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Andrews UK - Bernard Veale

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111 pages

English

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Freddie Huntsman has to deal with Giovanni Tito, a racketeer who wants a casino in the state. Tito has the daughter of State Governor Bronson, Freddie boss and Jadi Benton, Freddie's live-in girlfriend, held captive against the signing of the Casino Bill by the Governor. Freddie tricks Tito in releasing the girls but gets entangled with Candy Barr, which causes great upset with Jadi Benton. Freddie battles on with the support of his friends and finally, after a confrontation with Claudio the cocaine-addicted son of Tito, brings the Tito Empire to an end.

Informations

Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	29 mai 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781781660379
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Title Page

TOUCH MY LIPS

A Freddie Huntsman investigation

by
Bernard Veale

Publisher Information

Touch My Lips published in 2012 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

Copyright © Bernard Veale

The right of Bernard Veale to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Chapter 1

The bullet flew past my head and buried itself in the door jamb. I did not have a gun or a bulletproof vest so I used the door as an exit. I ran as fast as a cheetah to the corner but another bullet buzzed past me as I dived for cover.
The gunman did not seem to be too much of a marksman but I did not plan to wait while he honed his skills. I could hear the sound of approaching sirens and I prayed that the gunman could hear them too.
Apparently he was too fixed on nailing me because another bullet screamed off the wall on the other side of the road. Perhaps he was trying to catch me with a ricochet?
I do not like guns although I have used them myself in the past. I have even killed a man on a previous occasion. There is something about guns aimed at me that I find very distracting.
The police car swung around the corner ahead of me and the gunman decided that nailing me could wait for a more auspicious moment. He disappeared around the corner that I had just tried to interpose between us.
The police car swerved in front of me and a officer of the law jumped out and commanded me: “Put your hands on your head and face the wall.”
I did as I was ordered and waited for the peace-keeper to approach me.
“If you look in my inside jacket pocket, officer, you will find my identity card.”
I said over my shoulder.
“Face the front, sir. We’ll come to your identity later.”
He patted me down and finding no weapon, he said in a slightly aggrieved voice.
“Where’s your gun, sir? I saw brick dust flying quite close to that man that ran around the corner. How did you get rid of it so quickly?”
“Officer, he was shooting at me. If you saw brick dust it would have been the result of a ricochet from a bullet he fired at me.”
“Yeah, a likely story, sir. I saw the whole thing with my own eyes.”
He pulled out his handcuffs and snatched my right hand down from the wall.
“Officer, before you cause yourself considerable embarrassment, please take a look at my identity card.”
“You can show that fiction to the desk sergeant at the precinct, sir.”
“Hey Buck!” An attractive female face peered over the opened car door. “Maybe you should take a look at the card. I think I recognize that man.”
“Officer Mulrooney, you stay in that car. This is my bust and you are my rookie. Don’t go trying to teach the teacher, y’hear?”
“That’s cool Buck. You are the senior but I think that guy is the Governor’s investigator, Frederick Huntsman.”
Officer Buck stared at her suspiciously. “You kidding me here, Mulrooney? Huntsman is a big guy. I saw him once on television. The Police Commissioner was doing everything but lick his shoes.”
“Look in his jacket like the man said, Buck. You might get a surprise.”
Very reluctantly, Officer Buck put his hand into my jacket and pulled out the card that the governor had given me. His eyes almost bugged out of his head but he still got the handcuffs off me faster than a jackrabbit goes down a hole.
“I’m really sorry, sir. I could have sworn that you shot at the other guy.”
“No officer, he was firing at me and as I was unarmed, I deemed it wise to get the hell out of there.”
“Do you want me to arrest the shooter sir?”
“Actually, no, officer; I was hoping to ask him a few questions but I guess he mistook me for someone else.”
“It is still a crime to discharge a weapon in a built up area, sir. I really ought to bust him. I mean, it’s kinda like him taking a potshot at the governor himself, ain’t it?”
“No officer, I think that he was just trying to protect himself. I had a lead on a protection racket that is being run in this district and I wanted to ask him what he knew about it. I think that he thought I had come to extort some more money from him. Do you think that you could give me a lift back to my car? I ran quite a way.”
“Sure thing, Agent. It will be my pleasure.’
“I’m not an agent, officer, just the Governor’s security man.”
“He’s also a hero, Buck.” Officer Mulrooney put in. “He’s the guy that rescued the Mayor’s daughter before the Mayor became the governor.”
“How come you know so much about Mr. Huntsman, Mulrooney?”
She gave a secret smile. “It was in all the newspapers Buck; quite a few photos too.”
She turned around in the front seat to face me, sitting in back. She was definitely attractive.
“Mr. Huntsman, didn’t I read about you shooting down one of the most wanted men in the state?”
“I guess so, officer. He came after me and caught me asleep in bed. He already had his gun pointed at me so I had to move very quickly.”
She smiled triumphantly. “He shot the guy right through the eye, Buck. How’s that for marksmanship?”
Buck shook his head. “Wow! Some shooting; I’m lucky if I hit the target and that while standing still and taking careful aim.”
The short ride was over so I did not bother to tell them that my shot had been a lucky accident. I thanked them for the ride and Officer Mulrooney insisted on shaking hands with me. I discovered that she did it for the purpose of palming a slip of paper to me with her telephone number on it.
I decided not to retry the irate shop-owner until I had called him and arranged for a meeting with him.

