Body on Pine

by DeMarco, Joseph R. G.

  “You think so?” He relaxed into the chair and drank the rest of the water.

  “Not really, Shuster. I don’t think so at all.” I watched his eyes grow wide. “I think it was dumb for you to come to my office. If that guy is actually keeping tabs on you, then he’ll know you were here. He thinks you’re reporting to me and he will slit your throat.”

  Shuster stood, a panicked look on his face.

  “You… you’re right. What was I thinking?” He pivoted left then right as if looking for a secret way out. “I… I’ve got to get out of here. Is there a way out that…?”

  “If he saw you come in, it doesn’t matter. If he didn’t… There’s the service area and loading bay at the back. The elevator gets you there. Lotta garbage, though. You won’t smell so pretty when you get back to work. But, hey, you work in politics. Nothing smells good anyway.”

  He flew out of the office and down the hall to the elevator.

  “Again boss frightens clients?” Olga asked after Shuster left. “You are not needing business to pay for new offices?”

  I was still laughing when my cell phone rang.

  “Fontana.”

  “Mr. Fontana, my name is Charlie Porter. You’ve been trying to reach me?”

  Chapter 17

  Charlie Porter agreed to meet at More Than Just Ice Cream. Said he wouldn’t be comfortable meeting in the office which was just as well since it was lunchtime.

  I arrived early and took a seat against the back wall, so we’d have some privacy. I felt a wave of anticipation that perhaps now some questions would be answered.

  The waiter was new. Bouncy, my old favorite, wasn’t on duty so I’d have to do without his permanent smile, sunny disposition, and skintight jeans. The new guy looked like an undernourished mouse with his mop of dull brown hair and glasses three sizes too large for his face. Cute in his own skinny-nerdy way, but he was no Bouncy.

  “Can I get you something while you wait?” the Mouse asked.

  “Just some coffee.” I smiled up at him trying to remember the word my Great Aunt Gemma had for guys who looked like this.

  He nodded and scurried over to the service area.

  The sun poured in through the wall of windows, lifting my mood. I hoped Charlie could fill in some of the blanks Emily hadn’t been able to. Emily assumed Brad told her everything but sometimes you want to protect the people you care about from some of the seamier things that happen. I suspected Brad hadn’t told Emily the whole truth about everything.

  Charlie was a different story. Brad might have confided in him. They worked the same beat, so to speak. They knew the trouble a masseur could get into, the risks and dangers of the work. It seemed Brad had trusted Charlie, giving him the keys to the spa, allowing him to work as a sub with long time clients. Yep, I was betting heavily that Charlie knew a lot Emily didn’t.

  The Mouse brought my coffee and carefully set it down. He stood back looking at me as if waiting for something. I grabbed some sugar packets, tore them open, and spilled their contents into the coffee. The Mouse continued to stare.

  “Thanks for the coffee,” I said, thinking that’s what he wanted. He nodded and continued staring. The lunch crowd hadn’t arrived and the other tables had already been served. The Mouse had time on his hands.

  “I’ll be back when your friend gets here,” he squeaked finally. “If you need anything…”

  I smiled and looked down at the newspaper I’d picked up on the way in. The little Mouse edged away.

  People began entering in twos and threes but no Charlie. He said he’d be wearing something blue. Okay, he said “baby blue” to be specific. Blue’s blue to me. So far, no one who entered wore anything remotely close to blue.

  I went back to the newspaper. As I read, I heard the door whoosh open and shut a few times. Then I heard a voice.

  “Hiii, sweetie. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  Looking up, I watched someone from the kitchen embrace a man wearing a blue, maybe even baby blue, tank top. When they broke the embrace, the kitchen man went back to his station and I got a clear look at the guy who had to be Charlie Porter.

  Not what I expected.

  Medium height, thirties, slender almost skinny, with a head of frizzy, unmanageable red hair, Charlie peered around the place as if looking for someone. His gaze settled on me and I waved him over. As he approached, I realized he was younger than I’d suspected. His lack of weight and scruffy facial hair contributed to the impression that he’d been around the track a few more times than he actually had.

