Big Money (Austin Carr Mystery) by Jack Getze Read Free Book Online Page A

I sure could have used you last night. Bluefish threatened my children.”
    Tony slams a forefinger to his lips. “Wait a minute,” he says. He guides me inside the Martha’s lobby, then off to a quiet corner beside a thirty-gallon blue Chinese vase filled with blooming yellow forsythia stalks.
    “Sorry, pal,” he says. “But I didn’t think Bluefish would make his move that fast. Plus, I had to get permission. But I’m on it now.”
    I nod.
    “I heard about the cash he gave you,” Tony says.
    “You did? From who?”
    “I got friends in Bluefish’s family. All over, in fact. You still have his money?”
    “It’s still in my car.”
    Tony smiles and wraps a thick arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go have a pop at the bar. You can tell me about this AASD problem.”
    “I don’t have time. The AASD woman is waiting for me now. She just came into town today on a fluke and agreed to meet me. So it’s important. I don’t want to be late.”
    He shrugs and redirects me toward the elevators. “Okay, let’s go see her. We’ll have a pop later.”
    Once again I resist his forward momentum. Like before, my shoes slide on the slick marble. “You can’t go with me,” I say.
    “Sure I can. You’re going to need me.”
    He plows another few steps toward the elevators, me scuffing along with him, stumbling until he stops both of us with quick freeze. “Wait. I got an idea. Let’s go back to your car, get Bluefish’s money. We might need that, too.”
    My heart rate ticks up. “What are you talking about? What’s Bluefish’s money got to do with the AASD? Jesus, Tony. You’ll get Shore closed down letting her see all that cash. Like I’m trying to bribe her.”
    “Her name’s Ann Marie Talbot, right?”
    “Yeah. So?”
    “And if she files her report with co-mingling charges included, Shore Securities gets hurt bad?”
    “Probably. But —”
    “So trust me, Carr. Vic told you to ask for my help, right?”
    “Yes, but there’s no way Mr. Vic would want you to try and bribe her. Jesus, Tony.”
    Tony tows me back outside through the glass doors. Once more, the gooey, to ngue-swelling smell of dead organic matter punches me in the nose. Tony’s arm, the odors, fear suddenly pumping up my heart rate...feels like I’m about to faint.
    George Clooney’s big brother from Brooklyn checks my face, shakes his head. “You look upset.”
    There’s no way I can stop Tony Farascio from doing whatever the hell he wants. If I try to muscle him, I will also end up as rotting goo, reeking like the rest of the Navasquan River bottom.
    “When you give me Bluefish’s money, I think I gotta go see this Ann Marie by myself,” he says. “You’re not right.”
    And like my series seven securities license, my Gift of Gab has been temporarily suspended.
    I am fucking speechless.
     
     
    Maximilian Zakowsky
    Max stares at Ann Marie on the tiny black and white recording monitor. Look at her, rubbing that silly deodorant under her shaved arms. Pulling those little black panties over her round tight ass.
    He completes another set of push-ups and rolls onto his back for sit-ups, but switching positions this time so he can watch Ann Marie’s TV image finish dressing. She’s hooking a lace bra under her pillow-size breasts. Stuffing her soft flesh into cups. What would she do if he went next door right now, to her hotel room, and gave her a kiss?
    He sighs. Maybe Ann Marie is the woman to take Maximilian Zakowsky away from this life. Endless days of sit-ups and push-ups, arm curls. Exercising until his body groans. And for what? For crazy Bluefish? For a place to live? For Jerry, Max’s one friend in the whole world?
    Ann Marie has been very nice to Max. She has sex with him almost anytime he wants. And why would she get dressed like this, in full view of the camera, unless she knows he’s watching? Ann Marie must be doing this just for Max.
    He checks the red light on Bluefish’s recording equipment. Everything is