“How ‘bout we meet after lunch today?”
“That would be fine.”
As Bucky walked away, I wondered what business he might have for Ed. Disappointed Bucky said nothing about the gold plated rod, I turned towards the building lobby so we could leave but Ed grabbed my arm. “Wait.”
I stopped and Ed pointed at the door to the courtroom where we watched Maddie’s arraignment. “Knott. Let’s ask him about the charges.”
As A.D.A. Knott walked past us, Ed stepped in front of him. “Mr. Knott?”
Knott looked up at Ed and said, “Excuse me. I’ve got to go.”
“Just one question.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.”
“I’m Attorney Edward McCarthy and —”
“Yes, I know who you are but I’ve still got to go. The judge has granted a ten minute recess so everyone can um, use the facilities. I’ve had three cups of coffee already and I’ve really got to go. I don’t get back in time, I can be fined.” Knott stepped around Ed and entered the men’s room. Ed and I looked at each, shrugged, and followed Knott inside. We entered just in time to see Knott enter a stall. Ed stationed himself at the door and said, “Mr. Knott, how come you didn’t charge Madison Bouleveau for Drew Fisher’s murder?”
A voice came from inside the stall. “I can’t talk to you.”
“Sure you can. I can hear you just fine.”
“No, it’s private attorney work product. I can’t discuss it. Damn, there’s no paper in here. Hand me some, will you?”
Ed said, “Sorry, I can’t discuss that with you and I’ve got to go.” We left Knott with his dilemma and headed for the parking lot.
Ed dropped me off at home and we agreed to meet for lunch. There was nothing more I could do at the time for Brenda’s case so Mariel and I finally got to take our usual beach walk to Bobbi and Jack’s. I had missed it and was happy to be back in my swim trunks. We walked north on the beach, ankle deep in the surf, and my mood brightened considerably. When we arrived at the bar, a couple we often saw there was on their way out. They lived at the Malibu Condo and since I didn’t know their names, I called them the Maliboozers. We all smiled and waved. Ed, Sheila, and Brenda occupied a table on the deck so Mariel and I joined them.
Ed insisted on taking our lunch order and struggled to bring it to our table. I offered to help but he wouldn’t hear of it. Ed, Sheila, Brenda, Mariel, and I were all pleased that the police arrested Maddie. I didn’t like the idea of feeling good about Maddie’s misfortune so I told myself I was celebrating a small improvement in Brenda’s case. After he distributed our food and drinks, Ed sat and asked, “So, do you think Maddie really killed Drew Fisher?”
Brenda said, “I don’t care. All I care about is that the police arrested her instead of me. This whole experience has been horrible.”
Sheila leaned over and patted Brenda’s knee. “I agree. I knew you didn’t do it.” When she said that, Brenda’s eyebrows furrowed and Ed opened his mouth, paused, and then closed it without saying anything.
Mariel said, “Well, Maddie admitted drugging his alcohol. She was there on Drew’s boat around the time of death, she had the murder weapon in her possession, and Drew did jilt her. Even though she denies killing him, she looks good for it. At the very least, drugging his booze should be attempted homicide. I don’t understand why they didn’t charge her with murder.”
I nodded my head and raised my glass, “To justice and maybe soon, we can get back to our normal lives.”
Ed sipped his drink and then said, “And it looks like I’ll be able to continue to practice law.”
I said, “Yeah?”
“After he arrested Maddie with the murder weapon, Torres was so pleased, he dropped his complaint against me.”
“He’s a smart guy. He must have seen that it wasn’t in his best interest to embarrass Judge Barnes for signing that order.”
“Yes, I got lucky.”
Sheila smirked, “And you will again, later. In the meantime, I’m going to take my baby shopping on Flagler Avenue. I think a piece of jewelry or a new sundress is just the thing to cheer her up.” She held out her hand to Brenda, “Come on doll, let’s hit the boutiques.”
Brenda seemed reluctant to get up. She gave Ed a quick glance and he nodded back at her. Then she stood, leaned over, and hugged Mariel. “It was good to see you again. Bye everybody and thank you.”
