Checkered Crime: A Laurel London Mystery by tonya kappes Page A

eyes shone like bits of gleaming porcelain.
    “I…I’m glad you came to join us tonight. Too bad you can’t come next week.” There was a tingling in the pit of my stomach. I picked up the speed. For some reason I had to get out of his presence. It was making me lose all sense of control.
    “Who said I was leaving anytime soon?” He kept pace with me. “Where are you going so fast? Got another date with the likes of Antonio?” He chuckled.
    Abruptly I stopped, way before he noticed, knocking him into me. It only made him laugh more.
    “Listen, I don’t know who you are. But I do know that you are somehow watching me. You have been nasty ever since I picked your sorry ass up. Without me, you would have had to try to figure out your own way to Walnut Grove. I don’t work for Porty Morty anymore. You can deal with him about the Underworld Music Festival yourself. So stop following me everywhere I go!” I jabbed my finger into his rock hard chest, which didn’t help my stomach any. My mind whirled with wild images of what was under there. “Are you really with the festival? You better come clean or I will ask Morty myself.”
    He stared at me like he was assessing the situation. I ran across the street and through a couple of yards to make it over to Second Street. He ran after me. Right in front of the bank, Jax grabbed my arm. He twisted me around. His gaze was as soft as a caress. I jerked away.
    “Laurel, I know you are on the mob payroll.” His jaw clenched. His eyes slightly narrowed.
    “Mob?” I threw my head back and a roar of laughter came out. “The Mob of Walnut Grove. Ohhhh!” I waved my hands out in front of me. “Yep, we use Lucky Strikes to make our plans. That is why I went ballistic when I saw you there.” My words dripped with mockery of his idiotic remark. “Here For The Beer is our undercover name.”
    “I’m not kidding Laurel. I saw Trigger Finger Tony get out of your car. Not to mention the cash he threw at you. No less to keep your mouth shut.” Jax was not joking. His eyes were hooded like those of a hawk. “You might as well go on and tell me. It will be much better in the long run. I’m sure we can get you a plea deal.”
    “Plea deal?” I chuckled but stopped when the seriousness of his words stung me. “Mob? You’re joking right? Tony is definitely not a mob guy.”
    He reached around to his back pocket and took out his wallet. In a flip of his wrist, the wallet flung open exposing a large shiny metal badge that clearly read FBI across the top.
    “Have you ever heard the FBI ever to joke?” His words left his mouth but to me it was in slow motion.
    “Shit! Does that mean I have to give back the money?” I stomped around in a circle, not a care in the world that I had been an accomplice in some sort of mob interaction.
    “You are admitting to it?” Jax Jackson threw questions at me left and right. “How do you know Trigger Finger Tony? When did he first contact you? Is there somewhere we can go because you are probably being watched.” Jax looked around as if he was expecting someone to pop out with loaded guns.
    “Whoa!” I put my hands out in front of me. “I don’t know that guy. He was like you. He thought I was a taxi and paid me to take him to the Airport Hotel. That’s it.” I gripped the handle of my hobo bag and turned toward the bank. “Why is he called Trigger Finger Tony?”
    The thought of his name struck a sudden fear in me. My mind twirled with all the images of famous mob families and their minions that offed people. Was Trigger Finger Tony in Walnut Grove to off someone?
    “He is the head of the Cardozza family. That is why I know something big is going to go down.” He waited to see my reaction.
    My mind might have been going a million miles a minute, but my game face was on. Jax Jackson didn’t realize he was standing right in front of the biggest con in Walnut Grove.
    “How did he get the name?” I wasn’t stupid.
    Everyone and