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Feb-15-2009 03:31

New York - 1931

I was framed. I did not kill her, but who would've believed me?

Life was getting grimmer as citizens felt the real pinch from the great stock market crash two years ago. My private investigation business was losing a load of clients. Most of them had gone bankrupt, or worse, jumped off the Chrysler Building. Mrs. Gatsby was a loyal client. My only mistake was becoming too intimate with her.

That day, I received a note from her, asking me to meet her in the VIP room of the Astor Theatre. The room was dark when I got there; I thought she was playing naughty. Before I knew it, I was hit from the back, and woke up to find blood all over me with a knife in my hand. Mrs. Gatsby was laying two feet from me, stabbed to death.

I heard the police whistle nearby, and I instinctively ran. Two officers saw me and chased me down three blocks before I loose them. I quickly returned to my office, washed off the blood and changed. I took what was necessary, including my revolver, and composed perhaps my last letter on my prized Remington typewriter. I made some carbon copies, and send the letters to my detective friends before I went into hiding.

They were my final hope.

((Note: I posted this beginning at Shades of Mystery, but I thought it'd be nice to see where it leads in Noir. Hope you'll enjoy it. Feel free to improvise! ))

Mar-17-2009 02:14

Zeo found out from Scotty that upon running into their ‘transaction’, Sergeant McGinty grabbed hold of Scotty and claimed the money the Japanese man gave him was discovered in Scotty’s jacket. The Japanese man had long disappeared by then, along with another Triad goon who was supposed to be locked up. McGinty accused Scotty of releasing that Asian goon and hence explained the bribe. That ‘evidence’ money then went straight back into McGinty’s pocket, whereas Scotty headed right for the cells he usually guarded. Scotty was devastated.

“Don’t worry son, I’ll get you out. I’ll clear both our names.” Zeo promised.

“But there’s no one to back my story up!”

“Where is Lolita? She was with you at that time, wasn’t she?”

“That selfish chick pushed me right into the room so that she could get away.” Scotty grumbled. “I have no idea where she is now.”

“Well, she was smart, otherwise you both would be caught.” Zeo replied. However, at the back of his mind, he wasn’t sure if Lolita really got away. She would’ve rendez-vous at Scotty’s if she did.

Zeo had no idea where to look for Lolita. He decided to check out the lair of Haneke, the Japanese mob boss, of which the location Zeo had found out from his Italian friend.

Mar-17-2009 08:06

I awoke to find myself tied and gagged. Certainly not what I was expecting. I had been expecting a jail cell...........moving my head gingerly I looked around.

Suddenly there was an Asian man standing over me. He grabbed me by the shoulders and sat me up. It looked like I was in some sort of storage room for a Restaurant. I could hear what sounded like cooking noises, pots and pans and plates rattling. While I was trying to get my bearings a door behind the goon opened and I could see a stairway, probably leading up to an apartment above the restaurant. The second goon that I had run into jerked his head at the stairs without saying a word as if to tell the first one that he should come upstairs.

The first goon picked up a dirty rag from the floor and gagged me securely. They both disappeared through the doorway.........

Mar-17-2009 22:14

The little Japanese restaurant Mikasa was situated on a quiet street in the central district. A single red lantern with Asian writings on it was hanging on the wooden porch. According to Peretti, the lair of Haneke’s Triad was hidden on the second floor apartment.

Zeo went to the side and peeked into the restaurant. A few customers were having their late dinners, with soup noodles and what seemed like raw meat. Gross.

The detective found a drainage pipe at the back and ascended quietly. A window on the second storey opened into a room full of people. Zeo stayed outside in the dark listening to their conversations, at least what he could make of them.

“Yes, our best shooter will be waiting there tomorrow before dawn… yes he knows about the sudden security change, yes, to Pier 54… we have handed him the photo of the Prince. He will make it look like it’s done by their own people… by poison arrow…” Zeo could hear a smirk in Haneke’s voice. The man then hung up the phone.

Someone spoke to Haneke in Japanese, both of them were hidden from Zeo’s view, but the detective could see, from his angle, the door into the room. A knock, an answer, then it opened, with two muscles entering the room. They both bowed in the direction of Haneke.

Surprisingly, people began to converse in English. Zeo couldn’t tell these Asians apart, but he supposed at least one of those goons were not Japanese. “Finish Yakamoto. Tonight. You found knives in that Joseph Zeo’s apartment? With his fingerprints?” One of the goon nodded, with gloved hands he showed them a knife. “Use it. Don’t apply too much force. Make it look like the thin detective did it.”

Zeo froze. Not another one!

