Past Due

by William Lashner

  He shrugged and smiled.

  “And now,” I continued, “he’s trying to have a sword fight duel with a sitting Supreme Court justice, whose wife was planning to sail away with you guys to the Caribbean but has decided to stay. And everybody is looking for money that isn’t there. That nails it pretty much, doesn’t it? Except maybe for the murders.”

  “Murders?” said Tommy.

  “Yes. Murders. I thought it was you who had done all the killing, I was certain it was you, following the path of betrayal, meting out your wild justice, but now I’m not so sure. Because the guy who committed the murders is the guy who’s looking hardest for the money. And that doesn’t seem to be you, does it? You’re looking for something else.”

  “All I wanted was to get back what I lost.”

  “What was that?” said Straczynski.

  “Everything you took away from me.”

  Tommy lunged, but meekly now, the lunge of a man too tired to really try. Straczynski parried with a flick of his wrist.

  “You were going to jail,” said the justice.

  “I was going to freedom, but you took it all from me. My love, my life, my money. So that’s what I was trying to get back, just that, yes. But I’m not a killer.”

  “No, you’re not,” I said. “And you know what convinced me? Something as small as a dime. The loop on the sabers. If you were out to kill your enemies, why would you leave the loop on your saber. Why wouldn’t you file it off, sharpen the point, dip it in poison, stick it in your enemy’s eye?”

  “It wouldn’t be sporting,” said Tommy.

  “No, it wouldn’t. I thought it was you following the path of your betrayal, but it was someone else, following that same path for reasons of his own. Colfax,” I said, “you’ve been a very bad boy.”

  “It was business, just that, you understand,” said Colfax. “Nothing personal. But terms is terms and I need to be paid. I was just making a proposal to our friend Babbage, a little gentle persuasion, and next thing I know ’e’s flopping around like a tuna on the deck. And that Lonnie, I was passed word ’e knew who ’ad taken the suitcase. I came in with questions, he came after me with a wrench. I didn’t ’ave no choice. It was self-defense.”

  “You stupid son of a bitch,” said Tommy.

  “You owed me the payments. What did you expect me to do? Take you to court? I’m just satisfying the terms of my engagement. And don’t you be all ’igh and mighty yourself, Victor. Nothing more bracing than a lecture on morals from a lawyer. It’s like an hyena teaching the lion to tuck in his napkin. And even with all I done, I’m still owed my money and no one’s going nowhere until we figure ’ow to take care of that.”

  A sound pierced his speech, a soft high-pitched sob, and then another, and another, each louder than the sob before it. It was Kimberly, on her stool, her face covered by one of her hands, crying.

  “What’s the matter with you?” said Colfax.

  “This is the worst, just the biggest poodle,” she said between her sobs. “This is so humiliating. I knew there was something wrong. I’m, like, the vice president, remember, the vice president of external relations, and still nobody tells me anything. I mean, I’m supposed to know things. I’m an officer, dammit, and a shareholder too. I have rights. But you’re running out of money and does anyone tell me? You’re Eddie Dean and you’re Tommy Greeley both and did you tell me? Colfax is running around killing half the world and do you tell me? No. Don’t tell Kimberly anything. She’s only good for making coffee, and I don’t even make good coffee. And then you go kidnapping our lawyer, like that’s okay too. It’s a poodle, totally. This whole thing skinks.”

  “Skinks?” I said.

  She looked at me and I saw it, right there, yes, in the knowing glint in her eye.

  “Stinks,” she said. “Whatever. You know what I’m going to do. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and you know what I’m going to do?”

  “Who the ’ell cares?” said Colfax. “We got—”

  “Shut up, Colfax,” said Kimberly, with steel in her voice, and Colfax shut up. “Mr. D, or G, or whatever. I’m, like, grateful and all for the opportunity, but I think I’m going to quit. This is all too much for me. I’m just a little girl from Bellmawr, New Jersey. I didn’t know this was the way business was done. Really.”

  “Kimberly, dear,” said Tommy. “I want to explain.”

