The Tilsons Got Killed
A Downtown Tony Brown Erotic Mystery
By
LAHomedog
The Tilsons Got Killed
A Downtown Tony Brown Erotic Mystery
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This is my entry into the
The 2021 "Hammered: an Ode to Mickey Spillane" Author Challenge
. Warning: This is a detective thriller. There is a lot of sex, action, and the body count is high.
This is a work of fiction. There is no such thing as a gang named "The NoHo-16" and some of the other major elements in the story.
I would like to thank as usual Eva_Adams and Redhaired Wonder Woman for their beta-reads and proofing, and the latest member of the Dawg editing team, fsa52. It's a long story and you did an incredible job, ladies. I couldn't have done it without you!
Please enjoy meeting Downtown Tony Brown, everybody. I'm planning others.
The Tilsons:
The Tilsons settled in the expansive sunroom that overlooked the infinity pool in their backyard, and the twinkling lights of the San Fernando Valley in the distance. It was a festive atmosphere with party lights and decorations courtesy of his kids exclaiming "congratulations, bravo, hurrah, and even a Mazel Tov!"
They were celebrating and had debated over the sunroom, the formal dining room that his wife Kelly had their architect design to hold 16, or buying out the Wine Room in the Beverly Hills Maestro's for a blowout shindig.
But at the end of the day, Bradford Tilson wanted to celebrate this win with only his family. Kelly, his son, John, John's fiancé Julie, his oldest girl, Ilene who was destined for great things in medical school next year, and the special joy of his life, his daughter Courtney. So they had sent the housekeeper home and made it a family dinner.
It was a funny thing, Of all of them, Courtney was the one who took after him the most.
John was smart and on a pathway to success, but his passion was sports. Anything with a ball. He'd end up a GM for a professional team one day. That's why they bought Dodger and Lakers season tickets when John was only five. A lot of good times at those games.
Bradford thought back to the Showtime Lakers. Kareem, Big Game James, the others, and Magic Johnson before HIV forced him to retire in his prime. Yes. A lot of good times. But John was on his own course now, and soon would be starting his own family with the lovely Julie.
Ilene was the brainiac of the family and they were all certain she was going to be the doctor who finally cured cancer. At least, her scholarship to Johns Hopkins bestowed that imprimatur.
He was a lucky man. A loving wife, three kids, and one, Courtney, who wanted to follow him in the family business and had a flair for it. He was beginning to feel for the first time that the legacy of his commercial construction business was going to make it into the next generation.
He had worked it up from nothing. Starting in construction as a carpenter, then a foreman, and now one of the foremost construction firms in the country for major commercial projects from skyscrapers, to specialty projects such as new sports stadiums.
They were celebrating winning the bid on the long-awaited new stadium for a local team. They had worked hard to get the contract, and it was awarded today in a large press conference hosted by the team ownership filled with reporters of all media from newspapers to local news, to web-based sites like "The Athletic."
Kelly stood up and said, "I want to start with a toast," and she raised her glass.
"Shit," Bradford blurted out. "Sorry, I mean shoot."
They all laughed at his embarrassment.
"Wait a minute, honey," he said. "I got a special bottle of your favorite wine for this."
Bradford looked at his youngest daughter seated next to him at the table.
"Courtney, would you do the Old Man a favor? The bottle is in the gift bag on the counter by the fridge."
"Sure, Dad."
Courtney moved towards the kitchen in the front of the house.
BOOM!
The concussive force shook the house as the military helicopter rose up from the hillside, and grenades blew through the walls.
Diving for cover, in shock, Bradford and family barely registered that it wasn't a major earthquake.
Glass and roofing flying, a chiseled specter in black body armor stepped into the scene.
In shock, Tilson looked at his wife and family, "You okay?"
They didn't have time to answer as the first bullets hit.
He struggled for breath. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" He grabbed the sleeve of the invader's arm turning it in the process.
"Canceling your contract."
And he shot Bradford Tilson point-blank in the face, then killed Kelly, John, Julie, and Ilene with single shots to the head, dropped his unregistered Glock 9 on the floor, and walked back to the copter.
