The heavy elevator doors opened right into the reception area. Was that Jessica? “Hi, my name is Jessica. Do you have an appointment?” Nothing to worry about with her. She could have played one of the ugly sisters in Cinderella. I got great satisfaction out of her not being pretty. No wonder she was all over Richard. She probably never had a man pay any attention to her, let alone my hunk. I hated myself for being so catty but felt relieved anyway.
“Yes, my name is Adam Garwood. Mr. Forth is expecting me.”
“Please come this way. I’ll show you to his office. Would you like a coffee or tea perhaps?”
“No, I’m fine, thank you.” He was sitting with his back to us, looking out the window. He seemed deep in thought. As I entered he turned to greet me.
“Mr. Garwood, it is a pleasure to meet you.”
Wow, what a handsome looking man. He was in his early 70s, tall, with such perfectly straight posture that he looked like one of those ballroom dancers. His eyes were hazelnut in colour which complimented his tanned skin to perfection. His hair was pure white and immaculately coiffed. He was the best looking older man that I had ever seen. “Please, sit down,” he said.
I nervously sat. There was something of authority about him that made you feel inferior. He was polite enough with you, but I felt it was his total package that demanded attention, looks, posture and assuredness. He was big in presence taking over any space he would be in. I tried to control my fidgeting. I awkwardly crossed and uncrossed my legs, one hand over the other, then removed them and place them on my knees. What was wrong with me?
“Mr. Garwood I won’t waste your time; I’ll get right to the point.”
Somehow I knew that he would! “What can I do for you Mr. Forth?”
“Grenville Haze… I believe he retained you. You were working for him, right?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know what he told you but I will be happy to clarify my position.”
“What position is that?”
I thought he would kill me with his stare but he continued. “Grenville was blackmailing me. He was a very sick man and unfortunately I was deeply involved with him.”
“I know.”
“I’m not sure what you know but I want it to remain within these walls. Do I have your word on that? If you want me to pay you, money is not a problem.”
“Wouldn’t you consider that a mild form of blackmail as well?”
“I am a very powerful man and I could destroy you and your little agency. I have done my research and am very much aware of your circumstances. You need all the help that you can get. You are just meeting your monthly expenses.”
That was it; I got up and made for the door. “I don’t care who you are; no one talks to me that way. Now fuck off and get out of my way.” What! Did I just say that? I actually stood up for myself. At that precise moment, I was, in my eyes, taller than him. I couldn’t believe I spoke to him in that manner. I wanted out.
It seemed as if the roles were reversed for now; I had the power. “Mr. Garwood, forgive me. That was not the way I wanted to approach the situation. Can I be totally frank with you?”
I reached out my hand and said, “Hello I am Adam Garwood. Now shall we start over again?”
“I like your style kid.” He walked towards the bar. “Please, join me in a drink and I will come clean with you. Scotch on the rocks?”
“Sure.”
“I hated the bastard and was happy or should I say relieved when I heard he was dead. He was nothing but trouble. Crazy in the head as well!”
“Maybe we can start from the beginning. How and when did you meet Grenville Haze?”
“I met him over twenty years ago, no, perhaps longer than that. I think it was at a bar. He was really cute and well I swung both ways. I was married at the time, unhappily and a little action on the side was a welcome diversion. I never felt I was cheating on my wife because it was with a man.” He put his hand up when he saw my face, and said, “I know; ridiculous statement!”
“From that first meeting we became inseparable. I fell in love with him and he reciprocated. He told me that he needed a job and I was quite well up the ladder here. I loved the idea of him working close beside me. The first few years were great… we would sneak off together and well history was made. It started to change after that.”
“Did your wife find out?”
“I’m sure she knew. She did not want anything to do with me sexually and as long as my needs were being taken care of and she was released from that duty, she turned and pretended that she was unaware of it. But I know that she knew! She was looked after very nicely.”
“What changed?” I asked.
“His whole personality. He got very aggressive and possessive. He accused me of seeing others, which was totally out of the question. He would flare up in the office and a few times he sexually assaulted the women here.”
“What do you mean by that? Did he rape them?”
“Oh, no nothing like that. He would hit their ass as they walked by cursing derogatory remarks at them. On two separate occasions I had to pay these women off to avoid charges being made.”
“You really had a handful there. I bet you felt that you were in too deep to get out, right?”
“You have no idea. The sex was great so I kept him around. He would make promises to change but that would last for a couple of months and then he would be up to his old tricks again.”
“You said that he worked with you almost 20 years or longer. Why did you put up with it for so long?”