  “I don’t want an explanation. Thanks for everything, really, but I just want to quit. It’s a matter of ethics or something like that.”

  “Kimberly.”

  “Besides, your last check bounced.”

  “Enough already,” said Colfax. “I don’t want to ’ear about who loves who, who’s leaving who, I’ve had enough of your bleeding duel. What I want is my money.”

  “You heard Victor,” said Tommy. “There is no money, I’m afraid. None. I was heavily invested. Playing the margins. You know how that goes. Poof. No money.”

  “Oh, there’s always money, isn’t there?” He pointed his gun at the justice. “ ’E’s got some, I know that. ’E took it from you, didn’t ’e? But ’e didn’t give it all away, no ’e did not. Probably put it in the bank for some rainy day. And right now it’s pouring. So you’re going to get it for me.”

  “Not a penny,” said the justice.

  “Don’t be a stupid sot.”

  “Too late for that.”

  “It won’t work, Colfax,” I said. “It’s over. The FBI’s already on the way.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “No, I’m not. Beth has already been rescued off that boat and the FBI is on the way, probably crawling all over the dock as we speak.”

  “It’s good you don’t play poker for a living, Victor.”

  “It’s not a bluff.”

  “Look, I’m not kidding around ’ere.” He turned his gun away from the justice, toward Alura Straczynski. “You, the prune, you’re coming with me.”

  He grabbed her by the arm, pulled her close.

  “Let go of me,” she said. “Jackson, stop him.”

  He placed the gun against her cheek. “ ’E ain’t doing squat. I got the gun and I’m getting off this damn bucket. If Victor’s on the up, you’ll keep the coppers off and at the same time convince your loving ’usband to bring the money.”

  “Leave her be,” said Straczynski.

  “Sure I will,” he said, “soon as I get my money.”

  There was a moment when Jackson glanced at Tommy and he glanced back, a moment when they were back to a pair of undergraduates, still young and full of possibilities, young men with swords in their hands.

  Two quick lunges. SWAK, SWAK.

  Colfax recoiled, lines of blood appeared on his face. “Are you insane?” he said as held Alura tighter to himself and pointed the gun at the two men.

  SWAK, SWAK, and as quick as that the gun spun out of his hand, spun right to Kimberly, who gazed at it with curiosity for a moment and then picked it up as casually as if picking up a seashell at the shore.

  “There you go, Kimberly,” said Colfax, reaching out his hand, his hostage still in front of him. “Be a nice little quail and hand over the gun.”

  With a quick flick, she pointed the gun at him. It didn’t quiver in her hand. Colfax saw something in her face and stepped back.

  “You might want to go now, Mr. D,” said Kimberly.

  “Are they really coming?” said Tommy.

  “For sure,” she said. “It’s my fault, I’m afraid. I wish now I had waited. They’re probably already at the door. But you know the ship, you probably know another way off. You can always jump.”

  “Kimberly,” I said. “What are you doing?”

  She glanced at me, and as she did Colfax tossed Alura aside and lunged for the gun. Tommy slashed him in the leg, sending him sprawling. Jackson Straczynski put the button of his sword on Colfax’s neck and pressed down.

  “You better hurry,” said Kimberly, the gun now pointing at Colfax’s face.


  “Kimberly?” I said.

  “I know what I’m doing, V,” she said and I could see in the squint of her eyes, the set of her mouth, that she did know what she was doing, exactly what she was doing.

  “I thought you’d come with me,” said Tommy.

  “I can’t, Mr. D. I already quit, remember?”

  “Kimberly, there’s something I need to tell you.” He glanced at Alura. “There’s something we need to tell you.”

  “No there isn’t.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Yes, she does,” I said. “She understands everything.”

  He turned to me. “I was blaming you for all that went wrong, but I guess I should be thanking you instead.”

  “Don’t.”

  “Okay. So I should just go.”

  “That’s the best thing for everyone, Mr. D.”

  “Hey, Tommy,” I said. “How about this Christmas, instead of sending another bottle to your mother, why don’t you send roses?”