The whole thing had been coincidence. I had left the governor’s mansion in a state of agitation and had driven to the mall as the most likely place to find two women intent on shopping until they dropped.
I wandered around the mall going to all the shops that Desdemona had visited on the last occasion that I was guarding her. I did not find them but looking down from the mezzanine floor into the main court of the mall I saw two most unlikely-looking men, walking around and talking to each other. It was rather like seeing two pugilists in a ballet class. They were definitely not the type to be shopping in a mall and they did not even have women with them by way of explanation. Men do some crazy things for the sake of the women in their lives.
No, this pair would have been more at home in a bookie’s place of business: elderly suits, gaudy neckties and faces that looked as if they had been used as punch bags for several decades.
Naturally I began to watch their lips as I am an exceptionally good lip-reader. I was astounded by what I picked up.
“I done all this side of the mall, Aldo. They pay like small kids handing over their lunch money. The boss says that when we done here we gotta go hit the east side. Apparently there’s a holdout that we need to make an example outta.”
“Ah, that gotta be Carlo Pozzi. I tried to talk sense into him. Hey, I gotta do that. The guy is Italian. Blood is thicker than water. Shit! You know what that means, Gianni? I never quite dig why folks say that: blood is thicker than water. So what? Damn near anything you can drink is bound to be thicker than water. It beats me. Anyhows, I try to make this Pozzi guy see some sense but he’s as stubborn as a Sicilian mule. Okay, so he’s had his chance now we gotta cream him. When Tito says we gotta make an example outta Pozzi, you know what he means, eh? We gotta work him over with baseball bats right there in his store. It’s gotta be as messy as possible so that it looks like he really suffered before he kicks over the bucket. That’s why I tell you to wear an old suit because we burn ‘em when we done the job.”
I had heard of this Tito before. He had been trying to horn into the governor’s campaign but it is a hard thing to do: contribute money to the campaign of a man that can afford to be choosy as to who will expect future favors. The governor’s list was very short and constituted only the cream of the Republican party.
I decided that I had better locate Carlo Pozzi and warn him before these two thugs finished their collection tour of the mall.
Normally I would have called my assistant and asked her to locate Carlo Pozzi for me. She has contacts with the FBI that can be very useful.
But her cell phone just kept ringing against our known policy of always staying in touch.
I was not happy. My live-in girlfriend Jadi Benton had taken Desdemona Bronson, the governor’s daughter, shopping early in the morning and I had not heard from them since.
I am the governor’s investigator and security chief and Jadi is my assistant. It is part of her duties to protect Desdemona but Desdemona had a crush on me and she would do anything she could to get rid of Jadi.
Jadi’s cell phone was not responding to my frequent calls and therein lay my unhappiness. We had recently been through a harrowing time with a criminal who had been determined to take his revenge upon Jadi and me and deep down I was scared that it might all be starting again.
Things had been going fairly well since we moved