Monahan 01 Options

by Rosemarie A D'Amico

  Sadie gave the picture a light kiss before she reverently laid it back on the glossy piano top.

  “Robert. For his father.”

  I quickly crossed the room and put my hand in Jay’s. “What does Robert do Mrs. Weinstein?”

  “Oh, something or other in downtown Toronto. He’s an accountant. He’s such a hard worker. Such a good boy to his mother.” She touched the frame of the picture and chose another one beside it and held it out to us. I took it from her hand and Philip Winston at about age ten stared back at us.

  “That was his school picture the year his father died. Robert Jr. had such a hard time after it happened and I wondered if he’d ever be the same,” she said through tears. She took the picture back from me and held it against her chest.

  “He found him,” she whispered. “Robert found his father. After school.” Sadie was weeping openly now and my throat tightened. “I’d gone out to do some shopping. Robert wanted me out of the house because he said he was meeting someone. I never saw him alive again. Young Robert found him dead. He didn’t speak a word until after Christmas that year. I thought I’d lost both of them,” she sobbed.

  I felt incredibly awkward and uncomfortable and had no words of comfort. Jay on the other hand, stepped forward and put his arm around her shoulders.

  Sadie sniffed into the Kleenex Jay offered her and wiped her eyes. “After almost thirty years, I still cry every time I think about it.” She straightened her dress and patted Jay’s arm again. “About the cheque and the money, I don’t know. Maybe Robert saw it in the mail. I’ll phone him later and ask him.” She pulled my card out of her pocket and waved it at me. “I’ll tell him you were here asking and that he should call you. All right?”

  I had led myself down this garden path and found myself stuck in an old English-style maze. I didn’t know my way out of it but what I did know for certain was that I didn’t want Philip, excuse me Robert, knowing we had been here. I tried to snatch my card back from Sadie but she had already tucked it back in her pocket.

  chapter forty-nine

  “He’s blackmailing them,” I declared through a mouthful of Big Mac. “Pure and simple, Philip Winston is blackmailing Oakes and Everly.” I snatched the napkin from my lap and quickly wiped some Special Sauce that was running down my chin.

  “For what? Blackmailing them for what?” Jay said as he carefully folded the little bag that had contained his French fries. I watched him fold it into a tiny square and heard it plop when it hit the bottom of the take-out bag that was sitting between us on the front seat of the car.

  Jay turned sideways in the seat and faced me. “Just because Oakes and Everly used to work at his dad’s company, doesn’t mean Philip has any reason to blackmail them.”

  “Come on Jay. Were you born yesterday? Didn’t you see Sadie’s reaction when I mentioned Oakes and Everly?”

  “Yeah. So what? Maybe the mention of their names brought back sad memories. You saw how she reacted when she was holding that picture of Philip when he was young. It was an emotional reaction Kate. Read her emotions.”

  “I’ll do you one better, Mr. Know-It-All. I read body language. And her body language when I mentioned Oakes and Everly didn’t indicate sad to me. It was fury. Those two guys had something to do with that company going bankrupt. And that something was stealing. Oakes was treasurer. You tell me, Mr. MBA. If anyone in a company has access to the money, it’s the treasurer. Right?”

  Jay angrily turned around in his seat and jammed the key in the ignition.

  “Mr. Chauffeur is taking you home. Mr. Know-It-All and Mr. MBA are off for the night.” The tires squealed as we pulled out of the parking lot at McDonald’s and I felt like a teenager again. Hot guy. Hot car. Burning rubber. I hit the automatic window button and stuck my head out the window to feel the wind in my hair. It wasn’t quite the same feeling as being in a convertible, but it was close.

  The car silently cruised to a stop beside the curb and Jay turned off the ignition and extinguished the lights. We both remained in our seats and neither of us made a motion to get out of the car. The green digital clock on the dashboard read ten-thirty.

  “Well?” I said hopefully. “Figured anything out?”

  “Nope. I just keep going round and round the mulberry bush with this. We’ve got all sorts of loose ends and I’m not sure where they lead.” Jay ran his hand through his hair a few times and continued, “I’m not sure that I want to know where they lead, Kate. I started this whole thing as petty revenge. But now, we’ve opened a can of worms and… ” he trailed off.

