Todd, standing in the back of the room thought it would be highly ironic if this man spouting forth all these platitudes was himself behind the illegal drug distribution Todd was investigating. Of course Todd had to prove such a thing. All he had at the moment was that Billy Jessup was going to talk to Basil about the situation at WE-PACK. Todd had no idea why Billy wanted to have that conversation.
The luncheon was now over. Todd walked toward Basil who was standing there with a woman who looked familiar, like he had seen her on TV recently. It was Gina Farragut from the new hit series, Fallout. There were rumors that Pete played around with the ladies while still maintaining his wife and two children status. Todd waited until the conversation as finished, which featured much touching and smiling. As Gina sauntered away, Basil kept staring at the departing body.”
“It looks like you want some of that,” Todd said.
“I’m simply an admirer of beauty,” Basil said. Todd couldn’t help but notice the hungry eyes.
“Speaking of admiring, have you come up to me to talk about our soon-to-be-elected mayor again?”
“Not really. I came to talk to you about a matter of illegal drugs.”
Basil’s smile vanished. “Drugs? Mayor McGovern has waged a constant battle against them.”
“I guess I have to be very specific. It’s you and the drugs.”
“I don’t understand.”
Todd went into a quick summary of the WE-PACK company being used to distribute the illegal product. “The owner of that company was shot to death recently. He was investigating his company being used by the cartels. He was going to contact you about it. I’m wondering why.”
“I can’t imagine why.”
“Well, I’ve done some imagining and digging, and what I dug up was your brother, Aaron.”
“You leave my brother out of it.”
“I can’t do that, Pete, since Aaron has been under suspicion the last five years for dealing with the illegal drug people. He’s stayed out of jail but just barely because twice supposed witnesses recanted their statements. Another witness met an early death.”
“This discussion is over. I’m not talking about my brother.”
“I’d hate to have the press begin to ask you questions about your connection to Aaron. This might not help Tom McGovern’s re-election.”
“You can play all the hardball you want. Aaron is off limits. Now, if you’ll excuse me there’s another fund-raising event across town starting in an hour.”
Watching Basil walk away, Todd couldn’t help but notice almost a primal fear that the man had of his brother. Even the pressure of jeopardizing the upcoming election didn’t seem to sway him a bit. There was something there, something personal, but Todd couldn’t pinpoint it. The best thing would be to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.
Aaron Basil with his big teeth did have a resemblance to the equine field. Todd could even imagine the Apache haircut as the mane. The Basil family did not seem blessed genetically. Aaron had that same pothole face, but he had not watched his diet as well as his brother had. Puffy cheeks and a pot-belly did not make him a candidate for the cover of GQ Magazine.
Todd was at the center-city deli that Aaron owned. In Todd’s research about Aaron he could not find any real jobs the man had held in the last fifteen years, so probably this deli was financed by drug money. The place was crowded, with Aaron maintaining a semblance of order with the line that had formed halfway out the door.
Todd’s approach to Aaron was met with a hand-palm in his face. “You can’t be up here. The line starts back there. No one gets special treatment.”
“I want to talk to you when you have time.”
“I don’t have time. Life is a cabaret; you probably know the song.”
“My song has to do with illegal drugs.”
Aaron did a couple of quick eye-blinks and said, “Wait outside by the curb. I’ll talk to you when it quiets down in here.”
Ten minutes later Todd was joined by Aaron’s already lit cigarette. “Be careful,” Todd said, “those things will kill you.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Detective Henson. I’m investigating the murder of Billy Jessup. He was the owner of a transit company called WE-PACK. You might be familiar with it.”
“Never heard of it.”
“Well Jessup has heard of you, or I should say your brother. He was going to talk to Pete about the illegal drugs that suddenly infiltrated his business. I’ve already had a conversation with Pete, and he seems most reluctant to talk about you.”
“You’ll never get anything out of Pete. He won’t say a word about me. He’ll do anything I say.”
“Somehow I’m not suspecting all that as brotherly love. He seemed scared of you.”
“Not at all. It’s just family respect.”
“I feel really bad, Aaron that your use of WE-PACK as distributors had been closed down.”
The lip moved slightly. Todd thought possibly that was this guy’s version of a smile.
Aaron took two steps closer Todd and blew smoke in his face. “We enterprising business people can always adjust to our losses. It will simply be another company in another town. I’ve already thought of a couple of possibilities.”
“So you’re admitting that you were behind the co-opting of that transit company.”
“What I’m admitting is that you stupid bunglers will never catch me. And if you keep pushing, you may find your breathing cut short.”
“Like you did with Billy Jessup.”
“I heard about his death. Quite unfortunate.” Basil threw his still-lit cigarette on the top of Todd’s shoe and walked away.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Todd was puzzled. Aaron seemed totally assured that his brother would not reveal anything about the illegal activities. What was this hold that Aaron held over Pete?
Todd knew he wasn’t going to get anything out of Aaron, but Pete was already shaking at the mention of his brother’s name. It was time for more pressure on Pete.
