The Wicked End

D.I Johnstone stared at the two immaculately dressed men in front of him and knew this case was already dead in the water. Didn’t matter who the stiff was or whatever evidence connected these men to the murder, they had more money for lawyers than he would make in his entire career and enough political clout to make it all go away. Personally, he couldn’t decide which of the Way brothers he disliked more.
“So you’re telling me you don’t know what the message means and why it’s addressed to you ?”
“Not a clue.”
Mikey Way still held the poker expression, the detective didn’t think it would change if they were discussing the weather or looking at one of the corpses that the police department were pretty sure had his name on. Eric Johnstone had wanted to jail the bitch for years, him and the pretty boy that was usually at his shoulder and yet for all the rumour nothing had ever come even close to linking him to a body. Until now.
“You knew the victim though. He worked for you.”
The elder brother flashed a bright smile, causing the detective to look his way. He had never been one for politics but he could see why the man had been popular and the expensive suit reminded him of a senator. The signs of the bullet wound that had ended Gerard Way’s political career did not show, only a few knew of the sociopath that lurked within.
“The unfortunate Mr Vargas was merely a doorman. Our club manager hired him.”
“You hadn’t met him at all ?”
Mikey now merely looked bored and glanced at his brother.
“We may have said hi a few times going in and out the place, right bro ?”
“Yeah, gotta be nice to the staff. Good for business.”
The detective gritted his teeth and fought down the urge to lean across the table and punch both of them in the face. All three men knew they were just playing a game here and that nothing was really going to be achieved.
“And you have no enemies that would want to kill someone to get your attention.”
There was no question, just a flat tone that Mikey responded to with nothing more than a slightly intense smile. The room seemed to close in a little and Gerard looked again at the crime scene photos with interest. The spelling had caught his attention along with the precision of the injuries. He had learnt a lot in his time within the darker side of his family and knew that he wasn’t looking at rage induced murder but something so much more clinical.
“We are successful, it breeds jealousy and the club business is….cutthroat. But no, nobody that might mean us harm.”
“Let’s cut the crap on that one. People disappear around you and your friend…”
“Mr Iero is not involved in any way with this business. Are we finished here or do you have anything relevant to ask ?”
The detective took a deep breath, flushed from holding his temper and from knowing that his superiors were watching from behind the two way mirror that shielded the interview room. There had been no arrests, both men were free to go at anytime and Johnstone knew that while some of his bosses were owned by career criminals, others were just as keen as him to nail them down. Whichever way this went it looked like he would lose.
“Very well. We need the club to hand over any CCTV footage that may show us the victim leaving and I will need to talk to the other doorman. Strangely none of them are admitting to being on duty that evening.”
Gerard tapped his fingers against the table before reaching into his pocket and putting the hard drive from the cameras on the hard surface. A copy was already being worked on by one of their contacts so it hardly mattered if the cops were looking at it too. He knew that the doorman had some very explicit orders not to talk and none were likely to break them after seeing what Mikey had done to the moron who had stepped in at the wrong time.
“I will check the roster and send them in to talk to you. Not a problem.”
Mikey had gone past the state of boredom and was rapidly approaching the point of getting up and leaving. Frank had banned him from telling Ray what was going on and all the press had been told by the police that the mention of the writing on the wall was not to be leaked to the public. He knew that Ray would be as freaked out as both of them and in some ways it was worse. Toro was the fixer, the organiser and it had taken the memory of being in the front line of some seriously sick shit so much longer to fade in him.
Who wants to freak out a man with the finger on a nuclear button ?
“Thanks. I’d appreciate that.”
“Are we done here ?”
Johstone met the cold eyes of the younger Way and nodded slowly. The only method he could use now was patience and strategy. These men would be looking for the perp too and maybe there was something he could do to watch them and use them to his own advantage. He couldn’t help thinking of a colleague or two that had disappeared while trying it.
“Yes. Thanks again for your…..co-operation.”
Mikey got up without another word, the scrape of the chair harsh against the tiles. He turned and opened the door before Gerard had even stood up and extended a hand to the lawman. There was an apologetic smile on the handsome face that wound Johnstone up even more.
“It’s a pleasure. You have my number if there is anything else you need.”
Gerard knew full well that the cop wasn’t buying that anymore than the rest of the conversation but he allowed himself to enjoy the moment. It bothered him more that neither Mikey or Frank had responded to gentle caresses and wheedling questions on the subject in hand. He had been away at college a lot when the pair of them had started to rise within the mob and had ever only been aware of fragments of the story. James had entered the picture even later and while they had compared notes there were massive gaps.
“Michael, will you ever learn subtlety ?”
“No and don’t call me Michael.”
The brothers exchanged a smirk and Mikey started up the car. It was always the same with the law, just stick to the story and they had nothing. Gerard checked his phone for messages and waded through several as Mikey eased the car out and into traffic. Frank had taken the time to personally negotiate the meeting setup with the Chinese and was currently looking over a shipment at the manufacturing facility, several messages oozed excitement over new weapons and more chance for profit. Others were from his various captains and two offered new leads from men on the street.
“We need to drop by Marco’s. The owner there reckons the woman mentioned on the television was in his place and thought we might like to know.”
“He’s a month behind on dues. Could be making it up to save his kneecaps.”
Gerard nodded and skimmed past a couple from other contacts before stopping.
“Mikes, pull over.”
There was an urgency to the tone that caused Mikey to quickly latch onto a gap on the kerb, pulling across traffic to slide to a halt. The sound of horns was nothing compared to the surprise and slight alarm on his brother’s face as he passed the phone over. Mikey frowned at the small video that was attached to a message from a blocked number.
“What the fuck ?”
The picture was sharp, clarified into a colour that gave no doubt to the amount of blood that came into view. The head wore a slightly surprised expression and neither brother recognised the man from the slack pallor that death had produced. The neck ended in a ragged stump and caused an almost comical angle to the way it was propped on its own against a pillow. The camera sloped along the bed, the rest of the body not being in view until it panned up and showed a faded magnolia wall dripping in bloody print. There was another message and the video lingered on it.

YOU DIDN’T BURY ME DEEP ENOUGH FRANKIE XOXO

Notes