  “You’re right, it’s a mess,” I agreed with him. “But I think this could potentially be more than a can of worms, Jay. This could be a big basket of snakes.”

  “Then I want to stop right now,” he stated. “That’s it, that’s all. No more.”

  “You can’t be serious Jay,” I argued. I held up my hand and ticked off on my fingers what we had. “One, we’ve got Oakes and Everly for lying. Two, we’ve got Philip Winston lying about his name. Three, we’ve found out that Oakes and Everly used to work for Philip’s father. Four, Philip’s father’s business went bankrupt because someone was stealing from it. And five, I think I know who was stealing from it.”

  “You forgot six and seven, Kate. Evelyn and Rick Cox. The police think someone deliberately poisoned Ev and so far they’re convinced Rick shot himself. That’s two dead bodies.”

  Jay’s hand found mine in the darkness and he held it tightly. “Kathleen, enough is enough. I’m dropping this. The more I talk and think about it, the more scared I get. And,” he said as he put his arms around me and hugged me close to his chest, “I never planned on you getting involved. This was a stupid lark. It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.”

  “I’m not dropping it Jay,” I said defiantly. “I’m not. What if all of this has something to do with Evelyn’s death?”

  “Then the police’ll figure it out. Please Kate,” he pleaded with me. “I don’t care anymore about this job. Now that I know more about the idiots at the top, I’m glad I’m not there. The two most powerful guys are liars and the one I had any respect for fired me and then killed himself. Enough is enough.”

  I sat silently in his arms for a few moments and felt my insides start to boil with indignation. I pushed his arms away and sat back against the door. “Don’t quit on me Jay,” I told him. “Maybe the police’ll never figure out what happened to Evelyn and I happen to think we’re in possession of relevant information. How it ties together, I don’t know. Yet.”

  “No,” he shook his head. “Let them do their job. Drop it.”

  “I won’t.” I wanted to stamp my feet but they barely touched the floor of the car. “Someone’s going to pay for Evelyn’s death. I’m not sure how or why, but I’ll figure it out. On my own if I have to.” I got out of the car and stood on the curb with my hands on my hips.

  Jay leaned over and placed his hand on the seat and spoke to me out the open door. “I’ll wait until I see your lights on,” he said quietly.

  “You’re not coming up are you?” I said with a sinking feeling. He shook his head. “Just because I said I won’t drop it? Are we being a little juvenile?” By we of course, I meant him. “This is a difference of opinion here, Jay. Not something earth-shattering like finding out you vote NDP.”

  Jay leaned over awkwardly to pull the door closed. “The juvenile chauffeur is going home. I need a change of clothes and I have to see Detective Leech first thing in the morning to sign my statement. Let’s take a few hours to cool our heels and I’ll call you in the morning. Okay?”

  I nodded silently. “Please Kate. Let’s forget it.” I helped him close the door by slamming it in his face.

  My dreams that night were somewhat pleasant compared to the nightmares I’d been having of aimlessly wandering the desert, looking for Ev.

  My dreams took me back to the old neighbourhood. Jay was there but now he was the same age as I was. It was a trip down memory l
ane. The softball diamond, the tree-house in Mr. McKinley’s backyard, a barbecue in our backyard on Canada Day and my dad setting off fireworks. All the neighbourhood kids were in my dreams that night.

  I struggled awake slowly when my dreams took me to the swimming pool. We were horsing around in the water, tossing a heavy ring to the bottom of the pool and racing to see who could pick it up. I was at the bottom of the pool and couldn’t get back to the surface because I was out of breath. I was struggling in the water and getting nowhere. I wanted to scream for someone to help me but I couldn’t open my mouth. My legs and arms were flailing and I felt myself sinking back to the bottom of the pool.

  I finally came awake but the weight of the water was still on me and I couldn’t breathe. My arms were over my head and there was a terrible weight on my stomach. I opened my eyes with a start and stared into a black, woollen face. A hand had my arms pinned over my head and the black face had his other hand over my mouth and nose. I whipped my head back and forth and struggled helplessly.

