Corridor Man Volumes 1, 2, 3,4 5

by Nick James

  “Fran,” he said using the name she’d always gone by when they’d been on speaking terms. The same name she’d told him she despised. “Great to see you, come on in. How are you?”

  “Just fine, thank you, Bobby.” She waited until he closed the door behind her then pushed him back against the door and gave him a passionate kiss. There was just the beginning of a tongue, withdrawn quickly when she sensed he wasn’t going to respond, and the taste of alcohol.

  “Well, you certainly haven’t lost that old magic,” she said and pretended to fan herself before she sat down in a leather chair in front of his desk.

  Bobby took a seat behind his desk, made a show of closing the open files then smiled as he once again remembered Jonathan’s line, “convicted criminal.”

  “So, what brings you down here, Fran?”

  “Oh, just wanted to make sure you were doing well.” She glanced around his office, dwelled for a moment on the empty bookshelves. “I suppose you don’t need law books since you can’t practice.”

  “Actually, it’s all on computer nowadays,” Bobby smiled. “What can I do for you, Fran?”

  “So you are practicing?”

  “I’m what’s called, Of Counsel, I have one client, I give advice, I double check to make sure their interests are taken care of. It keeps me busy. But, enough about me, I wouldn’t want to bore you.”

  “Oh, believe me, I’m not bored. So, just the one client?”

  “Oh, he has enough to keep me busy.” Bobby smiled what he hoped looked like a kind smile. “Look, Fran, I saw you the other night for the first time in nearly what five years? Not so much as a Christmas card from you while I was up in Duluth. At the very time I needed your support the most, you abandoned me, left me hanging. You and your husband, John…”

  “Jonathan.”

  “Got a big kick out of calling me a convicted criminal in front of everyone at that restaurant the other night. I think I know you well enough to suggest you probably didn’t just happen to be passing by. So, let’s cut to the chase and maybe tell me why you’re here. What the hell do you want?”

  “We need two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand dollars,” she blurted out then looked like she was about to cry.

  Bobby took a moment to catch his breath, not about to let on he didn’t have anything remotely close to the amount. “Oh, is that all? What makes you think I can help you?”

  She set her jaw and her eyes seemed to suddenly blaze. “You absconded with over two million dollars.”

  “No I didn’t, I had access to those funds and attempted to do the best I could for my clients. Believe me, no one would have complained if my investments had turned a profit. For the record, I paid back every last cent, along with a fine of another million, let me do the math for you, that’s three million and change. Every bit of it paid back. Three million that you didn’t so much as lift a finger to help pay back. Three million that I paid after drawing up documents to protect your inheritance. Three million that once I put our home solely in your name you didn’t have to pay one red cent on. And guess what? You didn’t. In fact, your way of helping was to have an affair and sue me for divorce and maintenance.”

  “That you never had to pay.”

  “Because I was locked up, Fran. Serving out my sentence, but then how would you know that, you never asked, never visited, never called, wrote or even sent a damn email. You did what you always do, Fran. You watched out for yourself and said screw everyone else.”

  “That was an extremely stressful time for me, Bobby. I was having a crisis of confidence.”

  “A crisis of confidence?” Obviously you’re still seeing that shrink, Bobby thought. “A crisis, oh sorry, I didn’t realize that, my mistake. See it was a cakewalk for me. I lost my home, my wife,” he nodded at Fran. “I’ve been ostracized by my brother, was suspended and then disbarred. I served over four years in prison. I lost it all, everything I ever worked for, Fran. It’s all gone including everything you took. Not that I’ll ever see it.”

  “You don’t understand, you can’t possibly know what it was like.”

  “Fran, stop. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a quarter of a million dollars. What do you need that for?”

  She took a deep breath and said. “Jonathan’s business, it’s going to crash if he doesn’t get some help.”

  “And what, exactly, does he do?”

  “Some software computer thingy, I’m not exactly sure.”

  “He’s your husband for fuck’s sake. You don’t even know what he does? What about the money you inherited?”

  “It’s sort of gone,” she said avoiding his eyes.

  “Gone?”

  “It gets rather complicated, Bobby. Look, can you help or not?”

  “What about his bank?”

  “Those bastards are threatening legal action.”

  Perfect, Bobby thought. “Before I do anything I’d like to see his facility, find out what the hell he does. What’s the name of the company?”

  “Bannon Dynamics.”

  Bobby was about to write the name down, but looked up at her when she said it. “Bannon Dynamics, never heard of them. And you don’t know what they do?”

  “I guess I really don’t, sorry. Anyway, he had about twenty employees at one time.”

  “At one time? What’s he got now?”

  “I think he’s down to about three or four, and he just made them take pay cuts.”

  “Did he take a cut?”

  She gave a look of disbelief. “What? No, for God’s sake, he owns the company, Bobby. How would that look?”

  No surprise. “I’ll check it out.”

  She was suddenly all smiles, jumped to her feet and came around the desk. “I knew you’d help. Mmm-mmm,” she said and planted a long hard kiss on his cheek.

