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Paradise City
A Joe Gunther Novel
By Archer Mayor St. Martin's Press
Copyright © 2012 Archer Mayor
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-250-01587-7
CHAPTER 1
Mickey looked around for what felt like the hundredth time, so far from his comfort zone, he could barely stay put.
Beacon Hill. What was that? Might as well be standing bare-assed in the middle of Boston Common on a Sunday after church. Not on a roof in the city's fanciest neighborhood, waiting to be nailed by a cop, an alarm, an attack dog, a police helicopter, a motion detector, or who the hell knew what else. These people could buy anything they wanted to trap a guy like him.
He saw a silhouette gesture at him from a rooftop across the alley and waved back unhappily. His cell began buzzing and he flipped it open.
"You set?"
"Yeah," he whispered, trying to sound self-confident.
"Get down there and tell us what you see."
"Right," he said, and snapped the phone shut.
There were three of them — Tony, James, and him. He didn't know James at all. That was bad enough. Tony had vouched for him, but Tony could be flaky, and Tony didn't know shit about this part of the world, either. This was all James's deal — the fence, the victim, the stuff to grab and how to grab it.
And that was the worst part — using a glass cutter, wearing hoods, going in with people inside the house. Like a bad movie. The man had been convincing, though: Forget about flat screens and laptops; James had a good-paying fence for jewelry, silverware, and collectibles. Old stuff, with no serial numbers or bar codes to trace. It was high-end, portable, easy to dump, and easy to steal if you knew where to go. And James knew where to go. A little old rich lady who lived alone. He knew a girl who'd cleaned the place once as a favor to her aunt, the regular maid. The usual guy-who-knows-a- guy trajectory that so often connects a target to the person seeking one out.
Mickey sidled up to the roof's edge and peered over. Less like a movie and more like a nightmare, he thought. He was a smash-and-grab man. Hit-'n'-run. In and out. No violence, no witnesses, no high-society pigeon. All this sneaking around in black clothes, with ropes and duct tape, ducking private security patrols ... Gave him the creeps. This wasn't juvie time anymore. This was hard time. He liked laptops and flat screens and stereo equipment. He understood them and what they were worth. What the hell did he know about silverware?
He tested the rope he'd secured to a nearby chimney and hooked it to the carabiner on his harness.
This was why he'd been brought along, of course. He was the only one of them who knew about this mountaineering crap. Go figure that an outdoors course in climbing, rappelling, and rope work for inner-city kids would wind up coming in handy. That at least brought a smile to Mickey's face as he imagined the do-gooders who'd trained him. If they could see him now.
Thanks, guys. 'Preciate the leg up.
Slightly bolstered by the thought, he stood on the roof's edge, feeling uncomfortably exposed, oblivious to the nineteenth-century vista surrounding him. In fact, it was a backdrop of operatic proportions, of ancient rooftops, clustered chimney pots, and softly glowing skylights, painted darkly against the spotlighted gold dome of the Massachusetts State House in the distance.
Testing the line with a final tug, he stiffened his legs and eased straight back, as if dropping in slow motion onto a bed.
Wishful thinking, of course. He was four stories up, gingerly walking backward down the wall toward a greenhouse roof far below. The plan was for him to alight there, gain access with a glass cutter, and open the back door for his two confederates. It wasn't actually a greenhouse — not way down there, overshadowed by neighboring brownstones. The owners had capped the near-useless backyard with a kitchen extension, complete with glass roof, to take advantage of the natural light.
To Mickey, though, as he looked over his shoulder to gauge his progress, the dark glass beneath him looked ominous and foreboding — crystalline panes of black water waiting to swallow him whole.
All of which suddenly transformed into blinding light, making him wonder for a split second if he wasn't about to be lifted high and away on a rising wave of lava.
"Fuck," he hissed between bared teeth, almost letting go of the rope paying out between his hands.
No longer simply exposed, but actually highlighted in the glare from below, he simultaneously felt the cell phone vibrate in his pocket and saw a person enter the kitchen below.
"Fucking moron," he murmured to himself, knowing Tony was on the other end of the ignored phone. "Like I'm up for a chitchat. 'Yo, bro. What's happenin'?' Jesus."
Mickey shifted his grip on the rope, locking it into the 'beener, and prepared himself to hang in the air for as long as it took.
* * *
Billie Hawthorn squinted slightly in the kitchen's bright light. Her granddaughter had told her to put in a rheostat here, so she wouldn't have to adjust her eyes every time she made a nightly visit. Perfectly reasonable, as were most of Mina's recommendations; and Billie did make a midnight cocoa raid every single night. But who could remember to do such things? She was nearing ninety, after all. Living alone in a huge place like this — stubbornly independent — she had a hard enough time remembering to pay the bills and take in the daily newspaper, much less start fussing with light fixtures.
