Yokche:The Nature of Murder

by P. J. Erickson

  “Of course. No problem but we must talk. There’s something really weird going on here. You know that piece of junk metal you gave me? It belongs to De Brandt Minerals, the South African Mining Company.” Annie could only hear silence on the other end of the line. “Chase?”

  “Yeah, sorry. I’m here. Just thinking. Good work Annie. I’ve gotta go. We’ll touch base later, okay?” The line went dead.

  Annie stared at it. Kenny murdered. Well, she’d better get on it. She didn’t want her favorite man in the hoosegow, besides, this was getting really interesting. “Sophie girl, you doin all right up there? Don’t you worry none. We’re getting there. We’ll find out what happened to you and I’ll take care of that badass brother of yours.”

  Rose dropped the mail on Annie’s desk. “Who’re you talking to? You losing it too now?”

  “Nah. Its just starting to come together.”

 

 

  Forty-one

  Chase and Shanna rode long and hard and they were in Orlando before Chase felt it safe to stop. They pulled into a biker-style bar and ordered onion cheeseburgers and fries with beer, both of them famished, stiff and windblown from the long ride. The place was almost empty and Chase had chosen a booth in the corner away from the other customers. He played something loud on the jukebox and as they ate they discussed their next move.

  Shanna had been horrified to hear of Kenny’s death, but as she had never met him, she was spared the grief process and her analytical mind could fully function in trying to figure out what was going on.

  Chase wolfed down his hamburger and as Shanna ate he outlined what they knew so far. Frowning in concentration he shook his head with frustration. “The only thing I know for sure is that Sophie was murdered.” Chase started to write on his napkin, item by item. “Sophie was with Joe until midnight. She would never have left Joe and gone to a golf course in a storm and certainly not at that time of night. Her body was moved there. She didn’t die there. That much we know.” Chase was able to be somewhat dispassionate in discussing Sophie now that so many other things had happened.

  “When she and Joe were camping, Sophie saw something that caused her to be shot at. From what Joe told me, it was some kind of weird equipment he couldn’t identify. Next thing you know, she’s dead and my house is tossed. Sophie worked for Myles Hickman. I think she talked to Hickman about it and I think Hickman is dirty as hell. I don’t know how but that prick is up to his neck in this. The whole thing is somehow tied up with lightning. Hickman studied lightning. That storm that supposedly killed Sophie was some kind of freak weather aberration.”

  Shanna almost choked on her hamburger. Spluttering she reached for her beer. “You mean you think Myles Hickman deliberately killed Sophie with a thunderstorm?” she asked incredulously.

  Chase looked a little sheepish. “I feel like one of those people who saw a UFO and doesn’t want to own up. But yeah.” He stuck his chin out stubbornly, “why not? When Joe and I were in Starke we saw for ourselves that lightning can now be controlled and called up at will.”

  “Called up with a flick of your fingers. Good grief. Next you’ll be telling me some guy in a white beard and a fancy cloak stuck a sword in a stone for you to pull out. That’s insane. Tell me you're joking.” Shanna had been so surprised she had gotten a little loud.

  “Keep it down.” Chase looked around to make sure no one was listening and growled at her while he rolled his eyes at the other diners, hoping they would think he had a girlfriend with a hysterical jealous fit on his hands.

  Lowering her voice Shanna asked, “What about Dominick, Chase? Do you think he’s mixed up in this too? He had that formula belonging to Myles Hickman and he has been very secretive about Myles being a client. The formula mentioned lightning too, and graphite.”

  “Yeah.” Chase nodded. “And Sophie’s notes mentioned graphite and industrial diamonds.” Perhaps we are getting somewhere.”

  “Where?” Shanna was shaking her head vigorously. “You surely can’t believe there is some fantastic plot connecting diamonds and lightning? This is getting ridiculous. It’s like something out of a James Bond movie. You can’t be serious?”

