Body on Pine

by DeMarco, Joseph R. G.

  “That’s what Shuster told you?”

  “Yes,” Shuster said. “That’s all. If I’d given him more details, he couldn’t deny he knew what was going on. Naturally, I didn’t tell him much.” The panic remained plastered on Shuster’s face but the color slowly returned.

  “You’re barking up this tree because Terrabito and his lapdog Nolan put you onto the scent, right?” Kelley snorted his contempt. “You’re like a stupid bloodhound.” He looked at me with disdain, sat on the long sofa in the center of the room, and drained his glass.

  “Is that what you think? ‘Cause I got a whole different idea…”

  “Which is…?” Kelley held out his glass to Shuster. “Get me another.”

  Shuster hustled over, took the glass, and went to the alcove bar.

  “Lookit how Shuster runs in circles for you. Gets drinks, makes underhanded deals, takes the fall if asked. Like the expendable political creature he is. So…” I turned to Shuster, still at the bar. “Doesn’t surprise me you did the money transfer so nobody knew it came from Kelley. You hustle up drinks, contributors, sex partners. Whatever the little big man wants. Right?”

  Shuster returned to Kelley with the refilled glass. “You’re crazy Fontana.” He placed the drink in Kelley’s hand, then stood to the side. “Mr. Kelley had nothing to do with it.”

  “Not the way I see it.” I filled in the blanks as I moved along but now that I was here, I knew I was right.

  “Just what is it you see?” Kelley said.

  “I don’t have all the answers yet. That’s one reason I agreed to meet tonight. Shuster promised to fill me in.”

  “I wasn’t going to implicate Mr. Kelley, if that’s what you thought.”

  “You didn’t intend to, but that didn’t work out. He’s here and that makes me suspicious… Not too difficult to connect the dots leading to…”

  “Josh Nolan.” Shuster blurted out the name. “I did it for him. You were right. About me having a thing for him. I did. I still do. I can’t say no to him and he uses that.”

  “That so?” I said. A bigger bucket of bullshit didn’t exist, if you didn’t count political speeches. “What was Nolan’s reason for paying Brad Lopes?”

  “He… uh… it was…”

  “Maybe he wanted to keep the guy quiet,” Kelley said. “Nolan’s a closet case. Probably had a good time with this Brad then regretted it. Paid to stop him from ruining his career.” Kelley’s voice became more slurry with each sip of booze, but his eyes remained sharp and clear.

  “Maybe, but I don’t think so. That’s not the way things happened.”

  “Why not?” Shuster was petulant. “Brad was desperate for money to renovate that spa. He told me he’d do anything to get it. He said he’d spoken to Nolan and was gonna spill the beans about having sex with Nolan.”

  “You know,” I said. “You make it all sound plausible.”

  “Because it’s true,” Shuster insisted.

  “Sounds right unless you truly know Brad and Nolan. See?”

  “It’s what happened.”

  “You’re telling some of the truth, Shuster. Which always makes a lie sound good. But it’s not the whole truth.”

  “Oh, tell us the whole truth, why don’t you?” Kelley mumbled, staring into his drink.

  “I’ll do that. You’re not gonna like it. Neither of you.” I walked over to the sofa in the alcove and sat down forcing them to turn in my direction. I wanted them off balance. “You were right about one thing, Shuster.”

  “I was totally right.”

  “When you said Brad was desperate for money, you were telling the truth. He’d told you just how desperate he was, right?”

  “We talked a few times.”

  “You talked a lot. Your name’s all over Brad’s appointment book. You should’a paid him rent, you were there so much.”

  Shuster was silent.

  “Brad surely told you about his dreams which were bigger than the money Wheeler invested. Bigger than the cash he pulled in from his work.”

  “He was ambitious,” Shuster said. “I admired that.”

  “You took advantage of his ambition.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “You were already in the middle of a situation with Branko, Berwick, and Wheeler and the politicians you work for. It was easy putting it all together from the bits and pieces you left.”

  “You’re pulling things out of the air to build your case. It won’t work.”