Just then, one of the goon approached the open window lighting a cigarette. He saw Zeo immediately. The goon yelled something in Japanese.

Mar-18-2009 09:47

*back in Woodridge, in front of the pickup warehouse*

The large metal gate was closed, yet it appeared a light was on the inside. We both came close to a small door that seemed to lead into the courtyard. Each took position on a side, holding our weapons prepared.

I tilted my chin shortly towards Paulie. He took a short step back and barged his foot onto the door, slamming it on the wall as it got open. We jumped inside ready for action, but suddenly a light blinded both of us.

“Now hold it right there, tough guy” a voice came from somewhere behind me and then I felt the cold barrel of a gun glued to my neck, below my ear. I raised my hands, still hanging on the Tommy and Paulie did the same.

“Frankie?” he asked, attempting to protect his eyes. “Is that you? ‘Crazy’ Frankie?”

“Paulie?” came a man’s answer from the shadows.

“It’s me” answered him Paulie. “Now what da’ hell is this welcoming party? Suddenly you don’t trust us anymore, or what? We’re here to do business, mate.”

I was astonished by the fact that ‘Crazy’ Frankie and my old friend Paulie knew each other, but I decided to stay silent.

“Hey, boys…lower the guns. It’s safe. I know these lads” said Frankie.

The lights turned off and then I noticed that they were coming from a truck, most likely the one we were supposed to pick up. I counted 4 men inside. They all lowered down their weapons, including the one from behind me, who then advanced into the courtyard.

“Sorry about all this guys” Frankie continued “but we had to make sure that it was you. We also heard a strange noise outside. What happened?”

“We…ran into a ‘friend’ of ours, so to say…” answered Paulie.

“You got the cash for all this booze?” reminded us Frank about why we came.

Mar-18-2009 09:47

It was just then when it suddenly stroke me: if we were here to pick up a truck, we also should’ve been given cash to pay for it, but…I didn’t remember Paulie ever mentioning something like this, nor seeing a different envelope on him.

“Oh yeah…” Paulie replied “…we have it all right…HERE!”

With this he raised back up his Tommy and started bursting a continuous round. The men were caught with…their pants down, so to say. They all felt one by one under the heavy fire, including ‘Crazy’ Frankie.

I froze. Couldn’t believe my eyes.

Upon emptying the machine gun, Paulie reloaded and then started checking on all the corpses. He shot another short burst in each one. Just as he was about to head towards the last one, I noticed the goon getting up and taking aim. I just reacted then, filling his chest with slugs.

Paulie turned startled towards him, then looked at me.

“I guess I owe ya’ one, Joey.” He stepped towards the goon and shot another round into him just to make sure.

I finally managed to get my thoughts together and I exploded.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Paulie!?! What was this? He you gone suddenly insane?”

He slowly pulled a deep breath in his chest, then lit himself a large cigar.

“Don’t sweat it, Bane. ‘This’…was the job…” He smiled.

Mar-19-2009 10:05

It took me a couple of minutes to gather my thoughts together and understand what he was saying.

Apparently Peretti had a grudge on Frankie, about a broad the ‘Crazy’ stole from him. He wanted him dead thus and also he wanted a message sent to anyone who would consider producing booze anywhere in his neighborhood. He had his own distilleries and wanted full coverage of New York. We were not sent here to pay these guys, but just waste them and bring the merchandize in.

“Have you gone nuts, Paulie? Since when are we the mob’s hit men? Running shipments for them is fine, stealing for them…well, that’s fine too, but KILLING for them? You do realize that if someone’s gotta go down for this it’ll be us, now don’t you?”

“Keep it down, Bane. Paulie’s got an idea.” He smiled. His face and voice told me I haven’t seen the end of all this situation. When Paulie spoke about himself using third person, it usually meant he had been thinking and came to the conclusion that he discovered something smart.

“Let’s hear it, then” I replied thus, looking at him conspicuously.

“Well…the mob knows that the Triads are in town, right?”

“Right…”

“And…we have one of them dead outside, right?”

“Right…” I didn’t like where his reason was going.

“And…no one knows what went down here, right?”

“I do hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, mate…”

“What if…we take the truck and blame it on the Triads? We can present the dead one as being left behind at the scene. I know some guys in Cleveland that will pay us good money for the booze.”

“Well now…Paulie…I do admire that you grew a brain, but…YOU’RE USING IT IN THE WRONG WAY!!!”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Mar-19-2009 10:06

“You realize you’re talking about stealing from the mob itself, Paulie? You know what that’ll bring us, mate? A bullet in the head!”

