Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition

by Moulton, CD

  Maybe Marko’s operative would come up with some information he could use as leverage from the man who was watching Frieda.

  He started picking up the CD’s and flash drives to put in a box of stuff for the case and groaned. Was this one going to end up with ten more tangential cases?

  Crap! Horse race fixing now? He did NOT care to get involved with that kind of shit! On the other hand, he already was involved, like it or not.

  “Okay. I have the medical stuff,” Sergio said. “I don’t know how to read an x-ray – unless someone is there to point out what’s wrong.

  “Did Manny’s friend in California get the things you need?”

  “Not yet. He’s watching her. He went through her place completely and nothing’s there,” Clint answered. “She doesn’t meet with anyone else there except to give the schedules and orders.”

  “I see. Is there anyone she avoids more than the others? Someone who becomes obvious because the natural rule of things would demand she meets with all the jefes?”

  “That’s a good point that I hadn’t considered yet.” He called Marko and said to have his man check on that. Marko said he had a list of everything and of everyone on the place. He’d call back in a few minutes.

  Clint opened the package and read over the general appointments and such. Lawrence had been to his office every second week since three years ago. Before that it was once or twice a week.

  He took out the x-rays dating back for almost seven years. The first one showed a very slight shadow on the left kidney. Clint swore and told Sergio the doctor had found the cancer on the very first x-ray. It was definitely operable then and probably for some time after. Six months later it was much larger, but still operable. Two months from then there was a slight shadow on the left lung. Eight months later it was larger and a lesion was showing on the left elbow on the bone about two inches from the joint. Clint pointed to it and said that was the point when it became inoperable. He’d been in constant pain for three years.

  Sergio said he wanted to arrest Orison himself. He would resist arrest and attack the officer, who would teach him a thing or two about pain.

  “Then you would be no better than him.”

  “There are times it is justified.”

  Clint couldn’t deny that – in this case.

  Marko called to say the only one she didn’t seem to ever speak with was a Frank Lindsay. He’d been on the ranch for more than ten years as a trainer.

  “Description?”

  “Fifty one, thin but athletic build, longish wavy brown hair that was showing a bit of grey, dresses very well, drives a Viper, wears blue contacts.”

  “A viper? That’s a damned expensive car!”

  “Spends a hell of a lot of money on several of the local ladies. Buys expensive gifts. I’ll have him checked out and get back to you, probably tomorrow sometime.”

  “Thanks, Manny. This is one nasty mess. The doctor was deliberately killing him by not treating the cancer seven years ago when it shows plain as day on the x-ray.”

  There was a silence, then, “The doctor might have an accident any minute. How could anyone do something like that?”

  “That makes three of us, minimum, who want to see that one beg for death before his request is granted. We have to find which one or ones in that family were in it with him.”

  “That’s even lower. We also have to find who knew about it on that ranch. I doubt Frieda knew that part. I checked her out. She’s greedy and larcenous, but doesn’t seem cruel or vicious. I want to know who else is there who DID know.”

  They talked a bit more, then rang off. He was going to have a chat with the members of that family. It wasn’t going to be easy to hide what he thought of at least one of them.

  Preposterous!

  “We have to discuss a few things. Things from the recent past,” Clint told the gathered group.

  “You got all the records from the estate in California,” Trudy said. “That means someone was embezzling?”

  “Of course. That’s petty and pretty much standard for this kind of deal. He was also being blackmailed. That will prove to be more important than a bit of chicanery with household funds.”

  “Frieda? She had a free hand with the estate funds,” Amanda said. “Pops said he knew about the hundred here and there and had even told her to take a bit when she needed it.”

  “We could all take a few hundred anytime we wanted,” Wanda added. “He could keep us all dependent that way.”

  “That was in character. There’s a lot more to it than that. I imagine more than one of you had a bit extra. Those funds were charged to the estate, but the receipted expenditures at the California place were nowhere near to what was being spent according to the bank records.

  “Someone broke into Frieda’s apartment while I was there and took a lot of records she had hidden in the place. She took two computers from the office and some disks to hide there. (uh-oh! He hoped that statement wouldn’t be noted by someone there! He shouldn’t know about those computers!) I think it was probably the IRS. They seem to be interfering with the investigation here.”

  Clint added that bit to see who reacted and to distract attention from the computers remark. All of them seemed more than a little perturbed by that information. Maybe they would think he learned that from them if they even considered it.

  “The IRS!?” Amanda exclaimed. “I heard from Frieda about it. She called us to tell us the records are gone. She said it was a masked man you saw running from her place. She seemed to think it was ... something else. She wouldn’t say what. I never considered that ... I doubt.... Why?”

  “There’s some talk among the locals that there were fixed races where he made a bundle that wasn’t reported. A known local hood was seen meeting with him at times (he remembered one of those pictures!) and some person called Frank Something. Lindley or Lenders or something. That’s being looked into by the IRS very closely at the moment if my source can be believed.”

  Trudy was suddenly very pale and a bit dizzy. She said she was still reacting to Donald’s death and was confused about everything that was happening. The IRS? Fixed races? With Frank Lindsay? Preposterous!