  The black face came closer to mine and I tried to focus. I was getting a little air through one nostril but I desperately wanted to gulp a deep breath. The black face was someone wearing a wool ski mask. Only his eyes were visible through the one hole in the mask. I choked on a sob and felt the terror all the way down to my bowels.

  “What?” I tried to scream through the leather glove that was covering my mouth and nose. He continued to stare at me, wordlessly, and I closed my eyes and started to pray but my mind couldn’t remember how.

  The weight on my body finally lifted and I opened my eyes to see the person standing beside the bed, his one hand still pinning mine over my head. He slowly removed the other hand off my nose and mouth and I gratefully gulped the air. My body shook from fright and my sobs were loud. He stood there staring at me, not speaking and I prayed that whatever he was going to do to me, he’d get it over with quickly. I closed my eyes again and willed myself to another place.

  I took myself back to the softball diamond in my dreams, where I had spent most summer evenings of my childhood. I felt the stranger’s breath now on my face and suddenly I was back under the bleacher seats at the ball diamond, and Tommy Gardner’s breath was on my face. Tommy had me pinned down in the dirt, with both of my hands over my head. He had a glob of spit hanging from his mouth and he was about to let it go. Right on my face. I kicked up with my feet and used all of my strength to push the bully off of me.

  The stranger’s breath was hot on my face and without opening my eyes, I struggled to get away from him. My fighting instincts came back and I pulled my feet up and tried to kick at him. He let my hands go and I flailed out at him, scrambling back in the bed to get away from him but I wasn’t fast enough. His fist slammed into the side of my face and everything I’d read in books about seeing stars came true. I cried out and put my hands over my face waiting for the next blow.

  “Stay out of it,” was all the stranger said in a low, gravely voice. And then he was gone.

  chapter fifty

  I stumbled to the telephone, hugging myself and sobbing. I was almost embarrassed to call 911 but the dispatcher on the other end of the line assured me and reassured me. I knew I hadn’t dreamed any of it because the side of my face continued to throb and the steely taste of blood remained in my mouth.

  When the police knocked urgently on the door I was still standing in the hall, dressed, or undressed, in my nightwear. White sweat socks and panties.

  “Miss,” the voice said from the other side of the door. “Police.”

  My hands shook as I undid the chain and opened the door. I wrapped my arms around my breasts to hide my nakedness and backed up against the wall.

  “He’s gone,” I said in a whisper. One police officer quickly passed by me down the hall with his gun drawn, and the other one stayed back with me.

  “I need to put on some clothes.” I tried to read his name tag though my teary eyes but everything was a blur. He nodded silently and then said, “In a minute. Don’t worry. My partner’s just checking everything. Is there another exit or is this the only door?”

  “There’s a fire escape at the back. Out the laundry room door.” I realized then that Mr. Black Mask must have exited through the fire escape because it was doubtful that he would have chain-locked my front door behind him on the way out.

  The other police officer reappeared at my front door with his gun holstered. “No sign of anyone,” he told his partner.

  “Can I get dressed now?”

  An hour later they were still there. Checking for fingerprints and asking me questions. A couple of other very tired-looking, plain clothes officers had shown up and they confirmed that a pane of glass on the back door had been broken and he had gotten in that way.

  I called Jay because I couldn’t bear the thought of finishing off the night alone. I prayed he’d hear the phone and wake up because I didn’t want to talk to his machine.

  “Hello,” a very sleepy voice answered. A wave of relief washed over me.

  I lost my voice when I heard his and couldn’t speak. My throat started to close and he said again, “Hello?”

  “Jay,” I whispered.

  “Kate?” His voice sounded more awake now. I nodded stupidly and realized he couldn’t see me.

  “Jay, can you come over?” I asked weakly.

  “What’s the matter?” he demanded. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be fine. Someone broke in my house tonight. The police are here.”

  “I’ll be right there.” I nodded again and hung up the phone.

