Chapter 32


   This time they entered the little café with their weapons drawn. Danni checked from booth to the booth and when she yelled out clear, she got no response. That alarmed Danni until she saw Norm standing over a table with his arms on the shoulder of a crying woman. That woman was none other than the owner of the place, Misses May. Danni could see that Norm had already put his weapon back up so, she did too.

When Danni reached the table she heard Norm saying to the woman, “it’s ok ma’am. We’re here now and we can help you. I need to know where they’re going.”

Danni was confused, “where who went? April? Is she with…?”

“She’s with Smokes,” Norm told his young partner.

Caroline May said in a fit of tears, “he’s her father.”

Danni put her hands on her hips and thought about it for a second, “isn’t she a little old for the whole parental rights thing?”
Norm ignored Danni and asked the crying woman, “do you know where they went?”

Caroline blurted out, “I don’t know! He came here and made me call her. I don’t know what he wants! I told you he was a bad man!”

Once they were back at the car, Danni stopped and said, “this whole thing doesn’t make any sense, Norm. We know that Beckett hired the
Bass gang. We know that Smokes threatened them with a shotgun. We know that April works for his competitors and…”

“And so does Beckett,” Norm said as he unlocked his car door. “In fact, Beckett works part time for just about every property management agency in the city.”

Danni just shrugged, “so, how does this… I really don’t get this.”

“Beckett’s a plant,” Norm told the girl across the car, “I’m willing to bet he’s been feeding PBS inside info for the last few months.”

Danni shook her head, “how do we know that Beckett hasn’t been feeding info to Smokes instead?”

Norm just shook his head in a paternal sort of way, “where’s all the money Danni? Smokes sure don’t have it so the safe bet is on PBS.”
Danni still did not understand, “yeah but why did Beckett hire those two bozo’s to kill April?”

“He didn’t,” Norm replied. “I think it’s pretty obvious that Miss Caroline, in there, has had regular contact with Smokes and their daughter works and dates Beckett.” Norm nodded to the café, “hell that woman don’t how to keep her mouth shut about nothing. So Smokes finds out what Beckett is up too. He’s got China and Barry, the two thugs that Beckett hired, living right under his nose. He jumps them and…”

Danni suddenly realized, “yeah but he didn’t kill them.”

“Exactly,” Norm told the girl, “and they were stealing his livelihood from him so why not?”

Danni just shrugged, “he needed them?” Then she got seriously confused, “but why kill April? That’s his own daughter I mean…”
Norm pointed back to the café, “did you see a body in there?”

“No,” Danni said with a blank look.

“Then he didn’t want to kill her,” Norm replied, “I’m guessing those Bass idiots were just supposed to grab her. He needed April for something else and that‘s where they‘re headed now.”

“So,” Danni asked, “where’s that?” Before Norm could say anything, Danni’s face lit up, “her work! It’s the only place they all have in common but, why?”

Norm was about to admit his ignorance on that particular matter. He was spared from that by his phone going on. He was thankful not to have to bother with text now. Norm looked to see who it was and, surprisingly, it wasn’t Jake. Norm answered in the way appropriate for this particular caller, “what did you fuck up this time?”

When Norm put the phone away he had a very agitated look on his face. Danni could tell so she commented, “Tony, right? What happened?”

Norm grunted, “oh this one’s a doozy.” Norm now had to decide what to do about it. He finally figured it was time, so, he pulled his phone back out and made a call, “Jake, ready for our latest development? Tony and Amy are back at it again, a strip mall this time.”