. Holmes about an hour ago." Ronan and Calvin tensed up. "What was it about?"

"I managed to arrange a meeting 3 nights from now in the park with him and Ronan. Ronan's looking for a job at the Marigold."

"What!?" Ronan shouted, startling everyone in the room. "Why do I need to be the damned bait!?" Mordecai looked over his glasses. "No shouting."

"Oh, right, easy for you to say! He'll kill me!"

"He won't kill you, Calvin and I will be there as well. Hiding. He wants to meet you at the bridge over the reservoir."

"This is a stupid idea."

Calvin looked over. "How else are we supposed to catch him? We just need t'smoke him out, he'll come, we'll take care of him."

"Calvin, the day I see you do any sort of gunplay is the day I-"

"The boy here does some wonderful tricks, I'm told, when he flies into those rages." Mordecai said. "He's a little too hard to control sometimes but he's useful."

Calvin nodded, looking down. "True."

Ronan put his face in his palm, rubbing his hand down it and looking around the room. "So we're gonna bait him out, and in the nick of time, you'll jump out and get 'im?"

"That's the plan." Ronan thought about this for a good few minutes. He paced, muttering to himself, clearly horrified at the prospect. He'd just said goodbye to his wife the day prior and he didn't want that to be the last time he saw her. He didn't want her to come home from Chicago and find out he'd died. But, then again, this was the only way he could make any sort of difference. If he waited, he could very much die. If he took action, he could possibly live. He sat back down. "I'm in."

Across town, Mitzi May was making a phone call to an old friend. "Hello, Ruby? Yes, it's Mitzi. I'm fine, how're you? Listen, I need to tell you something that's been going on. You know that boy Calvin that Ivy's sweet on? Well, some madman is chasin' him, and I heard from his cousin Rocky that apparently there's death threats flying around. I wanted to warn you, I dunno what'll happen to Ivy. Because I love Ivy like I'd love my own daughter, that's why! I lost her godfather, I'm not losing her, god forbid! Alright. Goodbye Ruby. I'd say call her now, she's probably still up. Goodnight."

The phone rang at Ivy's room in the dorm hall. "Hello?" Olivia picked it up. "Oh. Ivy, it's for you." She handed Ivy the phone.

"Hello? Oh, hi dad! What's the matter? You sound a little stressed. Oh...who said that? Mitzi? Oh...but, I can't just leave him right now, he's in danger! Yes, I know that means I'M in danger. Dad, please? I love him, I wanna be there for him, he's horrified! Ugh, fine. But I won't enjoy it! What do you mean why, because I wanna be there for him right now! He's only being chased! I know it's safer up there...yes, yes...alright...already wired for it...okay. I'm...alright. I'm sorry I yelled. Goodnight dad, see you tomorrow." Ivy hung on the phone, rubbing her eyes and laying back on her bed. Olivia looked over. "What was that all about?"

"...I'm headed for Kansas City tomorrow, it's private."