  Bobby half pushed her away and said, “How do I get in touch with him, what’s his office number?” He wrote the number down then tossed his pen on the desk and ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t promise anything, but one step at a time. I’ll give him a call this afternoon.”

  “You won’t tell him I was here, will you?”

  “How else would I know about any problems?”

  “I don’t know, you’ll figure something out, you’ve always been a good liar, Bobby.”

  “Thanks, Fran.”

  She smiled, waved goodbye at the door then left.

  Bobby shook his head while he thanked his lucky stars and thought, ‘Good things come to those who wait.” Bobby called Bannon Dynamics at the end of the day. Mercifully no one answered and he left a message with his office number.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  The O’Halloran and Murphy funeral home was a white brick building on the west side of Snelling Avenue. It had a parking lot alongside the building filled to capacity with two traffic cops waving cars onto the side streets. Bobby had to park a block and a half away along with everyone else and walk back.

  The inside consisted of two large rooms, each room more than enough on a normal evening to handle separate viewings. Tonight was anything but normal. Both rooms were lined with easels holding various poster boards covered with snapshots documenting Elizabeth Saunders’ life from cradle to untimely grave. It was fair to say she’d been attractive from the day she was born.

  Bobby noted the occasional individual from the firm among the still-growing crowd, but no one he felt comfortable pausing to chat with. He didn’t see any of the partners. He recognized a number of folks from the city’s legal community, but just giving a knowing nod seemed more than adequate. No one took the trouble to approach him.

  He recognized two members from the acquisition team holding court, no doubt bemoaning the loss they were bound to feel for at least the next year. He caught a glimpse of Angie just entering the other room and immediately made an about face and shouldered his way into a crowd.

  He found himself suddenly next to a woman who looked remarkably like Elizabeth. The nametag over her left breast was han
dwritten in blue marker and identified her as Emily Saunders, a sister no doubt.

  “Emily,” Bobby said and held his hand out just as she turned toward him after she finished chatting and hugging a tear-stained woman. “My name is Bobby Custer, I worked with Lizzy and I just wanted to extend my condolences. You’re her sister?”

  “Yeah, I’m the one the family never mentions. God,” she half whispered. “Thanks for saving me. I couldn’t get away from her and at this stage I’m all cried out. I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

  “Bobby Custer.”

  She leaned in close. “Do me a favor Bobby Custer, let me take your arm and lead me out of here, I need a break. You can take me downstairs, there’s a family room down there where we set up a bar. I need to get out of these shoes.”

  Bobby held his arm out and she grabbed onto it, smiled and whispered, “Run.” Her upper left arm was covered from shoulder to elbow with a giant goldfish tattoo, probably a koi he guessed. The thing was orange, red and pink with blue eyes. Red flowers with green leaves were splattered around the thing and the tattooed black waves made it look like it was jumping.

  It took them almost ten minutes to get through the crowd. Emily was stopped every two or three feet by another tear-streaked well-wisher. She never let go of his arm until they were down on the lower level and the door closed behind them.

  The room was furnished with comfortable furniture, two couches, four wingback chairs, a coffee table and a couple of end tables. It looked exactly like what it was, a place for family members to escape for a few minutes. There was a bar set up on a table against a far wall, wine, liquor, soda, ice and a stack of plastic glasses.

  “Why don’t you grab a seat and get out of those shoes. Can I get you something?”

  “God, I’d kill for a scotch right now, but I’d better stick with a Coke. Help yourself to anything, don’t hold back on my account,” she said settling into one of the wingback chairs. She stretched her legs out, put her head back and closed her eyes then wiggled her toes.

  Bobby brought two plastic glasses with Coke and ice over to the coffee table and sat down across from her.

  “I’m sorry, tell me your name again, I’ve met about a million people.”

  “Custer, Bobby Custer,” he said and took a long sip of Coke.

  “Oh my God, you’re the one, my Mother so hoped you’d come. She wants to meet you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Lizzy told us about you. You’re the one that wouldn’t let that asshole out of his office. She said you’re the one who saved her from that guy. No one else did anything. All those people just standing around watching and you were the only one who did anything.”

  Bobby shrugged, “It was an unfortunate incident.”

  “You should have decked him.”

  “I don’t know what happened, the man has an excellent reputation, highly regarded, my understanding is he had some sort of breakdown.”

  “Bastard ought to be locked up.”

  “Your sister was highly regarded as well, very successful.”

  “Yeah, that’s Lizzy,” she said and made a face that didn’t seem to correspond to her complimentary statement. “We were just a year apart, I might add she was older. She was the brains, the athlete, took first in the piano recital, served four years on the student council, made the Deans list every semester. She was always the winner and I was, well the party slut. Like I said, the one they never mentioned. I finally won in the date category once she informed us guys really weren’t her thing.”

  “How are those feet?”

  “Coming around, slowly. I knew these shoes were going to be killers, but they look so good I just had to wear them. Maybe not the brightest idea since I’m going to be on my feet for at least another three hours.”

  “Give them to me.”

  “What?”

