Ghost Park: A Devil Barnett Detective Novel (Devil Barnett Detective Series Book 9) Read online

  GHOST PARK

  A Devil Barnett detective novel

  by

  Teddy Hayes

  DEDICATION

  I dedicate this book to my grandchildren Asher and Maia

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  A special thank you to the three people who worked on this book to make it happen. You guys make my life so much easier.

  Editors: Linda Saunders, Elaine Skinner and Jennie Rosenthal

  Chapter 1

  “Yeah, just like that dumbass idea you had about the hound from hell, and within two days we had the animal rights people threatening to blow the damn place up because the dog died from phosphorus poisoning that you used to make it glow in the dark.”

  “But Dad, that was only because the manufacturer sold me the wrong kind of phosphorus. He sold me white phosphorus and the dog licked it off his legs, but…”

  “But what Jaco? The damn dog had a fit and ran off barking like he’d lost his mind. Half the damn town was looking for that dog most of the night and then finally when they found him the dog was foaming at the mouth and trying to chew off its own leg. Had to shoot it on the spot. Died in front of a hundred or more people and made the front page in half the newspapers in New York, not to mention the negative publicity that was generated online,” Luca said.

  “You always said any publicity is good publicity,” Jaco said, forcing a smile.

  “I’m an old man but don’t think I won’t kick your ass right here and now boy...” His eyes were suddenly bulging with anger.

  “I was just joking Dad. But this is different.”

  “Different my ass.”

  Luca was wishing that the traffic would move so he could get the hell out of the car. Listening to Jaco was always like getting his teeth pulled with a rusty pair of pliers by a dentist suffering from bad breath and arthritis. Agonizing.

  “Listen Dad, hear me out, please.”

  Luca was thinking maybe he should just jump out of the car and walk. Naw, it would take him too long and he didn’t want to be late. He tried turning his mind to what he going to do, hoping it would wipe away the image of his son’s stupid expression. He tried imagining Gina with her piercing green eyes and beautiful auburn hair drifting in the wind. Soft lips kissing him. She had to be what… maybe twenty something, thirty at the most? Hell, she was younger than his own daughter, but what the hell, she was grown and she was consenting, what more could a man ask for?

  “Pigs, Dad”. Jaco’s voice invaded his reverie like a stink from a shithouse wafting across a gourmet meal.

  “Dad I could get pigs, maybe three or four of ‘em and put them into a pit, and then unleash three or four alligators and let them eat the pigs and then the lights go black and then about a minute later a man dressed in a pig suit is hovering over the water attached by a cable, but the audience won’t see it, so it will look like he is hovering over the water like a pig-man ghost. The audience will love it.”

  Luca sighed and remembered what his father used to say about stupid people. He’d say “If someone put that man’s brain inside of a bird, the damned bird would fly backwards.” That went doubly for Jaco.

  “All we would need to do is build a pit, and I know a guy from Florida where we could get the alligators. Trained alligators, he’s been working with ‘em for years.”

  Luca was wondering if Gina was a moaner or a screamer. He would see soon enough. He thought of the pack of Viagra in his pocket and smiled to himself. Old man or not, he was going to make this a day and night to remember.

  Jaco was saying “Pigs are different from dogs. People don’t care about pigs like they do dogs. Anyway, people eat pigs, so why should they care?”

  “I see you never heard of the word vegetarian,” Luca countered.

  “And I already talked to Paul, that construction guy and he said he would give us a good price on digging the pit.”

  “What?”

  “The pit. Paul said he could dig the pit.”

  “Who the fuck told you to say anything to Paul about anything?”

  “I just….”

  “You just what…?” Luca could feel his temperature rising. Now Jaco had all of his attention.

  “Dad you’re always talking about taking the initiative, so I thought…”

  “What did Paul say to you?”

  “Nothing, I just asked him if he could dig us a big pit and he said he could.”

  “Did he ask you anything?”

  “Anything like what?”

  “About the business or about me?”

  “No.”

  “You shouldn’t even have been talking to him in the first place. Nobody asked you to.”