  “Stay with me and see.” I stared at them. “When Brad told you he’d pulled jury duty and had to reschedule your massage, you probably quizzed him about the jury he was on… am I warm?”

  “You’re crazy. I told you—”

  “Keep listenin’, bucko,” I said. “You knew Branko was going to trial.”

  “So what if we knew?” Kelley snapped.

  “It was important because Branko threatened to reveal everything he knew about contracts you’d been involved with, about land developments, and about uncooperative property owners who’d had mysterious accidents. If he got convicted, he’d spill everything and you’d all be toast. Following me, guys?”

  “You’re crazy, Fontana,” Shuster said without conviction.

  “Once you told Kelley that Brad was a juror on Branko’s trial, Kelley came up with the idea to corrupt Brad.”

  “You’re a real storyteller you are,” Kelley said.

  “There’s more. You got Shuster to convince Brad to vote ‘Not Guilty’ no matter what. Then you funneled money through Shuster to Brad. More money than the poor guy ever dreamed of. He couldn’t resist and agreed to do what you’d asked. You thought you’d found the perfect way out. How’s that so far?”

  “Fanciful. Why would I fear this man Branko?” Kelley said.

  “Konstantin Branko. You sent government contracts his way. And he did lots of favors for you and your contributors.”

  “Contracts? Listen carefully, Fontana. Here’s a civics lesson: handling contracts is part of what we do in government. We make sure things get done. Contracts, projects, you name it. There are hundreds. I can’t remember the name of every person I deal with.”

  “Even if you don’t remember Branko’s name, he remembered yours, Kelley.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kelley’s voice tightened. “Did Branko directly implicate me?”

  “You’re spinning a great fantasy, Fontana. That’s all it is. The money had nothing to do with a jury,” Shuster said. “I gave Brad the money for Nolan. To keep Brad from ruining Nolan.”

  “Sure you did.”

  “You said you had records. Bank records, right? Then you should be able to tell who it came from before I got it. It was Nolan’s money.”

  “Funny thing about those records.” I waited while Shuster squirmed. Kelley appeared lost in his glass of liquid gold. But I knew he was listening intently.

  “What’s funny? You found enough to implicate me, didn’t you?”

  “Right. We found records implicating you. Only you. The money didn’t come from Nolan,” I said. “His records are clean. He doesn’t make that kinda money anyway.”

  “No… you must’ve missed something… I did it for Josh. He gave me the money…”

  “You did it, but not for Nolan. You did it for Kelley and his friends.”

  “You’ve got no proof,” Shuster hissed. “It’s all speculation.”

  “It’s more than speculation. Your boss and his cronies used you. They’re letting you hang. They made sure the money can’t be traced to them. The trace stops at you, bucko.”

  “You can’t prove any of it—”

  “What’s the phrase? Leaving you to twist slowly in the wind? That’s what they’re doing.”

  “No!” Shuster shouted. “None of that is true. But… this must be…” Shuster’s eyes brightened with whatever new thought was forming. “Somebody’s paying you to make it look like the truth…Fontana, you’re being paid to make me look bad…
”

  “Why would anyone do that? You’re a nobody…”

  “To smear Kelley’s campaign. To make sure he loses the primary.”

  “You’re way off, bucko. Kelley’s using you and now he’s—”

  “He wouldn’t do that. But Terrabito would or Nolan. How much are they paying you?”

  “Think about it, Shuster. Whoever’s behind this, they’ve concealed their involvement. They knew it would come to this, so they left you holding the bag.”

  “Bull,” Shuster said, but he didn’t sound so sure now.

  “When all the shit comes down, it’s gonna come down on you. Any idea what the sentence is for jury tampering?”

  “More bullshit,” Shuster’s voice quavered.

  “You’ll be away a long—”

  “Okay, okay… I’ve told you the truth. The money was a payment from Nolan to keep the masseur quiet. But let’s play your game. Say there was jury tampering. I’m not saying there was, you understand…”

  “You’re a bigger fool than I imagined.” Kelley said.