We said goodbye and I reflected on how everybody hugs Mariel. Whenever the two of us encountered people, she got a hug and I got a handshake. The more I thought about it, the more widespread I realized this phenomenon was. For example, when we started at our new dentist, they assigned Mariel to the petite, sweet, and young hygienist but sent me to see Brunhilda who looked like a former NFL player. Mariel’s dental assistant offered her a choice of flavors for her cleaning toothpaste while in the next room, Brunhilda leaned her meaty palm on my eyeball as she dug for gold in between my teeth. Lost in my own world, I didn’t immediately realize Ed said something. “What’s that?” I asked.
“I said that I didn’t want to talk about murder in front of Brenda again, but since the police haven’t charged Maddie with Fisher’s death, Brenda’s still on the hook.”
I said, “Yeah” and looked out over the sand to the incoming tide.
When Ed said, “Hi,” I turned to see to him waving as Bucky entered Bobbi and Jack’s.
Bucky left the indoor portion of the restaurant for the patio and Ed gestured to an empty seat at our table.
Bucky said, “Thank you. I thought that since we’d be meeting after lunch, I’d eat in the neighborhood.”
Mariel handed Bucky a menu and he said, “I haven’t seen you since we met on the Clementine. I should have known a woman like you would already have someone.” Then he looked at me and said, “Though, I didn’t expect the someone would be someone like him.”
I didn’t know how to take that but I decided to tuck it away for now. I could always over analyze it later. I stood and then so did Mariel. I said, “I understand you two have business to discuss, so we’ll leave you to it.”
Bucky held his hands palm down and made a motion for us to sit back down. “Please stay, I have something to discuss with you too.”
Mariel said, “If this is confidential, I’ll wait at the bar.”
“No, no, please sit.” We sat and Bucky continued speaking. “I want to hire Ed to file papers in Florida so I can recover my money from Fisher’s Floridian assets, if there are any.”
Ed asked, “Why me? Why not Helmsley?”
Bucky looked down at the floor and then looked up without making any eye contact. “Can I be frank?”
“Be anybody you want to be, just answer my question.”
“I really don’t need a big gun for this job and well, you bill less than Helmsley.”
Ed stared at Bucky for a moment and I thought Ed was going to lambast him. Instead, Ed relaxed, smiled, and said, “That’s fine but my rate just went up. It’s twice what I normally charge but less than what Helmsley would cost you.”
Bucky slowly nodded. “I walked into that one. OK.”
Ed said, “I can get the information faxed from New York and then I can file papers here.” He glanced at his watch. “Should be able to do it all today.”
“Great. Thanks, Ed. My next problem will be locating my $500,000. Max, Ed tells me you’ve handled asset location for him before.”
I hesitated. The last time I did that for Ed, I almost lost Mariel. This time, I looked to her for an answer. She nodded her approval so I said. “Yes.”
Bucky said, “Good, good, just like in New York, the job will pay only a contingency fee. You find a half a million in assets I can seize, I’ll pay you ten percent. That’s $50,000. You find nothing, I pay you nothing. Ed can draw up a contract and you can start as soon as it’s signed.”
I didn’t need Bucky to tell me ten percent came to fifty grand. After his earlier remark, I wondered if he thought I wasn’t smart enough to do th
e math. Well, I was sharp enough not to let a prospective client know he was getting on my nerves so instead, I asked, “What do you mean, ‘same as in New York’?”
“Oh, I hired a PI there. I think you said you talked to him. Snyder?”
“Yeah, he claimed to be with the East End PD.”
Bucky shook his head. “Like I told you, he’s not. We had a contingency deal for him to find my money, but he had to do it within 60 days. He didn’t. Since the time limit’s passed and he’s not licensed to work in Florida, I need someone new, you.” Bucky held out his hand. “Deal?”
I shook it. “Deal. Any ideas where to look?”
