Monahan 01 Options

by Rosemarie A D'Amico

  “Wrong Jay. This is turning out to be more like Mission Impossible. Can you meet me?”

  “Sure. At your apartment?”

  “No,” I said quickly. “Not my apartment. Or yours. How about the bench were I sat the other day while you went jogging?”

  “You mean down at the park? Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?”

  “I’ll tell you later. How soon can you meet me there?”

  “Kate, it’s too dangerous to be alone in the park at night. Meet me at the pub where we danced. You remember?”

  “That’s a better idea.” I looked out the window of the car to get my bearings and it took a moment for me to remember where I was. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  chapter fifty-five

  It turned out that Jay had a very protective side to him and as much as I’d dreamed of having a knight in shining armour to fight my battles for me, I had a helluva time holding him back.

  “I’ll kill him,” was all he said through clenched teeth when I finished my story.

  “Very nice, Mr. Harmon, but I don’t think your mother’d be impressed. Besides, when we turn him over to the police and I charge him with kidnapping and assault, he’ll go to jail.”

  I grinned at Jay but he didn’t get it.

  “He’s so pretty Jay, so perfect. They’ll love him in the Kingston penitentiary. I’m sure those convicts have had a long, cold winter and they’ll welcome him with open arms.”

  This at least got a laugh out of Jay, but he quickly turned serious again.

  “Let’s go then,” he said as he stood up.

  “Where?”

  “To the police.”

  “Hang on,” I told him as I pulled his arm and made him sit down again.

  “There’s more to it. There has to be. Why did he kidnap me? What’s he trying to hide? Think about it Jay. So his mother told him we were at the house and maybe he knows we figured out he’s using another name. That’s not a major crime. He’s hiding something else. I’m sure, in fact I’m convinced, that this is all tied in to Ev’s death and Rick’s death. And now Harold’s involved. What the hell is Harold doing messed up with all of this?”

  “Maybe Harold doesn’t understand what he’s involved with. You didn’t let him explain what he wanted to talk to you about. Maybe Philip gave him some cock and bull story.”

  I snorted at this. “You didn’t hear his voice Jay. He was very concerned, very solicitous. Does this sound like the short lawyer with a big attitude who we’ve all held so near and dear to our hearts these last few years?”

  “Okay,” he sighed. “I’ll take your word for it. I just have trouble believing Harold’s involved. I’m feeling like the last virgin at a pool party at Hugh Hefner’s mansion.”

  I started to chuckle but he interrupted, “You know. You’re determined to hang on to your innocence and virginity, but in the back of your mind you know it’s all about to end. You’re thinking, do I just give in and enjoy it or do I fight to keep it? That’s how I feel about finding out Harold’s just another snake. Disgusted.”

  “You’re turning into a cynic Jay.”

  “It comes from associating with you,” he joked.

  “Stick with me Harmon, and you’ll become more than just a cynic.”

  “In the meantime, we have to do something.”

  “After I return Vanessa’s car.”

  When Vee answered the doorbell her cordless phone was tucked between her ear and shoulder. She silently motioned us in and Jay and I followed her in to the kitchen where we both sat at the counter on the barstools. The clock on the wall told me it was eleven-forty and because of the hour, I knew she could only be talking to one person - Chris Oakes.

  Vee covered the mouthpiece of the phone and told us, “He’s rambling.” She rolled her eyes at the ceiling and mumbled something into the phone.

  “This could take a while,” I whispered to Jay and placed Vee’s car keys, cell phone and money on the kitchen counter. “She’s talking to Oakes.”

  I slid off the stool and waved good-bye but Vee once again covered the mouthpiece and said, “Hang on. I’ll get rid of him.”

  “Chris,” she said patiently into the phone. “Chris,” she repeated in a singsong voice. “Goodbye.” She pushed a button on the phone and put it on the counter.

  “It’ll take him a few minutes to realize I’ve hung up and then he’ll call back,” she told us.

  “I thought you didn’t answer the phone at home, just in case it was him,” I teased her.

