The Education of Lisa Rose, Chapter 14
A serialized crime novel by T. Dalton Wolf
At the Bungalow
Tania announced their next destination as the Beverly Hills art gallery of a man named Francisco. Evelyn had purchased a bronze statuette on the black market and the dealer was holding it at the gallery. The artist was a deranged French monk who lived during the 14th century. Francisco’s people had stolen the piece from a collector in Spain.
Francisco met them at the gallery door. He checked all the boxes for a European sophisticate: suave accent, greasy hair, man-bun. His pale eyes shone in the halogen lights as he escorted them to the rear of the store.
Francisco kept his most coveted treasures away from the public eye, in the dimly lit viewing vault. On the center table stood the stolen bronze, its cinnamon patina gleaming under a single spotlight. The statuette depicted a satyr and nymph on a wide platform, caught in a vigorous display of love.
The sculptor’s genius for detail was ahead of its time. He’d captured each sinewy muscle of the satyr and every lock of the nymph’s flowing hair. The monk had balanced the dynamic tension of the scene, conveying energy and emotion in equal measures. Standing on two massive furry legs, the satyr supported his lover with one arm under her torso. The nymph turned towards him as her suspended legs sought purchase in the air, her face aglow with passion.
Tania raised an eyebrow when she saw the statue. “I don’t think that’s physically possible,” she said.
Lisa put a hand over her mouth, hiding her grin. “It might be fun to try, though.”
After a short negotiation, Tania struck a deal with Francisco. He wrapped the bronze carefully in a velvet cloth and lowered it into a padded crate while Tania transferred the payment using her phone. Then Francisco and an assistant cradled the box in their arms and carried it to the car. They flipped the rear seats down and set it in the back.
“It was a pleasure doing business with you,” Francisco said, kissing Tania lightly on each cheek.
“Likewise,” Tania said, shaking his hand. “Until next time.”
Their handshake and eye contact lasted a smidge longer than necessary, Lisa thought. When they got in the car, it was Lisa’s turn to poke fun.
“Why don’t you let me know how your first date with Francisco goes?”
“Girl, please. You know he’s not my type.” Tania said.
They passed by the elegant campanile of the Beverly Hills City Hall, and pulled into a parking garage. Tania turned the motor off. “I need to check the merchandise,” she said as she got out and leaned into the back seat.
“You think it might be a fake?” Lisa asked.
“No, it’s the real thing all right,” Tania said. She removed the statuette from the box and unwrapped its cloth covering, then pointed the satyr’s head toward Lisa. “Hold it steady.”
Lisa grabbed hold of the nymph’s ankles, while Tania twisted the statuette’s base until it dislodged. Out fell two solid white disks, each one a foot in diameter and vacuum sealed in plastic.
“Oh wow,” Lisa said.
Tania nodded. “Pure medicinal grade from the E.U. Francisco always comes through for me. This’ll pay my mortgage for the next two years.”
Tania replaced the base and stowed the statue back in its box. Then she got into the front seat and shoved the white disks under the floormat.
“In this business, Lisa, you’ll find that nothing is ever what it seems.” She started the motor and exited the garage.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that,” Lisa said.
~🌹~
They made a few more collections from various businesses and individuals near the beach. Everyone paid without incident except for one man with a heavy accent who tried to convince them that he had lost his money in a card game with some raccoons. At least that is what Lisa thought he’d said. Later Tania explained that he was saying Russians, not raccoons, and Lisa laughed until she cried.
Near the airport, Tania shut her phone off and asked Lisa to do the same. Then they turned on Manchester Boulevard and headed east, away from the ocean.
“We need to make one more stop, then we’ll head over to the mansion and divvy up this shit,” Tania said. “Maybe Evelyn will let us take a dip in the infinity pool.”
“That’d be great,” Lisa said.
Tania drove in silence towards their next destination. Lisa didn’t ask where they were going. She’d been enjoying the surprises that Tania had in store.
They parked in front of a bungalow house in Inglewood. A dilapidated gas-powered car rested on cinder blocks in the driveway, illegal and unused. Iron grates secured the front door and windows of the house. Its only landscaping was scattered gravel, dandelions and dirt.
The house dated to the 1950s. A high rise motel cast its shadow over the yard. A neighbor’s dog barked incessantly and Lisa heard the sound of electric traffic on Interstate 405, just beyond the house. A cold look descended over Tania’s eyes as the car’s motor switched off.
“Do you have a gun?” Tania asked.
“No, not yet.”
Tania reached under the dashboard and slid a hidden lever. A shelf dropped, revealing a compact black semiautomatic. Tania took the gun, released the magazine, checked it, then snapped it back into place. She pulled the slide to ready the weapon and handed it to Lisa. The entire operation took maybe four seconds. Lisa’s heart thumped inside her chest.
“Take this one. It’s yours now.” Tania said, her voice short, clipped. “Keep it in your belt, above your ass crack, until we get inside.”
Lisa slid the pistol into her waistband, feeling its cold metal against her spine. Tania retrieved some rubber gloves from her purse and snapped them on. She handed a pair to Lisa.
“Use these. Leave your purse. Stay quiet.”
Lisa did as she was asked. Tania got out of the car and strode directly to the front security gate. She took a plastic case from her shirt pocket and removed two tiny items. They looked like dental tools. In ten seconds, Tania had picked the security gate lock. Propping the gate open with a sandaled foot, she went to work on the front door. Its deadbolt opened as easily as the gate.