  “Marco,” I said taking his smooth hand in mine.

  “Charlie,” he said. “Nice to meet the man behind the voice on all those messages.”

  “You’re a hard man to pin down, Charlie.”

  “I kinda like it that way.” He took my cue to sit.

  “Makes things difficult for a guy in your business, doesn’t it?”

  “I do all right.” He placed his canvas bag over the back of his chair.

  The Mouse appeared at the table as if out of thin air. “Can I get you anything to drink before you order? Or… uh… are you guys ready? To order, I mean.”

  “Bring me some iced tea,” Charlie said. “I’ll be ready when you get back.” He picked up a menu. “Got any favorites?”

  Charlie looked at me and I saw he had gray eyes. Expressively sad gray eyes. Made me wonder if he knew what had happened to Brad. I’d never left any details in my messages.

  “Everything’s pretty much good.” I waited for him to look over the menu then I cleared my throat.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  “I… yeah… I’m ready.” I had little choice since the Mouse was setting the iced tea on the table.

  “What can I get you guys?” He drew out an order pad and waited, pencil poised.

  We ordered, the little Mouse scuttled off, and I decided to take the plunge and find out what Charlie knew.

  “Charlie, I’ve got to ask you something…”

  “Like do I know what’s going on with Brad?”

  “Do you know what’s happened? Have you heard anything in the past few days?”

  “I left town maybe three weeks ago. Could be longer. I’ve been helping take care of my father. He’s totally incapacitated. When I’m there, I concentrate on him. I don’t take calls. I don’t do anything but help out with caregiving.”

  “Then I’ve got to tell you…”

  “Something’s happened to Brad.” He sighed as if I’d added one more weight to his slender shoulders. “I kind of guessed as much from all the messages you left. You never said what happened, though. I suppose that means it’s bad. Right?” He looked at me with sad expectation.

  “Brad… I’m really sorry to have to tell you, Charlie, but Brad was murdered.” I watched his eyes widen and become even sadder.

  “Murdered? Mygod. I thought you were going to say he’d been beaten up, he’s in the hospital. You know, he’s never careful about where he goes on outcalls. Always keeps that spa open late and the door’s usually unlocked. I thought maybe he’d been hurt. But… not… How? Why?” His hand shook as he reached for his water.

  Charlie stared into my eyes as if searching for hope or a reason I was wrong.

  “I’m sorry. Sorry to tell you like this.”

  “You’re sure? He was… was murdered? How? Who did it?”

  “The police are stumped and Emily asked me to investigate. She mentioned your name and gave me your number but I gather she didn’t know you.”

  “No… no… she didn’t… not really,” Porter said. His voice became slow and dreamy. He faded out like an old radio.

  “Charlie. Listen to me. Charlie?”

  “Oh… I was… just remembering the last time I spoke to Brad. He was… all right. I never thought to call while I was away. I never call anyone when I’m with my family. It’s just the way it is. I should’ve called Brad.”

  “There’s nothing you could’ve done, Charlie. Not then. B
ut now…”

  “What can I do? I don’t even know what happened.”

  “We’re trying to narrow down possible leads. Emily mentioned a couple of things but she didn’t know details.”

  “Poor kid. She must be feeling so alone right now. Brad and she only had each other.”

  “That’s one reason I’m thinking maybe he spared her some details of his work.”

  “How so? He told her just about everything. That’s what he said.”

  “Emily mentioned a guy named Johnny. That ring any bells for you?” I watched his face.

  “Johnny?... Hmm… Johnny… well…” A small smile crossed Porter’s face. “You probably mean Johnny Carney.”

  “Could be. Tell me about him.” If this was the right Johnny, I now had a last name to track him with.

  “Johnny Carney was Brad’s client. Once, maybe twice. Then Brad asked me to take Johnny off his hands, so to speak. That’s when Johnny started in on how much he loved Brad. Couldn’t ever deal with anyone else. You know the deal.”

  “Emily thinks he stalked Brad.”