  “No… what’re you saying, Pat? Let’s play his game for a minute. Trust me, Pat.”

  “Trust you? Look where it’s got me…”

  Ignoring Kelley, Shuster turned to me.

  “There was jury tampering according to you.”

  “That’s correct,” I said, wondering where he was headed.

  “So tell me, why didn’t it work? A jury is usually rigged to get a not guilty verdict, right? So why did Branko get convicted?”

  “I’ll hazard a guess, that okay with you?”

  “Guessing is all you’ve done so far. One more won’t hurt.” Shuster’s confidence shone in his eyes.

  “I’m guessing your bribe didn’t work on Brad. He took the money but the poor guy was too honest to go through with it. So, Branko gets the orange jumpsuit and three meals a day courtesy of the taxpayers.”

  Shuster was quiet.

  “Hey, I’ll throw in another guess for free. Whaddaya say, Shuster?”

  He glanced at Kelley then glared at me.

  “My guess: Brad told you he’d pay back the money. That he needed time but he’d pay it back. Probably begged you, right?”

  “You’re way off… he was…” Shuster mumbled.

  “Brad trusted you. Right? I mean, you were a long time client.”

  “I…”

  “So long, in fact, he considered you a friend. I’ll bet you counted him as a friend. Or, maybe you wanted more than a friendship?”

  “I… we… we were close…”

  “What happened? If you liked him, why’d you use him? If you were friends?”

  “It wasn’t like that. I wanted to help him.”

  “By putting him in danger?”

  “Wheeler gave him so much money. Brad was dazzled. How could I compete? I couldn’t give him much of anything. Then… then this…”

  “Shut the fuck up, Shuster. Shut up or I’ll—”

  “Don’t listen to him, Shuster. Just tell me… you’ve been wanting to tell someone.”

  “This… this opportunity comes along, and I can give Brad money. All he hadda do was…”

  “But he couldn’t. You made him beg you to take the money back. Made him beg. A person you had feelings for. You made him grovel. It’s disgusting. You’re disgusting, Shuster.”

  Shuster stared at the carpet. “H-he… Brad was soft… he… I shouldn’t—”

  “Shut up!” Kelley, suddenly alert, stood and turned to Shuster. “Shut up or—”

  “Yeah, shut up, Shuster. So they can put you away for murder in addition to jury tampering. Listen to your boss. He’s got your best interests at heart.”

  Shuster glanced from me to Kelley then back again.

  “M-murder? What… I didn’t murder anyone…”

  “Might as well have. As soon as you put that cash into Brad’s hands, he was as good as dead if he didn’t play ball.”

  “I… it wasn’t like that… Pat said… Tell him, Pat… tell him!”

  Before Kelley could open his mouth, someone pounded on the door.

  Kelley froze. Shuster went wide-eyed with fear.

  “It… it must be…”

  The pounding got louder.

  “Who?” Kelley demanded.

  “H-him… must be… I f-forgot… he w-was waiting…”

  I knew I’d been right. Whoever was at the door had probably been left waiting in Judy Garland Park. Now he was here wanting to know why.

  “Open the door, you stupid fuck,” Kelley shouted. “Before all the neighbors take a look and see that thug. How did he get in anyway?”

  Shuster hesitated, stepped back then forward, then started toward the door. The pounding made Shuster flinch as he walked. Hand on the doorknob, he hesitated again.

  I stayed in the alcove, hidden from the view of anyone not in the center of the living room. I pulled my gun from the shoulder holster knowing I could watch and listen from this position.

  The door opened. I heard someone rush in, and Shuster grunted as if he’d been pushed, hard.

  “Wha’the fuck you guys doin’ up here?” The voice was way too familiar. Brought back memories of a recent car ride. Matus.

  “W-we…” Shuster started to speak.

  “Asshole detective didn’t showing up? You are leaving me standing in park and not telling me he is no show?”

  “Get out, Matus… you’ve got to leave… he’s—”

  “Tell me why you are leaving me standing in filthy park…”

  I flattened myself against the wall, moved so I could see a piece of the room, and took the safety off the gun.

