The Return of Fingers McGraw

By Richard Pinkerton

The Rex Cassidy Investigators go undercover to assist old nemesis, Fingers McGraw in bringing down the infamous Kono family, a mafia organisation. Also to capture one of the Governments most wanted men, Bronson Tanglemeyer.

Is Fingers McGraw really a changed man? Can he be trusted? And will Vanessa Dante be able to convince the gang that she is a vicious hired assassin?

Book 13 in a series of detective novelettes. Maybe more suited for more mature readers

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Pinkerton
• Release date: Nov 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370252855

Richard Pinkerton

I am in my early 50s and have been writing now since I was 12. I prefer to write light-hearted drama but have written a little fantasy horror and science fiction too.I have an entire series of high school novels (19 of them so far) set in New Zealand (The Mob from TAC series), which I will gradually publish if there is a demand.I prefer to use a mix of quirky and outrageous characters you would never come across in reality and also your every day Joes.My writings are aimed at teenagers mainly, but also young adults.I have also written a series of detective novelettes, most of which can be found on my website. The majority require work, to be able to be published here, mainly due to copyright issues.Please do leave feedback or contact me if you want to know more about my books.

Book preview

The Return of Fingers McGraw

(Book 13 in the Rex Cassidy Investigators series)

Published by Richard Pinkerton at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Richard Pinkerton

Other books by Richard Pinkerton

Dead End High

Dead End Town

Time Warped

The Mob from TAC series

The Rex Cassidy Investigators

The Curse of the Witchdoctor

The Secret of the Devil’s Triangle

The Gruesome Murders at Manhattan High

The Case of the Cattle Rustlers

The Mystery of the Moving Statue

The Secret of the Phantom Clown

The Case of the Landmark Terrorists

The Great Prison Break

Doppelganger Madness

The Angel and the Hag

Aliens in Atlantis

The Revenge of Dr Dream

The Angel Cassidy Rescue

Silhouettes of a Moving Statue

The Legacy of a Roving Buccaneer

The Return of Fingers McGraw II

The Isle of Bad Dreams

CHAPTER 1:

The Kono Family

The Kono Club

Rex Cassidy, leader of the Rex Cassidy Investigators, sat alongside his second in command Colin Hewes. They both held a beer and sat at a table in front of dance floor where a couple of buxom strippers danced.

Colin leaned towards Rex as the music boomed around them. 'So, this is the life of a mafia, huh?' Colin asked. ‘Sitting, drinking beer, watching hot babes dancing topless. I like it.'

'It won't be this way for long, that's for sure,' Rex said. 'Kono will be sorting out jobs for us, jobs that are going to require us to break the law. But we have to do this if we want to bring this operation down.'

He eyed his associate for a moment. It was hard to get used to him with an entirely new face. They'd both undergone a revolutionary process they knew as Temporary Plastic Surgery to change their looks so that they could go undercover without being recognised. Rex marvelled at just how good it was, as his friend looked nothing like the original Colin and he himself, when looking in the mirror looked nothing like himself, apart from his deep blue eyes. He didn't much like the idea of contact lenses to change his eye colour so opted to remain without them. Apart from Rex’s 6 foot 3 inches of height and muscular physique, he looked like a different man.

'I have to say,' Colin said. 'Kono sure has good taste in women. These strippers are hot.'

'Mmmmm.' Rex had to agree. 'Although they've obviously had implants. Vanessa's and Angel's look that good without surgery.'

Colin laughed. 'Well to a certain extent, I'll have to take your word for that as all I ever get to see is cleavage, but yeah, they are pretty fantastic.'

Rex worried about Vanessa. She had only been out of her catatonic state now for two months and was really struggling to get to grips with the fact that Rex was now married to Angel. For close to three years, Vanessa had been in her coma and the doctors had said she might never come out and if she did, she'd be a vegetable. When she finally did awaken, it seemed that their prediction was correct. For the last year she’d been unresponsive. Finally, though, she came out of that and recovered fully, much to the amazement of the medical professionals. To her she'd only been asleep for a short time.

He had double the worry now too, because not only was she struggling to come to terms with the loss of her soul mate, she had managed to twist his arm to be brought in on this undercover operation. Even now, he worried, because he had not seen her since he and Colin had been inducted into the Kono business empire early that afternoon.

'Hey, relax,' his burly said. 'She'll be fine. We made sure she was safe. This isn't some two-bit gang with a whole lot of petty thugs and rapists. This is a business empire and we've seen Kono likes to run it professionally.'

'They're mobsters,' Rex said. ‘Douchebags who would think nothing of abusing a woman.'

