Free House of the Rising Sun by Chuck Hustmyre

story.”
    â€œHow did he keep a lid on what was going on upstairs?”
    â€œHe didn’t let anybody go upstairs, not even the Homicide dicks. He claimed the robbery crew stayed downstairs the whole time. He said they were trying to rob the strip bar, but when one of them shot Pete, they got scared and took off.”
    â€œNone of the detectives even tried to go upstairs?”
    Ray shook his head. “Tony said the second and third floors were nothing but storage and that the fourth floor was a private residence.”
    LaGrange arched his eyebrows. “And that stopped them?”
    â€œTony put in a call to their captain.”
    â€œHow much did they get?”
    â€œThree hundred large.”
    LaGrange let out a low whistle. “How are you involved?”
    â€œI’m supposed to find them.”
    â€œThe perps?”
    Ray nodded.
    â€œHow are you supposed to do that?”
    â€œVinnie has this crazy idea that since I was a detective, I should be able to find four armed robbers.”
    â€œMakes sense, I guess.”
    â€œTo a moron.”
    They stared at each other.
    â€œWhat do you need from me?” LaGrange said.
    â€œA lead,” Ray said. “Somewhere to start.”
    â€œI told you, I’m not a real detective anymore. I’m a paper pusher.”
    â€œYou’ve got access to all the reports, right?”
    LaGrange nodded.
    â€œThen get me copies of everything that’s been written on what went down at the House.”
    â€œJesus Christ,” LaGrange said. “Do you know what you’re asking?”
    â€œI’m asking for your help,
partner
.”
    LaGrange started to say something. Then he looked away. When he looked back, he said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

    â€œI need to find Hector,” Ray said.
    Tony peered over the top of the newspaper he held in front of his face. “What?”
    â€œI’ve been trying to track him down and can’t find him.” Tony stuck his hand out to his side, palm down, and held it three feet above the ground. “You talking about the little guy at the door?”
    â€œYeah,” Ray said. Hector wasn’t three feet tall, more like five five. He was Mexican or Central American, some kind ofLatin, but he tried to act Italian. “He hasn’t been at work since the robbery,” Ray said. “I just came from his apartment and his girlfriend says she hasn’t seen him.”
    Tony was stretched out in an overstuffed chair on the fourth floor of the House, in a sitting room just outside Vinnie’s office. Down the long hall was another sitting room and the door to Vinnie and Mrs. Vinnie’s penthouse apartment. Tony’s newspaper was folded to the sports page. “What do I care if his girlfriend doesn’t know where he is?” Tony said.
    Ray hadn’t wanted to come back to the House. Tony had already made it clear that Ray didn’t have to work his regular shift. His new job was to find the four masked gunmen. Nothing else. Earlier, on the phone, Tony had said, “You weren’t worth a shit preventing the robbery. Let’s see if you’re any good at solving it.”
    While waiting for Jimmy LaGrange to come up with copies of the police reports, Ray decided to do what he would have done were he still a detective. That meant interviewing witnesses. The first person he wanted to talk to was Hector, to find out why the little taco bender just happened to be AWOL at the exact moment the bad guys showed up. But Hector hadn’t shown up for work.
    Hector lived uptown. When Ray got there, he found out the diminutive doorman’s apartment was inside a big two-story house off Magazine Street. The once-elegant home had been converted into a rooming house with five tiny efficiencies on each floor. Ray found Hector’s girlfriend but not Hector.
    With no other leads, Ray had gone back to the House, but talking to Tony was making