She glanced up at the string of designer bulbs running the length of the ceiling's ridge board, reflecting attractively off the glass sheets of the roof. The entire room was very pretty — her late husband's last ambitious project before he died. Maybe that was one additional reason she so enjoyed these nocturnal visits.
* * *
Above her, frozen but unseen against the glare of those same lights, Mickey Roma watched the old woman seemingly staring right up at him. He prepared himself to see her transformed with alarm and running for the phone.
But all she did was look away and begin to boil water on the fancy stove, preparing herself something hot to drink and moving about slowly in a memorized ritual. Oddly, he found her actions comforting, although whether because they were so utterly domestic, or simply because they weren't what he'd been expecting, he wasn't sure.
In either case, he found himself considering the possibility that he'd survive a little longer. Even the phone in his pocket stopped buzzing against his leg.
Still, ten minutes later, he was stiff and sore and getting cold, hanging like a hunk of bait in the cool night air. It was late spring, which in New England could mean almost anything. He gratefully watched the old woman tidy up at last, lift her steaming mug carefully by its oversized handle, approach the door linking the satellite kitchen to the main house, and finally kill the lights.
Mickey closed his eyes to regain his night vision, did a couple of bouncing horizontal squats against the wall to loosen up, and started slowly paying out the rope again, continuing his descent. Looking through the kitchen door below, he could see other, more distant interior lights getting turned off as the homeowner retreated into the house's embrace, encouraging him to hope for a little privacy and — more important — some sound insulation against his next move.
The phone started up again.
He ignored it for the rest of his short journey, settled carefully atop the crown of the glass roof, being sure to keep his sneakers on the metal crossbars, and, maintaining tension on the line in case he slipped, retrieved the phone.
"What the fuck you want?" he growled softly.
"You okay?" Tony asked, his voice high-pitched with fear.
I was the one dangling in midair like a pair of nuts in the breeze, Mickey thought as he answered, "No, dipshit. She told me she was goin' for the cops, so I figured I'd wait."
He could sense Tony trying to figure that out.
"I'm fine," he said, relenting.
A second voice entered his ear. "Move it. We don't got all night."
James — Mr. Love and Support.
"Then stop calling," Mickey told him, and snapped the phone shut, feeling the anger warm him up. None of them would even be here without his skills. Son of a bitch.
He shook it off, refocusing on the job, and loosened his rope just enough that he could crouch over the greenhouse glass, apply a suction cup and a cutter, and quickly scratch a manhole-size circle by his feet. The noise seemed like a siren wail to him, even though he and Tony had actually tested the tool a few days ago at Tony's, just to make sure of its relative silence.
With a couple of solid taps from Mickey's gloved knuckles, the glass circle snapped free, still adhering to the suction cup. He placed it flat beside him, held it in place with his foot, tore off a long strip of duct tape from the roll at his waist, and stuck the circle to the glass surface so that it wouldn't slide off. He then straightened, retightened the rope, stepped over the narrow hole, and slid into the kitchen like a fireman down a brass pole.
Coming gently to rest on the floor at last, he stood stock-still for a moment, taking in the silence around him, incredulous that the whole operation had gone off with barely a hitch. He also discovered — now that he was inside — that the lady had killed only the primary lights as she'd left — the kitchen was dark, but he could see a soft glow in the next room, and another in the hallway beyond. They allowed him to see the interior of a house rich with paintings and elaborate old furniture, carpeted with thick, dark rugs and decorated with shelves of fancy porcelain, displays of artwork, and assorted expensive junk — the kind of stuff he associated with museums. He didn't much know what to make of it all, but he felt on the edge of a rarified world that he'd never visited in person.
With a quick, self-congratulatory fist pump, he unhooked from the rope, crossed over to the kitchen's heavily locked back door, and quietly opened it.
On the other side were James and Tony, also masked and black-clad, who'd climbed down the fire escape of the building across the alleyway.
"'Bout time," James said, pushing by.
* * *
Two flights up, at the far end of the narrow house, Billie Hawthorn took an appreciative sip of her cocoa and placed the mug on the nightstand by her bed. The television across the room filled the air with laughter as the pompadoured host introduced his latest guest. She knew these shows were nonsense; she even found much of the premise insulting — all those posturing fading stars or eager celebrity aspirants, saying whatever came into their heads as they wriggled on the couch, tossing their hair and discussing clothes or pets or their latest encounter with substance abuse. But at Billie's age, it was pretty harmless stuff, and she much preferred it over the white-knuckled, grim-faced fare that passed for news or commentary nowadays. She'd spent her years in the trenches of social welfare, putting in time, effort, and money, and standing up for her fellow human beings. She'd never asked for recognition then, and only wanted a little peace and quiet now.
She frowned suddenly at the screen and narrowed her eyes slightly. Patting alongside her leg, she located the TV's remote and hit the mute button.
In the abrupt silence, she heard it again — a sound from downstairs.
This had happened before, years ago, when a bird had gotten in and knocked something over.