Bucky put down his glass and looked excited. “Yes. Snyder discovered that Fisher purchased gold, a small furnace, and molds that he could use to melt and shape metal. Snyder’s convinced there’s a half a million dollars worth of gold floating around. At first, he thought it was inside the fish net. Now we know that was a decoy, he thinks Fisher made something else out of gold and disguised it.”
“Disguised? Do you mean something like replacing the steering wheel on his boat with a gold one?”
Bucky brightened, snapped his fingers, and pointed at me. “Exactly!”
I’m slow sometimes so it took me a minute to pick up on something Bucky said earlier. “So, Snyder knows about the fish net being fake?”
“Yes, I phoned him. I also told him I wasn’t going to extend his contract.”
“How’d he take that?”
Bucky waved his hand. “Ahhh, he wasn’t happy. He bitched about his expenses and how he’s getting shafted but business is business. He didn’t produce. I had to let him go.”
Ed stood and said, “Well, it looks like I have some office work to tend to. Max, if you want to come, I can draw up your contract with Bucky.”
Bucky said, “Good idea. I’ll stop by after I eat and I can sign it sign then.”
We all nodded agreement. Then Mariel and I followed Ed out to the parking lot.
We got into Ed’s car and he pulled his phone from his pants pocket. When he tossed it into a cup holder, his gesture reminded me of the problem I had retrieving mine while wearing my seat belt. I took my own phone out and transferred it to my other pocket. I noticed Ed’s phone display was blank and asked, “Did you turn that back on after we left the courtroom?”
“Geez, no.” Ed plucked his phone from the cup holder and turned it on. As soon as it booted up, Ed said, “Damn. A message.” He pressed some buttons and a voice said, “Ed? This is M.E. Investigator Forsysthe. I’ve… We’ve got some new information… um corrected information. Please call.”
Ed dialed a number and I asked him, “You already have her number?”
He gave me a look and then asked me, “You want to hear this?”
“Yeah.”
Ed put the phone in speaker mode and Mariel leaned forward in the back seat.
“This is Linda Forsythe.”
“Linda, Ed McCarthy. I got your message.”
“Hi, Ed. How have you been?”
“Fine, thank you. You said you had some information?”
“Yes. It was nice seeing you again.”
Ed looked at me and raised his eyebrows as if to say, “What am I supposed to do?”
I just grinned at him.
“It was good to see you too. What kind of information do you have?”
“Well, do you think you could stop by and we can discuss it in person?”
“I’m really busy today. Does this relate to the Drew Fisher case?”
“Yes, it does.”
“Then it must be important. Can’t you tell me over the phone?”
“Well, I guess I can.”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“What is the corrected information?”
“Dental records came in. It turns out the dead man isn’t Drew Fisher after all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“What? Who is… was he?”
“Nobody knows. Police are speculating he might have been an intruder on Fisher’s boat. He had Fisher’s credit cards and some people think he and Fisher fought and both ended up dead in the water, literally.”
“You mean both went over the side and only one washed up on the beach?”
“Could be. Coast Guard just started searching the area for additional bodies.”
Ed looked shocked. He ended the call without saying another word.
After a period of silence, Mariel asked, “So who did Brenda have dinner with? Fisher or the other man?”
Ed said, “I don’t know. I don’t care and I’m not going to subject her to viewing that mangled dead body.” He shuddered. “Forsythe had Fisher’s DMV license photo and still couldn’t tell if it was him.” Ed put the car in gear and turned left out of the parking lot.
When we arrived at Ed’s office, he pointed to a pair of chairs facing his desk. “Please sit, this won’t take long.” Mariel and I took the seats we occupied the day we first met Ed. Except for the wall calendar, his office looked the same as it did over a year ago. Even the clutter on his desk looked untouched.
Ed sat and squinted at his computer screen. “I’m looking for a copy of your last contract.” He manipulated his mouse for a while and then said, “Ah, found it. It’ll just take a minute to change the terms on this to match Bucky’s case.” Ed started typing.
Mariel asked, “How long will it take the Coast Guard to search for a second body?”
