Tall Man in Ray-Bans (A John Tall Wolf Novel) Read online

  “A working order Tommy gun. The FBI must have one somewhere. Quick delivery and permission to bring it here.”

  Melvin and Kent looked at each other.

  The SAC was already on board; the superintendent was brought along.

  All without a word being said.

  Bureaucratic telepathy. We claim the credit or the Indian gets the blame.

  “Tell us what you have in mind,” Melvin told John.

  He did.

  Kent said, “That’s positively diabolical.”

  The devil being the Western equivalent of the Trickster.

  Who knew, John thought, maybe he had become Coyote.

  John, Sergeant Bramley, Constable Duncan Hargrove and his dog, Trudeau, stood at the front door of Go Hollywood. Bramley had obtained the keys to every lock on the premises from the landlord, the town council. Because the town of Banff was located in a national park, there was no freehold land, no private property. The town paid to lease the land on which it sat. Commercial growth was strictly limited. Businesses in Banff were in no position to quibble about the terms of their leases. When the search warrant for Go Hollywood was issued, the keys were forthcoming.

  Not that Lily and Annie were aware at the moment that their store was being searched. They and their lawyer, Colin McTee, were listening to the questions SAC Melvin and Superintendent Kent had for them. Doubtlessly, McTee was refusing to let his clients answer any questions, but the sisters would still come to understand that law enforcement agencies in two countries considered them persons of interest in a number of felonies.

  It was possible Lily and Annie thought they had outsmarted anyone who might seek to arrest, try and imprison them, but they might be uneasy wondering where John was, why he wasn’t with the other cops questioning them, and what he might be up to elsewhere.

  If so, so much the better. Even experienced criminals made mistakes when they got nervous.

  Bramley told John, “We’re in. Let’s see what we’ve got here.”

  Trudeau, a sleek black Lab trained in bomb detection for the RCMP at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, awaited her command. The dog was shivering in anticipation.

  Constable Hargrove told her, “Allez.”

  Go. Tail wagging the dog raced into the store.

  Sergeant Bramley, exhibiting just what a fine mind she had, had written the search warrant request not only for a Thompson submachine gun but also for any container in which such a weapon might be concealed or carried.

  She had explained her reasoning to John.

  “These women had to surprise this Bear Heart guy with their big, bad gun, right? They surely didn’t march him up the mountainside with the weapon in plain sight. So I thought we better look for a knapsack or something.”

  John had smiled at her. Having heard Bramley’s idea he’d been inspired.

  “Can you get us a dog? You shoot off an automatic weapon and stick it inside some sort of carrying case, there have to be fumes trapped inside it.”

  The sisters might have stored or ditched the Tommy gun somewhere else, but it never hurt to build up whatever incriminating evidence you could.

  Trudeau made a bee line to the back room of the store. Following behind the others, John glanced at the display case positioned at the rear of the show room. In it he saw two sets of clothes: hats, shoes, a man’s suit, a blouse and a skirt. A card read: Original wardrobe items from the film “Bonnie and Clyde,” starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.

  Between the two period costumes was a Tommy gun. Close up, it was easy to see it was fake. There was another card in the case next to the gun, but Trudeau started to bark and John was eager to see what the dog had found.

  Trudeau, vibrating with excitement, sat in front of a large wicker picnic hamper resting on a table. The top of the hamper was open and even the humans in the room could detect the scent of cordite. John looked up and saw an open skylight. The hamper was being aired out. One or both of the sisters hadn’t wanted to part with it. Hargrove stroked Trudeau’s head.

  He said, “Bonne fille.” Good girl. “Toute autre chose?” Anything else.

  The lab yipped and moved to a corner of the room. Hanging from hooks on the wall above the dog were two blond wigs. John and Bramley moved in to sniff. More cordite.

  “C’est tout?” Hargrove asked. Trudeau stayed put. The dog handler turned to Bramley. “That’s all, Sergeant.”