“Time went quickly. He would leave the company for months on end, take sick leave and he would return. I really did not know how to handle him. He was threatening to tell my wife what was going on. It was partially her money that was invested in Invor and I could not take that chance of something being disturbed. It was my doings and I felt that I had to deal with it.”
I had to ask. I looked directly at him and said, “You had motive for killing Grenville. Didn’t you?”
“What? You little punk. Are you trying to set me up here?”
“No, I’m just asking. You had every reason to get rid of him. He was blackmailing you.”
“He started to say that he found a cure for some fabricated disease. He got crazier by the day. Finally, I had to let him go. I worried about his finances but I provided for him substantially.”
“His finances!”
“Yes, he was barely making ends meet.”
I did not know whether to tell him that he had been had. Grenville Haze was a millionaire. How could he have been with someone for that long and not realize? Someone was lying here. I just did not believe Forth or his story. I remember someone had said that he divorced his wife, so why would he care about her finding anything out?
“You said that you were worried about your wife finding out. Didn’t you divorce her?”
“Are you calling me a liar Mr. Garwood? If you were doing your job properly and looked into the timeframe you would know that I am telling the truth. My wife and I got divorced when she found out that I fathered a child.”
“And of course Grenville found out as well!”
“Yes, he helped me look after him. It was the only way to avoid disclosure. I kept it from my wife for the longest time. I hired a nanny and I paid for an apartment and all three of them lived with Grenville. I could visit my son when I wanted to.”
It finally hit me as I asked the most obvious question. “Is Bobby your son?”
He looked at me with total confusion. After seemingly getting lost within his confusion, he quickly regained part of his composure.
He finally answered, “Yes,” still looking confused.
* * * *
“I can’t believe it! Mr. Forth is really Bobby’s father. I thought that he was a result of the Mayor having an affair. Both the Mayor a
nd Forth were bedding the same woman. I am sure there was enough proof or else Forth would never have admitted it. And that woman was the nanny to both her son Bobby and Peter. It worked out perfectly.”
“Richard, what is so hard to believe? Jessica told you his last name.”
“I know she did, but I somehow did not believe her. They are all crazy! They have the morals of alley cats. Don’t you see that Gritty had total control over everyone? He was Lexus’ lover and she would do anything for him because he fathered her son, great motive for murder. Forth was hiding secrets from his wife and who knows what else Grenville had over him? That could be another motive for murder. Bobby was madder than hell at Grenville moving out and deserting him, plus he must have had anger issues with his own father, another motive for murder.”
“That about sums it up. You are building a great case but you still don’t know who the hell did it. I feel you have to talk with Bobby. Let’s get his side of the story. There’s got to be someone that you can really link to the murder. I truly feel Bobby just might be the one to get some answers from.”
“We seem to forget about Peter. He was being abused by Gritty. What if?” I put up my hand to stop him continuing on that train of thought.
“Peter is incapable of murder. He couldn’t pull that off himself, even if he wanted to. He weighs all of 90 pounds. Impossible! And besides, he was in a mental facility at that time.”
“No, he was only put into that place after his father was murdered. What’s with you Adam? Don’t you remember?”
“Shit, you’re right! It is highly possible; Peter could have pulled this off with help … motive for murder. We as of now have four suspects and nothing makes sense to me. I just thought of something… far-fetched but anything is possible now.”
“Richard, what if Donald Haze with all his money paid for a hitman? That would be five suspects.”
“What would be his motive?”
“I haven’t quite figured that one out yet but Donald Haze was disappointed in his son. He wanted a relationship and maybe Gritty pushed him away.”
“I would say that it was the other way around.”
“Who knows… motive for murder.”
Richard started laughing and I heard the cork being opened and the sound of wine being poured. This case was getting more complicated by the minute. At least I was on retainer and I now had a right to probe into matters. We sat down and enjoyed the rest of the evening and just before it came to an end Richard said, “Promise me one thing.”
“Anything sweetheart.”
“Do not use the words, motive for murder, ever again, or else I’ll explode. Enough already!”
We could not contain our laughter.
Chapter Eighteen
Bobby would be the final one to contact and question. Jessica was more than happy to meet up with Richard and with very little convincing set up an appointment with Bobby Forth. He came into the office only on Fridays and an imperative date was forthcoming. He could easily recognize Richard from the office and we wanted to keep the charade going so I had no other choice but to do the questioning. I still did not want to be found out. We had planted Richard at Invor as a somewhat spy and now seeing as he did not work there anymore, there was no need for disclosure. He was only there for a short time anyway.
Bobby seemed happy to see me. At least that is the persona that he put forth. “It is nice to see you again. I thought that we would meet up sooner than this,” I said with a questioning stance.
