Towers

By Jofrin Pezzati

Towers is a brief collection of short stories by Jofrin Pezzati. The guide includes Raferty, Bus Crackers, Anger Management, There's No Place Like Home, Dark Horizons, and Ginger Candy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Burning Empire Media
• Release date: Jun 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201339463

Jofrin Pezzati

Jofrin is a writer from Arizona. He is also a guitarist, a runner, and the owner of Burning Empire Media. He lives with his two children in Scottsdale.

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Burning Empire Media, Arizona

For Loki and Vinny

Towers

Δ∏H

Jofrin

Pezzati

Towers. Copyright © 2021 by Jofrin Pezzati. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of critical review. For information please email Burning Empire Media [e-mail]

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, stories, and dialogue derive from the author’s imagination and are not real. Any resemblance to actual situations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First Edition

Cover and Design by Jofrin Pezzati

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Contents

GINGER CANDY..................................6

DARK HORIZONS..............................16

ANGER MANAGEMENT......................36

NO PLACE LIKE HOME.....................46

RAFERTY....................................57

BUS CRACKERS.............................74

Ginger Candy

I’M DRIVING DOWN THE Montgomery freeway ninety-five miles an hour following the brand new Mustang of David Niles. Dave is an attorney from Houston. Dave is in town on business and so am I.

I was hired to kill Dave a week ago. That is why I am following him. He is driving to a dinner party hosted by the Honorable Charles Richie.

I’d rather be following and killing Richie, but that is a matter of politics and business always comes before pleasure.

I do not know why I was hired to kill Dave, but the reason why is not important. It is never important.

I do not want to know why my clients hire me. They pay me to do a job, and I do the job they pay me to do. It is that simple.

My only rule is that I do not kill children for anything less than double my normal rate, often triple. It depends on seasonal demands, let’s say. Okay, just a little contractor’s joke.

Blinking out life is blinking out life, but the kids always sit different. ‘I guess you could say they are the hardest to kill even though they are the easiest.’ That’s one of my favorite contractor jokes. Craig the Tiger told me that joke a few years ago.

I digress. Dave takes the Casa Monica exit off the freeway and turns left. He is going somewhere else before he goes to the party. He parks out front of the Ocean Palms and runs in the building.  

I imagine Dave is getting some pre-dinner pharmaceutical fun. He is only inside the Palms for a few minutes and quickly rushes back to his car. He sniffs two conspicuous bumps when back in the Mustang. Then he speeds off toward the Honorable Richie’s mansion.

Fucking attorneys.

I let Niles go to the party without following him. No sense following a cokehead when you know where they are going. 

I drive to Hombres Locos on Sixth Street and buy a burrito. Then I drive to Charlie Richie’s place. Dave’s Mustang is parked out front.

I am on the guest list as Tom Hawthorne. I was hired to kill Niles at precisely three in the morning. Location and method are open, but for some reason Dave must be dead at three o’clock.

I do not know why. Like I said, it’s unimportant. This contract is different than most. The payment I received is double my normal rate.

Meanwhile, popping Dave seems fun at this point. And I am always open to the possibility of breaking a rich woman’s heart in the late hours of the night. All men are.

I park down the street from Richie’s house and walk to the front door. I am wearing a cheap tuxedo that must stand out among these sophisticated elites.

Tom Hawthorne, I say to an unimpressed doorman, and he welcomes me to the party with indifference.

After scanning the party and grabbing champagne from a passing tray, I find Dave walking into a bathroom. He probably needs to do more of that blow. I need to get closer.

When he exits the bathroom, Dave begins talking to Mary Sanchez, the infamous defense attorney of Marcus Raines.

I admire Raines. His legend Le teste delle mille is my favorite. It means a thousand heads or something. They say he killed more than a thousand people for the wops.

While watching Sanchez and Dave, a fat lady in a tight blue sequin dress grabs my arm.  She’s calling me Robert and reminiscing about a party I was never at. 

Her breath is boozed and awful, Robert it has been so long. I almost didn’t recognize you. You look good, really really good.

She brushes her thigh against my crotch and winks as I step away saying, I’m sorry ma’am you’ve got the wrong guy.

I rush away and do not look back. I check my watch, and it is almost midnight. Three hours. Dave seems to be hitting it off with Mrs. Sanchez. This could make things interesting.

A voice from behind me starts talking in my ear, That’s Mary Sanchez and David Niles, I turn around and it is Richie, she is a prestigious defense attorney. He’s a playboy public defender. He knows that I am startled by his presence but ignores it and continues, "I don’t think I know