The Childish Churl (A Nick Williams Mystery Book 15)

by Frank W. Butterfield

  Carter and I followed the captain into the examining room. A body was laid out on a metal table and covered with a thick white sheet. A thin man wearing a surgeon's uniform pulled back the sheet to reveal the face. Compared to her mother, she looked peaceful. Almost happy.

  I nodded. "That's Alicia Grossman."

  The captain looked at Carter, who nodded as well. "That's her."

  Epilogue

  Offices of Consolidated Security

  Tuesday, October 25, 1955

  Just past 9 in the morning

  I sat in my chair and looked up at Mike, who had just walked into my office. "Thanks, again, for going with us to Oakland on Sunday."

  He nodded. "Of course. That was tough."

  "Yeah." I sighed. "You want any coffee?"

  He shook his head and walked over to the sitting area at the end of the room. As I walked around my desk, he said, "Nice drapes."

  I stopped and looked out the windows. "Yeah. They're just right, somehow." They were translucent, hung from floor to ceiling, and featured a seemingly random light green and aquamarine pattern. When they were closed, as they were then, the room took on a slightly blue color. It was very relaxing.

  Maybe a little too relaxing, I realized. I walked over and opened them up. There were two sets. The one that faced Market Street was a single long panel. The one behind my desk, that faced the Ferry Building, was also a single panel, just not as long.

  Mike said, "I'm sure you could get Henry to install an electric motor that would open and close them with the touch of a button."

  I nodded. "Carter already put in an order for that. Henry says they'll be installed like that in all our corner offices over the weekend. He just wanted us to see about the color first. How're yours?"

  "They're a kind of russet and gold. Sort of. I like the colors."

  Carter walked in right then. "What're we talking about?"

  "Draperies," said Mike with a bit of a snicker.

  Carter kissed me on the forehead and then walked over and flounced down on the sofa. "Mine are a light pink. I love 'em. I love the way the room looks."

  "I never went in for interior design," said Mike.

  Greg walked in right then and said, "We all know that, hon."

  "Hon?" I asked, with a grin.

  Mike laughed. "We're trying on terms of endearment."

  "Trying them on?" asked Carter.

  "Yeah," said Greg. "Fuckface just doesn't have the same meaning out in public." He coughed, suddenly realizing what he'd said. He was sitting in a chair next to Mike.

  I walked over and squeezed his cheek. I grinned down at him. "You do have the cutest fuckface."

  He pulled his head away from me as Mike said, "I'd be careful, Nick. He bites."

  I laughed and walked towards the door. "I'll keep that in mind. Coffee, anyone?"

  Carter and Greg said, "Me."

  I poked my head out the door and looked at Marnie. "Can you bring us three coffees when you get a chance, doll?"

  She stood, smoothed out her skirt, and ran around the desk. She hugged me tightly and said, "I've been waiting for you to say that all morning, Nick. Makes things feel normal again."

  I kissed her on the cheek. "I don't wanna bother you by asking you this, but how are you, doll?"

  She pressed her face into my coat. "Better. Glad to be at work."

  "I'm sorry you're here but I'm glad you're here, too."

  She nodded but didn't say anything.

  We stood there for a moment until she sighed and said, "Three coffees."

  I stepped back as she wiped away a couple of tears. "And bring one for yourself, if you want. We need you to be in this meeting, if you don't mind."

  She nodded and said, "I'll be right in."

  "Oh, before I forget."

  She stopped and asked, "Yeah, Nick?"

  "How did Miss Schepps take the move back downstairs?"

  Marnie grinned. "I think she was relieved. I guess the guys down there don't neck like you and Carter do."

  I laughed at that.

  "Also, she was having a hard time dealing with the mail."

  I nodded. "Her and me both. I never realized how much of that you had been taking care of. Thanks, doll."

  She smiled and walked towards the kitchen.

  . . .

  Once we had finished going over most of the open cases and hearing Greg's report from our new accountants, I said, "There are a couple of things I want to bring up before we finish."

  Everyone looked at me as I cleared my throat. "There are a couple of things that we haven't quite got right around here yet." Looking at Greg, I added, "But, thanks to you, we're on the right track."

  He nodded and looked down at the floor. Mike put his hand on Greg's thigh.

  I continued, "Carter, Mike, and I had a conversation yesterday about changing the ownership percentages in the company." I laughed. "That doesn't mean much because, as Greg just told us, we're still in the red. We could be in the red for a while. But, as I pointed out at the very beginning, and to paraphrase Orson Wells, we could lose a million a year on this job and I wouldn't run out of money anytime soon."

  Greg said, "Based on my conversation with the accountants we brought on, we could easily be in the black within a year. As long as we don't hire any new employees."

  I nodded thoughtfully. I wanted to say the next part very carefully. "Yes. That's good to know. But that doesn't matter to me." I paused to let that sink in. "We hire people for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is that these guys and gals need work and no one else will hire them. They're all smart, capable, and talented."

  Greg shrugged. "Yes, but we can't keep doing that forever."

  "Why not?" I asked.

  "Because eventually we'll be so big, you'll have to build a bigger building, for one thing."

  I shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me."

  Greg shook his head and looked down at the floor.

  "Greg," I said, trying to get him to look at me. "I... we... started this company because of an idiotic thing I did."

  Carter put his hand on my thigh and said, "It wasn't idiotic. It was brave."

