Mountainway Chant

by M J Calabrese

  They pulled up outside Coulter, Farnam and Reed. The atrium leading to the elevators was surprisingly empty. No security guard sat at the main desk. No clients roamed the lobby waiting to see their lawyer. Adam walked to the main desk. Reaching over, he rubbed a finger over the computer keyboard that sat silent on the granite top. He lifted his finger and frowned at the dust covering it.

  “Are you coming, Adam?” Rick called out from the elevators as they waited to be whisked up to the fifth floor.

  Adam hurried toward them, but he had a suspicion that Richard Coulter’s secretary’s desk would hold the answer to his question. They reached the fifth floor and Adam made sure he was the first man out. He stopped in front of the desk. All he had to do was move the computer keyboard to get the answer he already suspected was correct. Richard Coulter literally had nothing to lose. That’s why he’d tried to have him killed. Adam allowed himself a little smile. Richard was broke. Why? He didn’t have the answer to that question, but he was sure it had something to do with Nelson Greybill.

  Agent Rick Kessler didn’t bother to knock as he stormed into Richard Coulter’s office. Startled, Coulter stood glaring at the three men before him. His eyes narrowed as he watched Adam sit down in a chair near the door. Adam never uttered a word, just stared at the man he’d once called father.

  “What the hell is this? Who are you?” The older man glared at Rick.

  Kessler showed the older man his identification, but Eagle didn’t bother and Adam just looked amused.

  “We’re here to talk to you about Nelson Greybill and his connection to the death of Hal Willowman.”

  “Who?” Richard saw Adam yawn and look at this phone. He wasn’t sure why Adam was there, but he knew it wasn’t an accident.

  “Does the name Mickey Deevers mean anything to you?”

  Adam saw Richard’s jaw tighten and twitch. It was in that moment he realized Richard Coulter was up to his neck in what had happened to Hal Willowman.

  “Why should that name mean anything to me?”

  “You defended him a couple of times.”

  “I defend a lot of people.”

  “This one was rounded up in a strip joint called Bliss. He had some very interesting things to say about you.”

  Coulter’s face showed nothing to those who didn’t know him as well as Adam did. Adam’s face contorted into a condescending smirk. He rolled his eyes, then concentrated once again on his cell phone.

  Adam knew Rick Kessler was no match for his brother, but he wasn’t going to get into that. The minute he looked at the secretary’s computer keyboard, he realized that Coulter was broke. A conversation with Michelle began to play in his mind. She told him that their mother had been ill. She told him that their “father” had private nurses coming in to care for her, but she was a handful in her delusional state.

  Words flew back and forth between the other three men as Adam sent a text to his sister.

  Adam: Michelle, when was the last time you saw ma mere?

  Michelle: About 5 months ago, why?

  Adam: I think something has happened. I can’t leave where I’m at. I’m distracting father. Go to the house and check on her, please. Let me know what you find.

  Michelle: You think it’s serious? I am heading for my car now. I’ll contact you when I get there.

  Adam leaned back to wait. He rested his cellphone in his hands between his legs and watched every move Richard Coulter made. The battle of words was still raging, but it was clear, Richard had the upper hand. He wasn’t used to losing. Fifteen or twenty minutes passed, then he felt his phone vibrate. He checked his messages.

  Michelle: OMG! Adam.

  A photograph said a thousand horrible words. An emaciated Avril Coulter lay tied to her bed. Filthy sheets and a nightgown covered her body. Small dark spots sat on her pale skin and he knew if he scanned in would be flies. He bit his lower lip. A heated rage flushed his skin as he viewed the horrible abuse of his mother. Adam’s free hand grabbed the arm of the chair. He wanted to rip it off and beat the smug bastard standing behind the expensive mahogany desk to death.

  Michelle: What do I do? Call adult protective services? Call the police? This is obviously abuse. Mom doesn’t even know who I am.

  Adam thought for a moment as he formulated a plan.

  Adam: Call an agency. Have them come out immediately. Tell them money is no object. I will pay for her care. When they see her, tell them father has been trying to care for her, but he’s ill and obviously couldn’t. We didn’t know how bad it was until today.

