Setup On Front Street by Mike Dennis

Author:Mike Dennis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: crime drama, noir, crime fiction, florida fiction, noir fiction, noir crime, key west fiction, hardboiled fiction, key west noir

EIGHTEEN

I raced back to Norma's.

On the way, I realized what was going on. I got under Whitney's skin, all right, like no one else had probably done in a long time. He could see I wasn't afraid of Ortega, that I wasn't going to take any of this sitting down.

Only problem was, he couldn't kill me as long as the frame for Sully's murder was holding. If I went down for it, that put him in the clear. So it figured that Norma had to go as my punishment for getting uppity with him.

Running from the car to her apartment building, then up two flights of stairs, I pulled my .22 as I ran down the hallway toward her apartment. Everything looked okay, but I clung to the wall as I neared the door.

I heard the radio playing inside. Country music, Norma's favorite. Slowly, I reached for the doorknob, turning it, pushing the door back an inch at a time. The music became clearer — a Merle Haggard weeper.

When I got the door all the way open, I peered inside. I could only see into the living room. Nothing out of order.

I edged my way in, both hands on my gun. From my left, a figure darted out of the kitchen, startling me.

"Hi, honey."

It was Norma.

I let out a huge exhale. Replacing the gun into my waistband, I took her in my arms.

"You scared the shit out of me, you know that?" I said.

"Why? What's — the gun — why did you have your gun out?"

I pulled myself together quickly.

"Has anyone been here? Anyone at all?"

"No. Why?"

"Any phone calls? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, nothing … well … there was a phone call a few minutes ago, but that wasn't —"

"Who? Who was it?" I shook her.

"Stop it! You're —"

I stopped.

"Who was it?"

Her eyes regained that innocence I remembered from so long ago. The look I carried around in my head during my years in the joint.

"It was only the building manager."

"What'd he want?"

"He said there was an electrical problem or something — oh, I don't know, something about circuit breakers — and that he was sending two electricians up to take care of it. He wanted to make sure I'd be here to let them in."

I grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the door.

"We're out of here."

She resisted, slowing me down.

"Don Roy! What's going on? What's this all about?"

I kept moving, dragging her behind me until she finally caught up. We took the stairs down. I held her back as I scoped out the parking area. No movement anywhere, so we made a break for the car.

Fortunately, her apartment complex was laid out in a pretty confusing manner. Poorly-marked buildings, out-of-the-way entrances, parking lots all over the place created a real hodge-podge. Anyone coming here for the first time would have a lot of trouble finding their way around.

Once we got the car going, I told her, "We can't stay at your place. You can't stay there."

"Why not? What's happening?"

"There are men who are after y — after me.

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