Collision Course

by Matt Hilton

  He’d learned most of the details about the mess last night during an early morning call from Kelly, but Blake wanted finer detail. Temperance, being Dom’s underling was largely ignored as Blake set his sour gaze on Dom. ‘What possessed you to go through with your instructions, knowing full well there was interest in the Toners from a private investigator? Wasn’t this investigator already on the scene when you arrived at the girl’s apartment? You had Temperance identify her, and still knowing she was a PI, you went back. Do you think it wise drawing the attention of any investigator?’

  ‘I was obeying your instructions,’ Dom countered, unfazed by Blake’s questions. ‘I’m loyal to you Blake, and to Kelly, and wanted to do what you asked me to do. It turned out that the PI wasn’t there for the Toners; she was only looking for one of Madison’s friends … some kid called Hayley. By all appearances the PI had left the scene shortly after we first showed up, and I never expected her to come back. So rather than leave, I decided I should do what was asked of me, and go and demand an immediate payment. I also thought it important to remind Mike Toner what’d happen if he spoke about us to the cops, or to this Teresa Grey woman. I went in under cover of the storm, never expecting the PI and her guys to be waiting in ambush.’ Dom swallowed, waiting for Blake to respond, but he didn’t. Dom filled the aching silence with more excuses. ‘I only wanted to make sure the money was transferred to your account last night. We got rumbled and had to run but we didn’t leave entirely. We stayed nearby till we were certain the cops hadn’t really been called. Grey and her men left, following Hayley and her boyfriend, and my bet is they went back to Portland where they belong. I think Mike Toner came good on his promise, right? He didn’t tell the PI or the cops why we were there, and he paid up?’

  ‘You’re correct about the latter,’ Kelly interjected. ‘The money was transferred late yesterday evening. But we can’t be certain about the former.’

  ‘Mike Toner’s one of only dozens of people we’re squeezing,’ Blake went on. ‘Why? We’ve never had a mess like this one before, Dom. Is it because you’re not normally the one in command of things? Last night’s mess is partially my fault, I guess, because I entrusted Kelly’s safety with Arlen. Had Arlen been with you I doubt we’d have this fall-out to clean up this morning. Am I a fool for trusting you to do things without Arlen’s guidance?’

  Dom squinted over his shoulder at Sampson, his mouth in a tight grimace, as if Sampson were the one blowing his own trumpet and not Blake. Sampson stared back at him.

  Blake’s questions were rhetorical. Dom couldn’t reply in the affirmative for fear of reprisal, but accepting Blake’s words ensured he came across as inept. ‘Like I said, Blake, I was doing my very best to follow your instructions, and Toner paid up. Without question you can trust me to do what you ask without Arlen looking over my shoulder.’

  ‘There’s no question about your loyalty, Dom.’ For the briefest moment, Blake’s gaze flicked to Sampson, almost as if he was judging if the same could be said of all his employees, but then his attention returned to Dom and his features grew rigid. ‘There’s no question about your goddamn stupidity either. Your fuck-up last night could draw unwanted attention to our operation; your fucking stupidity could bring us down. I hear Temperance encouraged caution, but you ignored her and you went back anyway. Of the two of you, Temperance seems to be the one with the wiser head. Maybe,’ he wagged a finger between the two, ‘the command structure between you is wrong. Maybe I should demote you to driver and make Temperance your superior? Would I still retain your loyalty if I made you bow and scrape to a woman of color, Dom?’

  Sampson restrained a sharp laugh. To a misogynistic racist like Dominick Burgess demotion under Temperance would be the cruelest of punishments.

  Dom sneered at the woman alongside him, as if she was the source of the idea. Temperance did her best to ignore the hatred radiating off him in almost palpable waves, but couldn’t bear it long. She snapped a look at him, promising if he tried to hurt her – verbally or physically – he’d be sorry. Blake laughed nastily.

  ‘No, I don’t think my idea would work,’ Blake said. ‘But your stupidity can’t go unpunished, Dom. I can’t demote you, and I doubt that docking a fine from your pay would do much to learn you a lesson; it’d only heap misfortune on top of the cash you already lost when you lost your wallet. I think your punishment should be much sharper and swifter: Temperance, punch Dom as hard as you can.’