  Just then we heard it, the jangle of sheet metal, something slamming to the ground, a bellow, a curse.

  “Go,” she said.

  “What will I do? Where will I go?” he said.

  “Figure it out,” said Kimberly. “And this time, maybe, forgive a little.”

  He looked at her, his immobile face filled, for the first time I ever saw, with something close to emotion.

  The sound of footsteps came clear, echoing, more than one set, more then two sets.

  “Go,” she said.

  “Okay,” he said. “Yes. But I’ll be back,” he said, and then, just like that, with surprising quickness, he was gone, sword and all, out the door, down the hall, into some other passage, away.

  “Kimberly,” I said.

  “Shut up,” she said. “Just shut up for once, all right, V?”

  And I did, we all did, with Colfax on the ground and Kimberly holding the gun and Justice Jackson Straczynski now standing, with a sword in one hand and the other around his wife. We stayed there, quiet, as the footsteps thundered, as the thunder closed in, we stayed there, wordlessly, waiting for them to come.

  Chapter

  74

  IT WAS MCDEISS who had tripped on the wire, who had banged his shin on the step, who had bellowed like a walrus and cursed like a sailor. And it was McDeiss who first limped into the room, his revolver drawn, followed by another detective, three uniforms, and an Assistant District Attorney, who seemed, for some reason I couldn’t quite fathom, quite peeved at me.

  “Where’s Beth?” I said as soon as McDeiss entered the room.

  “She’s fine, she’s being looked after outside.”

  “I’ll be right back,” I said, but before I could leave a uniform stood in the doorway, blocking my exit.

  “No one, and I mean no one, leaves this room,” said McDeiss in a voice loud enough to shake the hull of that old boat. “No one leaves until we figure out exactly what happened here. And that means you.”

  “Me,” I said.

  “Oh, yes,” said Slocum.

  So I stayed, and I gave my statement, and I answered questions, and all the while Slocum was staring at me with a visible malice in his eye.

  “What’s your beef?” I said to him, finally.

  “You said you wouldn’t do anything stupid,” said Slocum.

  “I can’t help it, it’s in my nature.”

  “I won’t disagree. You could be the poster child for adult stupidity. Do you know how much danger you were in?”

  “I didn’t know you cared so deeply.”

  “Something happened to you, Carl, it wouldn’t exactly ruin my day. But then you go dragging a Supreme Court justice into it and suddenly my day is looking decidedly worse.”

  “He dragged himself, Larry.”

  “Is that what he did?”

  “After you told him where to find me.”

  “I knew I made a mistake as soon as I hung up the phone.”

  “But I have to admit, he did pretty well for himself,” I said, nodding to the justice, who was standing in the corner with his wife, giving his statement to a detective. With every word his future was disintegrating—even if he had done nothing wrong his nomination to the highest court would be too controversial now—but he didn’t seem to care. In fact, he seemed supremely happy, almost giddy, having come through an adventure with a sword in his hand, still in his incomprehensible marriage, but now, seemingly, relieved of the burdens of his ambition. He lifted his gaze and spotted me, gave me a smile, and I smiled back. I didn’t envy him, his life, that wife, but it was his and it seemed to be exactly what he wanted.

  McDeiss, with his notebook out, limped over to Slocum and me.

  “Can I go now?” I said.

  “Not yet,” said McDeiss.

  “I’d like to see my partner.”

  “I told you she’s fine. But first we need to get some things clear.” He pointed over to Colfax, on the ground, scowling, his hands cuffed behind him. “So what exactly are the charges to be filed against this Colfax?” said McDeiss. “I want to make sure we don’t miss anything.”

  “The murder of Bradley Babbage,” I said. “The murder of Lonnie Chambers. The kidnapping of Beth Derringer, along with various charges of arson and firearms violations.”

  “Is that all?”

  I put a hand up to my jaw, still aching, blood still oozing from my gums. “You can add battery.”

  “What about the Parma murder?”

  “He didn’t kill Joey,” I said. “Colfax pretty much admitted everything else he did, but he didn’t say a thing about Joey.”