But what was the likelihood of that happening twice?
And she hadn't opened any windows yet this year.
She rubbed her temple thoughtfully. Or had she?
Billie swept the thin blanket off and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. If it was a bird again, she didn't want it making the same mess as last time.
* * *
Downstairs, James crossed over to Tony in three fast steps, his fists balled, his eyes tight with rage behind his mask.
Tony looked up at him fearfully, half-crouched in the process of retrieving the book he'd just knocked off the coffee table.
"You stupid fuck," James snarled at him in the dim light, his arms trembling. "First you bump that chair, now this?"
Mickey stared at him, his own hands full of expensive crystal baubles from an antique sideboard. Having watched James for the past fifteen minutes, Mickey was convinced he was on something. He was jittery, pale, and sweaty, and as wired as a methhead. And that had been before Tony had pushed his buttons. Twice.
"It's okay," Tony said softly but urgently, offering a pleading smile. "She's probably deaf as a doorknob, right?"
Mickey wasn't so sure about Tony, either. For all the care that Mickey had used gaining them access, it seemed like his mastermind colleagues didn't have their act together. And Mickey hadn't wanted to come in the first place.
"Guys," he hissed across the room at them. "You wanna do this later?"
James clenched his jaw before telling Tony, "You screw up one more time, and I cut your throat. You got that?"
Tony was already nodding repeatedly. "I got it. I got it. I'm cool. I was nervous is all. Won't happen again."
James turned on Mickey. "And you keep your mouth shut. You wouldn't even be here without me. You're the bitch. You got that? You do what you're told." He focused on what Mickey was holding. "And that includes dumping that shit. We don't have a buyer for crystal, for Christ's sake. Steal stuff I can actually sell — silverware, old jewelry, crap like that. I got a guy for that."
Mickey let a two-second pause elapse before muttering, "Whatever, man," and quietly replaced the crystal.
You couldn't make this shit up, he thought.
And then it got worse. The room's overhead light suddenly froze them as in a flash photograph.
"Who are you people?"
The three men turned to face the small woman standing in the doorway.
With dread, Mickey saw James react precisely as programmed. He crossed the room quickly and simply clubbed the woman across the head with the back of his hand, sending her bouncing against the door frame and collapsing onto the floor.
"Ah, man," Mickey exclaimed, dropping the silverware he'd just picked up.
James pulled a gun out from under his shirt and pointed it at Mickey. "You shut the fuck up," he yelled, and then turned and kicked Billie Hawthorn in the head for good measure.
She didn't make a sound.
There was a momentary silence as they all stared at one another — Mickey stunned and a little resigned, Tony scared and confused, and James on the verge of opening fire, for lack of a better idea.
Mickey recognized that look in his eyes.
"You're the boss, man," he said soothingly. "What do you want us to do? We can make good on this — at least get enough to make it worthwhile. We might as well, right?" He didn't add, We're screwed anyhow, so we better make it count.
James blinked once, slowly. "Yeah," he said thoughtfully, as if considering a distant thought. "Sure. We'll do that." He lowered his gun.
Mickey gestured to the curled-up shape on the floor. "Let me take a quick look at her. Make sure she's breathing."
James glanced down, almost surprised, and stepped away. "Sure."
He placed the palm of his free hand against his ski-masked forehead, as if wondering what he might find. He then caught sight of Tony, who was still crouching with the dropped book in his hand.
"What're you looking at?" James demanded.
Tony released the book and stood up. "Nuthin."
"You got that right. Go through the upstairs, now that we got the place to ourselves. You can turn on the lights if you want, but stay clear of the windows or close the curtains. Find the broad's bedroom. Grab anything fancy and leave the rest. Now."
Tony left, circling the woman and Mickey, who was crouched by her side, opening her airway. She was still breathing, and she didn't seem to be bleeding. Maybe she'd make it after all.
Things were bad enough. He could live without a murder rap.
Welcome to the major leagues.
CHAPTER 2
Detective Jimmy McAuliffe studied the young woman a moment through the narrow gap of the waiting room's open door, watching how she handled herself when she thought she was alone.
She looked tired and drawn, with her unkempt hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. He'd been told that she hadn't left her grandmother's side since the old lady had been rolled out of the operating room. Even now, Jimmy was meeting her at the hospital, just down the hall from ICU. Wilhelmina Hawthorn was in a coma, as she had been since the beating.
McAuliffe entered the room and sat across from the young woman, a coffee table littered with out-of-date magazines between them. He'd directed a patrol officer in the hallway to make sure that they weren't disturbed — by anyone for any reason. He introduced himself. "I'm Detective McAuliffe, Ms. Carson. Boston PD. I'm sorry to be meeting under these circumstances."
Her eyes flicked up from the tabletop to his face. "Why?"
He hesitated. "Why what?"
"Why are you sorry?"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Paradise City by Archer Mayor. Copyright © 2012 Archer Mayor. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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