  Michelle: I’m going to kill that bastard.

  Adam: Don’t worry, I’m way ahead of you. Just do this and we’ll talk later. I love you, Chelley. Talk later.

  “I want you out of my office now! Agent Kessler. You’ve got nothing but the accusations of a former disgruntled client pointing a finger at me to try to get himself a lighter sentence. If you arrest me, I’ll be out in an hour and I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to let your supervisors know of your very unprofessional behavior.”

  Rick, red faced and angry turned to Adam. “Aren’t you going to say anything? Hal Willowman was your friend.”

  With that Richard looked at Adam as he nervously bit his lower lip. Rick was too mad to notice, but Eagle, being far better acquainted with Richard Coulter noted this subtle slip of the man’s cool demeanor. He glanced back at Adam who stared straight at the man in front of him and for the first time in a long time, he was afraid of what he saw in his husband’s eyes. The hate there grew with each second.

  “Get out!” Richard screamed at the three men, pointing his knobby finger at the door.

  Rick Kessler huffed and moved quickly toward the door. Eagle was a bit slower and he looked down at Adam who hadn’t moved an inch. He followed Kessler, but left the door open. Adam stood, turned to the door and closed it, twisting the deadbolt lock before he turned back to his brother.

  Adam smiled, but there was no humor in it. “Richard…, Richard…, Richard.” Each word enunciated slowly and deliberately. He drug the words out making them sound like obscene slurs. Adam took a few steps closer to the man behind the desk. “Sit down, Dad.” He spit the last word at the other man as if it burned his mouth. Adam leaned on the gleaming surface as Coulter slowly sat down in his chair. Richard watched Adam warily.

  Adam stared hard at the man sitting before him, then he reached into his back pocket and drew out the letter, tossing it onto the desk. “Or should I call you, brother?”

  Richard touched the letter lightly then withdrew his finger. “So she told you. She threatened that she might. I couldn’t believe it when she left everything to you. That bitch!”

  “That bitch was my grandmother.”

  Richard stood, hands pounding the desk. “She was my mother! She was nothing to you! No blood relation at all. I was her son! Her only son and she tossed me aside the minute you appeared.” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

  The pain of the past weighed heavy on him. “You were my father’s bastard son. You were the evidence of my wife’s greed. That bitch! The first time I’m gone, she fucks my father! She was so sure that my father would divorce my mother and marry her. She was so sure that she started proceedings against me! I got the papers when I was in Paris. Do you know how that made me feel? Of course, you don’t. You’ll never understand what it’s like to be forced to raise your own father’s illegitimate child. I’ll bet you’re standing there, all smug and self-righteous, thinking I did it for the money. Think again. We’re all victims here, Adam.

  My mother begged me…, begged me to go through with this charade. She said you weren’t to blame. But, Adam, your very existence stole from me the most precious thing I had. The love of my wife. The love of my parents! You, drug addicted, alcoholic faggot! I didn’t destroy your life. You did that all on your own.”

  Adam stepped back and smiled, then clapped his hands. “That was very good, Richard. If there was a jury, I’m sure yo
u’d be let off, but I know more and I have evidence.” He returned to his side of the desk as Coulter sat down.

  “So, let’s move on, shall we? I want you to give Agent Kessler and Eagle everything they need to bring down Nelson Greybill. I want the name of the man who killed Hal Willowman. If you’re smart, you’ll take Kessler’s offer of witness protection after you testify against Greybill.”

  “And what could possibly motivate me to want to do such an outrageously stupid thing, Adam?”

  “On my sixteenth birthday, James Farnam gave me a letter with a check for a thousand dollars in it. That was sweet, even though what he’d been doing to me for three years prior was rape of a minor and that continued until my seventeenth birthday. I still have that letter. Today it is in a safe deposit box somewhere in this city. I left a letter for Eagle and two other people with someone I trust. I gave them the location of that safe deposit box and where I’ve hidden the key to the box.”

  The smug look on Richard’s face began to fall away.