  “Put your foot up here,” he indicated his knee. “Let me give them a little massage, it’ll do wonders.”

  She looked over her shoulder just to make sure the door was closed then set her foot on Bobby’s knee. He started at the back of her heel, gently applying pressure with thumbs and forefingers working his way toward the ball of her foot.

  “Oh God, that feels so good. You can keep that up all night.”

  “The price of beautiful shoes,” Bobby said.

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Mind if I ask you something?”

  “You can ask me anything you want just as long as you keep this up.” She closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of the chair. A sensuous smile gradually crept across her face.

  Bobby studied the intricate tattoo on her arm and kept massaging. “Your sister, when she was in Paris do you know the circumstances of her accident? I mean my understanding is it was a hit and run, but was it at night, during the day, on a busy street?”

  “Mmm-mmm, the whole thing is more than a little strange. Her partner Chris was a real art freak. I guess they were making the rounds to a bunch of museums, not just the Louvre, but little out-of-the-way places. They had just come out of this one, I guess it’s some old house or something. Oh God, that was good.” She kept her eyes closed and then placed her other foot on his knee.

  “Do you remember the name of the place?” he asked and began at the back of her heel with just his thumb and forefingers.

  “Funny you should ask. We just found out this morning, got a notification from the State Department if you can believe it. I think it was the American Embassy in Paris that sent it, actually. I’ll never forget the name, how’s this for crazy, The Museum of Romantic Life. Isn’t that just great? That’s the name of the place and Lizzy and Chris get run down out in front. Jesus Christ.”

  “You just learned this morning?”

  She opened her eyes and looked at him. “That’s when we got the email, it came through last night I think about two in the morning. Paris is seven hours ahead of us. Oh boy, I suppose I’d better get up there. Wow, I feel a hundred percent better, thanks Bobby.”

  “My pleasure, Emily. It was nice meeting you.”

  “Maybe when things settle down I could give you a call,” she said.

  “Whenever those feet are bothering you I’m just a phone call away.”

  “I’ll remember that, thanks.” Then she wedged her feet back into her heels. “Ugh, this was not my best idea, thanks again, Bobby hope to see you around.” She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek, then headed out the door and upstairs. Bobby followed. At the top of the stairs she said, “Here goes,” then she took a deep breath and walked back into the crowd where she was immediately mobbed.

  Bobby ducked out a side door and headed for his car.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The firm was officially closed on Thursday although you wouldn’t know it from the offices that were occupied. The bouquets of lilies were still on the end table and some of the petals had dropped to the floor overnight. A number of pages in the open book had been filled and the next blank page was now close to the middle.

  Bobby sat staring at the latest Morris Montcreff file open on his desk. He hadn’t read a word in the past hour. How did Montcreff know Elizabeth Saunders had been killed in front of a Paris art museum days before her family received word from the State Department?

  And more importantly, it appeared to be less of an accident. But then, why was she killed? Unless it was to diffuse any potential damage that might be done to Noah Denton, which still didn’t seem to make any sense.

  Bennett Hinz suddenly stuck his head in the door. “Spare a minute?” he asked, then stepped into the office and closed the door without waiting for a reply.

  “Good morning, Mr. Hinz.”

  “Montcreff?” he asked indicating the open file with a couple of his chins.

  “Yes sir, and I’m afraid plenty more where this came from,” Bobby joked.

  Bennett rested his hands on the back of a client chair nervously moved his fingers back and forth against
the leather upholstery before he cleared his throat and leaned forward. “Don’t know if you’ve heard, but there was an incident at the Denton household last night.”

  “An incident? No, I haven’t heard a thing, what happened? Is Mr. Denton all right?”

  “Apparently he had another episode.”

  “Episode?” Bobby said and suddenly remembered the ecstasy tablets he’d placed in Denton’s prescription tray.

  “Virgil Allan was called about eleven last night and reluctantly went over. We’re not sure what happened, arguing with his wife about something, I don’t know, things escalated. The police were called and he’s back in the hospital.”

  “Hospital, did she hit him, stab him?”

  “No, fortunately, I think. This time they’ve placed him somewhere in that new mental health facility.”

  “What?”

  “It seems she was the one who called the police. He became aggressive with the responding officers. Of course once they show up on a domestic call, someone is going to leave. Fortunately Noah had the foresight to call Virgil, he got them to take Noah to Regions rather than arrest him. I don’t know, God the poor bastard.” Bennett said and shook his head.

  “Virgil said he was slurring his words, almost asleep one moment then ranting the next. I just don’t understand.”

  “Is Mrs. Denton okay?”

  Bennett responded with a blank look.

  You bunch of idiots, Bobby thought. “It might be wise if someone checked with her, especially if Mr. Allan was there last night. You don’t want to appear to be taking sides.”

  Bennett nodded, then said, “Would you mind? It might be best coming from you. Allows all of us to keep our distance, but then the firm would still appear to be concerned for everyone’s welfare.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll stop by this afternoon after the Saunders funeral.”

  “Oh God, that damn thing. You’re going?”