Skip Case (David Dean Mysteries) - Page 49/231

"Vinnie, tell me where you are so I can come and kill you!" yelled Dean.

"I had to make sure you weren't followed! Fourth and Oak! Fourth and Oak! I swear to God I'll be there!" Dial tone again.

Dean sighed and went back to the car. He couldn't believe he was stupid enough to play Vinnie's silly game. It was like a high school scavenger hunt, absent the babes and fun. But back then he hadn't been dragged from a soft bed and the dream-movies of his mind to chase around the slums of his city.

Fourth and Oak were just as desolate as Ninth and Locust, but as soon as Dean stopped the car, a disheveled figure jumped from the darkness and clawed at the passenger door until Dean reached over and opened it. Vinnie Baratto scrambled into the car, locked the door and buried himself on the floor of the vehicle.

"Get going! Get going!"

Dean slowly pulled away, looking down at his passenger, and shook his head slowly. "Vinnie, this better be damn good."

"Ol' buddy, my old buddy-I knew you'd come through!" "I'm not your old buddy or your new buddy. I've seen you once in 13 years and you were in a lineup. Just tell me what in hell this is all about."

"They're after me! They really are, Davey, no kidding! They got a contract out on me! Look at me! I'm shaking like a leaf! My fingernails are bitten off. I been puking all day!"

Dean glanced down in the light of a passing street lamp. "You do look like hell."

"I ain't slept like in three days...I ain't even eaten! They're watching my place...and I didn't do nothing...I got no money, no place to go.... I spent my last coins calling you!" He looked up and Dean could see his wild eyes in the glow. "It's all a big mistake! I ain't done nothing! You gotta help me! You gotta get me like a new identity...a new life!"

"Vinnie, I'm a cop. I'm not J. Edgar Hoover's replacement."

"It's all a mistake."

"Vinnie, those guys don't make mistakes. The only mistake was you screwing around with the big boys in the first place."

"It's not me! It's Billie and Willie!"

Dean slammed on his brakes, causing Vinnie to whack his head on the underside of the dash. "What do you know about those two piles of dump?"

"The family's got 'em!" he cried as he rubbed his head, "I swear! They were like, kinda lying low...because of this mistake. They heard some guys were looking for 'em, so they hid out in this here...place. For weeks. And then they got sick of sitting around, and maybe ran out of dough I guess and figured the heat was off, so they came out. Zingo! They're gone and the street says they're history and now there's a contract out on me! The twins must have fingered me! For the mistake."