'Cool it, man, you've gotta remain focussed on this case. We'll be seeing her soon and we'll make sure she's taken care of.'

'Yeah, I got that, but right now none of us have any clue where she is or who she's dealing with.'

'She'll be fine. She's smart and she can defend herself, you know that, you've taught her all the tricks.'

'But she's been in a coma for three years. She's still getting back to full health.'

'Ah, come on, you know she's in tiptop shape. She's amazing. She's been working out and she looks as fabulous as ever. Hell, with you being married to Angel now, she's had nothing better to do but spent time in the gym and at work. Her corporation wanted her back straight away to model for them, not to mention a whole lot of other major fashion, skincare and cosmetic empires. She has to do something to keep her mind of you, mate.'

'I know. But I'll feel a lot better when I see her.'

'You will.' Colin patted him on the shoulder. 'This must suck, man. Seeing her and not being able to have her because you're married to Angel now.'

'It's really hard, but like you said I'm married to Angel and there's no way I can abandon her, not that I'd ever want to. She means too much to me.'

'I know.'

One of the strippers came down to give Rex a lap dance, but he pushed her gently away. 'Sorry. I can't go there.'

'Oh baby...' said the stripper. 'You are so hot. Are you sure I can't give you a lap dance?'

'No thanks.' He didn't explain to her that he was married. He couldn't because as far as Kono and his gang were aware Rex was single and he had to continue with that charade for the sake of his cover and Vanessa. However, he was not going to betray Angel, especially not with some exotic dancer.

She went back to the stage.

Colin sighed. 'Bloody typical. They always target you, don't they?'

'It's a curse.' Rex grinned. 'But ya gotta live with it.'

'Didn't give me a second glance.'

Rex scanned the bar. There were other men at tables and the odd woman as well. Private dancers were doing the rounds trying to convince guys to come for a private dance. A bouncer watched everything from the corner of the room.

'Haven't seen Biggles and Wal yet. Or Tucker for that matter.'

'Are you sure it was wise bringing Tucker in on this one? If he blows our cover, we're done.

'Tucker begged and begged me to be in on this operation. Said I never picked him for any of the important jobs. I decided, what the hell, I'll let him at least try to get in the gang. Never thought in a million years Kono would hire him, but for some crazy reason he did.'

'Maybe we should pull him out?'

Rex downed some beer. 'Maybe. We'll see how it goes. I think it will be like too hard work for him so he'll want to pack it in after a few days. Anyway, I suggest we stick to using our assumed names at the moment, okay? No more use of real names. Just in case someone overhears us talking.'

'Okay.'

Just then, an angry voice came from near the entrance of the bar. 'Get the hell away from me, shithead!' A longhaired, man with a cadaverous like face, wearing a trenchcoat, pushed an extremely fat man into the room. 'Stupid moron! Stay out of my way next time or I'll slash your apple!'

A tall skinny black man with a top hat and striped tights agreed. 'Yeah, stupid moron!'

The cadaverous man spoke again, 'How the hell you were recruited into The Kono Family I'll never know. I don't wanna see you again today!'

The fat man trundled across the room to Rex and Colin. 'Not very Oibbery.'

'What did you do, Tuc... my friend?' Colin asked their fellow Investigator.

Tucker Pyles grunted. 'That Brax is an ubbhead.'

'The guy that looks a bit like a zombie?'

'Yeah.'

'Who's the guy with the top hat,’ asked Rex.

'Some guy called Shriver.'

Colin sipped his beer. 'Looks like a weirdo.'

'I think he is. Hangs around Brax like a bad smell.'

Just then, a tall man, dressed in a suit, who looked around seven feet tall and powerfully built, made his way towards them. He would have been intimidating if it wasn't for the smile on his face. 'Gentlemen. You must be some of our new recruits?'

'We are,' Rex said. 'I'm Carter, this is Hewson... No idea who you are...' He pointed to Tucker.

'Pyosis,' Tucker said.

'Pyosis?' The tall man pulled a face.

'Yep. That's me.' Tucker delivered him a weak smile.

'They call me Headbanger,' said the man.

'How did you get a name like that? You don’t look like you’re into Heavy Metal to me.' Colin asked.

'Ha ha ha ha. Maybe you'll figure that one out later. Just want to let you know that there'll be a meeting in the conference room in an hour from now. Don't be late. Kono doesn't appreciate tardiness.'

'We'll be there,' Rex said.

Headbanger nodded. 'Gentlemen. Nice to meet you.' He walked away.

'Seems like a nice guy,' Colin said. 'For a mobster.'

Another man wandered over in their direction. He had spiky