When Todd had mentioned Pete being scared of his brother, Aaron said it was family respect. Possibly it wasn’t brother-to-brother he was talking about but Pete’s own family. It might be worthwhile to visit him at his home.
Todd called the mayor’s office to see if any more events were scheduled for today. The secretary said that after the second fund raiser, there were no more items on the agenda until, tomorrow. Todd knew from his research that Pete’s wife was a stay-at-home mom raising their five and seven year old boys. He waited until after dinner and then drove by the Basil house. The lights were on, and there was Pete’s brand-new Buick in the driveway. Todd had seen Pete on the TV news driving the mayor to a couple of speeches last week. It seemed like an intimate night at home with the family that Todd could try to upset.
His ringing of the doorbell was answered by a tall woman who looked a little older than Pete. She was slightly listed to the side as if she had early arthritis problems. Todd could see her right arm and hand shaking a bit. There could be more there than aging. “Yes, could I help you?” she asked. She was immediately joined by two boys, each of whom grabbed a leg.
“Sorry to disturb your evening ma’am, but I wondered if I might have a few words with your husband.”
“Of course. We were just finishing dinner. Come on in.”
“I can wait out here. Thank you.” Todd thought the private quality of this porch might open up Pete a bit. With his wife actually present and listening he might not say anything. It was good, though, that she was close by and a reminder to him that he actually had a family. Todd wanted that kind of pressure on him.
Pete came to the door with a glass of wine in his hand. “What are you doing here? Isn’t it enough that you bother me at work?”
“I want to continue our discussion about your brother that we began this morning.”
“There is no discussion. Now get out of here.”
“Perhaps you don’t want the privacy of
this porch. Maybe we should talk about Aaron sitting around the table with your wife and kids.”
Basil quickly shut the door and stepped full out onto the porch. Even the porch seemed too close to be overheard, so he set his wine down on the step and said, “Let’s walk. I often do a little exercise after dinner.”
“Exactly. It’s important to stay trim. I’d hate for anything to mess up this upcoming election.”
“Your pressuring me will do no good.” The meaning of the words was firm, but the voiced trembled a bit.
“I talked with Aaron this afternoon. He seemed to feel he had you all locked up about any information about him. Why is he so sure, Pete? I don’t know how truly honest you and McGovern are, but like you said in your speech this morning, at least the press hasn’t gotten the hint of any wrongdoing. I’m wondering why someone like you who seems to have at least a semblance of integrity would keep secrets about someone who has just barely avoided criminal prosecution. I got the feeling talking with Aaron today that if I spoke with him another time he might even tell me why he has such control over you. He seemed proud of it, and almost willing to share it on the spot.”
That last part was not true at all, but Todd thought it might give Pete the push that was needed.
They were down a block from the house. Pete stopped walking. “You’re just not going to quit, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
Pete looked back at his house that could just barely be seen. As if he was still too close to being overheard he walked another ten feet. He took a deep breath. “Aaron’s older than I by two years. At this stage of our lives that difference doesn’t matter, but when we were kids growing up I followed the lead of my big brother. A couple of times we narrowly avoided getting caught because he liked to rob houses. It was a dumb thing for me to do, but I was young and stupid.”
“So you’re afraid he’ll tell about that?”
“Not about that. The public can pass that off as kids being too immature. It’s what we did the next year that I still worry about to this day.”
“What exactly is that?”
“Our sister Bridget is a year younger than me. She developed fast, and by that I mean physically. One night when all three of us were in high school, Aaron woke me up at maybe two A.M and asked me if I wanted to have some fun. I thought he was talking about another house robbery, but he was talking about something much worse.”
Pete paused, but then Todd could see there was relief on his face at being able to finally tell someone.
“Aaron led me down the hall to Bridget’s room. I started to pull away. He grabbed me with his usual iron grip. ‘This will be perfect, bro,’ he said. ‘I’ve been doing Bridget for the last couple of months. Now you can join in. We can share her.’ I told him that what he was suggesting was awful. He told me, ‘We do it once a week. Tonight’s the night. She closes her eyes when I come in. She won’t even know it’s you.’”
Todd himself was holding his breath at the horror of this. “What happened?”
“I should have turned around and ran back down the hall, but before I could even think about doing that, Aaron pushed me into the room. Then he came in behind me to watch. Sure enough, Bridget had her eyes closed. I’ll probably be condemned to hell for it, but I had sex with her. When we were back out in the hall, Aaron told me it was much better than watching TV. For the next couple of years until he left home he kept after me to keep doing it with him, but I never did it again.”
“So Aaron had sex with Bridget for three years?”
“At least. I don’t know when it all began. Bridget never told my parents or mentioned it to me. I know it must have affected her tremendously because soon after high school she became a nun and still is one. I think she was trying to atone for what she felt was her sin. As far as Aaron went, he now knew he had control over me, so no matter what I knew about his illegal activities, he was certain I wouldn’t tell. In high school, he had already begun his drug connections and I stayed as silent about it as I am now.”