  “Thank you, Constable,” she said. “Trudeau is a credit to the force.”

  Hargrove beamed. “Yes, ma’am.” He and the dog left.

  Bramley looked at John. “So what do you think, Special Agent? Anything here that helps the cause?”

  John nodded. “I’ve already got Lily.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” He told her how, and asked that she keep it to herself. “Now, I have an idea that might help us nab Annie, too.” Swearing Bramley to secrecy, he shared that, too.

  The RCMP sergeant smiled like a kid with an ice cream cone.

  She thought she might be falling in love.

  Before John and Bramley left the store with the wicker hamper, they stopped to read the other card in the display case: Every item in this store is guaranteed authentic, except the Thompson submachine gun. It’s a toy.

  Bramley had a key to the case and she opened it. The gun was plastic. It had been locked away from the public and the card describing it as a toy eliminated any possible charge of intent to deceive. It would be of no use in any criminal prosecution.

  That wouldn’t stymie John’s plan in the least.

  Nor did it keep John from wondering how Lily and Annie had come by signature costume pieces from a classic movie.

  Chapter 38

  Austin, Texas — July 18, the present

  Darton Blake awoke in his darkened living room. He’d thought he’d left a light on; he knew he’d left the TV on. Both had been turned off. A pillow had been tucked under his head and a blanket was draped over him. There was a hint of perfume on the pillow. Jacy had come home and taken pity on a hardworking cop. The scent of the Saint Laurent Opium was her signal that a good time was available.

  He glanced at his watch. One-ten. Not too late, he hoped. They could have their time together and get a reasonable amount of sleep before the alarm went off. He swung his feet off the sofa — and the moment they hit the floor he remembered he should call John Tall Wolf about the money Coy Wilson had found in the safe deposit box.

  One-eleven now. Would Tall Wolf be asleep? Would he mind being disturbed to hear the news? Would Darton even remember to call him if he waited until later? He decided to take a chance. Better the BIA agent should lose a little sleep than receive the information too late. He tapped John’s number into his phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Shit, I did wake you,” Darton said. “I’m sorry.”

  John said, “Just dozing. Still thinking about things.”

  “I won’t ask about what right now. Just want to give you a heads-up on some news.”

  Darton told John about Coy’s discovery of the money.

  John told Darton about the situation in Banff.

  “Coy found the money in a bank box?” he asked. “And she found the key just yesterday in Jackson’s guitar case?”

  “That’s right,” Darton said.

  “Leaving his guitar behind must mean Jackson had expected to come home.”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “That suggest anything to you?” John asked.

  “If you’re saying his mom set him up, that’d be awful damn cold.”

  “Maybe Randy was just giving Lily a hard time, getting a little physical. She called her son to settle him down, but things got out of hand.”

  Darton said, “Could be. It’s bad enough when cops referee a domestic fight. Anybody else does it, he’s really asking for trouble. So you think there’s payback after all this time? These two women killed the boyfriend they shared?”

  “Payback might be
part of their rationale, something to tell themselves. Mostly, though, what could they have said if they’d been caught with Randy? They’d be his accomplices.”

  John told Darton what he had in mind for the two sisters.

  “That’s great,” Darton said. “Wish I could be there. You should see how big I’m smiling right now. Hey, before I forget, this might be useful to your plan. After Coy dropped all that money on me and drove off, I thought I should have asked her, did she find anything else in that lock box?”

  John said, “Yeah, that’d be good to know.” And he thought of how he might improve his plan. “Call Ms. Wilson first thing in the morning. See how she’d feel about making a quick trip to Banff.”

  Chapter 39

  Banff, Alberta — July 18, the present

  John decided to take the same risk Darton had taken minutes earlier.

  He called Boston and woke Guy Forger.

  “Sorry to disturb you. This is Special Agent Tall Wolf.”

  “Damn, man. Couldn’t it have waited ‘til morning?”

