****
The other Monkees, meanwhile, were frantically looking for their friend and wondering where on earth he could have gone. They had been all over the city, and though some people had remembered seeing Micky in the afternoon, no one had seen him since night had fallen. By now they were highly concerned.
"I just don't understand it!" Davy said, throwing up his hands in frustration. "He was just going on a bloody walk. How long could that take him?"
"Well, it shouldn't take him seven hours, at any rate," Mike muttered.
Peter swallowed hard, the worry apparent in his eyes as they wandered around another corner. "Maybe Baby Face isn't dead after all, and he came and took him," he worried.
Mike frowned. "It's been almost a month," he said slowly. Still, it was a possibility that they should not ignore. It was hard to know what was going on in a deranged mind such as Baby Face's. In spite of the fact that Micky had tried to help the gangster back up when he had fallen over the edge, perhaps Baby Face would not be grateful and would simply come after him again. Mike was not willing to put anything past him.
"He could've been in hiding all this time," Peter pointed out, feeling a bit uneasy as he realized that they were heading for the bad part of the city.
"He probably has been, too," Davy added, "if he's still alive at all." Quickly he moved out of the way as a man staggered past him and the others. "And why are we coming down this way at all?" he exclaimed, feeling in his pocket to make certain that his wallet was still intact. "Micky is never in this part of town."
"Well," Mike sighed, "we oughtta check everywhere. Someone could've mugged him and dragged him here somewhere." But he could not deny that he also did not like wandering around in this neighborhood. There were all kinds of punks and hoods that roamed through the area, in addition to the drunks and drug addicts. Mike wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
"Maybe we'd better go to the police," Peter gulped, seeing two men up ahead who were loudly singing off-key as they waved half-empty liquor bottles around.
"They probably can't do much," Davy sighed.
"It wouldn't hurt to try, though," Mike admitted, leading the others across the street before the two inebriated men could catch up with them.
"It's too bad that we don't have a way of finding out if Baby Face is back," Davy muttered. "The police just decided that he's dead and probably don't think anymore about him, but he could be out somewhere right now, planning some new heist."
"Or kidnapping Micky," Peter added with a frown.
****
Ruby sighed softly to herself as she stacked the cocktail glasses on the bar in a pyramid formation. Life had been dull and quiet without Baby Face around, and even though she did not miss the chases and the crimes and running from the police, she did miss him.
It surprised her somewhat that she had not been charged with any crimes. But then again, the police did not really know that she was anything beyond a girl working in the Purple Pelican whom Baby Face occasionally came to see between capers. She had been taken in for questioning when they had found her arriving at the canyon hideout, but she had said only that Baby Face had mentioned he would be there and that she had been worried about him, so she had gone to see what was happening. The police did not have any evidence to connect her with any of Baby Face's crimes, so they had let her go.
She wondered if he was truly dead. She had not seen the accident at the falls, but Rocco had described it to her at the Purple Pelican the following day. He had been the only member of Baby Face's new mob who had managed to avoid the police. She knew that he truly wanted to get away from the Mob for good, after all the trouble he had ended up in, but she also knew that it was not likely that he would be able to.
Hearing gasps of astonishment from behind her, she blinked in confusion and turned around to see what was taking place. At first she thought it was probably the muscleman assassin back again, the one who had easily overpowered another notorious assassin during a drunken brawl. But then her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the young man standing in the doorway. "Baby Face!" she cried, running over to him.
He regarded her calmly and coolly, as was his way. "Yeah, I made it back," he replied, and then led her away from everyone else. "Some idiot attacked me on the street," he told her gruffly, his eyes expressing his annoyance.
Ruby looked at him worriedly. "Are you okay, Baby Face?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he growled. "I just need something for this headache I've got." He reached up and rubbed at the back of his head in emphasis.
"I can get you something," Ruby offered, still concerned. Baby Face always tried to play down any injuries he received, so with him admitting that he was in pain she knew that it must have been a very bad assault. Quickly she took him into the backroom and began searching through the cupboards to find the pain relievers.
Baby Face leaned against the counter, observing her in silence.
After a moment Ruby located the aspirin and handed it to her beau, along with a glass of water. "Do you know who attacked you?" she asked hesitantly. "It wasn't Tony's gang, was it?"
Baby Face grunted and swallowed the pill. "I don't think so," he replied. "They want me dead. They wouldn't just rough me up and leave me alone." He looked at Ruby upon seeing her confused expression. "Isn't it obvious?" he snapped. "I don't remember the attack! I just woke up laying on a bench and I realized what must have happened."
Ruby felt all the more alarmed by this news. And in addition, she was still reeling from seeing him come in at all. She had been almost convinced of his death, and then he had appeared. "Baby Face, everyone thinks you're dead," she said carefully after a moment.
Baby Face looked at her. "The police too?" he demanded.
