by David Bishop
“Karen, is there some other reason you stopped by? I would love your company any other time, but I’m pretty whipped and I need to get started in the morning.”
“Can I talk to you, Matt. I mean, really talk. My deepest concerns, my hopes, it won’t take long.” She turned toward me, the fabric’s embrace of her legs more intense.
I needed to hear this, her reason for coming. “Go ahead,” I said, my eyes on her gams, as I might describe her legs in one of my novels. My condition eliminated me as a participant, but not as an enthusiastic observer.
“Well, you know the general won’t be with us much longer. I so wish I could change that, but the doctors say there is nothing further they can do.” I nodded. “Well, you are aware that his will provides for all of us, with Eddie receiving the overwhelming majority.”
Standing was now getting uncomfortable so I decided to try sitting with her on the couch. “You’re gonna end up with two point five million.” I slowly angled myself toward her the way we all do when talking to someone sitting beside us.
“Yes. But Eddie will receive close to fifteen million.”
“That’s the general’s decision. Have you talked to him about your feeling it’s not fair to you?”
“Not directly. Not in so many words. Still, you’re right. He has made it clear that’s how he wants it to be.”
“You told me a few days ago that you had no thoughts about deserving more. That, given the way you were raised, over two million seemed like all the money in the world. You’ve certainly changed your mind rather quickly.”
“I guess I deserve that, Matt. I’ve always tried to be bigger than, I don’t know, being selfish. Truth is I’ve had these thoughts for some time. I’ve just kept them to myself.”
I got up and went in the kitchen for a glass and two fingers of Irish. Karen said no to Irish, but asked if I had a Diet Coke. “No glass,” she said, “I like the feel of the can against my lips.” I brought our drinks in and sat down.
“So, as the general’s death gets closer, your selfish thoughts have started demanding more consideration. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Well, yes.” She put the cold soda can against her lips, keeping it there a little longer than necessary to take her first drink.
“His will is pretty clear. There doesn’t seem to be any way to change it without convincing the general to amend it.” I sat back slowly and took a small drink of my own. The burn on the inside of my mouth was less than earlier. I swished it around before medicinally swallowing.
“There is a provision in the will-” She stopped speaking and looked at me, then looked down.
There it was. The reason she came by. “You mean the part about if Eddie predeceases the general. That part?”
“Yes, Matt.” She moved closer and put her hand on my thigh, her face near enough for my battered lips to sense the warmth of her breath. “That part. We could be very rich together. Live a wonderful life of love and travel. Enjoy the best of everything.”
“I’ve got enough for the way I like to live. The answer is no.”
“You’ve killed before. For less than I’m offering.”
“I won’t do it. Even though everything inside me that beats and feels wants me to.”
“But we could be together always.”
“I won’t kill for you and spend the rest of my life wondering when my turn will come. You need me now, but afterwards you won’t.”
“But I love you, Matt. I know it’s sudden. It can happen that way. It’s happened to me.”
“No!” I slapped her in the face. Hard. I put my hand flat on the cushion beside me and squeezed, drawing it into a fist of fabric. I held my breath until the rat running around the pain wheel in my chest slowed to a canter.
She put her open hand on her cheek, then ran her index finger across her bottom lip, her mouth open slightly as her finger moved across it. “I guess I deserved that.”
“No guess about it.”
I looked at her hard. She looked down to the floor. Guilt made her do that. My bare feet weren’t that attractive.
“You’re an educated, beautiful woman who will soon inherit well over two million dollars. Get control of yourself.”
Karen got up and walked to the glass slider and looked out toward the ocean.
“Why don’t you get Cliff to do it? You’ve had him wrapped around your finger for years.”
“I don’t love Cliff. I’m in love with you. I want us to be together.”
What that probably meant is she knew that Cliff couldn’t figure out how to do it with a solid chance of getting away with it. And that Fidge would tie Cliff in knots during interrogation until he gave her up, whether or not he meant to.
“You’re right, Matt. But I’m afraid. Without more money I just don’t know. I put on a good front about being self-reliant, but at night I just get scared about being alone. The general has always been the strong man protecting me. I need you for that now. Aren’t you ever afraid of being alone, of the dark?”
“The darkness is not frightening. Only the imagination of what might be there if the darkness was not. If I do as you ask, you’ll be there, every night in the darkness. And I’ll be wondering when I’ll become excess baggage.”
I got up and walked to the other side of the room. She followed.
“I know we haven’t spent a lot of time together yet, but I love you. You love me don’t you, Matt?”
“I’m in love with the idea of being in love with you.”
“Go along with me on this, Matt. You’ll never be sorry. We can be happy.”
“No. I won’t be your patsy.”
I opened the door and glared at her until she walked out into the hallway.
I shut the door.
Chapter 30
I hadn’t slept well last night, the pain in my cracked rib being the biggest hunk of the reason. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that Karen Whittaker’s offer had lingered, chewing on the edge of my resolve. I had pegged her wrong and started wondering what else I had wrong.