“I guess I have a lot of explaining to do. You see me in a box and now sitting behind a desk. Have a seat and I will answer your questions. I feel I owe you that much.”
“I’m happy that we see eye-to-eye on that. What the hell were you thinking? Why didn’t you just approach me and ask about Gritty. I would have been more than willing to answer you.”
“I know. It was childish on my part. I saw you talking with Grenville in the alley and saw that as the only connection to meet up with you. I’m sorry.”
“And then, you never got in contact again!”
“Yeah, well that was something else. I was at a loss as to why he left the company.”
“Didn’t your father tell you?”
“My dad and I aren’t that close. He is losing it a bit and I only see him once a month.”
“What do you mean losing it? He definitely has all his wits about him. I saw him a couple of days ago.”
“He is like a Chameleon. He changes as the mood permits. I never know where I stand with him. One day he was all for me having a relationship with Grenville and then the next he wanted me to stay clear of him. It was very confusing.”
“You decided to back off and leave it alone, right. And that is why you never tried to contact me again.”
“Absolutely!”
“Okay, no harm done. Will you be willing to answer a few questions?”
“Sure.”
“You lived a long time with Grenville, right?”
“He was like a father to me. His son Peter and I were raised together. Then Peter got sick and went back to his mother. Maybe I am stepping out of line here, but you do know who his mother is, don’t you?”
“Yes, I am aware.”
“My mother died and I formed a strong bond with Lexus. She was every kid’s dream, funny, a great cook and not at all judgemental. She was like a mother to me. I loved her.”
“You say that in past tense. Why?”
“As I got older, she cared but not the same. She was more protective of Peter. It was only natural, I guess! I was very jealous of their relationship.”
“What did your father tell you about living with Gritty?”
“Gritty needed a nanny for Peter and my mother acted that out. I naturally went with her. That was the living arrangements that my father demanded.”
“Demanded?” I questioned.
“Yes, have you ever heard of the golden rule? He who has the gold rules! And Forth Sr. had the money. He paid a high price for secrecy.”
“Tell me about your mother.”
“Her name was Mary. She used to work at Invor. She fell in love with my father and the rest is history.”
“In other words, he paid highly for his mistake. He offered her the position of nanny and with that he would look after her.”
“That’s right. I loved my mother but she was really dumb. She could have taken him for a ride, financially and reputation wise but she was always loyal to him. She loved him with everything in her. She died of a heart attack. I found her on the floor of the condo when I returned home from school. I always thought that she died of a broken heart.”
“That’s an awful lot for a kid of your age to handle. How did you cope? Did you go to counselling or get help dealing with the sight of seeing you mother dead on the floor?”
“I was older, and almost entering university. My father thought that I could deal with it and I did and have.”
“What happened to you then?”
“I continued living a somewhat existence with Grenville. It was my only home and it worked. He was not around much and I had a degree to obtain. My father was conditioning me for taking his spot at Invor.”
“There must have been some resentment building up in you.”
“Look if you think that I killed Grenville, you can stop there. I had no reason to.”
“I did not ask you that.”
“Mr. Garwood, I am not stupid. I know that you are trying to build a case and looking for the murderer. I figured that you would question me sooner or later. Off the record, I hated that son of a bitch. He terrorized my mother with his sexual advances but I am not a murderer.”
“What do you mean advances?”
“Grenville was crazy. When he came in drunk and that was many nights; he would make passes at my mother. I was always fighting him off. What a
way for a woman to live?”
“I’m sure that with the information that she had on your father, he would have found her other accommodations. Knowledge is control and she owned it.”
“Like I said, she wasn’t the smartest!”
“Bobby, in your opinion, who do you think might have killed Grenville?”
“I don’t know. He had a lot of enemies. I was one of them.”
“Did you know that your father and he were lovers?”
“That was evident. Peter and I would play over at Lexus’ and they would disappear for hours on end. When I got older I put it all together.”
“How did that make you feel?”
“Look, I don’t have to answer that. I think your line of questioning is getting off track here. I have to go now; I have a meeting. You know where to get me if you need me?”
“One last thing.”
“What?”
“Did you know that Grenville was very wealthy? He did not have to work. He also suffered from Histrionic Personality Disorder.”
“I knew he had money and I knew he was crazy. That is all there was to it.
Goodbye Mr. Garwood.”
“Goodbye.”
* * * *
“Oh, he did it for sure! The writing is on the wall.”
“You are crazy Richard. He and four other possibilities!”
“The guy was abusing his mother. He had built-up anger issues. Can’t you see that?”
“No, I see a very well rounded man with a story and that’s all.”
Gritty Page 16