  “I didn’t mean nothing by it, I just thought…”

  “Thought my ass. Don’t talk to Paul anymore, OK? No more. You got it? And I mean it” Luca said, looking stone faced and straight ahead.

  Jaco recognized the dangerous edge that had crept into his father’s voice and swallowed hard.

  “What I want you to do is let this pig idea drop. I don’t want to hear no more about it. Is that clear?”

  “Yessir.”

  Fuck. Now he wondered what else his dumbass son might have said to Paul. Jaco had no idea what he was planning and the last thing he needed was to have Jaco saying something idiotic and screwing things up. Maybe giving Paul ideas, and something to think about. On the other hand, Jaco’s pig idea could work as a subterfuge and throw Paul off the trail.

  “This is fine, pull over,” Luca said as the car reached the town center.

  “But Dad, it’s just a bus stop. I can drop you off wherever you need to go.”

  “This is fine. Just stop the damned car.” He glanced at his watch 10:28am. He was right on time.

  “You want me to pick you up later?”

  “No. I’ll see you in the office on Monday.”

  “And by the way, Happy Birthday Dad,” Jaco said, smiling and giving his father the thumbs up sign.

  Luca got out of the car thinking that somehow it must have been his wife’s family’s defective genes that had resulted in the birth of a first-class fuck-up like Jaco. They had been Fascists back in Italy and who knows maybe they had been incestuous too.

  Jaco’s mention of his talking to Paul still bothered him. Even though Jaco didn’t know anything about what he was planning, that still wouldn’t have stopped Jaco shooting off his mouth. Paul had probably already picked up on the fact that by making Jaco feel important, he could get any kind of information that Jaco had access too. That boy was dangerous both to himself and others. And the worst part was he had no idea how his stupidity might upset the biggest deal of his father’s life. Now all Luca could do was to try and think of a way to keep Jaco away from Paul and to keep his plan a complete secret. He’d just have to stay calm and play his cards as close to his chest as possible.

  “Hey Mister, going my way?” Gina’s voice called out.

  Damn she looked good. Even better than he had imagined. The mid morning sun shining on her hair gave the impression of a halo as the sports car pulled up to the curb with her behind the wheel.

  “Hey Dad, you forgot the letter!” Jaco’s voice distracted him.

  “What?”

  Jaco was calling out of the car window.

  “Oh yeah.”

  Luca took out a letter from his inside jacket pocket and handed it through the driver’s window to Jaco.

  “Remember, this cannot, under any circumstances, go through the mail. Deliver it by hand,” Luca said.

&
nbsp; “But it’s a Saturday and Huggins doesn’t come into his office and I ...”

  “Then take it to his house.”

  “I’m not exactly sure where he lives, I’ve never been.”

  “Goddamn boy can’t you think even a little bit. Take Dora with you she knows.”

  Before his son could say another word, Luca jumped inside the sports car and settled back into the seat as Gina sped away from the curb with him feeling twenty years younger.

  “Normally I don’t go on boats,” Luca told her after they had left the town and were headed towards the sea shore.

  “This is not a boat, it’s a yacht. What happened, some childhood trauma?” Gina asked.

  “No, I just don’t swim, never learned how.”

  “You won’t need to. All we’ll do is hang out and enjoy ourselves. We’ll just float around. Anyway I’m a very good swimmer. I was even a lifeguard when I was a teenager.”

  “Where did you grow up?”

  “In Maine, near the coast. My father was a fisherman so he made sure I learned to swim like a fish by the time I was four. You have nothing to worry about, you’re in good hands and all you need to do today is enjoy your birthday present from me.”

  By the time they reached the yacht, Luca wasn’t thinking about Jaco or Paul anymore. The only thing on his mind now was Gina.

  He had often said to himself that he should take more time off. He had seldom taken days off and not even vacations, not really. After Florence died, between trying to be a single parent and running the business, he had gotten used to burning the candle at both ends.