  “Half could, half couldn’t. Can you tell me whose name is on the deed to the house where you live?”

  “Yeah, shit, I know that. Pyewacket Holdings. Sounds Native American, but it isn’t.”

  John said, “It was the name of a cat, a familiar, belonging to a witch.”

  Guy grunted. “That’s pretty good. You must’ve paid attention in school. Is that it?”

  “One more thing,” John said. “How about you and Louie meet me in Banff later today?”

  John made one more call. Maurice Satterly had been asleep, too.

  “Sorry to disturb you, sir,” John said, “but this might help me find out what happened to Vern Forger.”

  “If that’s the case,” Satterly said, “you can talk ‘til dawn. I won’t get any sleep now.”

  “I assume Vern Forger had an agent who negotiated his contracts with you.”

  “Of course.”

  “May I have his name and his phone number, if you have it handy?”

  The Vancouver GM gave John the information from memory.

  Harvey Kingsbury and a phone number in Toronto.

  “How will that help you?” Satterly asked.

  “Might be leverage. Might help me run a bluff. Would you know how Annie Forger got along with Mr. Kingsbury?”

  Satterly laughed. “Harvey skinned us pretty good on Vern’s last contract. There were two pictures on the sports page of the Vancouver Sun to mark that occasion. In one Mrs. Forger was kissing Vern; in the other she was kissing Harvey.”

  John might have gotten away disturbing one man’s sleep, but having pulled a second sleeper from his pillow, karma was due and paid. Marlene Flower Moon banged on the door to John’s hotel room a half-hour before his alarm would have roused him. The conversations he’d had with Darton Blake, Guy Forger and Maurice Satterly had left him feeling confident that he’d be able to get both Lily and Annie into court.

  Marlene hammered the door again.

  “I know you’re in there, Tall Wolf. I can hear you breathing.”

  My, what big ears you have, Coyote, John thought.

  “I’m here,” he said, getting out of bed. “I’m going to clean up. I’ll meet you in the hotel restaurant. Don’t order anything for me.”

  “You won’t let me in?”

  John laughed. If she could hear him breathe, she could hear that, too.

  When John joined Marlene for breakfast, the only thing waiting on the table for him was a glass of water.

  Nodding at the glass, Marlene said, “I’m told that comes from a nearby stream, and it was brought at the restaurant’s initiative not my request.”

  A waitress came to the table and John asked for a glass of orange juice.

  He declined her offer of coffee.

  After she left, Marlene asked, “No caffeine for you? No stimulants at all?”

  “I find life exciting enough. What are you doing here?”

  “I received a call from Mr. McTee on behalf of his clients.”

  “You want to be in on the arrest?” John asked.

  “Mr. McTee led me to believe there are no grounds for an arrest. That being the case, I was wondering what you’re doing here.”

  John sat back and looked at his boss. She’d been dogging his heels the whole way through this case. He couldn’t help but think she had a personal stake in its outcome.

  He asked her, “You hear about Randy Bear Heart going cliff-diving without an ocean anywhere in sight?”

  Marlene shrugged. “A multiple murderer and bank robber comes to a bad end, who’s going to shed a tear?”

  John was tempted to ask if there was anything that might make Marlene weep, but he went in a different direction.

  “Did Mr. McTee tell you I visited the shop Lily White Bird and Annie Forger operate in town? It’s called Go Hollywood. They have this show case display of two outfits from the movie ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’”

  “No, he didn’t tell me that.”

  “Maybe I forgot to tell him.”

  Marlene’s eyes narrowed. John thought he saw a yellow light through the slitted lids.

  “I hope you didn’t forget to obtain a search warrant,” she said.

  “A colleague with the RCMP did that. After I came back to my room, I did a computer search. There are businesses in Los Angeles that sell props and wardrobe items from various movies. From what I could learn, the pieces in Go Hollywood would have cost tens of thousands of dollars, minimum. I wouldn’t be surprised if their value is much higher.”