"Uh huh." Ruby bit her lip. "They said that you were dead on the very day after you . . . fell," she finished quietly. "They found your hat, but not anything else."
"Idiots." Baby Face slammed the glass down on the counter and slumped into the nearest chair he could see. "They were just looking for a good excuse to say that I'm out of their hair for good. They should have known better." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. He might have offered an explanation as to how he had survived the accident, but the truth was that he could not remember that, either. He was certain of his identity, and he remembered people such as Ruby and Tony, but the details of his life were lost to him. He assumed, of course, that this was due to the knock on the head he had taken. He certainly never stopped to think that perhaps he actually was not Baby Face at all.
Ruby watched him, seeing how weary he looked. "Maybe you should come rest, Baby Face," she suggested. "There's a cot back here that you could lay on..."
"I'm fine," he grumbled. "I don't need to rest." He gazed up at her. "Where's Rocco and the gang?" He actually did not feel well enough to go about committing a heist at the moment, but he wanted to know where his gang members were so that he could contact them when he wanted to. After all, in a day or so he was certain to feel better. It was just a simple bump on the head.
"Most of them are in jail, Baby Face," Ruby said slowly. "Rocco's not, but I think he's the only one who got away."
Baby Face looked irritated as he began to toy with the ruby ring on his finger. "A minor setback," he said finally. "It won't be hard to find others to pull into the mob. It never has been." And that was true. Baby Face had always been able to find people who wanted to join forces with him. Some of them knew of his notoriety and the fact that he had successfully pulled off so many crimes. They then wanted to be with him in order to get rich themselves. Others seemed to join him out of the fear of what he might do if they did not. And still others, such as Tony, had had even more complicated and twisted reasons.
Ruby sighed softly and came over to him. Gently she began massaging his shoulders. "Why don't we just go away, Baby Face?" she pleaded. "We could get away from all the crimes and the rival mobs and the danger. It seems like something is always going wrong. One of these days, you're probably going to get hurt really badly...or worse." She felt tears rising to her eyes. "I've thought that you were dead, too..."
"You should've had more faith in me," Baby Face retorted. "I don't go down easily." He closed his eyes, allowing himself to relax as Ruby worked. "And you know I'm not going to get out of the Mob," he continued. "We're making good money."
"But it would be better to quit when you're ahead," Ruby objected, a bit amazed that Baby Face was in such a relatively calm mood. She would have thought that after suffering such an attack, he would be seething. She supposed that he must be hurt quite badly and that he was exhausted. "I'm so afraid, Baby Face," she whispered. "I'm afraid that someday you're going to really get gunned down by someone who's angry at you, or that you'll get arrested again and they'll give you the death penalty..."
"None of that's going to happen," Baby Face answered. He frowned as he heard angry and indignant yelling out in the main barroom. "What's going on out there?"
Ruby went over to the door to listen. "I don't know, Baby Face," she replied, "but it doesn't sound good." It also did not sound like the beginnings of a simple brawl. It sounded more like a loud and gruff voice was furiously interrogating the patrons. After a moment, Baby Face got up and came over to hear as well.
"Alright, punks," a rough voice could be heard to snap, "we had a report from someone that a guy resembling Baby Face Morales showed up here a while ago. Now who's willing to tell me if that's true?" Silence was his answer, and he grew all the more furious. "Will I have to cart everyone in as accessories to a crime?"
Baby Face's eyes narrowed. "It's a cop," he growled. "He'll probably start searching the place. We have to get out of here." He felt a certain nervousness in his heart, which he did not understand. He had ran from police officers many times, and had not hesitated to kill them. And yet, he could not ignore the feeling that this was not who he was. That seemed preposterous to him, but the perception would not go away. Frustrated, he turned away and tried to ignore it.
"Where will we go, Baby Face?" Ruby asked. "If someone does say something, they'll probably mention me and the policeman will try to find out where I live, so I don't think we could go there." She could see that he was upset, but she assumed that it was because of the arrival of the officer. Quickly she followed after him, seeing that he was heading for the back exit.
"We won't," Baby Face replied as he grabbed her wrist and half-dragged her outside to where she had left her car. "Do you know where Rocco's staying?" he demanded, not wanting to admit that he could not remember what sort of a hideout they had last been using.
Ruby swiftly unlocked the doors and climbed into the driver's seat. "He told me, but I'm not sure if I can get there," she replied hesitantly.
Baby Face growled, getting into the passenger seat. "You'd better," he retorted, then gasped as Ruby started the engine and pealed out of the parking lot so quickly that he had to grab for his hat. "Watch it, baby!" he scolded. "Have you been taking lessons from Steve Blauner?!"
"Sorry, Baby Face," Ruby apologized, wanting to hurry away from any possible chance of being caught by the police.
"Whatever," the mobster muttered as they sped around a corner.