I didn’t like Eddie Whittaker, and frankly I didn’t think anyone did. Not Charles, not Karen, not even his grandfather who loved him, but I don’t think liked him. Not even the chauffeur Cliff cared much for him. Cliff had tried to be his friend, but Eddie had been born to eat filet while Cliff dined on canned ham. Eddie had hung out with Cliff only while he wanted to learn something Cliff could teach him. Then he tossed Cliff aside like a terminated tutor.
I remember having looked at the clock after two in the morning. That was the last time I had looked. I woke at nine-thirty to find hot coffee waiting with a note beside the pot: You didn’t mention having an early appointment so I let you sleep. Axel.
I did a few easy twists and deep knee bends. Well they were more like shallow knee bends, but it did take out some of the stiffness. I buttered a muffin and poured a mug of coffee then went out on the patio. I had to get going, but first I had to figure out where my going would take me.
*
Axel called at eleven to say Eddie had just teed off to play a round of golf with three other guys. Axel had checked with the pro shop to learn they paid to play eighteen holes. That would keep Eddie in one place for at least four hours. We decided to meet at Mackie’s for lunch. I wanted to hear more specifics about Eddie’s movements.
The lunch gave me the opportunity to meet Axel’s driver’s ed teacher, Buddha Grunsky. I immediately knew the appropriateness of his name. Buddha stood about six feet, but had a matching width, a bald head and stern face with a soft, almost feminine voice. We took the table for six at the back, one that let Buddha move the table to give him more room. Mackie waved off his waitress and came over to take our order. I chose a beef dip. Axel had his usual, a bacon, lettuce and tomato with chunky peanut butter. Buddha said that both sandwiches sounded good so he ordered one of each. I motioned to Mackie to bring me the check. He nodded.
They asked me about being abducted and how I was feeling. I r
aised my head in case they had never before seen an author with a purple and yellow face.
“You don’t look like you’re moving much better than last night,” Axel opined.
“And that’ll likely be the case for a good while yet. Doc Medford’s got me wrapped up like one of Mackie’s deli sandwiches to go. I see the doc again next week and we’ll go from there.”
Mackie brought our food over. He carried mine and Axel’s and had one of his nubile waitresses carry Buddha’s two plates. She looked familiar. She should have, she was Axel’s friend, Hillie. “Hello, Mr. Kile,” she said. Axel introduced her to Buddha. When she stepped around the back of the booth to leave she leaned in and kissed Axel on the side of his forehead. My self-appointed staff man beamed like he finally had what he thought he never would, a family, recent and adopted, well, sort of, but a family. Then she circled back and took Buddha’s soda glass to refill. Axel and I hadn’t touched ours.
“Okay,” I said, “tell me about Eddie’s movements.”
“Just what we’ve been reportin’ boss. He eats, plays, goes to see his broker, and dates some great looking dolls.” Axel and Buddha looked at each other and shook their grinning heads. If you can picture two high school boys talking about the lucky quarterback who gets all the cheerleaders, you have a good idea of the grins Axel and Buddha just shared. Buddha’s grin was the first indication he had teeth.
“What about the biker bar?”
“It’s down on Paseo Del Mar out near the point. But it weren’t nothing. He went in, came out a few minutes later and left.”
“Could he have stopped for a sandwich or a beer?”
“Wasn’t in there long enough to even order it and have it brought, let alone eat it.”
“Then what?”
“He left following the same route he had taken to get there.”
Axel did the talking while Buddha ate, although the big one nodded his head now and then to evidence his agreement with whatever Axel said. A reasonable practice given that Buddha had two lunches to eat to our one.
“What route did he take?”
“Can’t tell you exactly. We didn’t write it down. He drove past Angels Gate Park and then angled onto Old something Road, then through some industrial area.”
That’s the area where Podkin took me to hang while he beat on me. “Did he stop anywhere?”
“No,” Axel said.
Buddha spoke for the first time since his food arrived. He had finished his BL amp;T on toast and hadn’t yet started on his beef dip. “He did slow, Ax. No stop sign or nothing, he just slowed. You know, that one block where the buildings sat back off the road.”
This time Axel nodded his head. “That’s right. He did. Both on the way out to the point and on the way back. Same place, right?” Buddha went back to nodding as he dipped the first end of his beef sandwich in the au jus. This sandwich came with coleslaw; his BL amp;T had come with fries. He had fat fingers, like bratwurst with fingernails.
“Can you find your way back to that building?”
Axel looked at Buddha who said, “I think so,” while forking the last of his coleslaw out of a small bowl that disappeared inside his cupped hand. “Yeah. It might take a couple of minutes when we get over near there, but sure. We can find it.”
“What makes that building important, boss? Eddie didn’t even pull into the parking lot.”
“From what you said, it might be the building where I was held. But then that neighborhood has lots of industrial buildings so the odds aren’t good. Still, let’s eliminate the possibility.”
“Let’s go,” Axel said, rising from the chair. We had sat on one side and Buddha on the other. That seating arrangement seemed reasonable as that put two meals on each side of the table.
“Let Buddha finish eating.” I motioned Mackie over by holding up my credit card. Axel sat back down.
