CHAPTER ELEVEN

A/N Charles, a Mob boss and the police…..need I say more?

Again, a huge thank you to everyone reading and reviewing. You guys make this so much more fun. It's always great to have company on a road trip no matter how long or short J

"The fuck you say?"

"Boss, I swear on my Mother's grave. It's her."

Edgar tilted his chair back to look at the painted ceiling. The masterpiece usually calmed him, but tonight it had no effect. All he saw was fat naked women drinking from gold goblets and a big assed pool.

"After all these years, why would this crazy broad come back here?" Edgar asked more to himself than the once muscle bound thug, now more fat than muscle.

Vinnie gulped and shuffled his feet from side to side. Odds were even that Edgar would pull out his piece and knee cap him.

"Did you have a stroke, or just forget what I asked?"

"She…." Vinnie took a step away from the desk still afraid Edgar would shoot him. "She said it's about the Angel."

"My Angel?" Edgar demanded trying to stand, but falling back heavily into the chair. "What the hell has that crazy bitch done to my little girl?"

"She said Gina's in big trouble and needs you."

"Impossible. Gina's in Italy with her Aunt Sofia."

"Um Boss, she left Italy three months ago."

Edgar did indeed pull out his 9mm and shoot. Loyalty did have benefits with Edgar Morse. Instead of his long time friend and right hand, he shot one of the young guns just starting with the organization.

Margie crossed herself as she spotted the pool of blood on the floor and the brain matter sliding down the wall. Edgar was still the same charming murderer he had always been. Still, he was the father of her child, and if anyone could make that man pay for what he did to Gina it was Edgar.

"Hello Edgar." she spoke softly refusing to meet his eyes.

"If this is some kind of ploy to get money, I'll feed you to the fish in the back bay. What's this horse shit about Gina in trouble?"

Without waiting for an invitation, Margie sat in the chair opposite Edgar. "I saw her body tonight."

The hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood at attention. He scooted to the edge of his seat and waved for Vinnie to help him up. Once he was seated in the motorized wheelchair, he rolled next to Margie's chair and took her chin in his arthritic hands.

"Tell me what happened to my daughter."

Even though the words were spoken in a whisper, the menace in the clipped sentence shouted loud and clear that he would break her neck without a shred of remorse if she didn't give him every detail and quickly.

"I found her body, left in a warehouse on Montrose." Margie pulled the phone form her pocket and showed Edgar the picture she had taken of Darwin.

Edgar snatched the phone from his wife's hand and glared at the pale figure in black. He tossed the phone to Vinnie then turned back to Margie. Vinnie slipped from the room and closed the door with a soft click.

"So, my Gina. My baby is dead by his hand?"

"Yes."

"Where exactly is this warehouse?"

Margie swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She knew she would never leave this room alive. Soon she would be re-united with her daughter and all would be right again.

"The police have already taken the body."

Edgar drew back his arm as far as his atrophied muscles would allow and unleashed all his rage on the face he hated, but had once loved with all his heart. He gloried in the feel of her lip splitting and her blood running a deep red down the front of her filthy blouse. The sight of her tears pushed him over the edge and he continued to batter her head and face until Vinnie returned and pulled his chair back behind the desk.

"Move." Edgar demanded

Vinnie had returned to Margie's side and was checking for a pulse. He had known the meeting would go badly, but he hadn't imagined Edgar killing Margie with his own hands.

"Edgar, we need to stop and think. If Gina is dead, killing Margie won't bring her back."

"I promised this stupid bitch if she came back, I'd kill her. I keep my promises."

For the second time that night, Edgar raised his pistol and fired. He smiled hearing the tiny sigh escape Margie's lips as she died.

"Dump that trash in the river, then find out if she lied about Gina."

Vinnie stuck his head out the door and called for two of the men standing guard to come in and help with the bodies. Once the corpses had been removed, he closed the door and faced his oldest and closest friend.

"Now what?"

"Call every contact you have on the street and in the police department. I want to know what happened to my Baby and where the fucker is who dared harm her."

Five minutes later Vinnie returned with the news. Edgar dropped his face in his hands and wept for the loss of his daughter. He then gathered his poise and demanded that Vinnie assemble everyone on the payroll and get them in position. His body count for the night would number three.