  I nodded. "OK. But the point is that Carter, Mike, Ben White, and Carlo Martinelli were all kicked out on their asses because they knew me."

  Greg crossed his arms and stretched out his legs.

  "Look," I said, "I know you've heard that story a lot but what none of you, not even Carter, knows is what happened when I was sitting in the car with Mike over at Martinelli's apartment that night."

  "What?" asked Mike.

  "It was something you said. I understood why I'd always been so afraid of spending the money that I'd inherited."

  Carter shifted his weight on the sofa but didn't say anything. He took my left hand and held it against his chest. I could feel his heart beating.

  "It wasn't mine. I didn't earn it. I'm still not doing anything to earn all the money I have." I looked at Carter. "That we have."

  He gave me a crooked half-smile. That always made me melt a little.

  "The point is that I don't care if this is just one big charity. That's how it's gonna work. We're not here to make money. We're here to solve problems." I laughed. "And we don't always do that."

  Mike said, "We can't always. You're not Superman."

  "I'm Superman," said Carter.

  I looked at him with a grin. "What does that make me?"

  "Jimmy Olsen, of course."

  Everyone laughed at that.

  "What I'm saying here is simple. This is how it's gonna be. And anyone who is a shareholder in this company has to agree. Does anyone in this room disagree enough to walk out?"

  Marnie and Greg looked confused. "Uh, Nick," said Greg. "I'm not a shareholder."

  Marnie nodded. "Yeah, neither am I."

  I nodded. "Yeah. And that's a problem we need to fix."

  They both sat back as I said that.

  "After talking it over with Mike and Carter, we've decided to
move some things around. Provided you're willing to be a shareholder of a company that may never turn a profit, we want to give both of you a piece of the company."

  Marnie put her hand to her mouth and started crying.

  Greg looked at Mike in surprise. He got a kiss on the mouth in reply.

  "Carter and I will have twenty-two percent apiece. Mike will have twenty-six percent. Marnie will have eighteen percent. Greg will have twelve percent."

  Marnie stood and walked over to the windows. It reminded me of the night I had first come up with the idea. I asked, "Are you both in?"

  Greg said, "I don't know what to say. I wasn't expecting this at all. Not at all."

  Carter leaned in and said, "After the way you helped us organize the business, it just made sense. You were acting like an owner. And Nick and I know that you and Mike talk about this company as much as we do, if not more."

  "Probably more," I said with a grin.

  Greg nodded. "I'm in. Thanks, you guys. This is... Well..."

  Mike said, "Just say thanks, baby."

  "Baby?" asked Carter.

  I stood as the three of them laughed and walked over to where Marnie was standing. "You OK, doll?"

  She nodded but didn't reply. After a moment, she said, "Gee, Nick. My whole life is about to change, ain't it?"

  "Again. And, hopefully, for the better."

  "Can I still be just a secretary?"

  "Doll, you've never been just a secretary."

  She put her hand to her mouth and then said, "I don't know what to say."

  "Say goodnight, Gracie."

  "Goodnight, Gracie."

  We all laughed.

  Author's Note

  Thank you for buying and reading this book!

  This story, like all the others involving Nick & Carter, came to me out of thin air.

  Many thanks, as always, to everyone who has read, reviewed, and emailed me about the Nick & Carter books. It is deeply gratifying in ways that words will never be able to fully express. Thank you.

  Since June of 2016, I have been writing and publishing one book (or more) a month. Books are usually available around the 30th of each month. If you would like to be notified when the next volume will be available, you can subscribe to the Nick & Carter newsletter here:

  http://nickwilliamspi.com/subscribe/

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to the California Digital Newspaper Collection, hosted by the University of California at Riverside, I was able to browse copies of the San Bernardino Sun. This allowed me to locate the theater in San Bernardino that would most likely have been used for a movie premiere.

  As always, I have to thank the wonderful Beta readers who helped me bring this book to fruition. I am very grateful for your insights comments, and corrections. You gals and guys rock!

  Historical Notes

  The events in this book take place between Tuesday, October 11, 1955, and Tuesday, October 25, 1955

  Theodore "Teddy" Higginbotham, portrayed as the United States Attorney in San Francisco in March of 1955, is a wholly fictional person and does not resemble anyone I have known.

  Likewise, both Lord Gerald Whitcombe, a spy for the United Kingdom, and Carlos de Lima, a spy for the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, are utterly fictitious.

  As described in the story, the history of the development of the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River in Southern Rhodesia is generally accurate. That a Mozambican spy would have been trying to make sure that the dam would be built is fictional. Southern Rhodesia is now known as Zimbabwe. The capital, Salisbury, is now known as Harare.

  That a South African agent would have been peddling apartheid as something an American state legislature might want to adopt is fictitious, as far as I know.

  More Information

  Nick Williams Mysteries

  The Unexpected Heiress

  The Amorous Attorney

  The Sartorial Senator

  The Laconic Lumberjack

  The Perplexed Pumpkin

  The Savage Son

  The Mangled Mobster

  The Iniquitous Investigator

  The Voluptuous Vixen

  The Timid Traitor

  The Sodden Sailor

  The Excluded Exile

  The Paradoxical Parent

  The Pitiful Player

  The Childish Churl

  The Rotten Rancher

  Nick & Carter Stories

  An Enchanted Beginning

  Golden Gate Love Stories

  The One He Waited For

  Their Own Hidden Island

  . . .

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