  “Normally I don’t, but I thought it might be you, so I’m holding you personally responsible for the crap I’ve just listened to.”

  “In one of his abusive modes?” I asked knowingly.

  She shook her head. “No. In his morose mode. Drunk and rambling. When he’s sober I have trouble following him but when he’s drunk, it’s worse.”

  “Why do you put up with that garbage?” Jay interrupted.

  “Because I have two mouths to feed,” she quickly retorted. “And it’ll be something I can tell my grandchildren one day. How the big executive, with all the money and power in the world, goes home at night and has nothing better to do than drink, and watch Star Trek re-runs. He has no friends because he abuses anyone who gets remotely close to him. No one.”

  “I thought I read somewhere that he was married,” Jay said.

  “He tells everyone that. Cynthia was a woman who lived with him for a while but she’s long gone now. She told me she woke up one day and realized that all the money in the world wasn’t going to keep her there. Cynthia was nothing more than a decoration for Chris.” Vee placed her elbows on the counter and put her face in her hands. None of what she was telling Jay was news to me but he was hanging on to her every word.

  “The part of that whole story that amazed me,” I interjected, “was the fact that they never once slept together.”

  “Come off it girls,” Jay said. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “How many times do I have to tell you, we’re invisible,” I said. “People tell secretaries anything and everything. They think we’re stupid and they say anything in front of you. Because it doesn’t get repeated, they tell you more. Before you know it, you’re a confidante. The boss thinks you’re stupid, we call it discrete. Want to know how many blow jobs Tom James’s wife gave him last year?”

  “That’s disgusting. And no. I don’t want to know,” Jay said.

  “None,” I told him anyway and Vanessa laughed. “And just for the record, Tom, the great Tower of Jell-O, didn’t tell me directly about his sex life, or lack thereof. He was lamenting with one of the directors one day. In front of me. Unbelievable.”

  “I agree,” said Jay. “So Oakes told you Vee that he and this Cynthia never slept together?”

  “Yup,” she nodded. “One night, on the phone. Told me that they had separate bedrooms and that they’d never once had sex. Cynthia went up a few notches in my books after that.” She looked at me and we both visibly shivered. “Yuk. Just the thought of getting into bed with that sorry excuse for a man, makes me sick.”

  I nodded my head in wholehearted agreement.

  “So what was the great one rambling on about tonight?”

  “Who knows Kate? It never makes any sense. Tonight he was crying over how much he misses Rick Cox. When he started on about that I just about hung up. He’s sick,” she stated emphatically. “Sick. The whole time Rick was with us, Oakes had a vendetta against him. All he wanted to do was to get him fired. You saw those memos he had the vice-presidents write. All garbage. And then Rick goes and does something stupid and gets himself fired anyway. But then Oakes got totally incoherent. Mumbling away about how it was an accident. Just an accident. Over and over again. She was an accident he kept saying and I wanted to remind him that Rick was a he but I couldn’t bother wasting my breath. She was an accident. And then he put the dog on the phone. Say hi to Baby, Vanessa. That’s when you guys arrived and saved me.”

/>   She was an accident, he’d said. She might be a slip of the tongue once or twice with someone drunk, but to repeat it over and over again, meant only one thing to me. She was Evelyn. The son-of-a-bitch meant Evelyn.

  I slowly picked up the telephone that was lying on the counter between us and punched in Oakes’ home number from memory. The phone on the other end rang three times and when it was answered I could hear a dog barking loudly in the background.

  “Who’re you calling?” Jay asked me and I quieted him with an upheld hand.

  “Um,” was the answer I got from the other end.

  “Chris,” I said firmly into the phone. “Kate Monahan here.”

  “Uh,” was the reply which I took for a hello.

  “Chris,” I said again. “Is that Baby I hear in the background? How is Baby?” Baby was the only living thing that could stand to be around Chris Oakes and for that reason, he worshipped the dog. Talking about the dog always got big points.

  “Baby,” he slurred into the phone. “Baby’s fine. You wanna say ‘ello?”