  “You know what was the worst part of that whole sick relationship? I truly believed he loved me and that I loved him. Kind of a Stockholm Syndrome thing where I fell under his spell. That his influence over me was so strong. I believed I deserved and actually enjoyed what he did to me. That sucking cock was a skill I should be proud of,” Adam held his hands out to the side and shrugged, “And I am. That taking an adult male penis up my teenage ass was something that could be useful later in life. That I would enjoy being with men at a time when I was questioning my own true sexuality. Yet when I tried it out with my best friend, sucking his cock beside a pond one night, somehow James Farnam found out. I wonder who might have told him.” Adam glared at the man in front of him. “Ooh, what he did to me. How he ‘punished’ me and you sat in your office listening to me scream and did…, NOTHING!”

  Adam sat down in the chair across from his brother. “I believe the laws have changed in this state and federally concerning pedophilia and child sex trafficking. There are no statutes of limitations on these crimes now, so your involvement as a child sex trafficker should get you removed from the bar. James was kind enough to refer to that little trip you encouraged him to take with me. He took me to his cabin in Flagstaff, Arizona which is across state lines and had sex with me all day and through most of the night. If that still isn’t enough for you to turn state’s evidence. How about this?”

  Adam pulled out his cellphone and scrolled to the picture Michelle had taken of Avril. Richard had the good grace to go pale and start to sweat. “How will you live this down? Domestic abuse, elder abuse, all charges you’ll have a hard time defending against in court. You’ll again be able to kiss your social connections and your career goodbye.”

  Richard flopped down in his chair, hands covering his face. Shoulders drooping in defeat. “You don’t understand what Nelson can do.”

  Adam smiled, “Oh yes, I know exactly what Nelson Greybill can do and I don’t care. If you don’t cooperate. If all my promises to you fall on deaf ears. If you think you can deal with the fall out of all this. Let me add one last thing. If you don’t talk to Rick Kessler and cut a deal, I will have him drive me to Nelson Greybill’s office and tell him a lie that he will believe. That you are cooperating with the Feds. I will tell the informants he has in the APD and the FBI that you, in fact, are cooperating with Kessler. Greybill may not want to believe it…, at first, but he may even come to see you. You might convince him that all of his people are lying, but you can never remove that seed of doubt I will plant in his mind. That niggly little seed which will grow into distrust and paranoia concerning you and eventually he’ll have you killed…, just in case you are cooperating with the Feds.”

  Again, Adam stood and leaned both hands on his brother’s desk. “From what I see, you really only have two options: cooperate or take that revolver you have in your left lower desk drawer, put it to your head and pull the trigger. It will be quicker and a lot less painful than what Greybill will do to you.”

  Adam turned and headed for the door. He hesitated with his hand on the door handle then looked back at the man he’d always called father. “Oh, and don’t worry about Mom. I’ll make sure she gets the care she deserves. Goodbye, father. Goodbye, brother.”

  He turned the handle and started to open the door.

  “Tell Kessler to come back in.” Richard Coulter spoke softly.

  Adam turned and smiled as he shook his head, “Damn, I guess I should’ve known you’d take the coward’s way out.” He tossed the door all the way open and motioned for Kessler to re-enter the room. “My brother is ready to strike a deal with you, Agent Kessler.”

  “Brother?”

  Eagle pushed Kessler on into the room, but turned to Adam before he closed the door. “Are you going to be okay?”

  Adam leaned against the secretary’s desk. The way he held himself he could’ve been a man twice his age. “I’m tired, Eagle. You don’t need me anymore. I’ll call an Uber and head home.” He looked his lover in the eye, “I don’t want company tonight, understand?”

  Eagle’s jaw tightened, “This wasn’t my idea, Adam.”

  “I know. I just need to be alone. I need to sleep.”

  Eagle nodded, then closed the door between them.

  Twenty-four hours later, Richard Coulter was quietly taken into protective custody by Federal Agents. Except for the trial of Nelson Greybill. Richard Coulter disappeared off the face of the Earth.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Jacob Case pulled his cousin, David Nixon into Nelson Greybill’s office. The old man glared at his two nephews.

  “What the hell are you, two idiots doing here?”

