Free Art and Murder by Don Easton

That’s all I can say at the moment … except call her!”
    Jack hung up, but hesitated before calling Rose. How did she find out? He looked at Anton and Bojan and then over at Clive’s body in the main part of the shop. Okay, so I’ve got a body … and two bad guys hog-tied. Everything is under control.
    * * *
    Halfway around the world Maurice Leblanc stared at the lifeless body of his partner on the floor of the public washroom. Kerin was sprawled on his back with his eyes staring at the ceiling. A man’s gold-and-silver watch and a .32 Beretta pistol lay alongside his head. Maurice felt like his chest was being crushed in a vice. Two years ago I was best man at his wedding. Gabrielle is pregnant. How do I tell her she no longer has a husband?

Chapter Twelve
    â€œThank God! Are you okay?” Rose asked when Jack called.
    â€œOf course I’m okay,” he replied. “Why wouldn’t I be?” He tried to sound casual.
    â€œAre you with someone?”
    â€œYes. Give me a sec.” He walked to the front of the workshop so he could talk while still watching his captives. “Okay, Rose Alice Wood, I’m clear.”
    â€œYour life is in danger,” she said. “I received word that the guys you’re with are going to kill you.”
    â€œYou received word?”
    â€œI don’t know if I have time to explain. What’s your situation?”
    â€œThe situation you are no doubt referring to has been rectified,” Jack said.
    â€œRectified? How? What the hell is going on?”
    â€œRose, how did you —”
    â€œI’ll explain, but first tell me what you’re doing.”
    â€œWell, uh, I’m with three bad guys, but one has a bullet in his head and I’ve hog-tied the other two.”
    â€œYou killed one them?” Rose asked.
    â€œNo, let me start at the beginning.” Jack paused a moment, wondering what the staff-sergeant could possibly know and whether it included his antics in the hotel room.
    â€œI’m listening,” she prodded.
    â€œAn informant called me tonight. She needed help after meeting with a client I had asked her to report on.”
    â€œA client?”
    â€œThe informant’s a hooker.”
    â€œWas this client, by chance, Clive Dempsey?”
    â€œYes.” Jack felt a little nervous that Rose knew.
    â€œKeep talking,” Rose said.
    â€œDempsey and two others, Klaus and Liam, had her in a hotel room and were torturing her. Laura and I intervened. I pretended I was her pimp to protect her as an informant.”
    â€œGo on.”
    â€œWell, when we went in, her eye was swollen shut and I saw that Klaus had been burning her butt with a cigarette.” He let the anger show in his voice.
    â€œDamn it, Jack, is it Klaus who has a bullet in his head?”
    â€œNo. Why are you angry with me?”
    â€œBecause I know how protective you are of your informants and how you feel about men who abuse women.”
    â€œSure, I would’ve loved to put a bullet in him, but I didn’t.”
    â€œSo they did kill Clive Dempsey.” The staff-sergeant sounded matter-of-fact.
    â€œYou already knew he was going to be whacked?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHow —”
    â€œI’ll get back to that. What did you do to Klaus? I know you would have done something.”
    â€œI, uh … he may be roughed up a little, but I didn’t kill him and —”
    â€œThat’s a relief.”
    â€œYeah, well … and as far as Dempsey goes, he was shot by one of the guys I have hog-tied.”
    â€œOkay, starting from when you roughed up Klaus a little, what happened?”
    â€œDempsey volunteered to compensate me with a pound of coke. I left Laura and our informant to guard Klaus and Liam. Dempsey then drove me to where I am, and I met two guys called Anton and Bojan. After Anton spoke on the phone a couple of times, he gave me the coke and I had