Detective Trucker
Chapters 14 and 15
In a hunting cabin in New Gretna, NJ:
“Now dang it. Nobody’s going in any dadgum woodchipper!” I yelled.
Everyone stopped talking. Vinnie and JoJo perked up a bit. Amulet, Maria
and Frankie were still trying to figure out what dadgum meant.
“At least not right now,” I added.
Amulet spoke first. “JoJo here is a pig. He deserves to die. I wanna pull the
switch after what he done to me.”
“Has it occurred to any of you that what you are proposing is a crime, a
felony, carrying the death penalty?” realizing instantly how stupid it sounded.
These two were mafia hoods, who would off us in a heartbeat if they got the
chance.
“Uhh, we ain’t got no death penalty here in Jersey. The liberals and all and
we whack these two none of us will talk anyway. Never.” Frankie said.
“Really, the bond of criminality and all that bullshit. A smart cop
interrogates any of you and you’ll fall apart like a cheap camera.”
Maria chimed in. “We ain’t rats. No way. Let’s get this over with. I have a
hair appointment at noon. We get rid of these too and I don’t have to leave
Jersey.”
Vinnie cried, tears streaming down his face, “Maria, I thought you loved
me. C’mon. Leave me and JoJo alone and nothing will happen. I swear on my
mother.”
There goes the swearing thing again. These boys will swear on anything.
The two girls started to surround the men and I stepped in between.
“OK maybe there is a compromise here, without anyone getting kilt.” I said
while holding my palms up and out to stop the girls advance. Amulet started to
take another swing at JoJo, but I was able to grab her arm before she made
contact. Strong for a little girl. She shook my hand free and sent a greenie his way
but fortunately missed. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and glared at me.
“Let’s step outside,” I said as I motioned towards the door. The girls started
to object but let it go and marched out the cabin door holding their arms around
their shoulders and their cute little rabbit fur vests, to ward off the cold. As soon
as we were about ten feet away from the door I started talking.
“Now I know in the heat of the moment y’all want to whack these two
mutts and maybe I do too, but there are serious consequences to doing that. Like
life in prison without parole for all of us. Twenty years for even thinking about it.”
“I propose we go back inside and do a little good cop, bad cop thing on
them Frankie. I’ll be the good cop. We want them to think we are really going to
kill them. You and I are going to get into an argument and you’re going to stomp
out of the building to cool off. That’s when I’m going to extract a commitment
from Vinnie that this thing stops here if I let them go.”
“What are you nuts?” Frankie cried. “These two assholes can’t be trusted to
live up to their word. They’ll screw us in a heartbeat.”
“I’m counting on it,” I said and told them my plan.
Well best laid plans and all that…Nobody ever said I was bright, let alone a
fortune teller.
Ten minutes later the girls hopped back in Frankie’s car and left to get some
supplies. Frankie fired up the wood chipper to make sure it worked and let it run
for a few minutes just to shake up Vinnie and JoJo. It worked alright. When we
walked back in the cabin they were positively petrified. Frankie grabbed the chain
saw and walked out the door to start that up and let it run. When he returned,
the negotiations began.
“C’mon let’s get this over with,” Frankie jibed.
“Like I said JoJo first. Vinnie can watch.” Ole Vinnie looked like he was
about to have a heart attack, JoJo actually did. He started bouncing around in the
chair, one eye open wide as it could go, blood vessels about to burst and then
slumped forward. I thought at first he had passed out. That was until I pressed my
fingers to his carotid artery and didn’t get a pulse. Oh shit.
I cut the ropes off of him and pushed him to the floor on his back doing CPR
compressions. Frankie looked on with horror as did Vinnie. After what seemed
like an eternity, JoJo started to breathe again. So did I.
“Alright, change of plans. Vinnie, your boy here needs a hospital or a
tombstone. What’s it going to be?”
“What are you talking about? Just kill me already. Get it over with for
Chrisssake.”
“My previous offer still stands. You promise to leave me, Frankie, Maria and
Amulet alone forever and promise not to jack any of my company loads ever
again and I’ll let you and what’s left of JoJo here live. Otherwise I’m going to walk
out that door and leave you both with Frankie.”
Frankie launched into a sixty second tirade laced with mostly expletives,
told me what an idiot I was and walked out the door. I actually think he meant
most of it. The JoJo thing screwed us both up pretty good.