  “My own theory is that someone was blackmailing Lawrence because of that. Maybe Donald found out about it and faced him with it. The blackmailer came into the room while that was happening and put an end to Donald, which meant Lawrence had to go. That would mean that Donald had proof of some sort. He would be laughed away if he didn’t.

  “Of course, that theory could be one eighty from the reality. That’s the trouble with theories. That’s why I’ll keep looking into every other possibility I can think of.

  “Do any of you have anything that would point to....”

  “Dr. Orison! He’s here in Panamá! That police officer was asking all of us if we knew why he would be here! And Rasmussen is here! Oh, my god!” Amanda cried.

  “Orison is here,” Wanda said. “I knew that. Pops called him from Costa Rica just when we flew in. He said he needed some kind of treatment because he was hurting a lot lately. I didn’t know about the lawyer. That’s very strange.”

  “Pops did a lot of strange things,” Trudy said. “I think maybe.... Why here? Why not Costa Rica or Mexico or Peru or even Colombia where we were supposed to be by now?”

  THAT was a very good question! Clint would have to look at certain laws that were different in Panamá than in those places. It might explain why Rasmussen was there. That had never made any sense – like everything else about the case.

  It was slowly coming together, but by incidental pieces like that question.

  “You’re one of the best lawyers in Panamá,” Clint said to Angel Guerra. “You specialize in estates and large business concerns, but have the reputation of knowing the law as well as anyone here. What I need to know is about death and inheritance laws in Panamá that are different than those in Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia. I have to learn why a dual murder was committed here a
nd not some other place.”

  “Hm-um. That’s much too broad a question for an answer,” Angel replied. “I need some specific area. The laws are much different in all the places you mentioned.”

  “I’ll tell you what I think this is about. It began about seven years ago.

  “A doctor discovered that a very wealthy man had a small beginning cancer in a kidney. There must have been some kind of deal that I can only speculate about. Maybe the doctor would receive a very large bequest when the man died in return for treatment.

  “The treatment was not given then – or ever. A simple enough operation to remove the kidney at that time would have resulted in the man living, but the doctor gave the man painkillers and minor treatment until the cancer had spread to the lungs and bones ... ... someone in the family is and has been involved. The lawyer and doctor are here. He planned to suicide in a way that would look like murder, but the family would all be suspected.

  “I have to know what laws caused him to come here. What laws are enough different that it wasn’t done in any other place than Panamá.”

  “That doctor couldn’t have killed them himself?” Angel asked.

  “No. He and the lawyer are and were in San Blas.”

  “Offshore.”

  “What?”

  “Panamá has offshore accounts that no other country is allowed to monitor. Even Switzerland has caved in to the demands of other countries to allow information about accounts to be known. Panamá has not.”

  “I’ll be damned! That simple!”

  “You’ll have to watch all of them,” Angel warned. “I imagine the doctor and lawyer are here for that and have the information and powers of attorney to claim those funds. That explains why they are here and at this time. They knew he was planning to suicide.”

  “Even a power of attorney won’t get them into the funds, will it?”

  “No. It will have to be attested by an heir. The only way around that would be if there was no heir. They are in no position to eliminate heirs, so one or more is working with them – which you already suspected.”

  “Sick! And very sad.” Angel nodded.

  They chatted a few minutes. Angel said there was no charge for the session. He just wanted to be a large part of prosecution for that sordid bunch. If any of them lived to be prosecuted. Such sordid people sometimes had truly horrible accidents where they were pinned in a slowly burning vehicle or such.

  “You’re number four who thinks that would be the best resolution to the case.”

  “Are you number one or two?”

  “Two. A cop is number one to actually state it.”

  Angel nodded again.

  “Manny, can you find out a thing or two about offshore banking accounts here?” Clint asked.

  “Ha! That’s why the lawyer’s here! So simple and obvious,” Dave exclaimed. “The lawyer has the account numbers or such. Probably set it up himself. That doesn’t explain the doctor ... yes it does. The doctor to monitor the suicide ... which is why he wanted suspicion on everyone in the family. Heirs under suspicion of murder don’t inherit. The first one who can come up with solid proof he or she wasn’t the killer will be the killer.”

  “They still would only inherit their part in the will,” Marko pointed out.

  “That’s one fourth of seven million Euros,” Judi said.

  “Plus the offshore account they are probably the only one who knows about?” Sergio suggested. “How much was embezzled or was sent out here from funds supposedly embezzled?”

  “About a million and a half dollars. The lawyer and doctor will probably get that,” Marko replied.

  “Uh-uh. It’s one hell of a lot more than just that,” Clint argued. “Remember the fixed-races money.

  “Manny, could you find anything about that? How much and when?”

  “The report should be ready now. I’ll call Tony. Gimme a min.” He took out his cellular and called. There was no answer, but he waited. Judi looked a question at him.

  “It’s four in the morning in California.”