  “Johnny was harmless.” Porter absently scratched at what passed for his facial hair.

  “Nobody’s harmless, Charlie. Nobody.”

  “Oh, Johnny is. He’s like a little kid. I think the guy is kind of slow, if you know what I mean.”

  “How serious was the stalking?”

  “I guess you could call it stalking.” Porter smiled as if remembering. “He came around two, three times a week according to Brad. Sat in reception which is all he ever did. I saw him a few times when I was there. He’s a peanut of a guy. Below average height. Big head. Forties and paunchy. He whines a lot but never does much of anything. He’d sit in reception for a while, then he’d leave.”

  “You ever take Johnny as a client, like Brad asked?”

  “I would’a, but he only wanted Brad. Like I said, he claimed he was in love. Love. Whatever that is.” Charlie sighed a deep, sad sigh.

  “Did Brad ever say Johnny maybe carried a weapon?”

  “Nah, Brad wanted to filed a complaint about the stalking. I’ve gotta laugh at that word, though. There was never a weapon and never any danger. Brad didn’t want Johnny scaring away other clients is all. Which would’a been the basis for his complaint. Brad never followed through on it.”

  Balancing dishes, the Mouse brought our food and gingerly set everything down.

  “Can I get you guys anything else?” He lingered, swaying like seaweed as he stood there.

  “We’re good, thanks.” I smiled up at him. He blushed and moved off to another table.

  “That it?” Porter asked. “You just wanted to know about Johnny?”

  “You telling me there’s something else I should know?” I already figured there were other things.

  “I’m not sure. Y’know? There were things…”

  “Like…?”

  “Like Brad was worried about something or someone. It wasn’t Johnny but he never told me about it. Just said he was afraid something would get out of hand.”

  “What?”

  “He never said. Just said he was sorry he got involved and wished he had better sense. Whatever that meant.”

  “Did he mention a former boyfriend?”

  “He mentioned he had one. An ex, I mean. Not a current boyfriend. He said the ex was a shit.”

  “That what he was worried about?”

  “Could be. Coulda been something else.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “If you ask me… You are askin’ me, aren’t you?” Porter looked me in the eye and smiled. “Brad wasn’t worried like boyfriend-worried, if you know what I mean. He was more worried than that.”

  “His ex was violent. Out of control. He tell you that? He tell you the boyfriend had put him in the hospital at least once?”

  “N-no… mygod… no, Brad never told me any of that.” Porter looked horrified. “Why? I mean, why’d he stay with that kind of man? I guess that puts everything in a new light.”

  “How so?”

  “Brad coulda been upset over that kind of guy. I did get the sense there was some kind of physical threat involved. That’s just my intuition. Brad never said that.”

  “He ever say a name? Like who might’ve threatened him? The ex’s name maybe?”

  “Well… not exactly…” Porter glanced from side to side as if he felt guilty about something.

  “You remembering something, Charlie?” I could tell Porter was the kind of guy who knows lots more than he lets on. Probably because he had ways of learning things that might be considered unconventional at best. Sneakily intrusive is more likely the way he operated.

  “I might be…” He looked as if he wanted to say more but was ashamed. “I kinda heard something once…”

  “Wanna share, Charlie?” Easy to see he needed reassurance, or maybe absolution, for his methods. “Listen, Charlie, nobody’s gonna blame you for overhearing something. Can’t be helped sometimes.” Overhearing, I was being nice. Porter was not the kind of guy who found things out accidentally. I saw that now.

  “I did overhear something but…”

  “Nobody has to know the information came from you. Understand? This is between us.” Never hurts to say things like that even if you can’t actually promise.

  “It was just a conversation, y’know? Didn’t make any sense. At least not until you told me about the violent boyfriend.”

  “What’d you hear?”

  “I was cleaning up after a client left and I heard Brad talking on his phone. His voice was raised. Sounded kind of excited. Maybe frightened, now I think about it.”

  “Okay. Did you hear what he said?”

  “Bits and pieces.” Porter paused. “He said something about not expecting to be put on the spot. He also said he didn’t like being forced to do anything against his will.”

