“When did he call?” I said.
Gloria glanced at the clock above the office door. “About ten minutes ago,” she said. “Said he’d be at that number for half an hour and then he’d be gone for a couple hours. You can probably still reach him.”
I hung my jacket and hat on the rack and sat behind my desk, reaching for the phone. I dialed the number from the memo slip and waited.
“Armstrong,” the voice on the other end said.”
“Barry Armstrong?” I said.
“Yes.”
“This is Elliott Cooper returning your call,” I said. “How can I help you today?”
“Mr. Cooper,” Armstrong said. “Let me call you right back from a different phone. Just give me a minute.”
I hung up and waited, staring at the phone. Then I scrolled through the call history on the handset and found the number from the call Gloria took. I wrote down that number on my pad.
“That was quick,” Gloria said.
“I must have reached him at a phone where other people could hear his conversation,” I said. “He’d going to call me right back, probably from a cell phone away from prying ears.”
Thirty seconds later my phone rang. I made a note of the number that appeared in my caller I.D. window and said, “Cooper Investigations, this is Elliott.”
“Mr. Cooper, it’s Barry Armstrong,” he said. “Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.”
“What can we do for you, Mr. Armstrong?” I said, getting right to the point.
“Mr. Cooper,” Armstrong said, “I’d like to hire your services, that is if you’re available. What I need is someone like yourself to tail a person for me and let me know what they do and where they go. That’s all.”
“Well, Mr. Armstrong,” I said. “The obvious question that comes to mind is why wouldn’t you tail him yourself and cut out the middle man?”
“Because this person would recognize me and I can’t take that chance,” he said. “I’d only need your services for three or four days. I’d pay your going rate plus a bonus if you get results.”
“And just what constitutes results as far as you’re concerned?” I said.
“If you can just bring me the information I need, I’ll be satisfied,” Armstrong said. “And what I need is for you to tell me where my target goes, what he does and who he meets.”
“Sounds easy enough,” I said. “When can I meet with you?”
“I can come to your office in ten minutes,” Armstrong said. “I’m just three blocks away. Will you be in?”
“Come on up,” I said. “You know where we’re located?”
“Yes, Mr. Cooper, I do,” Armstrong said. “I didn’t choose you on a lark. I’ve researched you and Miss Campbell thoroughly. I’m sure you can do the job. I’ll be seeing you shortly, Mr. Cooper.”
He hung up and I stared at my handset as if it had answers for me. I set the handset back into the cradle and turned to Gloria. “I’ll bet if you look up ‘Cloak and Dagger’ in the P.I. manual, this guy’s picture will be there. Talk about vague.”
“And it sounds like he’s on his way here,” Gloria said. “Any bets on whether or not he’s wearing a trench coat and fedora?”
“I’ll be interested to know who he wants us to follow,” I said. “This guy says he’s researched us and he mentioned you by name, too.”
“Me?” Gloria said.
“Well, maybe his information is a bit outdated,” I said. “He referred to you as Miss Campbell. I think we’ll let him go on with that assumption, just to be safe.”
Twelve minutes later our office door opened and a man entered. He was not wearing a trench coat or fedora, but a three-piece blue suit and shiny black shoes. He looked like he belonged on the cover of Forbes Magazine. He looked at me and nodded.
“Mr. Cooper,” he said, not in the form of a question. He turned to Gloria. “Good morning, Miss Campbell.”
“Good morning,” Gloria said, not bothering to get up.
I did get up, however and walked over to greet my guest. “Won’t you sit down, Mr. Armstrong?” I said, gesturing at my client’s chair. I summoned Gloria to come and sit with us as well. She pulled her client’s chair close to mine and the two of us waited for Barry Armstrong to speak. It didn’t take long.
“What I need,” Armstrong said, talking to both of us, but looking only at me, “is for you to tail my subject, like I said on the phone. He shouldn’t be too difficult to follow. He follows somewhat of a daily pattern, ending up in MacArthur Park at precisely three p.m. He sits there for a few minutes and is always joined by another person. They talk for a few minutes before going their separate ways. That much I was able to observe, but I can never get close enough to catch any of the conversation or to see if they exchange anything between them. That’s where you come in.”
“You think they’re going to let us sit next to them on the bench and listen in?” I said. “Just how did you expect us to accomplish what you want?”
“I understand they do make gadgets these days,” Armstrong said, “that will allow you to listen in from a distance. And there are such things as binoculars and cameras with long lenses. But mostly you two could easily pass for a couple and would be able to just walk right by them without being suspected. That’s what I’m counting on, Mr. Cooper.”
“May I assume that you’ve already tried these gadgets you just mentioned?” I said.
“You may,” Armstrong said. “But I could never get close enough to make them effective for my purposes. If I got any closer, he’d recognize me.”
“May I also assume that you will give us the loan of those gadgets that you’ve tried?” I said.
“They are at your disposal,” Armstrong said. “And when this job is finished, and if I get the results I need, I’ll make you a present of those gadgets. Fair enough?”