  ‘Uh, say what?’ said Dom. He glanced at Temperance, daring her to try it.

  ‘Dominick, I’ve given this order. There shall be no reprisal toward Temperance from you; otherwise I’ll take it as disloyalty towards me. Accept your punishment. Temperance?’

  Dom’s brow creased. His mouth fell open, but before he could mount an appeal, Temperance whipped around. Dom flinched in anticipation, his arms coming up to defend himself, but Temperance had foreseen his reaction. Her bunched knuckles drove deep between his legs. A gasp of agony sprayed saliva as Dom folded over her arm, and then he dropped to his knees and bellowed into the floor. Temperance stepped aside. Dom’s face screwed in hatred as he peered up at her. A smile jumped on her lips. ‘Nothing personal, I only followed orders, Dom,’ she said.

  ‘What a cheap shot!’ Blake laughed. ‘But I suppose I wasn’t specific where you should punch him. Thank you, Temperance. Now help Dom up and take him out of here.’ Any faux humor evident in Blake faded. ‘Now I want a private word with Arlen.’

  A tremor went through Sampson. It wasn’t fear, more apprehension that his and Kelly’s infidelity was about to be called out. But even in this he was torn; a tiny part of him wished that the secret did come out, because then he wouldn’t be forced against his will to service Kelly’s needs any longer. Of course, being a covetous man, Blake wouldn’t see the fault as being Kelly’s alone, and Sampson would be punished. A punch in the nuts from Temperance wouldn’t be on the cards for him, and it certainly wouldn’t be handed over to Dom to inflict punishment … guilty of adultery, Sampson could expect worse. Though Blake primarily employed Sampson, Dom and Temperance as the agents of his protection racket, he also had other assets on call, professionals whom Sampson wouldn’t see coming but who would ensure his torture was brutal and prolonged.

  He stepped forward to face Blake across the breadth of the desk, and avoided looking at Kelly. His reflection was cast back at him from the window behind Blake’s hunched form. As he had yesterday in the washroom, Sampson met the eyes of the reflected man, and didn’t recognize those peering back. Again he wished that the transgressions he was repeatedly forced into were the load that that stranger was forced to bear. He loved Caroline, betraying his wife tormented him worse than any of the acts of violence he was pushed into. But what choice did he have but to obey their demands when either Ambrose need only dangle Mary Rhodes over him?

  ‘I was a little curt with you outside,’ Blake surprised him by saying. ‘I was annoyed with Dom and Temperance, and wanted to deal with them first. That’s done with for now, so it’s time I gave you my thanks, Arlen.’

  Sampson was rocked perceptively on his heels. His eyebrows rose towards his hairline.

  ‘My wife suffers a pathological fear of thunder and lightning.’ Blake nodded at his own words, in reaction to Sampson’s credulous blink. ‘Isn’t that right, Kelly?’

  She neglected to reply. She only closed her eyes and shuddered.

  ‘The same storm that grounded my flight would have terrified her had she been here alone. Thank you for seeing her safely home, Arlen, and for staying here overnight. I appreciate that in doing so your own wife was left alone, to endure the night without you. Perhaps Caroline doesn’t fear storms the same as Kelly does, but it’s still a measure of your loyalty that you answered my request over the needs of your own wife.’

  His loyalty was to his wife! Sampson had only acquiesced to Blake’s demands to protect Caroline. However, he knew when to keep his mouth shut, and to accept the misguided thanks. />
  Blake went on: ‘Dom is useful to me when I require a blunt instrument, yet he lacks finesse. He is no leader, no tactician. I need someone I can trust to handle this problem for me. Mike Toner is obviously cowed into obedience, but the attendance of a private investigator at his daughter’s home is worrying, regardless of why she was there. This girlfriend of the Toner girl, Hayley, isn’t it? She was the one that the investigator was looking for; I want to know why, and if it relates in any way to what the Toners are doing for us now. Find out, Arlen, and if she knows anything, then dissuade her from talking, by any means necessary. If by chance you run across this Teresa Grey woman, then she should not be left in any position to interfere with our business either. Make them disappear, if you must, but in a way that does not lead back to us.’