  It had been a long hard road, but now things seemed to be working out. Working out even beyond his wildest dreams. What if he got married again? He wasn’t so old that he couldn’t. Seventy-three was by no means a young man or even a middle-aged man anymore, but he was still in pretty good shape and could enjoy the rest of his life. Especially if money was no longer going to be a problem. Maybe he would sell the business and spend the rest of his days traveling around the world. Do some of the things he always wanted to do and never quite had time for. Read the literary classics, learn to make wine. With the money he’d have, he could buy his own vineyard. He could even buy one in Italy where his mother was born. Maybe even buy the whole damn town.

  Put his relatives to work for him and name it after his mother and create a legacy in her honour. The Antonia Vineyards. Yeah. Hell, he might even learn to swim.

  After he and Gina had made love twice within the next two hours he went to sit out on the deck to chill out and drink champagne.

  The sun was beating down, warming his bones and he was feeling more relaxed than he had for a long time. Looking out over the water reminded him of a painting of a shore in Sicily that used to hang in his father-in-law’s house. Luca smiled to himself as he thought about the look on his brother Shelby’s face when he told him what he had discovered and how much money they were going to make.

  “You ok sir? Can I give you a top up?” a man’s voice said.

  Luca pulled his hat from over his eyes and looked up from his lounge chair that was positioned in the middle of the yacht’s deck.

  The muscular, clean-shaven sailor standing over him was holding a bottle of champagne in one hand and a white towel in the other.

  “Yeah ok why not? It’s my birthday,” Luca said lifting his glass and holding it up towards the man.

  “Happy to have you with us on such a special day,” the sailor smile and filled Luca’s champagne glass.

  “Your boat, I mean yacht?” Luca asked him.

  “Yessir.”

  “Nice. I don’t often go out on yachts. Don’t necessarily like being out on the water, but this is so nice and comfortable it’s almost like being on land.”

  “That’s because the sea is very calm today sir. The sun is starting to go down so it might get a bit rough soon. But don’t worry we’ll be heading back in a little while now,” the sailor said.

  “Luca! Luca! Come look at this!” Gina called out from the bow of the yacht.

  “What?”

  “Over here, a huge gold fish, it’s so beautiful you have to see it.”

  “Seen one fish, you’ve seen ‘em all,” Luca called back good naturedly.

  “Please!”

  Luca pushed himself up from the deckchair and moved carefully towards the starboard side of the yacht.

  “Where?”

  She was pointing into the water just over the side.

  “Just there.”

  Luca looked down into the water, but all he could see was water. He looked further out and still all he could see was water.

  Then suddenly a thump on his head disoriented him and he felt himself falling and then the connection with the water.

  Shit! He was in the sea.

  Naturally Luca panicked as he started to flail around. He tried to gather his thoughts and gain control over his limbs but they wouldn’t respond to his desperation. Panic increased as he fought the water.

  He tasted salt water as he felt himself sinking, then a burning in his chest as he gasped for breath. Suddenly he became aware of the motor from the yacht. It suddenly grew louder as it revved up. His head bobbed up from the water. The last thing he saw was the yacht quickly moving away in the distance.

  “Dirty bitch!” Luca Verde thought as he breathed his very last breath.

  Chapter 2

  “I know goddammed well he was killed,” Shelby said, pinning me with a look as strong as a vice grip.

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Cause the man drowned. They found his body washed up on the Long Island Sound, and I know ain’t no way in hell he went in no water swimming. For one thing, I know he couldn’t swim, never learned how.”

  “Could he have tried to learn, or maybe he was practicing?”

  As soon as the words came out of my mouth I knew I had said the wrong thing.

  “Practicing my ass. Lissen I’m tellin you the motherfuckin man was killed, and whoever did it most likely did it for money and knowing what I know, I might be the next target. Whoever killed him has got to be taken care of. They got to be killed before they get to me. Simple as that. And I ain’t gonna mince my motherfuckin words here. That’s why I called you Tuffy, cause you a killer right?”

  What could I say to that. Nothing. Because he was right. I had been a professional killer for the Central Intelligence Agency for over ten years of my life. Shelby Green was one of the few people who knew this for a fact.

  I had known Shelby all my life. He had been my father’s best friend from the time they were seven or eight years old, so he was family. And I had never known him to be foolish about anything. If anything he was just the opposite. During his lifetime he had built up a real estate empire in Harlem by being canny and having vision when others had none.