  “Why not?” Chase was thinking furiously. “Annie said that piece of equipment I took her belonged to De Brandt Company, that’s a subsidiary of South African Diamonds, Inc. and Joe and I found it at the campsite where Sophie was shot at. And what’s more, why couldn’t that storm that sunk our canoe have been deliberate? Someone’s been tailing us around. Someone broke into your place and you and I had only just met. You had a nice dull life till you met me didn’t you?” Chase grinned at her devilishly.

  Shanna made a face but she had to concede the point. “Dull and normal.” She straightened up suddenly. “That fight at the campground..?”

  “Yes.” Chase nodded. As many years as I have been going to Daytona, I rarely saw a fight. There was some ginger-haired dude wandering around there in a black leather duster like some caricature from a bad western. He stirred up Baldy and tried to stir up the others. I saw him in Boot Hill too and what about the guy with the black Explorer who’s been following you.”

  “And then there’s Kenny.” Chase’s face darkened with anger. “I don’t know who killed him but the guy in the leather duster is the only suspect we’ve got right now and he was in the area, so that makes him a lot more dangerous than I thought.”

  “But why?” Shanna was appalled at the casual way in which Kenny’s life had been taken. “What had Kenny got to do with all this?”

  Chase pulled out Kenny’s little black book from his jacket pocket. He put it down on the table, tapping it with his finger. “I don’t know, but maybe the answer is in here. Maybe Kenny had put some of the puzzle together. He was quite an egghead you know and that’s not all. Joe had trouble too. He told me when we first met that he had been having problems with vandals and the like, only after he and Sophie were at that campsite. He didn’t connect it at first, thought it was just racial stuff.”

  Shanna waited a moment while the waitress brought two more beers. “So what do we do now? I can’t make any sense of this at all except that some one’s trying to kill us all and it seems to be connected with Dominick, Myles and some redheaded guy with an image psychosis.”

  “Oh my God.” The full import of their discussion hit her. “Chase, I work for Dominick. I have to go back to work. All this has been like being in another dimension but tomorrow I have to go back to the real world and work. How can I do that?”

  “Carefully.” Chase said shortly. “You will have to go. You may be our only chance of finding out anything. We don’t know if Dominick knows about your involvement in this or not. You’re going to have to be a hell of an actress, can you do it?”

  Shanna stared at him silently and then suddenly grinned. “Chase Larsen, have you ever met a woman who wasn’t a hell of an actress when she had to be?”

  Chase loved the spirit in this woman. He grinned in return. “Ouch.” He said. “I guess I deserved that.”

 

 

  Forty-two

  The man took his time finishing his meal. He wanted another cup of coffee but had trouble getting the waitress’s attention. It had been that way all his life. The only thing noticeable about him, at least here, was his accent. Americans were so dumb. They were always asking him if he was from England or Australia.

  He watched from behind tinted glasses as Chase and Shanna left the bar across the street but made no move to follow them. The action appeared to be over for now. Another dead-end. A small smile skittered across his face as he realized his own pun. Gallows humor. The job was getting to him at last.

  Brian Cavanaugh left a meager tip, paid his bill and walked out into the heat, regretting that he had taken the precaution of parking some distance away. Why the company had rented him a black automobile in South Florida was beyond him. Melting into the background was one thing, but he was literally melti
ng, Brian thought grimly. Used to the heat in his native South Africa, this wet blanket that pressed down on everyone here in this godforsaken place was worse than any jungle he had ever been in.

  It was time to report in. He could safely leave the biker couple for now. Brian had seen the red-headed guy in the leather duster climb out of the window in St. Augustine and let him go, deciding instead to find out what he was up to. He had barely got out when Chase and Shanna arrived, and so he had lost two possible avenues of information today. Such was the nature of the beast.

  Actually this assignment was relatively relaxing. Brian was aware of the importance this document had for his government but he had been specifically ordered to be totally invisible at all times. Absolutely no one was to become aware of him and under no circumstances was he to interfere with anyone doing anything. He was here to steal and be gone like the invisible man. Any inkling of the presence of a member of the South African government in this situation would ensure that Brian disappeared home never to be heard from again.