  “No… Fontana didn’t want to… he wouldn’t fall for it…”

  “You are telling me he is here? In apartment?”

  From my vantage point, I saw Matus barge into the room, brandishing his gun.

  He spotted me as he moved. I trained my gun on him.

  “Asshole detective.” Matus spat out the words.

  I kept my gun on him.

  “You need more lessons from Matus, huh?” He pointed his gun at me and waved me into the main room.

  I didn’t move.

  “You are stubborn like pig.” Matus moved toward Shuster, roughly pushed the frightened man into a chair then held the gun to Shuster’s head. “Put gun on floor or I make hole in head of fat man.”

  I stayed where I was, gun pointed at Matus.

  “Fontana!” Shuster screamed. “Listen to him. He’s… he’s… he’ll do it. He doesn’t care.”

  “Listen to fat man. He is speaking truth. I don’t care,” Matus said and smacked Shuster on the head with his gun.

  “Fontana! Please…” Shuster yelped.

  I tossed my handgun to the floor. The weight of the gun strapped to my ankle reassured me.

  “Kick gun to me.”

  Giving the gun a kick I watched it slide off toward the right, nowhere near Matus.

  “Asshole plays games.”

  “I tossed the gun, now leave him alone,” I said.

  Matus pushed Shuster aside roughly and laughed as Shuster scrambled toward the wall.

  “Tell your boss he’s got a problem now,” Kelley said, his voice shaky. “A real problem.”

  “I am telling no one no such things,” said Matus. “You are making problem going away. Or I will make you going away. Like I am making other problems disappear.”

  “Fontana knows everything,” Shuster blurted. “He knows.”

  “Shut your mouth,” Kelley said.

  “No. Talk, fat man! How does he know?”

  “He knows. He’s smart.” Shuster said. “He put things together.”

  “No. You have told him. This is how he is knowing. Boss will not be happy man.”

  “I said nothing,” Shuster complained. “Nothing. He guessed about the money. He knows we bribed that juror—”

  “Little fag? At filthy spa? You are telling him this?”

  “No!”

&
nbsp; “You are telling him is Branko’s money?”

  Shuster was silent.

  “Don’t say another word, Shuster,” Kelley snapped.

  “How could I tell him that?” Shuster put out a hand to steady himself. He wobbled as if he were about to faint.

  “Shut your mouth,” Kelley said.

  “Why should I? Think Fontana won’t find out it was your money I gave to Brad? Money you got from Branko. He’d find out sooner or later.”

  Matus looked at each of us in turn, unsure what he should do. He pointed his gun first at Shuster, then me, then Kelley.

  “Why’d you do it, Shuster?” I said, keeping an eye on Matus.

  “Branko said he’d ruin all of them if he was convicted. Fixing the jury was his price for silence.”

  “You’re a useless fool,” Kelley said.

  “It’s true then… what Fontana said… you were going to let me take the fall for you…?”

  “You don’t know anything,” Kelley said.

  “Boss will not like mess—”

  “Should’ve thought about that when you killed Brad.” I said. All of it was clear now, I knew what’d happened.

  “Fag should keep promise. He is taking money and not keeping promise.”

  “So you murdered him and Wheeler and Vega.”

  “Fag betrays us, others are knowing too much.”

  “What happens now, Matus?” Kelley said as if they were old buds.

  “Someone must be paying. Detective knows too much. Fat man cannot keep mouth shut.”

  “I’m calling the police…” Shuster said, not moving an inch.

  “Go on. Call police. They will be finding dead fat man and Matus will be gone.”

  Shuster eyed the phone just out of his reach. “I won’t say a word, Matus. Not a word.” He made a slight, almost involuntary, move toward the phone.

  “Do not move!” Matus shouted, aiming at Shuster.

  Shuster seemed dazed. As if he hadn’t heard Matus. He stepped closer to the phone.

  Matus was riveted on Shuster.

  “Stop! Now!” Matus shouted at Shuster. He paid me no attention, certain I was unarmed.

  “Don’t do this, Matus.” I said as calmly as I could.