by Joe Corso
Lee pushed a twenty towards her along with a friendly smile and told her, “That’s for you.” He pushed another twenty in her direction. “Give me another round and give my friend here whatever he’s drinking.”
Tom looked at Lee. “You must be new. I haven’t seen you before and I come in here almost every day.”
“Well, you haven’t been looking very hard because I’ve been sitting back there.”
The waitress just returned with their drinks and heard what Lee said to him. “He’s right,” she said. “He’s been coming here for about a week now. Isn’t that right, stranger?”
Lee nodded. “I thought it was longer, but it could’ve been a week. My name is Lee and I come here to drown my sorrows and forget my troubles.” He said it with a sad smile and Tom bit.
“Sorrows? Troubles? What kind of trouble?”
That was the opening Lee was hoping for. “I have a problem I’m trying to work it out, so I come here where it’s quiet and I can think.”
“A problem, you say?” Lee looked sadly at his drink.
“Yeah, and the best part is it could mean a fortune to me if I could just work it out.”
That did it. That got the con man’s attention. “Tell me about it Lee. Maybe I can help.”
So Lee explained about being a guard at the Gila Bend prison and he told him about the two prisoners he guarded.
Tom heard about this from McCormack, but when Lee mentioned the map, Jenkins almost fell off his seat. “Do you have the map?” he asked.
“No. It was just an envelope and I didn’t know the map was in it. It was addressed to a man in New York City. I called information and got his number, and then I telephoned him and said I had an envelope for him. I mentioned who gave it to me and said I’d mail it tomorrow. He told me not to mail it; he said to bring it to him in New York. I told him I couldn’t do that because I didn’t have money for a plane ticket and he told me not to worry about it. He asked me for my address. The next day, I received a Fedex overnight envelope with plane tickets and a thousand dollars expense money in it.”
Tom was riveted to every word Lee said. “Man, that guy must have some money.”
“Money?” Lee said. “Why he’s one of the richest men in the world, and one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. Look at the watch he gave me just for bringing him the envelope.”
“Hey! That’s a gold Rolex, wow.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it myself. I thought it might be a knock-off, so I took it to a jeweler and was I surprised when he told me it was real. I never in a million years thought I’d ever own a real gold Rolex.”
Tom’s mind was racing now and he thought of McCormack. He was a rich man too, but he was far from nice. “So go ahead,” he said. “What happened next?”
“He opened the letter right in front of me and shook his head. ‘Look here,’ he says. ‘A map to a lost gold mine.’ He handed it to me. It was a map all right. It showed the way to a lost gold mine called The Four Peaks Mine.”
“Wow, you could have kept the envelope, and the mine would have been all yours.”
“Nah, it wasn’t mine to begin with and I don’t take what isn’t mine. That map belonged to someone else.”
“Okay, so he had the map. What happened then?” Lee knew that greed was getting to Jenkins. “Well, go ahead. What happened?”
“I told you, nothing. I have an old prospector who told me he could take me to the mine if he had the map.”
Tom asked him. “Do you have the map?”
“No, but I could get it. Look that’s the problem, that’s what I’ve been trying to work out. Don’t you get it, even if I had the map, I don’t know the first thing about taking gold out of a mountain, except maybe I could ask the old prospector to help me. But I don’t know if I could trust him, and besides I don’t want a partner. I just want to pay him for his time.”
“Well, what about this rich guy who owns the map? Why doesn’t he help you?”
“I told you. This guy doesn’t give a damn about the gold. He thinks it’s all bullshit, the gold, the map and the story of the Four Peaks Mine. He doesn’t think the mine ever existed, and I think if it did exist, he’d rather have another company mine the gold and give him a generous percentage of it.”
From what Lee just told him, Jenkins thought this could work out fine for him. He was aware of the Governor’s obsession for the lost gold mine, and he had an idea. He wanted part of the treasure, and somehow he’d figure a way to get it. “Listen to me, Lee. I work for a very rich man myself, and I’m friends with a very powerful politician who’s been searching many years for a lost gold mine. That map could lead him to the very mine he’s been looking for. Let me help you with this and I’ll give you the piece of the puzzle you’re missing.”