  Brian smiled grimly. He knew what he would have liked to have done.

 

 

  Forty-three

  The next morning Shanna was back at work like nothing had happened. It was a typical Monday and she didn’t have time to breathe until midafternoon. Dominick was at a hearing in Dade County and so she hadn’t had to deal with him yet. Shanna had been fighting a total sense of unreality all day but she couldn’t decide which of her now two lives seemed the most unreal.

  Last night she had collected some of her things and taken them back to Chase’s place where she had received an exuberant welcome from Jake. They had both been too tired to bother baiting each other any further and had tacitly agreed to a temporary truce. Shanna was asleep at the table before they had finished making their plans. She woke up in the morning curled up on the sofa next to Jake and found a note from Chase who was already up and away.

  The phones finally slowed down a little and Shanna was able to break for a stretch and a chat with Pauline. The monthly meeting of a local paralegal association was scheduled for tonight in downtown West Palm and Shanna needed to attend. Networking was vital in this business.

  Finishing a little early, Shanna swung back to Chase’s place to change and then headed south. She hated driving downtown. Whichever dingbat was president this year hadn’t had enough sense to move the meetings out of town a little to be more central for everyone. Shanna hated these meetings too. She always felt like a bunch of adults got together and engaged in role-playing games for no other reason than that they were programmed to do so, but occasionally she gleaned some really useful information from them and Dominick insisted that she attend. He wanted a spy to report what the other law firms were up to and he was smart enough to know that the best information came from the paralegals, not the lawyers. Not that he gave her expense money for drinks. She had to buy drinks for the others on her own funds.

  Arriving at the ridiculous pink skyscraper downtown, Shanna was forced to valet park. Stalking inside her mood was not improved by what she knew she would be offered to eat, stale egg salad sandwiches, and then she would be obliged to pay three times the going rate for a drink. In revenge she had deliberately dressed well enough to be allowed in but too casually to be appropriate.

  As usual, the meeting proved to be about as useful as eggnog at Easter and on the pretense of a pit stop, Shanna escaped and headed for the regular bar. She was one drink up and had taken the edge off nicely when the rest of the crew finally arrived.

  Inattentively listening to a fellow paralegal who had recently married a lawyer and was now working for him for nothing, Shanna stopped paying attention at all when a conversation from somewhere behind her came sharply into focus. The magic word had been “Dominick.”

  Turning on her bar stool, Shanna saw that David, a cohort she liked and respected was talking to Clarence, a wannabe lawyer with no loyalties and less personality. Shanna didn’t have much time for male paralegals. David was about the only one she could stand. They all tended to be shameless brown nosers in the company of their bosses and arrogant pricks in the company of their peers. Lawyers knew full well that these were guys who didn’t make it for whatever reason and crushed them at every available opportunity with admirable contempt. On the other hand, they also treated their female paralegals like unpaid hookers or clerical housekeepers. Law was a dog eat dog world.

  David looked up and saw her. He smiled in acknow¬ledgment. Clarence turned his back to continue talking. Fat chance, Shanna thought. “Hey David. Thought you weren’t going to make it this time.”

  David shrugged. “Had to cancel the vacation, too many trials bunched up at once.”

  “Oh well, what made you think you could get a vacation anyway, when the rest of us poor slobs never do. Hello Clarence. How are you?” Shanna smiled brightly at him.

  Clarence was forced to turn, with little grace, and include her in the conversation. They waited, making small talk while David, ever the gallant, got Shanna a drink. “Thanks.” Shanna said gratefully. “Did I hear my boss’ name taken in vain a while back?” she asked.

  “You did.” David nodded. “Clarence here was just telling me that Dominick is getting out of law.”