  Jacob smiled, “We have a way to stop the Detective from testifying against you.” He came forward with the video. Greybill watched then leaned back in his chair.

  “So, it’s a junkie shooting up? What of it?”

  “That,” David stepped up beside his cousin, “is Michael Woodard. Eagle Woodard’s son. We know the dealer who’s holding him. What we thought you could do is lure the cop out into the desert somewhere and kill him. No cop, no problem with the Feds.”

  “Who’s the dealer?”

  “Rico Sanchez.”

  Greybill stood up, pounding his fist on the top of his desk so loud both young men jumped. “That bastard has been interfering with my business!”

  “I don’t think it’s him, really, Uncle. There’s a guy who’s been supplying him. Some big, dark blond guy. Older. Probably in his 40’s. Looks like he was military, but he gets drugs to sell to people like Rico out of South America. Rico’s scared to death of him.”

  The older man sat back down. “Okay. One thing at a time. The kid isn’t going anywhere. Woodard needs to be dealt with first.” Greybill steepled his fingers and tapped them against his lower lip as he pondered this new information and his problem with the Detective. He looked up and focused on his nephews. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You are going to use that video to lure the cop to the desert, but I want him at the casino site. We’re going to start pouring concrete for the pilings to stabilize the casino’s footings. I want you to kill him, then dig a deep grave, toss him in it and we’ll cover him in concrete. No one will ever find him.”

  The two young men looked at each other, mentally willing the other to speak, David finally did.

  “Uncle, uh, we’ve never really killed anyone. Martinez was an accident. Could one of your guys kill him?”

  Greybill grinned as he tapped a quick tattoo with his fingertips on the top of his desk. “So you think my boys are killers?”

  The two young men looked at each other and began to stammer. “Well, uh….”

  “Well, they are.” The older man laughed. These two kept him laughing, but they were starting to become annoying with their incompetence. He decided to put them out of their misery. “Alright, Benny, here.” He nodded to the man on his left. “He’ll go with you and make sure things go smoothly. You get Woodard out t
here then Benny will take care of him, right Benny?”

  The behemoth nodded as much as his short, muscular neck would let him.

  “Good. Now why don’t you, boys, go set up getting Woodard out there and I’ll send Benny when you have him heading to the site. Okay?”

  Both young men nodded and turned to leave.

  “If you fail me, I will hurt you so bad, even your own mothers won’t know you. Got me? Family or no family I can only take so much idiocy before I start getting really mad.” Greybill stared hard at the two, but let them go.

  After the door shut, he motioned Benny to him. “Get a shovel and make them dig the grave. Kill the cop, then do the same for them. I don’t need witnesses as stupid as they are. I’ll compensate my sisters for their loss. Understand?”

  Benny nodded. He never questioned Nelson Greybill. He just did as he was told.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The next morning Rick Kessler stood next to the only parking space left on level 6 of the structure attached to the police station. On time, Eagle Woodard pulled up into his space.

  “Come on. I need you to go with me.” Rick grabbed Eagle as he got out of his truck at the police station.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I think I found the reason Angela Destin killed her husband. Get in. We are going to see her.”

  Eagle frowned, “Unless we have a warrant or an appointment. Angela won’t see us. She’ll have security throw us out.”

  Rick started the car and turned to back out of his parking space. “Angela, huh? You, two, on a first name basis, Woodard?” He put the car into drive. “That’s why I’m taking you.” Then Kessler frowned, really looking at his passenger. “Whoa! What happened to you?” He pointed at Eagle’s swollen right hand. “Bar fight? Gay bashing?”

  Eagle ignored his question. “What do you have that makes me even want to consider intruding on Angela Destin?”

  “Get this. On close reading of the coroner’s report, Alejandro Martinez had damage to his vas deferens. He was sterile. No way could Angela Destin’s child be Martinez’s kid as she claims. Her parents were very conservative, very religious. They would not have left her the money if they thought she had a child by anyone other than her husband. He was probably blackmailing her. With his drug addiction, he would be demanding more and more money, plus, she couldn’t risk him revealing the truth.”