Lee put a look on his face as if he wasn’t sure, as if he were thinking about what Jenkins just said to him, but inside he was jumping with joy. He tried not to show it. “Well, I don’t know, Tom. The man told me not to tell anybody about the mine and while I was telling you about my problem, it kinda slipped out by accident. But now that you know about it, let’s take it slow. I’ll be in here tomorrow at the same time. If you come up with anything, let me know and maybe something will work out. Well, I have to go now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“So long, Lee. See you tomorrow right here at the same time, right? Right?” Tom said nervously, wanting to see Lee tomorrow, but afraid he wouldn’t show up.
“Right,” Lee said, as he headed for the door. Lee walked slowly down the street and once he turned the corner, he jumped up in the air, waved his cowboy hat, and clicked the heels of his new cowboy boots. He whooped at the same time, scaring the daylights out of an elderly woman who happened to be walking past him.
Lee called John W as soon as he got to his hotel. “Good news. Fancy Tom took the bait. I can’t believe how he swallowed the story I gave him. I guess greed clouds common sense.”
John said, “The bottom line is he bought the story hook, line, and sinker.”
“You got that right. He couldn’t wait to tell me that he has two powerful friends. One is his very rich employer and the other is a very powerful politician who’s been searching for a lost gold mine himself. We don’t have to guess who that is.”
John agreed. “It’s no secret who that politician is.”
Lee continued telling the story. “Guess what he said. He wants to go in partnership with me. I played it down, like I was hard to get, like I wasn’t interested in a deal. But I left the door open by telling him to talk to his people. Now I’m at a logger jam. You have to tell me how you want me to handle this.”
John W smiled outwardly. “Here’s what you’ll do. Tomorrow, when you meet him, tell him that you spoke to the old man’s rich nephew: me. And he said he might be interested in discussing it with Jenkins people. But they’d have to fly out to see him. He’s much to busy to go to them. Tell them that. And before your friend leaves to give his people the good news, make sure you give him one of my business cards. I want them to check me out before they come east. Got that?”
“Yeah, boss, I got it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“Are you positive? You actually met the guard who worked at the prison we sent the kid and the old man to?” McCormack couldn’t believe the run of luck he was having. First, the kid’s claim and now the legendary lost Four Peaks Gold Mine. “I want you to bring this guy in to see me. I want to hear it from him myself. Then you’ll bring in the nephew, and we’ll see if we can relieve him of his gold mine.”
Fancy Tom just stood, shaking his head. “No good, boss. This guy Lee told me if you want to speak to the old man’s nephew, you’ll have to fly east to see him.”
“What? I’ll never do that. Who the hell does this guy think he is? He’ll come to me if he wants to get the gold out of those mountains. I may even cut him in for a piece of the action if he doesn’t piss me off.”
Jenkins was getting antsy. He could see his
end of the deal disappearing like a puff of smoke if McCormack’s demands turned off the kid. “Mr. McCormack, this guy Lee told me that the old man’s nephew is one of the richest men in the world. This guy Lee is legit, that much I know. Look, let me bring him in to see you and you can ask him all the questions you want about the mine and the man he gave the map to.”
McCormack calmed down. He saw the logic of meeting the man and it made sense. “You’re right, Jenkins. I got a little carried away for a minute. I was acting as if I already had the map and those people were intruders, when it’s the other way around. See if you can get him in here tomorrow. I want to have a long talk with him, and when I do, I want to look into his eyes to see if he’s telling the truth. I have a sixth sense when someone’s trying to con me, and I’ll know right away. If that’s the case, then Rutgar will do some very unpleasant things to him. Now get out of here, go find him, and bring him to me.”
Fancy Tom Jenkins headed right over to the Dew Drop Inn and looked for Lee Flowers, but he wasn’t there. He walked to the bar and signaled Pamela the barmaid to come over. “Did that fella Lee come back here after I left?”