  “Any names come up in this conversation?”

  “Not that… well… I’m not sure it was a name. Sounded like a name. Like I said I could only hear so much.”

  “Try to remember what it was, Charlie.”

  “I thought I heard him say Nat or Natas. Or it coulda been Matz. Of course he coulda been talking about bath mats for all I know.”

  ***

  I made sure Charlie knew how do get in touch if he thought of anything else. He hadn’t lied but he hadn’t told me everything either.

  My cell phone rang as I walked back to the office and Shim’s name appeared on caller ID.

  “What’s up, Detective? Any progress?”

  “No wonder you and Giuliani don’t see eye to eye,” Shim said. “You both have only one thing on your mind.”

  “And that would be… sex?”

  “Now I see the other reason you and Giuliani don’t get along,” Shim laughed.

  “Tell me you’ve got a lead that’s gonna break the case.”

  “I was going to ask if you had time for a drink. I could bring you up to speed. But don’t get your hopes up,” Shim said.

  “You mean about you asking me out for a drink, or…”

  Shim was silent. I’d obviously crossed a line he wasn’t ready to have me cross.

  “We can do this over the phone, I guess,” Shim said. “You have some time now?”

  That was disappointing and encouraging at the same time. Maybe he was interested but couldn’t deal with it except in his own way and time. Maybe I rowed out a little farther on that lake than he expected right then. Whatever it was, we were back at square one.

  “Call me back in ten minutes, if you can. I’ll be back in my office.”

  “In ten. Will do.” Shim hung up without a good-bye. Must’a been a real a sore spot I’d hit.

  I wondered if he’d ever try again or if I’d scared the pants off him. Too bad because I’d have liked scaring the pants off him. Okay, maybe not scaring them off.

  As I walked, lost in thoughts about Shim and missed opportunities, I realized someone walked alongside on my rig
ht. I turned to see Sorba, the radio loud mouth, matching my stride, his shoulder touching mine in a too-close-for-comfort way.

  “Sorba, what a pleasant surprise,” I said.

  He didn’t respond. As I was about to speak again, I felt a large presence to my left. Same shoulder to shoulder maneuver, except this guy was built like a refrigerator. An industrial model.

  “Great afternoon for a stroll, fellas.” I kept my attention on Sorba.

  “Yeah,” Sorba said. “Nice day, Fontana. You wanna keep it that way?”

  The two of them moved in and the squeeze was on. They obviously didn’t want me slipping through their meaty fingers.

  “I’m on my way back to the office. What about you guys? Goin’ to an all-you-can-eat raw meat buffet? I hear there’s a good…”

  “Shut it, Fontana,” Sorba said. “I’m thinkin’ we’ll go to your office with you. I got a little somethin’ to say and my friend here… Oh, excuse my manners. This is my good buddy Hatch. Short for Hatchet. Don’t let the name fool you, Hatch is a cruel sonofabitch. He’d just as soon rip off your face as look at you.”

  “Hatch! You remind me of a guy I used to know named Moose. Big chump in the fight game. Mind if I call you Moose?”

  “Funny man, Fontana. Maybe, some morning, assuming you get to see another morning, the business you’re in. Some morning, I’ll have you on my show,” Sorba said. “You can crack wise there all day. My audience loves a wiseass.”

  “Then I guess your ratings are up? What can I do for you?”

  “It’ll keep till we get to your office.”

  The walk was stiff, trapped as I was between two slabs of beef. We did a kind of prison shuffle as we moved through the gayborhood. The sidewalks were crowded and we got some pretty odd looks. I can only imagine the ideas people got when they saw us. For my part, I tried to figure out how to get rid of the goons. Probably the best course was to get them to the office, hear them out, then kick them out.

  “We’re here, boys. Let’s go up and you can tell me all your secrets.”

  Chapter 18

  The “boys” squeezed into the elevator with me. Not that there wasn’t plenty of room for all of us. They just didn’t want me to have much. I was able to breathe again once we got to my floor.