"Boss, he's alone. Looks like he's walking in circles talking to himself."

"He'll be talking to Satan in a matter of minutes. Get that fucking door open."

In less than a minute the door was open and the alarms ad security cameras disabled. Had Charles bothered to look down the hall, he would have noticed the army of twenty-five enter his warehouse and seal his fate.

"One more step and I'll blow your head off."

Charles was so startled by the order that he tripped over his own feet and landed on his face on the concrete floor.

"Who are you? This is a private laboratory."

"Shut the fuck up. You talk when I tell you to talk."

Edgar nodded and a bald ex-linebacker rushed forward slamming both fists into the side of Charles' head as he tried to stand.

"Why is a perfume maker killing women in abandoned warehouses?"

The room spun violently and Charles emptied his stomach on the floor as his bladder released and soaked his trousers. He fell back down in his own waste and fought to catch his breath. Who were these men and what did they care about his donors? When he could breath without pain shooting through his entire body, he rose to a kneeling position.

"Why…what do you care if I take the life of a few street…"

The same linebacker landed a kick to his ribs breaking one and cracking at least two others. Charles howled in pain and doubled over his forehead resting on the cool floor.

"My daughter was not a street anything!" Edgar roared.

Two other huge men rushed to lift Charles to his feet. They held him upright between them. Vinnie stepped forward pulling a straight razor from his pants pocket. He flipped it open allowing the light to glint on the sharpened blade. Edgar nodded and Vinnie flicked his wrist sending the blade deep into Charles' left thigh.

Daughter. Which one of the four had…no three. Jean, the massage therapist had lost her parents over a decade ago. Shelly Mathis was too young. Beverly Dane perhaps. Suddenly, a light bulb went off and Charles felt fear seize his entire body. This crazed man with murder in his eyes was Gina's father.. Heaven help him.

Neither heaven nor hell could save Charles Owen Darwin from the wrath of Edgar Morse. Slice after terrible slice carved Charles until his body was nothing but a lump of bloody tissue.

Outside, Jane and Frost parked at the far end of the street leading into the warehouse and slipped through the darkness to the corner of the metal structure. Two men stood guard at the door, both holding automatic weapons. Four vehicles surrounded the Lexus. A minimum of 6-8 men in addition to Darwin waited for them inside. Jane motioned for Frost to stay put and scurried around the side of the building. She found two more men guarding a side door and slipped deeper into the shadows making a wide circle around the building. She took silent step after silent step praying the SWAT team would hurry and get there before the party ended and Darwin and his mob pals scattered like roaches in a lit room.

At the rear of the building she lucked up and found a rusted fire escape leading past a partially open window. She acknowledged it could be a trap, but time was running out and she would have to take the gamble. She secured her weapon and began the treacherous climb.

Frost crawled on his stomach to the back of the Lexus. He was grateful that he still had on his work out clothes and old shoes. The thin cotton offered no protection from the gravel scratching his stomach and thighs, but the black rendered him virtually invisible. He prayed Jane would hold off and let SWAT get in position. No way did he want to see her shed one more drop of blood.

Back in the warehouse, the party was coming to a close. Edgar rolled his wheel chair next to Darwin and held out his hand to Vinnie. Darwin tried to open his eyes, but the beating had caused both eyes to swell shut leaving him in total darkness. His entire body ached as much from the punches and kicks as the razor cuts.

"You piece of shit, you took my daughter's life for some twisted fairy tale?" Edgar shouted. "There is no fucking elixir. Everyone dies, and tonight is your turn. Bring me that boiling miracle elixir!"

"I…t itnt re…dy."

"Open his mouth."

Charles fought to keep his lips clamped. He felt his jaws being pried open and tried to twist his head out of the iron hands holding him. His pitiful struggle was no match for Edgar's men. In seconds, his head was pulled back and his mouth forced open.

"Lift me up, Vinnie. I want to personally send him to hell."

Jane heard the strangled screams and smelled the burning flesh as Edgar poured the boiling liquid down Charles' throat. In less than a minute the warehouse was as quiet as a tomb and Charles lay discarded in a heap on the floor. Edgar smashed the beaker on the floor and motioned for Vinnie to return him to his chair. With Edgar leading the way, the men left the warehouse in single file.