I said, “It doesn’t matter. They’re not going to find one.”
“How do you know that?”
“Ed already hired divers to perform an extended search. If there was another body, they would have found it.”
“Then why is the Coast Guard searching?”
“Ed’s search wasn’t officially sanctioned. The authorities have a protocol they’re required to follow.”
Ed’s printer started making noise and he sat back in his chair. “Bucky should be by in a bit to sign too. After I finish with this, I’m going to the courthouse to file papers for a Florida lien. I’ll call you after everything’s in order and then you can start the search.” He pulled the contract from the printer and gave it to me. I signed it and then Mariel and I were ready to walk home. Just before we left, Mariel sat still for a moment and asked, “If that’s not Drew Fisher in the morgue and he’s not in the water, where is he?”
I said, “I don’t know, but if I find him, I might be able to recover Bucky’s money and maybe get a handle on who killed the dead guy.”
Back at the house, Mariel exited the back door to lounge by the pool and I went to my office. I didn’t know where to find Fisher, but I had some ideas about where to start looking. I recently signed up for one of the database services that cater to private investigators, process servers, bail bondsmen and repo people so I sat at my computer and logged on. I ran a search for all the Drew Fishers who had New York addresses and found three. One lived in upstate New York and another was 87 years old so I excluded them from my list. Drew number three lived in a waterfront condo in Shirley, New York. Shirley is on Long Island, not too far from East End.
If Fisher actually owned the condo, Bucky might be able to seize it as partial payment for Fisher’s debt. I did a quick check of the Suffolk County property records only to find the owner was a property rental company.
I looked back at my computer screen, found Fisher’s phone number, and dialed it. The phone rang three times and then I heard, “Hi, this is Drew.” I started to say, “Mr. Fisher, my name is” but realized I was listening to a recording and hung up. I clicked a button on my computer to charge my account $14.95 so I could see all of Drew’s details and obtained a list of his family and neighbors. He had no spouse or children but his list of neighbors looked promising. The report listed all of the names and phone numbers for all of the other occupants on his floor.
Fisher occupied unit 307 and his next-door neighbor in 309 was Fiona Waters, age 32. I dialed her number but got her ans
wering machine too, so I hung up without leaving a message. Elizabeth Hughes lived in Unit 305 so I tried her next. She picked up after the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Hughes?
“This is she. Who is calling please?”
“Ms. Hughes, I’m calling about your neighbor, Drew Fisher.”
“Yes, such a nice boy. Do you know? Whenever he sees me with my groceries, he insists on bringing them in for me.”
“Yes, ma’am, he’s a nice young man and that’s why I’m calling. I’m concerned that he doesn’t answer his phone.”
“Ooooh. Now that you mention it, I didn’t see him last Wednesday when I came home from the grocery store. I just assumed he was either busy indoors or out for the day.”
“So, the last time you saw him was…”
“The Wednesday before. Wednesday’s the best day to shop. That’s when all of the produce comes in but you have to go in the afternoon so they have a chance to stock the shelves. That’s the only day I go out except when my daughter comes by. I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name.”
“Oh, I’m just a friend of Drew’s. Thank you very much, ma’am. Bye.”
So far, all I knew was that Drew wasn’t home and his neighbor hasn’t seen him for a while. On the other hand, Ms. Hughes didn’t seem to go out very often. No one knows your comings and goings like the people who live across the hall from you so I dialed unit 308.
“Yeah?”
“Hi, I’m calling about Drew Fisher.”
“He’s not here. Did he tell you this is where he’d be?”
“Um, no. I’ve been trying to locate him —”
“And you figure since he’s been sleeping with my wife, you could find him here. You tell that SOB if I ever see him again, he’s dead. You got that? Dead.”
“So, he hasn’t been around a while?”
“That damned yellow pages book they delivered last week is still leaning against his door.”
“What day?”
“What day what?”
“What day did they deliver the yellow pages?”
Falafel Jones - Max Fried 02 - Payback's a Beach Page 13