  I didn’t really know the dead man he was talking about, but I had seen him a few times when Shelby had brought him around to my Dad’s bar to play cards with his friend Hummingbird Moses and Uncle Beans, my mother’s brother. I remember that he looked Mediterranean. Dad had mentioned something about him being a relative of Shelby’s but I hadn’t thought to ask any more.

  Shelby walked back and forth across the room a few times chewing on a cigar and looking worried and then sat down in a plush armchair on one side of the huge, expensively furnished, room.

  “What makes you think his death had something to do with money?” I asked.

  “Cause I know Luc. He was always involved in some deal or other, and whatever went wrong in his life had to do with either money or pussy. He was a smart man, but he had a weakness. Sometimes he let his little head rule over his big head.”

  My expression must have been either doubtful or quizzical because Shelby stood up and walked over and sat next to me on the sofa.

  “Lissen to me Tuffy, I ain’t just whistling out my asshole. I knew this man better’n anybody. The man was my brother.”

  “Brother? I thought you wa
s an only child?”

  “I was until 1946. My father went in the army in ‘40 and my mother died that same year so I was sent to live with my aunt Nellie Mae, my mother’s sister. When my Dad came home from the war he brought back a young wife he had met in Italy named Antonia Cerami. Her family had been abused by the Fascists at the beginning of the war. Some of Mussolini’s boys caught her on the street one evening coming from church. They raped her and got her pregnant. My Dad met her when the Americans liberated Italy in ‘43, and married her in ‘44. She was still in her early twenties. When he came back home in ‘45, she came with him along with her son Luca. We grew up together like brothers. My Dad legally adopted him and added the last name of ‘Verde’, which is Green in Italian, to his mother’s maiden name which was Cerami.”

  “I always wondered why you spoke Italian but I never asked,” I said.

  “Antonia became my step-mother and taught me. My Dad bought some farm land on Long Island with the money he had saved in the army. We stayed there together as a family working the farm in the summers, and came back here to Harlem during the school year. Dad worked as a janitor and handyman for the Rosen brothers who owned a group of buildings here in Harlem.”

  “So Luca went to school in Harlem too?”

  Shelby nodded his head.

  “ Then in ‘56, after high school, he got drafted into the army. Beans and your Daddy used to call him the “Blacktalian”. He was proud of that name too,” Shelby smiled.

  “By the time Luc came back home from the army in ‘59, Antonia had started having headaches and the doctors found it was a brain tumour. She told my Dad that she wanted to die in Italy so they moved to Sicily in 1960. My Dad deeded the Long Island farm land over to me and Luc. That’s when I got interested in real estate. We sold the land and with my share of the money I bought my first building from the Rosen brothers, who my father had worked for.

  Luc was always good in school, so he used his G.I. bill to get a degree in business. And because he was fluent in Italian he went to work as a business agent for a shipping company that did business in Italy. It was owned by an old rich eccentric Italian dude who lived on Long Island. He was crazy about Luc cause he spoke fluent Italian, was good at business and most importantly could carry it off with aristocratic manners. Make you think he was a millionaire and didn’t have a quarter in his pocket. Of course it was all bullshit and he didn’t take it seriously, but that was Luc, he was a charmer and could be whoever he needed to be to get what he wanted. Like he was acting a part. Anyway, this old rich dude had one daughter named Florence. He loved that girl and gave her whatever she thought she wanted, and he liked Luc so much when he asked the old man if he could marry his daughter, he gave him his blessing. So the daughter and Luc married and had a family, two boys and a girl. When the old man died in the late sixties, he jointly left Florence and Luc 30 acres of land in the middle of nowhere that he had bought, with a big mansion on it. I think they called the house Governor’s Mansion. One day Luc called me and asked me to come out and look at this big estate. That’s when Luc told me about this idea he had for setting up an amusement park that specialized in scary things. He said it would be like a house of horrors except that it would be on a whole estate. And that people would be able to stay at this place with friends and family for the weekend and have a ghostly experience. He wanted me to go in with him on the deal cause he needed money to fix it up and make it into what he needed. And I did.”