Pamela thought for a minute. “No. He left just before you did and he hasn’t come back yet.”
“Do you have a piece of paper?”
“Sure hold on a minute.” She went to the register, ripped a page from a pad, and handed it to Jenkins.
He wrote his number on it and said, “If Lee comes back tonight, tell him I have good news and have him call me at this number. If he comes in tomorrow instead of tonight, tell him to stick around until I get here, then call me at this number and I’ll shoot right over. I don’t want to miss him; it’s important that I see him. Thanks, Pamela, see you later.”
Lee didn’t show up that night and Jenkins was beside himself worrying that Lee might have left town. But, at eleven the next morning, Lee strolled in and Fancy Tom Jenkins was there waiting for him. “Lee, my god. I thought you skipped out on me.”
“No, I’m still here. What’s happening? Why are you concerned that I might have left town?”
“I have great news for you,” Tom blurted out. “My boss is interested in underwriting your lost gold mine. He wants to talk to you about it. Come on, I told him I’d take you to see him.”
“Well, hold on a minute, Tom. I don’t know if I’m ready to talk to anyone yet.”
Tom was breathing hard now. “Wait a minute, Lee. Don’t go making me look bad. The other day, you were all down in the face because you didn’t know how you were going to get the gold out of the mountains. I took care of that problem for you. Don’t let me down after I went out on a limb for you. Look, just do me a favor and don’t let me look bad. I explained everything that you told me to my boss, and he sees a fit with his company. Just talk to him, and if you don’t want to do the deal after speaking to him, then just leave. At least this way I won’t look bad, and you’d be doing me a big favor. If you and he agree to a deal, then I’ll look good, and maybe he’ll throw me a little something. Come on. Take a walk with me and have a talk with my boss. You‘ll like him. I know you will.”
Lee made as if he really didn’t want to go, but then acted as if he didn’t want to make Jenkins look bad, so he agreed to do it for him.
McCormack Industries was just around the corner in the heart of Phoenix’s business district. They took the elevator to the ninth floor and walked through glass doors with McCormack Industries written in large gold leaf letters on them. A secretary escorted the men to a large office at the end of the hall.
A big man sitting behind a large desk stood when they walked in and said, “Now who do we have here, Tom? Is this the young man you told me about?” McCormack said putting on the charm.
“Yes, sir. Let me introduce you to Lee Flowers.”
McCormack gave Lee his most ingratiating smile. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Mr. Flowers. Please have a seat. Tom, get Mr. Flowers a cup of coffee. Would you like that, Mr. Flowers?”
“Yes, a cup of coffee sounds good. I haven’t had any yet this morning.”
“Good. Tom will see to it. Now let’s discuss this lost gold mine you told Tom about.”
Lee put a pained expression on his face, but not too much. After all, he didn’t want to overdo it. “I really wish Tom hadn’t told you about that map just yet. I don’t want too many people to know about it until I had time to figure things out.”
“Were you really a guard in a prison in the desert?”
“Yes, sir. Gila Bend prison. It had been closed for years but it was reactivated on a trial basis.”
“Did you have any prisoners there?”
“There was one prisoner already incarcerated in the prison when I got there. But shortly after I arrived, another prisoner was brought in. I took him down to the lower level. That’s where problematic prisoners are taken. I don’t know why those two men were taken down there. They must have done some terrible things to be put in there.”
“I see,” McCormack said as he looked for a sign of deception. But Lee knew too much about the prison to be faking it. No matter, McCormack thought. He’d have Governor Wilson check out his story. If it proved to be true, then he’d go after the gold mine. “Go on, Lee. Your story is intriguing. What happened next?”