  TWENTY-THREE

  Tess chose to conduct the hunt for Dominick Burgess and Temperance Jolie from Emma Clancy’s office. There she had access to state, county and law enforcement databases, and in no time had confirmed current addresses for both. She threw their details through the systems to identify any known accomplices, cross-referencing names to discover commonality. Living in a small city like Brunswick they shared a number of acquaintances, but that was the nature of such places when everyone knew everyone else. None of the names thrown out related to a person named Kelly. She printed out a list of the most prominent names, with a mind to thin it down later. Next she accessed a restricted system through which she could delve deeper into both of their lives. She discovered how and when they paid their living expenses, their utilities bills, their taxes, and soon had access to their bank accounts and credit card records.

  She discovered a common factor. Both were registered as self-employed chauffeurs, though lately they’d driven exclusively for a holdings company based up the coast in Brunswick. She checked out the company – BK-Rose Holdings LLC – and discovered that it existed to acquire, hold and sell various investments in other companies. Their portfolio included holdings throughout Maine and the wider US, and even in England and the Isle of Man, as diverse as retail companies, information technology developers and insurance providers. Tess knew that typically holding companies didn’t engage directly in business or in the manufacturing of goods or delivery of services, but apparently BK-Rose also owned a subsidiary company which managed a rather extensive property portfolio. The company directors were listed as Blake and Kelly Ambrose. Online she found the company website, and on the ‘About’ page photographs of the couple striking imperious poses. Tess decided they were haughtier than anything.

  She sat back, staring at Kelly Ambrose. Reddish curly-haired, pale skinned, and with her snub nose in the air, she looked as if she’d just smelled something disagreeable. Kelly’s smile barely touched her lips, and might have been described as enigmatic, but Tess thought it was formed more in the secret knowledge that she herself was the source of the bad smell. She disliked the woman immediately.

  The door swung open. Clutching a take-out coffee Emma Clancy paused at the threshold, surprised to find Tess behind her desk. Emma always presented a striking image: tall, sleek and athletic, she oozed an aura of power. Her hair and make-up were as immaculate as ever. By comparison, Tess often felt shabby in her presence. Emma looked haughty too; it took a moment before she cracked a smile. ‘Tess, I didn’t see you come in.’

  ‘I’ve been here awhile. I’m just doing some background research.’ Tess returned the smile. Emma employed her on a freelance basis to conduct investigations on behalf of her specialist inquiry firm. There was a time when her opinion of Clancy was on a level with that she had formed of Kelly Ambrose, but things had changed. The two had fought against the deranged killer Hector Suarez, each prepared to give their life for the other, and only partly because Emma was the girlfriend of Tess’s brother Alex. Since then they’d become firm friends, sisters-in-waiting, and Tess got away with more than perhaps any employee should. There was nobody else in the firm that Emma wouldn’t scold if she found them using her personal computer. Here she simply let the door close and popped the lid off her coffee.

  ‘If I’d known you were working I’d’ve fetched you a cup,’ she said.

  Tess wasn’t about to lie to her friend. ‘My investigation isn’t exactly on the books. More of a personal project.’

  Emma moved in close. ‘Do tell.’

  The photographs of Blake and Kelly were still on-screen. It’d be rude to turn off the computer, and besides, Emma could easily enough check Tess’s search history if she wished.

  ‘He looks like a joyful fella. Not. He reminds me of someone …’ Emma swirled a finger in the air to aid her memory. ‘Oh, yeah, did you ever see that old Batman movie, the one with Danny DeVito as the Penguin?’

  Tess chuckled. ‘Now that you mention it, I see the resemblance.’ She hadn’t given the husband as much interest as she had Kelly.

  ‘So what’s your interest in him?’

  Tess wagged a finger between both pictures. ‘I stumbled into something last night and think these two could be behind some kind of blackmail and extortion racket.’

  ‘Who are they?’