  The police were convinced it was a random act and told me I was lucky to be sitting there telling my story. I knew it wasn’t random because of what the black mask had said, but I was too frightened to share it with the police. He had scared me sufficiently. I lied and told them he had said nothing.

  When Jay arrived he wasn’t alone. Detective Leech followed him in and I was certain I could see the collar of the Detective’s pyjama top peeking through his trench coat. I wondered who the hell had called him.

  I was back in a familiar position, huddled cross-legged on the sofa under my quilt.

  Leech spoke before Jay. “My, my, my, Miss Monahan. We seem to be running into each other quite frequently.”

  “Not by choice, Detective. Rest assured,” I said tiredly.

  “Can I get anything for you Kate?” Jay interrupted. “Coffee?” I nodded thankfully and Jay headed for the kitchen.

  Detective Leech took a chair across from me and said, “You should put something on that eye. You’re gonna have a beautiful shiner tomorrow.” I touched my cheek gingerly.

  “Why’re you here?” I asked him.

  “Dispatcher’s a friend of mine. She remembered that you had placed another 911 call just a few days ago.”

  “Well, this has nothing to do with the other one,” I lied.

  Leech looked at me with disbelief on his face and wandered off without saying anything to talk to the other officers. I rested my head on the back of the sofa and closed my eyes. Sounds of voices in the laundry room filtered through my jumbled thoughts and the smell of coffee brewing reached my nostrils. My right hand shot out from under the quilt and I placed it over my nose and mouth, shutting off my breathing passages. I felt my fingernails digging into my cheek, and my thumb and index finger squeezed the end of my nose. The image of the black, mask-covered face appeared before my closed eyes and I felt the fear rising up again. The fear came from my gut and my intestines turned to Jell-O. My eyes filled and I felt a hand gently take mine away from my mouth and nose and when I opened my water-filled eyes, Jay was kneeling in front of me, holding my hand.

  “Don’t do that, Kate,” he said. “You’re leaving an imprint of your hand on your face. Here.” He placed a dishtowel with ice in it on the side of my face and I winced at this new pain sensation. I tried to push it away but Jay held it there firmly. “It’ll swell up. Just leave it there a minute or two.”

>   “He’s right, Miss Monahan,” I heard Leech say. “You need ice on that.”

  “Fuck you,” I said under my breath. I’d had black eyes before and proudly wore them like a badge of honour. When Kate Monahan had a black eye, everyone knew she’d been fighting. I wasn’t proud though of this black eye. I’d never even landed a punch.

  I looked at Leech and asked him if they were finished.

  “I’d just like to ask you a couple of questions, hear it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak,” he said with a weak smile.

  When I didn’t smile at his lame joke, he asked me if the intruder had assaulted me. That, I considered a joke.

  “Whaddya call this?” I said pointing to the side of my face.

  “I meant sexually assault you,” he said quietly. He looked embarrassed as he asked the question.

  I shook my head and relived the feeling of the stranger’s weight on my body. The fact that he hadn’t raped me sent renewed waves of relief through me and I sobbed out loud.

  “No, he just punched me.” Jay sat down beside me on the sofa and my hand found his.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Monahan. We’re just trying to figure this out. It appears that nothing was stolen and you weren’t sexually assaulted. The apartment wasn’t trashed. So, the question is, why did he break in?”

  Jay opened his mouth to speak and I squeezed his hand tight and dug my fingernails in to stop him.

  “I don’t know. Maybe he had every intention of raping me and stealing my things,” I lied. “I got away from him and maybe because I was going to scream he ran off.” I knew what he wanted and he had succeeded. He intended to scare me off and it had worked.

  The uniformed officers appeared in the living room and told Leech that they were finished. I thanked them and Leech took his time getting out of the chair.

  “You,” he said and pointed at Jay. “I’ll see you in the morning to sign your statement. In the meantime, Miss Monahan, I’d suggest you get some ice on that shiner and get some rest.”

  I nodded again, feeling like a string puppet. Jay and I sat silently while they all trooped out and when the door finally closed, Jay said to me, “You lied, didn’t you Kate?”