“But you’re not silent anymore, Pete. You told me.”
“What good is that going to do?”
“You can put Aaron away for good by telling me about his current drug activity.”
“Oh, sure, then he’ll blab to everyone that I had sex with my sister. I can’t face that kind of humiliation, and besides it will ruin Tom’s re-election. It will totally taint McGovern’s campaign.”
“This doesn’t make it right, Pete, but you did it once, and that was under duress. Are you going to suffer your entire life for that one night?”
“I can’t sacrifice the life I’ve built. I’m sorry, Detective, but I just can’t do it.”
Two days later Todd got a call at the precinct.
“Henson, it’s me Basil.”
“Hello, Pete. What’s happening? McGovern already has my vote. You don’t have to give me any of your campaign speeches.”
“What I’m going to tell you won’t be in any speech. That night I left you out on the sidewalk I went back inside and took a good look at my family. The last three or four years I played around, but I have stopped that. Today, I decided that my wife and kids do not deserve a coward for a husband or a father. Out past the western suburbs, just before you’d get into Lancaster, down Route 891 Aaron has a warehouse. He’s not storing vegetables there. If you can get a few of your men together and show up tonight, you literally will be able to catch him with the goods. Maybe Aaron will wag his tongue about me and Bridget, but I’ll take that chance. He’ll probably know I did this, but I’m tired of carrying that piano on my back. I think my family loves me enough that they will understand. Here’s the directions to the warehouse.”
He then hung up before Todd could praise him for his guts.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The raid was successful, and a day later Aaron Basil was arrested, and was now enjoying the hospitality of the city jail. The DEA contacted Todd that next day to thank him for the tip. As near as they could figure most of the drugs had come from the Mexican cartel, Los Familias, with this government haul putting a dent on their Philadelphia operation.
Todd still had the question of Billy Jessup’s death in mind, so today his first stop was a visit to Aaron at his new home.
The first thing Aaron said was, “I know my rat of a brother squealed on me. I always knew from way back the guy was a coward.”
“Aaron, that man has more courage than you have in your little toe. I’m here to ask you about Billy Jessup. It seemed he was starting to get closer to suspecting you and your Mexican criminals as co-opting his trucks with your product. Is that why you killed him?”
“Maybe you guys will get me on this drug charge, although I’ve got a pretty good lawyer, but there’s no way you’ll take me down for that murder. I’m not a killer.”
“How about the young kids getting hooked on your drugs?”
“That’s their choice. Just like Pete made a choice when we were in high school which I’m now going to tell the world about.”
“He already told me, so save your breath.”
“I hope to have much more breathing, in freedom as soon as my lawyer gets working on this charge. About Jessup’s death, why would I kill someone whose company was helping me distribute my product? He might have had suspicions but as far as I know he had no proof. In fact it was his death that lead to your snooping into my business. Killing him was the worst publicity I could have done to make you and your pig friends looking into the whole operation. I didn’t kill Billy Jessup. Now vamoose like a goose; I have a phone call to make to my beloved brother.”
It didn’t take Pete long to react to Aaron’s call.
When Todd got home that night and turned on the evening news, he had to turn away from the TV. The Breaking News was that current campaign manager and assistant to Mayor Tom McGovern had committed suicide.
Todd was surprised at his own vehemence as he grabbed a small vase and smashed it on the floor. He then said
the word, damn, maybe thirty times until he could finally calm down.
He turned off the TV. He wanted silence. It seemed that Pete had enough courage to oppose his criminal brother but not enough to face his family.
Immediately after the suicide, there was a probe into the current mayoral campaign, but nothing improper could be found. In fact, McGovern strengthened his candidacy the next week by his heartfelt words about his best friend.
At the funeral Pete’s bewildered wife summoned enough of that same courage to speak about her husband. She started out with a low shaky voice but then her love for her husband took hold and she finished proudly. Pete had probably been a hundred per cent correct about his family’s feelings for him, but he must not have trusted it enough.
The final irony was even though Aaron might have been telling the world about that night with Pete and Bridget, possibly his only real listeners were his fellow prisoners. Pete Basil was finally laid to rest with his good name intact.
It took Todd a few more days to get over what he felt was a personal loss to him, but life had to go on and so the search for Billy Jessup’s killer began anew.
When Todd thought about it, he didn’t really know anything about Billy’s background. He had asked Merry, but all she could contribute was that he was from someplace in the Midwest. When Todd discovered where in the Midwest, he felt that some kind of Fate was intervening.
Checking birth records Todd saw the town of Calypso, Indiana listed. For a minute he didn’t know why that town sounded familiar.
Then, he had it. That was the town he had stopped on the outskirts of when he was running out of gas after having visited his sister, Carrie. It was that gas station that he said he’d never in a million years be back to. Those million years passed by quickly as the next morning he was going to take a drive out there to explore that town of maybe a thousand souls.
Return to Murder Page 4