Chapter 1
I was sitting in a booth in Langer's downtown eating the best pastrami sandwich in town courtesy of the lunch invitation from my favorite attorney, Mary Carlson.
The last time I saw her she was grabbing media attention with her camera-loving lush red hair, piercing green eyes, and Playboy quality, err, bodice along with her client of the moment, an abused star of a prominent Hollywood mogul. Others had gone after this sleaze many times before with no success. She asked for my help on what was probably a lost cause. The fee was too large to say no, and where others had failed, we nailed the scumbag, Mary winning millions for her client, and eventually, it helped to start a criminal prosecution that put him behind bars for a long time.
"This is the Marilyn Monroe of pastrami sandwiches," I said.
"As if I would know," replied the model-thin attorney on the other side of the table picking at her Chef's Salad, hold the egg and cheese.
Langer's is a gigantic deli, the size of a small aircraft carrier in downtown Los Angeles with a surprisingly good and varied menu beyond its sandwiches, verging on fine dining with some of its items. The skirt steak won a James Beard award. Open since 1947, it has been serving pastrami and other deli treats to L.A.'s powerbrokers, politicians, and criminal elite. Sort of the same thing, I guess.
Some folks think she's a strident, spotlight-grabbing media whore who is only interested in promoting herself, but I think of Mary as a brilliant lawyer, who believes in equal protection under the law, does right by her clients, and has a Playboy quality bodice. Which is a lot more than you can say about most lawyers. She wanted me to take on a client for my services.
The Vice-President of the United States walked towards our table with all eyes in the restaurant watching the VP the same way the secret service was watching them. I had read in the papers she was in town for a fundraiser.
"Hi, Tony." She said.
"Anthony. Madam Vice-President, it's good to see you."
"Right. How's that arm?"
"Doing fine, thanks."
"Mary."
"Madam Vice President."
Ms. Harris moved on.
"That was impressive. You got top billing," Mary said.
I shrugged.
"It's been 10 years since the Super Bowl, and she's still asking me the same damn question."
Ten years ago I was fortunate enough to heave the winning touchdown 80 yards down the field for the 49ers over the Chargers as I got hit by 345lbs of angry defensive tackle plowing me into the turf. The VP's father taught at Stanford and was a diehard San Francisco 49er fan.
"Downtown Tony Brown," guaranteed Hall of Famer, but I blew out the rotator cuff of my right shoulder on the hit. We won the game, and I won surgery, but the shoulder was never the same. The famed Dr. Jobe, who invented Tommy John surgery and saved the careers of 1,000s of major league pitchers, said it was the worst rotator cuff injury he had ever seen in his life, and I said a big adios to the NFL the fat multi-million-dollar contract extension, and my career.
At least I would never have to hear that damn Jim Croce song again as I was introduced and the stadium crowd singing along changing the words to "Bad, bad Tony Brown. Baddest man in the whole damn town."
I tried to make it in broadcasting, but I took a belly flop worthy of Buster Keaton. Coaching wasn't for me, so I moved back home to Los Angeles, went to the academy, learned policing, refused my test, and went off and got my private license as a PI, rented an office and put up my shingle. It was impossible for me to go from being the quarterback to a member of the rank and file!
I was much better being my own man.
A lot had happened in ten years.
"Mary, you are my kind of woman: Big Brains, Big Breasts, Big Heart, how can I say no, and how can you?" I flashed her my most killer smile.
"Come on Anthony, we had our night. It was really hot and you are a great lay, but I think business is business, and we are better as business partners than bed partners."
I flashed onto that night. We were having a business dinner together at Vibrato, Herb Albert's supper club on the top of Mulholland and Beverly Glen. We were listening to country songwriter Georgia Middleman performing her hits. Mary had the ribeye. I opted for my usual, veal scaloppini with drinks to start -- Mary was old school and was drinking a Gimlet. I went for my usual Maker's Mark on the rocks. Caesar's salads and the standard sides.
We chit-chatted until our entrees came and then dove into business. Another of her celebrity female clients abused by a cheating husband. I ordered Mary another Gimlet and moved my knee onto hers.
"Mary, how long are we going to play this game between us? Come on, we are not kids. Don't you think it is time already?"