  “No. No thanks Chris. I just had a quick question.” The man was clearly drunk and I knew I could go for the jugular and get a few quick answers. Knowing that I was never working for the company again gave me the bravado to be bold. “You were saying earlier that she was an accident. She was an accident,” I repeated.

  “Ohm,” he mumbled.

  I looked at Vee and Jay who were staring in disbelief at me.

  “Chris,” I said loudly to make sure I had his attention. “When you said she you mean Evelyn, didn’t you?” There was silence at the other end of the phone and I wasn’t sure if he’d passed out or was just ignoring my question. “Evelyn. The lady who died. Was she the accident Chris?”

  I heard a sob from the other end and I felt the blood rush to my ears. He’d done it.

  “You bastard,” I yelled into the phone. “Evelyn. She was the accident wasn’t she, Chris? Answer me,” I demanded.

  “She,” he hesitated. “She shouldn’t have died. It was an accident. I’m so sorry.”

  chapter fifty-six

  “The bastard,” I whispered to no one in particular. “He did it. He killed Evelyn.” My eyes filled with tears of anger and the dead phone hung limply from my hand. Jay got up from where he was sitting and put a hand on my shoulder.

  “Kate, he’s drunk. You can’t believe anything he said.” I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and looked at Vanessa who was leaning against the wall hugging herself.

  “Vee, he did it. He said he was sorry. That it was an accident.” I was yelling. “The only accident that ever happened in that sorry son of a bitch’s life happened the day he was born.”

  Vee was shaking her head now. “No. No way.”

  “Don’t Vee. Don’t defend him. This’ll turn out to be just another quirk in his miserable personality. The capability of killing someone.”

  “He couldn’t have Kate,” Vee said with disbelief in her voice.

  “Are you defending him?” I demanded.

  Vanessa hesitated before answering. “Yes. And no,” she said slowly.

  “Yes?” I repeated.

  She nodded.

  “He just as much admitted to me that he was responsible,” I said angrily. “And you’re defending him?”

  “He’s drunk Kate. You should know better than to believe anything he says.”

  “Stop it. Stop defending him.” My blood was boiling and anger was bubbling up in the back of my throat. I took a step towards Vee and Jay stepped between us.

  “Cut it out,” he said.

  “What is going on Kate?” Vee asked me. “I don’t understand. You show up here tonight looking like you’ve been through a battle and you don’t have the decency to tell me what happened. You just demand my car and money. And now you’re accusing Chris of murder! Care to fill me in?”

  “I can’t fill you in,” I answered her. “Because I don’t know myself what’s going on. What I will tell you is that Philip Winston hit me over the head and knocked me out and tried to lock me up in a room at his mother’s house. I got away and came here. Why’d he do it? I don’t know. And now Chris as much as admits that he had something to do with Evelyn’s death. Why? I don’t know. Maybe you know. Maybe you have some idea.” My breath was coming in short gasps now and Vee was just staring at me.

  “Me?”

  “Yeah you. Everyone else at TechniGroup seems to be involved in all of this. Why not you?”

  “Get out. Get out of my house,” she said as she pushed past me. “How dare you?”

  “How dare I?” I yelled at her. “My friend Evelyn is dead and I came close to it the other night. Like it or not, we’re all involved in this and it’s all about to come tumbling down around us. Because I’m not giving up until I find out what is going on.”

  “It’s time to get the police involved,” Jay interjected. “This has gone too far.” He tried to take my arm but I shook him off. I backed away from the two of them and balled my hands into fists.

  “You do what you want Jay,” I told him. “The police are involved and obviously they haven’t figured out anything. I’m not going to the police. Yet.”

  “They don’t know about Philip. And we should tell them about what Chris said. Let’s leave it to them,” he pleaded with me.

  I stormed to the front door of the house and yanked it open. Over my shoulder I yelled, “Go ahead. You’re on your own.” The door slammed behind me and I quickly realized that if I was on my own, I would be doing it by foot. My car was still parked at Sadie Weinstein’s house and after the things I’d said to Vanessa, it was highly doubtful that she’d loan me her car again.