“Stop acting like a crazy broad, Joey! No guts, no glory, mate. That’s all there is to it. They’ll never let us in the ‘family’, I know it. They’ll only feed us crumbs from time to time just as they always did. This is exactly what we needed, Bane: a brake, a chance to make some real dough and maybe put it to hood purpose.”

“Good money, Paulie? Have you gone insane? How much you think a truck of booze is worth? You’ll bust them up all in a week.”

He took a brake and then spoke clearly and heavy.

“Listen Bane…I’m doing this whether you like it or not. If you don’t wanna be part of it, it’s fine. Just don’t get in my way.”

I had no choice. I was part of it already as the mob knew I was there with him. Thus I decided to play it his way and think about it later.

We loaded the bodies in the truck so Paulie can ditch them on the way. All but the Triads guy. That one we put inside the trunk, as prove of our stupid story.

I watched Paulie driving the truck out through the gate and to a ‘safe location’. Damn bastard wouldn’t even tell me where he was going or who he dealt with. I wasn’t sure though I wanted to know anyway. We were supposed to meet back in 1 hour in a location close down to Peretti’s parlor, so then we both would go in with the story.

I smoke a cigarette after he left and then decided to move out. It wasn’t such a great idea driving around the city with a broken windshield and body in the trunk, so I wanted to do it while it was still dark.

Just as I was about to get in the car, something attracted my attention: a light was on somewhere into the warehouse next to ours. I figured that I had to make sure no one saw us and thus I grabbed my Tommy and went there.

Mar-19-2009 10:07

Upon a silent sneak around some crates I finally found the room with the light on. It was an empty office in a deserted building and yet it looked like someone had been staying there. The light came from a candle that was lighting what seemed to be a bed made from a mattress thrown over a few crates. There was a bag near a table and that was all.

I picked it up and looked inside: some clothes, shaving tools, a knife and…2 maps with Japanese writing on them.

“Hmmm…this must’ve been the layer of that Triad guy we wasted” I mumbled bringing up the candle to study the maps closer.

The first one was showing a path through some of the city’s main streets. 4 points were marked on a side. It looked like…

“Hell…these guys are planning an assassination!”

I studied the dots on the map and noticed one of them was close to my location. I realized that probably there were more than 1 assassin and they were all camped nearby their shooting point. Since one of them was obviously dead, it meant there were 3 left. I realized then that the man whose picture we found must be the target. I threw another look at it but it didn’t ring any bells.

“I guess I’ll have to see about this…It ain’t none of my business anyway” I mumbled.

I put that map aside and pulled the other one on top. There were another 3 markers on it, but this time they were just some unimportant locations. I didn’t understand what they were meaning and also there was no path drawn.

Just as I was about to get up and leave, it suddenly stroke me: “The parlour!”

I opened up the map again and took another look at it. Indeed one of the marked locations was Peretti’s parlor. The other 2 were also places from where the mob was running their business.

“To hell..” I mumbled “…it was true! The Triads ARE moving on us.”

I stopped and thought about this for a minute. This information may just be the break I needed to get out with a clean face from Paulie’s mess.

Mar-19-2009 10:07

I grabbed the maps, got in the car and hurried down towards the betting parlor.

Mar-20-2009 14:24

*00:00hr - Peretti’s betting parlor*


The streets were not so crowded at that time of the day, so I arrived fast to the parlor. I served both stories to Peretti and I showed him the body and the maps. I told him Paulie was away, ditching the bodies ‘just in case’.

Peretti threw me a distrustful look about the truck’s disappearance, but then he focused on the maps. He realized the threat was close and real so he decided to act fast.

“Hey, Boscorelli, gather up some guys and search these places. But do NOT make a single move on them! Just see if they are there and inform me.”

The skinny guy mumbled a ‘yes boss’ and took off. Peretti then turned his attention towards me.

“Don’t go away, Bane. We might need you. If what you said proves to be true, I wanna whack these guys no later than tonight and I’m gonna need firepower.”

I nodded and then went inside the parlor, joining a game of cards with some strange fellows.

…

About half an hour later a goon came down and told me to go to Peretti. Stepping in his office I noticed he had already assembled 4 teams of 3 - 4 men.

“There’s something strange here…” I mumbled. “If I remember well there were only 4 spots drawn on tat map and one of them was cleaned by me and Paulie.”

Peretti’s voice cut then my chain of thoughts.

“You’re going with them, Bane.” He pointed towards 2 goons wearing faces that brought nothing good. “I want to have at least one of these guys alive for questioning his arse, you hear me?”

Everyone nodded and a short moment of silence followed. Peretti looked around at us all as his face took an astonished expression and suddenly he barked like a mad dog: “Why are you all still here!?! MOVE IT!”

And with this off we went.

…