I followed them in my car. They made a few wrong turns as we kept coming around the block and back to Old Fort Road. Then they turned onto W 22nd Street and slowed. After a couple of blocks they pulled to the curb. I pulled in behind them, across from the building where I had spent more time with Ernest Podkin than anyone should ever have to spend with the man. The lot was empty. I got out and walked up to the driver’s door.
“Is that it? That one,” I pointed.
“That’s it, boss. That one there,” he pointed at the same building I had. “The one with the green and white metal awning over the window.”
“Thanks, guys.” I started to turn.
“That’s where you got worked over?”
“Yep. That’s the place.”
“That can’t be no coincidence. Appears like Eddie’s the man behind you getting snatched.”
“That would be one explanation. Still, that building is owned by the general so Eddie could be looking at it in relation to some use for it. He might plan to sell or lease it out. Remember, he expects he’ll soon be inheriting the general’s assets which will include that building.”
“Do you want we should keep the tail on him?”
“Absolutely. Now, you boys should be beating it over to the golf course so you can pick Eddie back up. Buddha, nice to meet you, I appreciate you helping us out, also teaching Axel how to drive. When he gets his license and can drive himself, my life will get easier.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Kile. Anything else?”
“Yes. Axel, you need to get with Ms. Clara Birnbaum down the hall from you. She needs you to go to the store for her. She’s going to bake us a banana cream pie, but only if she gets the fixings. If you don’t get it done for her, she expects me to go.”
“I already went for her the other day. I’ll take care of Clara. She may have our banana cream ready some time today.”
*
Two hours later, I had a plan. It hadn’t taken full shape, but it had a clear overall theme. I called Axel and told him to get a hold of his graveyard man and give him the night off. “I want you and Buddha to stay with him and call me every hour tonight starting at eight to let me know Eddie’s location. I expect to be relieving you myself.”
Chapter 31
Axel called at eight to say he and Buddha were sitting outside Michael’s, the Italian restaurant on east Second Street in the Naples area.
“Eddie went in with some doll. They’ve been in there long enough to know they’re having dinner or doing some serious drinking.”
“Okay, Axel. I’m heading your way. Oh, yeah, I’m driving Mackie’s unmarked white van. Let me know if they leave before you hear from me. When I’m there, you and Buddha can take the rest of the night off. I’ll fill you in later.”
“Why you driving Mackie’s van?”
“No time for questions.”
“Okay, boss. Call me when you’re in position. You sure you don’t want to tell me what you’re up to?”
“After it plays out and I’ve got something to tell.”
The drive to the Naples area of Long Beach took me a hustling twenty minutes, without consideration of my rib cage. When I got near, I called Axel. They had a parking spot which gave them a good view of Eddie’s car. I had Axel and Buddha pull out of their space and I pulled in. I took out my binoculars and settled back, watching the block leading up to the four-door black Lexus Eddie was driving tonight.
At nine-fifteen I recognized Eddie coming toward his car with a young lady with blond shoulder length hair walking to his inside, away from the roadway. She wore platform heels, and walked with her hand a tentacle around Eddie’s bicep. She was what I once heard Axel call a one-and-a-quarter dame. Which Axel describes as a gal with one quarter too much makeup, one quarter too much jewelry, and one quarter too fancy a hairdo. She was attractive, but she fit Axel’s definition.
I followed them back to some apartments off Wardlow where Eddie parked on a side street. She used a card key to get them through a side gate. With my binoculars I could see them walk down a center corridor through a landscaped area and around a building to the right.
I slipped into Ernest Podkin’s black leather jacket and his gray cap. I would have preferred the cap have a bigger front bill, but it didn’t. I also had an extra-large shirt on with a small couch pillow under the shirt, inside the zipped up jacket. This closely compared to Podkin’s build. In my hand I held a half a dozen cotton balls.
I waited.
At eleven, Eddie came around the corner of the building at the far right side of the landscaped courtyard area. I had turned the dome light off in Mackie’s van. I shut the door gently and hurriedly walked toward the bushes to the side of the gate Eddie would come through to get back to where he had parked.
By the time I got in position, I had Poddy’s hat pulled down partway on my forehead and the cotton balls lining my jawline between my teeth and my cheeks.
Eddie opened the metal gate, and closed it gently. I appreciated his having shut the gate quietly. With what I had in mind I didn’t need to attract the attention of any apartment dwellers who might be up late. As he stepped away from the gate, he had his back to me. I took one step from the shadow and pressed the barrel of a fake gun into his back. He froze.
“Turn easy,” I said with my voice deeper than natural.
“What do you want? Is this a robbery?”
“Not exactly. I’m going to keep this gun in my pocket so as to not attract attention, but my finger remains on the trigger. Get me?”
I sensed him going rigid. “What do you want?”
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t happen to have that much on me.”
“You’re a real smartass, Mr. Whittaker. Yeah. I know who you are and I know what you’re gonna inherit. So let me tell you why I’m in your face.”
He worked his hands down into his pants’ front pockets. I had watched him walk. He had no gun. I stayed inside the shadow where the building blocked the floodlight.