  Marlene had a cup of coffee in front of her. She opened her mouth to take a sip, revealing what John had long thought to be the four sharpest canine teeth he’d ever seen in a human mouth.

  “What’s your point?” she asked.

  “Well, there are a few. For instance, why would Randy Bear Heart have stolen sacred relics from Mercy Ridge in the first place? The obvious answer is for the money he could gain by selling them, but I don’t think that was it. I think Randy saw the items he stole as an insurance policy. If the tribe didn’t give the white cops any help in finding him, he’d have somebody send them back after he was past caring.”

  “I told you nothing was stolen,” Marlene said.

  “Yes, you did, but Annie Forger told me the opposite. Of course, if she’d already returned the stolen goods, I could look for them for the rest of my life without finding them. So letting me know about the theft, that could have been a useful diversion.”

  “If you’re right about that, you’ll never know who told you the truth, me or Ms. Forger.”

  The waitress brought John’s orange juice. He took a sip and told her he wouldn’t need anything else.

  When the two of them were alone again, John said, “Lily and Annie were both obsessed by Randy Bear Heart, but there’s no compulsion as strong as self-preservation. Not to get dragged down by Randy when his obsessions finally did him in. They must have planned for at least the possibility of doing him in long before they acted. Fact is, they’d be better off without him. That’s not to say the relics he stole didn’t have any value. They might be swapped for, say, Hollywood memorabilia. That would have been far more satisfying than just giving them back.”

  “How could you ever prove that?” Marlene asked.

  John said, “It probably wouldn’t be too hard. All I have to do is find out who owned the costumes on display at Go Hollywood before Lily and Annie came to possess them. Once I know who that is, I’ll bet I can find out who bought them. Maybe someone at or connected to Mercy Ridge. Someone who might have wanted to keep Lily and Annie happy.”

  Marlene grimaced, bringing her canines back into view.

  This time, she added a low growl.

  Instead of drawing back, John leaned forward. The wolf did not fear the coyote.

  “This isn’t a priority for me as long as I get to take Lily and Annie down. If you try to thwart me on that, I’ll have a talk with SAC Melvin, let him decide
how to handle things. He might even look into the war chest you’re building for your eventual political ambitions. If Lily and Annie were helping the cause, you want to send that money back fast. Otherwise, it might look like they were trying to bribe a federal official, and you were aiding accomplices to several felonies.”

  With Marlene on their side, if she was, it would be no wonder the two sisters thought they were off the hook. John was sure they would be outraged when Marlene didn’t come through for them. But what could they say, their payoff hadn’t been honored?

  Maybe they would.

  Maybe John would need a new job soon.

  The waitress returned and asked if they’d like anything else.

  Marlene stood and told John, “You’re so generous with your expense account these days, you can pick up the check.”

  So she’d found out he’d bought a round of drinks.

  It was a small enough victory to allow her.

  He paid the tab in cash.

  Chapter 40

  Banff, Alberta — July 18, the present

  Superintendent Manley Kent had invoked the hoariest of law enforcement clichés without blushing. He’d told Lily White Bird and Annie Forger not to leave town. As Banff covered an area of less than four square kilometers, watching the sisters would not require a great deal of manpower. Lily and Annie had been warned of the consequences of violating Kent’s order. They would lose the right to operate their business in Banff and Annie’s permanent resident status would be jeopardized. They would also be taken into custody under a material witness warrant until the investigation was concluded.

  Colin McTee said he would fight the warrant, but the sisters held him back. They wanted to be seen as innocents with nothing to fear or hide. As far as they knew, John Tall Wolf was still the only real threat against them and Marlene Flower Moon still had their backs.

  John stepped out of the hotel and took a look around. You liked beautiful mountain vistas in sparkling sunlight, Banff would be a tough place to beat. As long as no one firing a Tommy gun herded you off a cliff.