  Shanna turned quickly and put her swizzle stick on the bar at the same time retrieving an ashtray for David. She hoped the move had concealed the shock that surely must have crossed her face. She pasted a bright smile on her face and handed the ashtray to David. “Oh? What’s the idea of the week this time?”

  Clarence puffed up importantly. “No joke Shanna. You mean he hasn’t told you yet?”

  Shanna could cheerfully have washed off that smug smile with the contents of her glass. With restraint, she sipped at her drink instead. “Now Clarence, you know the peons are the last to know anything. Besides, I’ve been out of town for a day or so. What’s going on that I don’t know about that you're dying to tell me? C’m on give.”

  “Well.” Clarence swelled visibly with the portent of the moment. “Dominick stopped by the office to talk to the partners yesterday. It seems he offered to sell them his practice. I happened to be in the office next door and they left the door open. Dominick offered them quite a deal as long as they moved fast. He told them he’s tired of this town and is moving away. I caught him on the way out but he wouldn’t say any more. Said he was in a hurry. Guess that means you’ll be out of a job pretty soon, eh Shanna?”

  “Lucky me.” Shanna was not going to let on that the news had come as a shock. “Perhaps I’ll get out of law too. It’s not been much fun lately.”

  Clarence was now the center of attention as their conversation had been overheard by some of the others and the room buzzed with the gossip. Shanna finished her drink, talking quietly with David. She kept one ear on the conversation but evidently no one knew anything else. Declining an invitation to join David and a few cohorts at a neighborhood bar more conducive to relaxation, Shanna made her exit.

 

 

  Forty-four

  Annie was buried nose deep in paperwork. None of it billable. She had shelved most of her active cases to concentrate on Sophie. Chase would have a fit if he knew but she owed them and anyway, it was her business. Granny glasses perched on the end of her blade of a nose, Annie sipped on coffee, a cup that was continuous all day. Rose always told Annie that’s why she stayed so thin and hyper. Anyone with that much coffee in them had to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. In truth, the coffee provided a substitute for the drugs that had kept Annie in motion in the old days. She had a system made of cast iron.

  Annie had made discreet inquiries in St. Augustine and learned that a store owner in the old town had been murdered. Police had no leads. That made Annie breathe easier. She could get back to work now but so far it hadn't done much good. She hit a dead end backtracking Sophie’s movements the last few days of her life but she had not been idle. She had been calling in markers for d
ays and now she had part of the puzzle in front of her. She just needed to put the pieces together and see what she had. She had run a second thorough check on DeBrandt Minerals. It belonged to a huge diamond conglomerate in South Africa. Mostly they sold diamonds to the industrial market. This in itself was intriguing. There were many tourists and businesses from all over the world in South Florida but South Africans were rare. And a diamond mining company? At a remote campsite out in the wilderness? What kind of a connection could that be? Rose was still working that angle for her.

  Annie had run background checks on everyone connected with the investigation. Now she had a file on Myles Hickman, Dominick Wilding, Joe Keel and several of Sophie’s friends and coworkers. She had scanned these briefly and put them all aside except for Wilding and Hickman. She accepted without question Chase’s advice that Joe was a good guy on their side.

  Annie had set an operative on Brian Cavenaugh and she had been good enough to catch him tailing Chase and Wilding’s paralegal around before she was made. A professional, Annie mused, but for whom? And for what? Whatever this was about it did not bode well for Chase’s health and that of his new friend. Annie sighed. Her operative had included with her report a picture of Shanna and Chase together. She wished sadly that it could be her but Annie was nothing if not a realist. By all accounts this Shanna was okay and if Chase wanted her that was good enough for Annie.

  Annie drummed her fingers thoughtfully on the desk. What now? This South African guy was too good to keep a tail on. Annie’s operatives were mostly used to domestics and personal injury frauds. They were still trying to dig up something on this man. She must be patient. Meanwhile she might find a lead somewhere else.

  One report had Wilding at a strip joint meeting with some thug. That might be worth following. Annie grabbed her jacket. This was one place she could blend in.