Case File 3: The Mad Salieri

I had just gotten in from a job that took me outside of the state. An oversized Arabian Howler escaped from a collector here in the city. I had to track it across the state into New Jersey. You would think that a giant albino demon porcupine would be easy to track and catch, but you would be wrong. The thing took me through towns that I never knew existed. It was like a Frankenstein movie. Villagers with pitch forks and torches chasing after my car as I chased after the Howler. The thing decided to stop in a strip joint on the boardwalk in Jersey. It was covered with body glitter and stunk of stale sweat when I got into the place. I guess it was finally sick of running because it decided to stand its ground. After being impaled by the fifth quill, I managed to tranquilize it and load it into the car. The really sad part is that the dancers on the side stages just kept on dancing...and even sadder than that were there were still men throwing money at them. The beast slept the whole way back across the state. It was nice and quiet. That didn't happen nearly enough in my life. Even when I slept it was noisy. All of the things that I had seen in my life and the damage that has been created around me. It all came back when I shut my eyes. I tried not to do that...shut my eyes that is. That's why I mostly stayed at my office and not that stuffy place I rented where I kept my bed. To many nightmares.

The man who had contracted me for the capture of this beast was supposed to meet me early in the morning under the Smithfield Bridge before the traffic became to heavy. He was a sleazy dealer of exotic animals for hunting and experiments. Apparently the Howler killed the hunter and took off. When will people learn that not everyone is equipped to take down stuff like this. The dealer was a guy named Leo. He was a short overweight bug eyed man who you would've thought was color blind by the wardrobe that he wore. I pulled up under the bridge where he was sitting on the hood of his station wagon smoking a Chuckwarden. A long smile crept across his face revealing his yellow teeth. I hated dealing with people like this, but a job is a job. He hopped off of the hood as I stopped the car and got out.

"So, the rumors were true. You really are the real deal." He came over with his extended outward like he going to hug me or something.

"Yeah. Just me my money." I wasn't in the mood fro pleasantries. His smile faded into a sneer. He shuffled the pipe around in mouth as he examined me up and down. "Something wrong?"

"Yes there is. Where did you get those wounds?" An untrained eye wouldn't be able to tell this, but even though he looked angry, he was actually happy. "You know if my baby is damaged, it's coming out of your pay."

"There's nothing wrong with fluffy back there. So if you could pay me, I have some wounds I need to stitch up." He walked around to the back of my car where I had popped the trunk. I lit up a cigarette. It helped null the pain I was feeling. Driving for six hours with open wounds isn't the greatest feeling I have ever had.

"What is this?!?" He was pointing down at one the quills that had put a decent gash on my shoulder.

"What?" This was going to cost me some money.

---

"This animal is worth so much because it is an albino. That makes it worth four times the amount that it is normally worth. I'm gonna have to take some of your earnings away to make up for the loss I'm going to have to endure." I knew it. I wasn't in the mood for this bull shit.

"You sold it to a guy who was going to kill it anyway." I flew off the handle a bit. I didn't like my emotions to get away from me. I thought it was a sort weakness...letting people know what pushes your buttons.

"That doesn't make the animal's worth restored." I rushed him and grabbed him by the collar. He was sweating bullets as he looked into my eyes. I had accomplished what I had intended....Fear.

"Listen Leo. You are going to give me the full payment that we had discussed previously, or your going to learn that some of the other rumors that you've heard are true." I said as he reached into his leisure suit jacket and pulled an envelope full of cash. I dropped him and started to count the loot. He scurried over to the trunk and hoisted the Howler onto his shoulders. He took it over the cab of his p.o.s. station wagon and loaded it up.

"That's fine. Take the cash. It's not like you are going to have time to use it." He said all of this as he got into the front seat. I must have really intimidated him because he peeled out trying to get away from me. I didn't care though. I had my money. I just wondered what he meant when said I wouldn't be able to spend it.

I rode back to my office to try and fix myself up. Most of the wounds I had stopped bleeding, but the one on my arm needed stitches. I would just do it myself. The price for a hospital visit would be way to much. I had a sewing kit at the office that would do just fine. I climbed the stairs up to the fourth floor. The damn elevator was out again and I didn't feel like using the back up emergency generator I installed just so I could have a machine do what I could. The electricity was always shorting on that damn thing.

When I got into the office I was greeted by Xeroes...well, not so much greeted as looked at. He just sat there. I went into the tackle box where I kept all of my medical supplies. Who would've thought that a spool of sky blue thread and a needle would be a medical tool? I started the work while looking out the window into the alleyway. Reggie was down there. Reggie was the homeless guy who lived outside my building. He was generally a nice guy, but he was always ranting about the box he stayed in. He kept saying how it with stood a car crash. Before I could see how he was doing I heard the cat meow and the familiar squeak of the hinges on my door.

"Sorry, but I'm not excepting any cases today. Come back tomorrow." I didn't even turn around. I was focusing on the task at hand.

"Mr.Locke, he gives his regards." I turned around just to see a man in a nice black suit with a lavender tie. He had dropped an envelope on my desk with my name written on the outside. The envelope was rapped in a red bow. That's when I realized how much trouble I was about to be in. It was his calling card...Salieri. I rushed to open the envelope. There was a letter inside.

---

Dear Mr. Locke,

Though I find you to be one of the foulest beings on this planet, I allowed you to live under certain pretenses. You were not to leave this city without my knowledge and know you will have to pay the ultimate price for this indignity that you have performed upon me. I hope that you can learn some etiquette on the other side of life. Then maybe I can stand you for more than the few free jobs that you performed for me. So long Mr. Locke.