  They had another coffee and the call came. Marko took it inside. They were on the deck. He came back out in ten minutes or so and said, “Half a mil bet at fourteen to one on April six four years ago. Half a mil at twelve to one on May eight three years ago. There will be more, probably once a year he had a long shot come in. Your Frank Lindsay had fifty grand on the first and twenty grand on the second run. Carlo Gambanese seems to have bet a lot on all of them through other bookies than his own – and if that doesn’t tell you something you’re a total idiot who should be institutionalized.

  “The other bookies figured that the second time.”

  “Who was the crud in those pictures?” Judi asked.

  “His name’s just ‘Buster’ and he hung around Candlestick and Arena. Odd coincidence that’s where the races were run. He suddenly had a grand to bet on each of those races. He’s deceased two years. Had an accident when it got clear enough he was the fixer. There won’t have been any other longshot bets since then.”

  “Know who had him hit?” Clint asked.

  “No one seems to know – so no one knows.”

  “Yeah! Maybe he knew too much for good old Lawrence’s piece of mind,” Dave suggested. “Maybe the doctor and/or lawyer. Maybe that Frieda broad or Lindsay. Maybe one or two of the gaggle here.”

  “I’d say Lindsay,” Clint said. “He would be the goat if it’s ever found out. He’ll be the one who made the original contact and deal. He hired it done. Probably has the smarts to get a druggie to do it for a hundred bucks or something.”

  “God, they’re a nasty bunch!” Judi exclaimed. No one argued the point.

  “Well, I can’t get into the banking bit. We’ll just wait a while until someone makes a move. They won’t think us schmuck hicks will tumble to it, so won’t wait too long I’d guess. We could discuss this kind of crap while we’re fishing down around Zapatilla? Only Serg won’t be able to join us, more’s the pity.”

  Sergio gave him the finger. “You might wonder if maybe they’ll be a bit more cautious since we schmucks were able to show the murders were murders so quickly.”

  “You have a point,” Dave agreed. “I can’t go. I’ve got to get together with Bill and Paul to work out some numbers for the gig Thursday. I hate doing that kind of thing. I might get sick or something.”

  “BS! You love to play!” Sergio snapped back.

  “Not practiced stuff,” Judi argued. “He never does a song twice the same way. He’s spontie.”

  “Among other things,” Marko added. He got the finger for that.

  “When will you get with the Lesleys again?” Judi asked when they were having dinner at The Pirate.

  “I’ll let them stew and wonder what I know,” Clint replied. “They’re already a little antsy. I think the IRS crap is what has them all scared.”

  “Won’t Trudy be the most scared of that?” she asked.

  “Trudy? Why?”

  “Well, she had the proof of the fixing ... but never used it. Donald was doing that.”

  “So Frieda, Lindsay and whoever else is in on it there will be scared, plus the killer. They’ll be scared because there has to be something that’ll tie them into it besides the stuff Manny got for us. The doctor and lawyer will have covered their asses and couldn’t care less about the IRS. They’re from ... Norway.

  “Damn! This thing is getting ridiculous! It’s a complicated mess ... that started in Norway or Switzerland?”

  “Probably the original idea is from California. That’s where the crooked races and stuff got started. It’s where your records were kept.

  “Clint, where was the wife from? Where did she die?”

  Clint called Sergio, who looked up the records and called back a few minutes later. She was from France, carried a Swiss passport and had become a naturalized USA citizen with a passport from the United States. She died in California. She was institutionalized twenty years ago with what was called a n
ervous breakdown at the time. 3 months. She died of massive cardiac failure, unspecified.

  “Institutionalized? Where?” Clint asked. There was a pause, then, “Bourne.”

  “Doctor?”

  “You guessed it. Orison.”

  “Now it’s gone beyond ridiculous so far you can’t see back to it,” Clint muttered. “Any other complicating facts I should know?”

  “Hmm. Rasmussen was born in Belgium of Norwegian parents if that means anything.”

  “Probably not, but everything ends up meaning something that I thought didn’t and everything I thought did didn’t.”

  “You don’t make any sense!” Sergio replied.

  “Neither does any of this crap!”

  “I have a thought,” Sergio said seriously. “How many of them had dual passports? Where might they have gone on the one while we checked only the other?”

  “It was never for our benefit, but that is one hell of a point. Can you check on which ones, if any, came here before on the second passport? Maybe more than once?”

  “I can get in touch with the embassies and find out. Would that complicate it further ?”

  “Of course it wi...! NO! Check on the doctor and lawyer, too! They’ll both have dual passports as sure as I’m sitting here! Which one or ones will be behind the whole scheme?

  “Sergio, I have to know the starting point in all this. If I know that I’ll know who’s behind everything.”

  “Ah! The ones who were here are the ones who opened the offshore account! That’s what’s really behind it. The money. It’s almost always that way.

  “Clint, it can’t all be because of the money.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m seeing a scenario where the money was used by someone to get revenge on that family in some way.

  “Clint, I’m reading the records of the family so far as health goes. It appears ... Lawrence was abusing the girls, or someone was. That’s what brought on the wife’s nervous collapse. It’s not at all clear. It reads that way if you leave out a bit and suppose a bit.”