  “So who killed your boy?”

  “Larry, did your man in Chinchilla ever track down that bogus bench warrant thing?”

  “He traced it back to Justice Straczynski’s chambers,” said Slocum, “just like you suspected.”

  “But I was wrong about it being the justice who was behind it. His file clerk is named Lobban, Curtis Lobban. He owns a Toyota. You might want to check if it has a gray interior and, if it does, whether there are any traces of blood in the interior.”

  “A clerk?” said McDeiss.

  “Not just a clerk. Lobban is connected to the justice’s wife. They had an affair years ago. Alura Straczynski was now helping take care of Lobban’s ill wife. It was almost like she had adopted the family. Joey was trying to blackmail the justice about something that happened twenty years ago at the waterfront. Lobban knew the justice would never submit to blackmail and would probably be forced to resign, so he made a call, arranged a meeting, picked Joey up, and slashed his throat. Then he dumped him right at the scene of the earlier crime. I don’t know if it was a financial thing or a just a brutal, misguided sense of loyalty, but it looks like he saw the threat to his boss and his former lover and eliminated it.”

  “What was Parma blackmailing the justice about?”

  “You’ll have to ask the justice. But whatever it was, it happened long ago and it is now well beyond the limitations period.”

  “Lucky him,” said McDeiss.

  “Not with that wife.” I kicked at the floor. “I want to thank you both. The way you charged up here with guns drawn, all just to save little old me, brought a tear to my eye.”

  “It looks like you had things under control,” said McDeiss.

  “Looks like I did,” I said, and then I gave one of Kimberly’s encouraging punches. “But you guys get an A for effort.”

  It would have almost been a touching moment if they hadn’t both been shaking their heads with disgust.

  Just then a dark-suited force burst through the doorway, flashing badges, flashlights, barking out orders, taking control of the room. In the middle of the dark suits was the small round figure of Jeffrey Telushkin.

  “Where is he?” said Telushkin. “Where is Greeley?”

  “Gone,” I said.

  “What do you mean gone?”

  “He left, escaped, he ran.”

  “He was here, right
?”

  “That’s right.”

  “So how did he get away?”

  I glanced up at Kimberly, who, while making a statement of her own to one of the officers, obviously overheard our conversation because she was looking at me with a face full of concern.

  “There was a gun,” I said to Telushkin, loud enough so that Kimberly could hear. “There was a sword fight, a scuffle, things happened. I don’t know, one minute he was here and then, poof.”

  “Where the hell did he go?”

  “Don’t know for sure,” I said, “though I heard something about the Cayman Islands.”

  Telushkin spun around in frustration, then turned to one of the dark suits and mumbled something. The suit said, “Search the ship,” and then all the dark suits left the room and scattered.

  Telushkin turned back to me, gestured toward the justice. “Was he involved?”

  “He saved the day,” I said.

  “Son of a bitch. You know, Carl, I won’t rest until I find him.”

  “And if my guess is right,” I said, “that is going to leave you very very tired.”

  After he stormed out I said, “Can I go now?”

  “Not yet, Carl,” said McDeiss.

  So I stepped over to the bar and sat on one of the remaining stools and watched the proceedings. Justice Straczynski with his arm around his wife, Alura Straczynski, still holding on to her precious notebooks, Colfax being jerked to standing, being led out, and Kimberly Blue, smiling hesitantly at me as she came my way.

  “I guess I’m really in a poodle now,” she said. “Are they going to arrest me for letting him escape?”

  “Only after they pin a medal on you for capturing, single-handedly, a vicious double murderer.”

  “Did I do that?”

  “Oh yes, yes you did.”

  “Did I do the right thing, V?”

  “Kimberly, you did your thing, and from where I’m standing, your thing is pretty damn terrific. When did you figure it out?”

  “Just here, today. Ever since we talked that time, remember, I’ve been thinking about why he would hire me. And then when I read her journals and realized she was pregnant, and then when your friend Mr. Skink told me Mr. D was really Tommy, it all came clear.”