Your's Truly,

Antonio Salieri

I finished the stitching and started to prepare. I wouldn't have much time. I ran over to the window where Reggie was squatting.

"Hey Reggie," He looked up at me ready to listen, "Take Xeroes down to the Tap and leave him with Trenton. If you do that for me, I'll take you out to dinner." He just gave me a thumbs up like he always did. I picked up Xeroes and set him on the fire escape. He went straight down to Reggie and the two of them ran off as the alleyway started to fill up with Salieri's agents. I hit the floor as the window was shot out by some kind of automatic weapon. Gun fire rained through my office as I crawled along the floor. As I reached for the door, the fire stopped. They either ran out of bullets or were coming in.

I cracked the door and took a look down the hall way. Before I took a step out, I started the generator for the elevator. There was a small button on the other side of the coatrack. I had only used it once before when they were doing repairs on the steps. I just hoped the thing still ran. I turned back to the hallway where I could see some shadows from the stair well. I snuck over to the elevator on the other end of the hall.

"Alright, we've shut down the lift. Now all we need to do is go in and off this guy." I could here all of this as I went down the hall. I was just waiting on the elevator now. The guys came out of the stair well. The man in lead noticed me down the hall and opened fire. The only place to hide was the door jam of the elevator. I squeezed in and hoped that it was enough cover. I fired back with my pistol and managed to hit one of them. I didn't seem to help though. The hail of bullets just continued. The elevator opened up and I fell inside.

Now, though this has never happened before, I have been prepared for something like this for a while. Inside the emergency phone box, I had a stock of grenades. I pulled on those out and lofted it down the hallway and into the stair well. The doors on the elevator closed as the explosion went off. When I got into the lobby their was a lot of debris coming out of the stair well and nothing else. I came outside to my car and drove off in a random direction.

Salieri meant business this time. You see he thought that he was the actual Salieri. You know the one that competed with Mozart. Whether he actually was or not is unbeknownst to me, but the man still was to be feared. He had lost his gift of making music, though his love of his work was still very large, but he became a mob boss. He was notorious in the criminal world for his pursuit of antiques and illegal operations. Three years ago I was on a case where I had to find and exterminate a vampire. The only time that he came out of hiding was to perform in one of Salieri's operas. In the middle of the performance, I took down the curtain and made the kill. The problem was that I didn't make it out cleanly. Salieri was not a man who took his opera lightly. His men caught up to me outside of the theater and beat the snot out of me. He told me that he wouldn't kill me even though I deserved it as long as I abided by his rules. I played his game. It has been a year and a half since I have heard from him. I had forgotten about the agreement to be honest. There was only one thing I could do. I needed to meet with him.

I went down to the Benedum. It was the concert hall in Pittsburgh that housed most of the operas. This is where I would find Salieri. He ran his business here out of sight. I parked the car in a garage across the street and went to the ticket pick up desk. There was a lady standing there sifting through ticket orders.

"How can I help you?" She seemed distracted by the task she was working on.

"Yes, there should be tickets for me. They were left by Lord Asterio of Crete." She looked up at me realizing what I was actually asking for.

"You know the performance doesn't start until later on tonight." Her eyes were locked onto me waiting for my next few words.

"I'll just take my seat now." With that, she reached into her desk and grabbed a set of keys. She took them and unlocked a small lock box and pulled out a ticket. She slid it through the small opening in the window and went, hesitantly, back to her work. I walked into the big lobby where an usher was standing at the door. I handed him my ticket. He looked down and then back up at me.

He led me inside of the hall and sat me down right in the center section, row 8 seat 18. I sat down. I watched the crew working on the set for what I think may have been Madam Butterfly. There was no performance going on, just behind the scenes work. Just as I was thinking I was wrong about this decision, my arms were pinned down to the seat as well as my legs. The seat fell into a trap door on a rail that turned me upside down. My hat stuck to my head as I hung there. In front of my eyes was a desk with an LCD monitor hanging behind it. Also to men in black suits flanked either side of the desk, and sitting in the chair, was Salieri himself. He cocked an eyebrow at me as we locked eyes. He hit a button and I dropped from the chair onto the floor.

"So...the men I sent need to be disciplined." He made a mental note as one of his men lit a small cigar for him. "Do you have anything to say, before we part ways."

"Listen...I just..." The sound of a bullet being loaded into a chamber stopped me. This was it. Just as I was readying myself, a buzzer sounded and a side door opened. A cage was wheeled in with an Arabian Howler inside and Leo was bringing up the rear. Salieri pulled his attention off of me and placed on to the new transaction.

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"Aw, Leo my boy. You managed to get me the rare creature that I desire. Good boy" He said as he got up from his seat. Salieri was a average man in size and build. He slicked back his hair and still wore the clothes of the 18th century. He started to examine the Howler.

"Yes Salieri. This is a very rare beast. It is a little bit more than your normal Howler." You could almost see the slime coming from his skin.

"You aren't over charging me are you?" Leo almost cracked under the pressure, but managed to shake his head. "Okay, name your price." Salieri walked over and picked up his check book. This was my chance.

"Excuse me sir" All eyes switched to me. "The Howler that you are about to buy is actually diminished in value. The tips of the albino quills have been stained." Leo's face turned the same color as the beast.

Salieri examined the creature a little bit closer and took notice to what I had pointed out. He gave a sneer to Leo and then turned to me.

"You are free to go, but be on guard Mr. Locke." I raced out through the side door before he changed his mind. As I left the two bodyguards were starting to restrain Leo. I haven't from Leo since that day...not that I care.