  Tess related the brief details she’d been able to glean about the Ambrose couple, their holdings business and their connection to Dom and Temperance who she, Po and Pinky had chased off. She neglected to mention that the thugs had been armed and that they had previously beaten Mike Toner. For now she didn’t wish to involve the police, whereas Emma was bound by duty to report any unlawful behavior.

  ‘They run a successful holdings LLC with international clients,’ Emma mused, ‘but you think they’re running a protection racket? I can only assume they aren’t short of a cent or two. Why’d they risk extorting money out of this Toner fella if they already have a healthy income?’

  ‘Greed is a great motivator,’ Tess said. ‘Besides, if they’re blackmailing the Toners, it stands to reason there are other people they’re similarly extorting.’

  ‘Maybe it’s something the two thugs have going, and it has nothing to do with BK-Rose.’

  ‘I overheard the guy demand fifty percent on Kelly’s behalf. That’s Kelly.’ She indicated the woman’s photo.

  ‘She’s called Kelly, for sure, but are you certain she’s the same Kelly the guy was talking about?’

  ‘I’m reasonably certain.’

  Emma didn’t press the point. Tess’s search had uncovered a name that matched, but there was nothing in her investigation yet to prove that it was the same Kelly Dominick had referred to, or that the director of the holding company was the one also directing a criminal enterprise. Tess understood caution, and wasn’t about to rush off and confront the woman with an unfounded accusation. She needed something more concrete than this, but at least she’d a good starting point.

  Emma was familiar enough with Tess to read her body language and facial micro-expressions. ‘This isn’t something you want to involve the police with yet?’

  Holding up her palms, Tess said, ‘Right now, there isn’t anything I can give them. Unless Mike Toner’s prepared to make a complaint to the cops there’s not a lot I can offer at this stage. He and his daughter have made it clear they don’t want me anywhere near them. I only came across them because I was following up on another case.’

  ‘Did you find the Cameron girl?’ Emma knew of Tess’s latest case, though it had nothing to do with her office: just because she hadn’t given Tess the job, it didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in other work her investigator took on. Emma had to be above reproach. Occasionally she had to distance herself from some of the private tasks that Tess undertook, particularly when Po and Pinky became involved. It was fair that Emma kept abreast of what Tess had going on, if only to protect the integrity of her firm.

  ‘She’s home again. I’m not sure how long that will last.’

  ‘You found her at the Toner girl’s apartment?’ Emma nodded in understanding. She’d easily connected the fact that Hayley Cameron could be involved in similar trouble through he
r connection with Madison Toner, so to Tess her duty to the girl – and now her friend Maddie – was a long way from over with. ‘Leave no one behind, huh? You know something, Tess? There are times when I wonder if you were a US Marine in a past life.’

  Tess shrugged at the notion. As a sheriff’s deputy she’d followed the same ethos.

  ‘Do you want my official help with this?’ Emma took a sip of her coffee while Tess considered her offer. She grimaced at its sweetness.

  ‘I’ve some more groundwork to do before I can present any evidence to the police; maybe once it’s done I’ll have you check it over and see if it’s something the DA might be prepared to act on.’

  Emma’s smile danced. She knew as well as Tess that, for now, Tess had no intention of involving any law enforcement agency. Tess felt responsible for those girls, and until she’d personally done something to help them she wouldn’t hand over the responsibility to anyone else.

  ‘I didn’t notice Po’s car out front,’ Emma prompted. If he accompanied Tess to the office, he usually lounged out in the reception hallway, reading a dog-eared suspense or thriller novel, while she got on with her work. He’d become a semi-regular fixture, and also a signpost to Emma for when Tess was in the building.

  ‘Oh, he has some stuff he needs to do,’ Tess said. ‘It’s been a few days since he’s been by either, so wanted to look in on Charley’s and Bar-Lesque. He’ll be along to pick me up shortly.’

  In actuality, Po had gone to Charley’s autoshop to swap out his Mustang for something less noticeable, and also large enough to accommodate Pinky so Tess could sit up front.

  ‘You guys, you know, haven’t come up with a date yet?’ Emma’s eyes twinkled, having deftly changed the subject to weddings.