The dog continued barking. Lisa worried that it would attract attention to… whatever it was they were doing. She was glad she wasn’t high. Glad she had her wits about her.
Tania raised a finger to her lips and looked Lisa in the eye. Seeing the gun in Tania’s hand, Lisa took her gun out too. Tania turned the knob and they went inside.
A dark hallway greeted them with doors on either side, but Tania seemed to know exactly where she was going. Lisa struggled to keep up. A television blared from one of the back rooms. Lisa stepped gingerly along the worn, dirty carpet, holding her breath.
Tania carried the gun at her side. She stopped and glanced at Lisa with her palm held up. Then she turned a corner and disappeared into the room with the TV.
“What the fuck…” a male voice said, followed by two loud gunshots and a crash. Lisa sprinted around the corner and entered the room holding the gun in front of her. She was in a kitchen. She saw a chair toppled over and a man lying motionless on the tile. Blood pumped from a hole in his head, while Tania rifled through his pockets.
“Shit, Tania,” Lisa whispered.
“It’s not here,” Tania said. She pointed to the nearby cabinet. “Go through those drawers. I’m looking for a key card. Hurry. Cops will be here soon.”
“Cops? How?”
“A neighborhood like this will have sensors that’ll detect gunshots. Come on Lisa, move your ass.”
Lisa stuffed the pistol in her waistband and began throwing open the drawers. She dug through the junk inside, but found nothing resembling a key card.
“What does it look like?” she asked.
“Like a fucking key card. It’s white. It’s got this asshole’s picture on it.”
“I don’t see it, Tania.” Lisa heard sirens in the distance.
“Keep looking. Check everything. I’m going to look in the bedroom. Don’t step in any blood.”
Lisa couldn’t find the key card, and she had no idea why they needed it. She slammed a drawer closed. She hated being kept in the dark. If Tania thought the card was important enough to kill for, she should have said why. Lisa tiptoed around the puddle of blood, which had spread over most of the floor.
Lisa picked through the items on the kitchen table, a stack of mail, a bowl of fruit. The sirens were closer now. The squad cars were probably coming on the freeway. This was not an area of town Lisa was familiar with. She hoped it would take a while for the cops to exit the 405 and weave their way into the neighborhood.
“Got it. Hallelujah,” Tania shouted from the bedroom. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Lisa didn’t need to be told twice.
~🌹~
Tania pulled over to the curb to let several LAPD patrol cars race by in the opposite direction. Their flashing lights disappeared around a corner and Lisa slumped into her seat, exhaling a sigh of relief.
“That was a close one,” Tania said, laughing as she drove away from the curb. Lisa took the gun from her waistband and dropped it in her purse.
Tania accelerated onto the freeway, heading north. She peeled off the rubber gloves and threw them out the window, so Lisa did the same.
“What was that all about? Did that guy owe us money?” Lisa asked.
“Owe us money? No. That dude was a security guard at the Beverly Sunset. I needed his access card.”
Lisa shook her head at the casual way Tania regarded the taking of a life, just to get a key card.
“But won’t the hotel just de-activate the card once they realize it’s missing?”
“Nope. I replaced it with a dummy card,” Tania said. “We now have a master key to the whole building, every room.”
“That place is swank. What are you going to do at the Beverly Sunset?”
“Never mind about that. I want to talk to you about another job we need you to do.”
Tania entered the mansion’s address as their destination and set the car to autopilot. Then she summoned her virtual assistant.
“Amiga, text a copy of the Thornfield folder to Lisa’s phone.”
Lisa opened the file on her phone. It contained several pictures of a frail young man with unkempt hair. He wore a lab coat and wire-rimmed glasses and carried a backpack like a college student. Each photo captured him unaware, walking out of a building or exiting a car. The shots looked as though they had been taken with a telephoto lens.
“His name is Dr. Lucas Thornfield. He’s a scientist who works for Controlex.” Tania swiveled her chair towards Lisa. “What do you think of him?”
“I don’t know, he looks like a nerd. What am I supposed to do, blow his brains out?”
“Nothing so extreme.” Tania chuckled. “Hopefully not.”
Lisa shot Tania a puzzled look as she listened to the details of the job.
“So you want me to recruit this guy. Get him to work for us on the side,” Lisa said.
“Exactly. Tell him we will make it worth his while. We’ll pay him a shitload of money, under the table, as long as he does what we ask and keeps his mouth shut.”
“If he’s as disgruntled as you say, he’ll probably jump at the chance. Just so he can stick it to Controlex.”
“Maybe so,” Tania said. “You just make sure he says yes. If he says no, we’ll have to find someone else, and then Thornfield becomes a loose end. Evelyn doesn’t like loose ends and neither do I.”
“I got it,” Lisa said, catching her drift. “He’ll say yes. I can be very persuasive when I need to be.”
~🌹~
Next Week: Angel In Birkenstocks
Yow! These women are B.A.D! I worry about liking them so much... Exciting story, John!
I’ll let you in on a secret, Sharron. We’re still in the first act, so there is lots of story arc to arc. But I’m glad you’re having that particular reader’s dilemma. That’s what crime fiction is all about, in my humble opinion.