Chapter 21 - It's the Small Things That Can Kill You! - We Need to Move Frank!

                 Chapter 21 – We Need to Move Frank!

After checking ourselves in as visiting guests at Happy Meadows Clara and Joey went to Frank’s room to check on him. I borrowed one of the rest home’s phones and called Fenton to see if he could meet with us later that evening at my dad’s diner. He indicated that he could but let me quickly know that it was my turn to pick up the restaurant tab.  After saying goodbye to Fenton and hanging up, I made a quick call to Rico’s house. It was answered by his mother Juanita. She told me that Rico was visiting his uncle Jerry.

Jerry was a brujo, a medicine man that performed Brazilian voodoo rites and also practiced the religion. I met scary Jerry several times. He wasn’t a con artist pretending to commune with the dead or heal the sick while taking money from gullible tourists. Jerry was the real deal. He was very serious about his religion and magic. Otherwise, he was often entertaining and fun to be around. He was one of the few people I knew that could cheer Rico up when he was having a bad day.

I phoned Jerry’s house. Unlike some weekend gatherings when people said they were partying so hard that they nearly “woke the dead”, Jerry routinely did this in his backyard. But not usually on the weekends. The weekends were reserved for serious drinking and watching sports. I assumed Jerry might be half drunk, as it was Saturday night when I phoned to talk to Rico. To my surprise, Rico answered the phone.

“Hello.”I said. There was a long silence, then…

“Hello, Jax, is that you?” Rico’s voice sounded strange. Hoarse, like he had been shouting.

“Are you okay, man?” I asked.

“Um, no.” was his brief reply.

“What’s wrong?” I inquired. Neither Rico nor I were “phone people” or particularly gabby. We were men of few words.

“I’m sick of being stared at by a bunch of nosy dead people.” Rico whispered.

“I thought that happened to you all the time.” I countered,

“God no Jax.  Jerry just did a ritual that summoned a whole graveyard of dead people into his backyard. It was awful."

“Worse than your frat parties you used to invite me to?” I teased him.

“Look, Jerry was searching through the collective memories of the dead for clues about what happened to James Cody. People in graveyards are kind of like a hive mind after they have been dead a while.”

“Hive mind? What does that even mean?” I asked.

“They are all like psychic receiving stations. What some of them that are buried in other parts of the city know about the thoughts and actions of the living, are broadcasted or shared with others until eventually they all know the same thing. In this case, Cody hasn’t really been dead enough for the others to have absorbed all the details of his life, but Jerry got a lot of information about Cody from the dead that live in the graveyard across the fence next to his house. Did either you or Clara know that there were two other people on Gaynor’s property when Cody was shot. He didn’t know either one of them, but they knew each other.”

“Yes, Clara and I have been riding around with one of them, How the hell did Jerry find that out?” I was dumbfounded by his uncle’s discovery.

“Let me check some notes I made. Yes, Joey Flowers. Dude! Have you been riding around with Joey Flowers? He’s a freaking hit man!” Rico’s voice was so strained that he sounded like he had been at a football game.   

“Um, yes.” I swallowed hard. “How do you know his name? Rico, this is beyond spooky.”

“I know his name because he killed another bad hombre named Billy Touche. Gave him a heart attack with a …wait I can’t read my own writing. It was dark outside.” Rico was now reading his note slowly and carefully. “He gave him a heart attack with a cow pod. What the hell is a cow pod?”

“Cattle prod” I corrected. “And what is up with your voice?”

“Huh? Dude, I know nothing about cattle. I’m a city boy from St. Paul, Minnesota.” He complained.

“A cattle prod is like a police stun gun. Cowboys and ranchers use them to get cattle on and off trucks.” I explained.

“Okay! Does my voice really sound that trashed? The voice thing is because I smoked some of Jerry’s dope to calm down after having to sit next to all those spirits…freaking creepy!  Don’t tell Dr. Knivens. Hey, did you know that this Billy guy was going to kill Frank with a sniper rifle?”

“Yes, Joey told us. Like a couple of hours ago. So, you’re saying your uncle Jerry pulled this out of the collective memories of a bunch of dead people that live next door?”

“Yes. Since Billy Touche is dead, the dead living over on that side of town absorbed his thoughts and memories. They passed them on psychically to the rest of the town’s dead.” Rico still sounded a little tense. “The dead know everything Billy Touch knew while he was alive. Now Jerry does too, and so do we. Did you know that Billy was supposed to kill Joey Flowers after he killed Frank?”

“Get out of here! For real?” I gasped.

“Yes. One of Tony Accardo’s lieutenants has a hit on Joey. Billy took the contract his mob had out on Frank and then was instructed to kill Joey.” Rico read from his notes.

“Why kill Joey? Joey is no danger to Frank. He practically worships Frank.” I asked incredulously.

“So that Joey wouldn’t try to avenge Frank and hunt down his real killer. Then the organization would have to own up to putting a hit out on one of their own 'made men'. The organization was going to frame Joey for Frank’s murder. They were going to say Joey defected to a rival organization.” Rico said with a note of finality in his voice.”

“But Frank is still alive. Why do they want him dead in the first place?” I said, thinking out loud.

“Jerry also found out that there is another hit man that is already in town. He was supposed to back up Billy Touche.” Rico sounded like he wanted to end this call. It was the longest he and I had ever stayed on the phone together.

“So, what is this other hit man’s name? I’ll pass this on to Joey. We are over at Happy Meadows checking on Frank.” I said, suddenly feeling a little tired myself.

“The dead didn’t know this guy’s name. Probably Billy didn’t know it either. They weren’t traveling together. Maybe he is another member of the organization that was a stranger sent to back Billy up. You know, so, he wouldn’t screw up the hit.” Rico speculated. “Sounds like he came in a little late.”

“Yeah, for certain. Hey, could you meet Fenton, Clara and me at my dad’s diner in an hour? We need to decide how to move Frank. We need to get him out of Kildeer before the F.B.I. catches up to Joey or this other assassin catches up to either one of them.”

“I’m over at Jerry’s without a car.” Rico sighed.

“Get him to drive you.” I suggested.

“Not a good idea. He put the dead to rest again and then started drinking and watching professional wrestling. I think he thinks I’m going to keep him company.”

“I going try and get a ride for you. If a big guy named Sal knocks on Jerry’s door, that will be your ride.”

“I want a large cheeseburger right now.” Rico sounded weary.

“In an hour we can make that happen.” I laughed and hung up.