  I stood there stupidly for a moment until I heard the front door open quietly and I turned around to see Jay silhouetted in the light.

  “We made a promise the other day you know Kathleen,” he said softly and I nodded my head mutely, knowing full well what he was referring to.

  “I made a promise to stay out of it. I know that. But the moment Philip Winston waved a gun in my face and hit me on the head with it, things changed.” I gave Jay a challenging look, almost daring him to back out.

  He raised his hands in the air and shrugged his shoulders at the same time. “Fine. Just tell me what we’re doing before we run off half-cocked.”

  “I want to see Oakes. Confront him.”

  “That could be dangerous.”

  “No more dangerous than things have been in the last two weeks. Only now, we can be aware of the danger. Not let it creep up on us. Okay?”

  Jay nodded his agreement and dug in the pocket of his jeans for his car keys and I went back to Vee’s door and knocked timidly. The door opened immediately and I knew she’d been standing on the other side.

  “Sorry,” was all I said.

  “I know. Ev was my friend too, so do what you have to. Everything’s about to crash about us, isn’t it?”

  “That’s a fair assessment, Vee. With what’s happened, I can’t see that things’ll stay status quo. And for that, I’m sorry too. We’ll all have to get new jobs, you know. I’d already made up my mind, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to you, because I think Oakes has worked his last day there.”

  “I was working up to that anyway, knowing about the takeover. He already told me that one of the conditions from the other side is that he’ll be gone within six months. He thought he was laughing all the way to the bank because of his options. I knew I’d be out of a job, with him anyway, before too long. So don’t worry about me, Kate. Just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  “You make it sound like I’m going off to war,” I joked.

  Her response was dead serious. “Maybe you are.” We hugged each other tightly.

  The only response we got from ringing the doorbell was the frantic, high-pitched barking of Baby on the other side of the door. When the dog finally quieted down, we could hear him snuffling and scratching at the bottom of the door. There was s
till no response from Chris so I rang the bell again. The dog started up again and Jay said, “Oakes must be passed out if he can’t hear the dog going crazy.”

  I tentatively put my hand on the ornate brass door handle and pushed down the latch with my thumb. The door opened and I looked up expectantly at Jay, waiting for him to say something. Instead he pushed past me into the lobby entranceway calling Chris’ name. Baby leapt up at me and his claws scratched at my knee where the scrapes from the roof of Sadie Weinstein’s house had only just stopped oozing. The pain of Baby re-opening the wound brought a metallic taste to my mouth and I gasped. My reaction was normal under the circumstances but when I batted him away from my legs, he yelped. He had a stupid, red bow, tied to his topknot and another one under his chin, like a bow-tie. It must be tough enough being a miniature poodle, but to add insult to injury, the male dog was decked out like a foo-foo.

  “Quiet, Baby,” I said as I looked around the lobby for signs of life. The house was very familiar to me and I knew the layout from memory. I had been there many times on different errands and knew exactly where we’d find Oakes.

  “Downstairs,” I told Jay, pointing to a Colonial style door inset in the curved walls. He looked at me with a question mark on his face.

  “Television room. That’s where he hides when he’s drinking.”

  A couple of years ago TechniGroup had been about to close a debenture issue and Oakes had disappeared one afternoon. There was no response to his telephone at home, urgent voice messages were not returned, and Harold started to panic about nine o’clock that night. We were at the lawyers’ offices at a pre-closing and all the documents were neatly arranged in piles around a long, rectangular boardroom table that sat thirty people. The junior lawyers from both sides were working their way methodically around the table checking the documents against the closing agenda, making sure all the i’s were dotted and all the t’s were crossed. The senior lawyers from both sides were huddled in the corners of the room, ironing out last minute “deal stoppers”. The chairs had been removed from the table and placed against the walls where the accountants sat, biding their time and watching their fees grow. The only thing missing from all the documents prepared was Chris Oakes’ signature.