Vinnie as expected agreed whole heartedly that he would never, ever, even
so much as think of us again if I let them go. He was lying if course. I was an
experienced interrogator and could smell a lie from across the room. I only
wished I had deployed that skill on Frankie at 600 Degrees Pizza last week. I’d be
sipping a beer and looking at skinny coeds with big boobs right now.
Before Vinnie knew what hit him, I did, right in the back of the head with
the Ruger. He was out like a light and would be for some time. Two concussions in
one night was not a good thing. I called for Frankie and together we untied both
of them. And left them there on the floor. We tidied up the place as best as
possible and figured Vinnie would wake up in a couple hours. Hope JoJo made it.
The girls came back and the four of us squeezed into the Lexus.
I explained what happened with JoJo and Amulet started to cry. She felt
sorry for him. One minute she’s tossing a leg into a wood chipper and the next
she wants to call an ambulance. What the hell is wrong with these people?
Chapter 15
Figuring we had about a six hour or so head start, I convinced both of the
girls that a vacation in Texas was a good thing, and frankly, I just couldn’t keep my
eyes off of Maria. She was something.
We headed north towards the Terminal in Elizabeth, stopping by both of
the girls’ houses first to get some clothes and personal items. They chatted
incessantly and talked so fast I couldn’t understand half of it. Amulet called her
father and explained she was going on vacation with her cousin for a week or so.
Dad wasn’t happy, he’d have to get a replacement for her at the store but she
was a grown woman, divorced and walked her own path. Daddy would just have
to deal with it. The girls were treating this like a vacation and not a getaway from
the mob.
I popped into a 7-11, bought us all coffee and buttered hard rolls to hold us
over, and picked up a cheap burner phone. Around noon, I used it to call the local
New Gretna PD, which as it turned out, was actually the State Police barracks we
had passed on the way in and out. I told them there’d been a fight at a hunting
cabin and there were a couple of Guido victims. They already knew. An
ambulance was on site and they wanted my name. Sorry. Not this time. Gave me
the willies talking to the State Police and not some local yokel. The State Police in
NJ look and act more like a paramilitary outfit. I told the crew, and each of us
breathed a sigh of relief. Neither Vinnie nor JoJo was in any shape to come after
us, but that wouldn’t stop them from telling Johnny Nuts. The sooner we got out
of this crazy place, the better off we would be.
The girls left us at the truck stop where we picked up the rig and headed
over to the terminal. They were going to get some lunch at a nearby diner and
would catch up with us on the road. Maria had grown accustomed to Frankie’s
Lexus and we would follow them in it all the way to Texas, stopping only for food,
fuel and to switch drivers in both vehicles. It would be a slog for them, but we of
course were used to it.
I was going to ride part of the way with Maria, and I was looking forward to
that. We hooked up to the trailer about an hour after waiting in line for a bit. Our
lane was busy, and we were late, thereby throwing everyone a little out of kilter.
It was 4:40 PM before we finally got on the road, and I took the first shift
with Frankie dozing in the passenger seat. We met up with the ladies as planned
at a TA truck stop near Clinton NJ, opting for the Hwy 78 route out of the state to
throw off any possible pursuers. Hwy 78 to the 81 in Harrisburg, then connect
with Hwy 40 down south. It was longer, but it just seemed like the prudent thing
to do. They would expect us to take the Turnpike.
We had a fine meal with the ladies and laughed and joked about our crazy
day, then reluctantly climbed back in our vehicles and started the trip to Texas.
Right about the same time as we were enjoying chicken fried steak with
country gravy, Johnny Nuts was eating pasta e fagioli with his nephew Anthony
and the rest of his boys at Primavera restaurant in Hammonton.
JoJo was going to live. Vinnie did indeed spill the beans and Johnny was
planning quite a surprise for the cowboy and Frankie. Nobody messes with Johnny
Bonavida and gets away with it.
“Sallie,” he said. “I want you and Vito on a plane to Austin first thing in the
morning. Figure it out. We gotta a little payback to do for Vinnie, JoJo, Joey,
Anthony. Christ, who the hell is this guy “Detective Trucker” anyway? He took out
half my crew!”
Sadly for him, he would soon find out.