“Well, when the kid was brought in, he was handcuffed and in chains. I took him down to the ‘Tombs,’ as it was called. When I opened that old cell, the door was so rusty from being closed all those years it would hardly open. Well, I have to tell you, I was breathing hard after getting the door opened. When he was in his cell, he asked me what my name was and I told him it was Lee. He asked if I would do him a favor. I told him I don’t do favors for prisoners; it could get me fired. He said that all he wanted was to know how his mother was doing. I felt bad about that. Every man should be able to know about his mother if he wants to, so I said I would see what I could do as long as it didn’t cost me my job. But it did cost me my job because as soon as I inquired about his mother I was fired.”
“But what about the map?”
“Well that happened the day before. The old man was very ill, he had a heart problem, and he knew he was dying. He handed me an envelope and asked if I would mail it to his nephew, John Christo, in New York City.”
“Well, what happened then?”
“I was fired before I had a chance to mail it. When I got home, I forgot about the envelope for about a week. Then when I was putting my uniform away, I was going through the pockets when I found the envelope. Instead of mailing it, I called information for John Christo’s number. I called right away, told him about the letter, and said I would mail it the next day, but he told me not to. He told me to fly to New York and deliver it to him. When I explained to him that I couldn’t afford it, he asked me for my address and said he’d send me tickets. The next day I get an overnight FedEx envelope with airline tickets to New York in it along with a thousand dollars expense money.”
“And you went to New York and delivered the envelope to him?”
“Yes, sir. That’s exactly what I did. The strange thing was that when he opened the envelope, there was a letter, which he took out and read. A map was included in the envelope and he studied it for a minute or two. Then he handed it to me. If I had a photographic memory, I could have stolen the gold from him and he would never have known. But, I’m an honest man and would never do anything like that. He did tell me that since I delivered his uncle’s letter, he’d include me in this deal somewhere, and then he opened his desk drawer and took out a box and told me to open it.
“‘That’s for you,” he said. ‘For bringing me the envelope, I appreciate it.’” Lee showed McCormack his gold Rolex. “He gave me this just for delivering an envelope.”
McCormack couldn’t believe anyone would give someone a Rolex just for delivering a letter. How rich could this guy be, he thought. He was hooked now. He knew the story Lee told him was true. Lee did work in the prison and he was fired. Wilson would confirm
the story when he called back with the information. “Who is this man you delivered the letter to? Did he give you a card?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, he did.” McCormack smiled. “Here it is.” He motioned to Kleinst, who sat in the corner listening to everything that was said, to come over. “Take this card, Rutgar, and check out this man and his company for me. I must know with whom I am dealing. I have to know everything about him because when I meet with him, I want to be armed with information.” McCormack turned to Lee. “You’re sure the map showed the location of the Four Peaks Mine?”
“Yes, sir. I saw it written on the map.”
“You’re sure it’s real?”
“I don’t know about that, sir, but the old man was dying and I don’t think he’d be playing a joke on someone from his death bed.”
McCormack had no reason to believe that Lee wasn’t telling him the truth. “It’s a very interesting story. I’m inclined to believe you. What do you want out of this?”
Lee was prepared for the question. “Look, Mr. McCormack. I’m not a greedy man, but I deserve to get something out of this. After all, I lost my job for no reason that I can think of. Since I’m the only one who can get the map, I should be entitled to a share of the gold, not much, mind you, but enough to make me well off. I’m tired of worrying about my bills or where my next meal is coming from, and with the money I get from this mine, I can do that. I can live a simple, debt-free life. What percentage do you think I should get, Mr. McCormack?” Lee threw the ball right back in McCormack’s lap.
“I should think a few points would make you a rich man, Lee, don’t you?”
“By a few points you mean five or ten percent, don’t you?”
McCormack puffed up and was about to lose his temper, but he caught himself. “Don’t you think five or ten percent is a little high? I was figuring more like two or three percent.”
“All right, Mr. McCormack. Three percent it is, then.” McCormack clapped his hands in delight. He could smell a fortune coming his way. “Good. That’s settled, then. That’s a wise choice, Lee, and one you won’t regret. Now, I want you to call this Mr. Christo and tell him to come out here as soon as he can and we’ll discuss the logistics of putting together a team to find the mine.”