“Works for me,” I said and then turned to Gloria. “Do you have any questions for Mr. Armstrong?”
“Just one,” Gloria said. “This person who meets your target in the park, is it a man or a woman?”
“A woman,” Armstrong said without hesitation. “And before you ask any more questions, yes, she is my wife. And yes, I do know who the man is. I suspect that there is something of a romantic nature going on between them and that’s what I need to know. I probably couldn’t do anything to stop her from leaving me for another man, but with the right evidence, shall we say, I could negotiate a much better settlement by the time we got to divorce court.”
“This sounds like your garden variety, run-of-the-mill divorce cases,” I said. “What’s with all the cloak and dagger?”
“Mr. Cooper,” Armstrong said. “Everything I think, do or say affects my stock price and if word of something like this fell on the wrong ears, I would stand to lose a lot of money overnight. So you can see why this has to be handled with the utmost discretion.”
“And it will be,” I assured him.
“Thank you, Mr. Cooper,” Armstrong said. “I assume you have a document or two I will need to sign to start this process in motion.”
I told him there was and ten minutes later I had his signature on one of my standard contracts, with a few addendums at the bottom. I thanked him for his business and showed him to the door.
“I’ll await your call, Mr. Cooper,” Armstrong said. “But only call me on the cell phone.”
After Armstrong had gone, I turned to Gloria and said, “Looks like we’re pulling double duty for the next few days. We can cover Mrs. Armstrong in the park and still have time to start our surveillance route along Sunset after dark.”
“Feast or famine,” Gloria said. “Last week we had nothing going on. This week we have two cases.”
It was after eleven when Gloria and I got in my car and headed south to Wilshire Boulevard and then east to MacArthur Park a few blocks away. We parked on South Park View Street near Wilshire and got out of have an up close look for ourselves. According to Armstrong his wife always met with the mystery ma
n on the first bench from the corner, facing the lake. We walked over to the bench and looked all around us. Directly across from the park sat a twelve-story apartment building with a banner strung across several of the windows that advertised apartments for rent. That was one possibility, I thought.
There didn’t seem to be any other acceptable place where we could watch the couple without being seen ourselves. We walked across the street and into the lobby of the apartment building. Gloria found the manager, a chubby fellow named Ronald Harper, and we posed as a couple looking for an apartment. He started to show us something facing Wilshire Boulevard.
“Don’t you have anything facing the park?” Gloria said, and flashed Harper a smile.
“Let me have a look at the journal,” Harper said, reaching for a book under the counter. He paged through it and stopped on a particular apartment. “Apartments facing the park usually are the first to go,” he said, “but I do have one left. It’s not very high up and those are the really desirable ones. This one is on the third floor. Would you like to see it?”
Gloria smiled, nodded to Harper and wrapped an arm around mine. We followed him to the elevator and got off on the third floor. He walked us to the last apartment at the end of the hall. Before he opened the apartment door, I took a quick look out the hall window toward the park.
Harper unlocked the apartment door and let us walk in ahead of him. Gloria kept Harper busy, asking to see the bedroom and the closet space and the bathroom. I used the time to check the view from the living room window. I could see the park directly below and across the street. The bench where Mrs. Armstrong always met our mystery man was in plain sight from where I stood. I was sure the parabolic ear device would be able to pick up their conversation from here.
Gloria and Harper returned from one of the other rooms. Gloria came over to where I was standing and looked out the window. “What a beautiful view, dear,” she said. “Do you think we could take it?”
I looked at Harper and sighed. “Could we have a day or so to think it over?” I said. “We’ve looked at several apartments today and we just need some time to compare features. Would you be able to hold it for twenty-four hours while we decide?”
“I don’t know about twenty-four hours,” Harper said. “But I could keep it open until the close of business today. That would give you almost six hours to decide. Would that be enough time?”
Knowing we’d be done with the apartment by four, I said it would and thanked him for his time. He escorted us back to the lobby and shook my hand. I walked Gloria back to the car and we got in.
“We can get Armstrong’s listening devise and all that other equipment and be back here by two-thirty,” I said. “You’ll just have to keep Harper busy while I bring the equipment up here and get what we need. Can you find a way to occupy Harper for an hour?”
“No problem,” Gloria said. “I’ll just tell him that we discussed the apartment and decided a park view wasn’t as important as a second bedroom. I’ll have him show me a few apartments on the other side of the building and I’ll take my time deciding. Just make sure you’re out and have the equipment back in the car as soon as you get what you need. Then you can come and find me and we’ll head out. Simple, eh?”
“Great,” I said. “Let’s get over to Armstrong’s and pick up all that spy stuff.”
“No doubt you have a plan for getting back into the apartment later,” Gloria said.
I patted my breast pocket. “I have what I need,” I said, smiling.
As we drove back toward the office, Gloria dialed Armstrong’s cell number and caught him in. She explained that we needed to pick up all the surveillance equipment and he agreed to meet us in the parking lot behind our building. He made it there right after lunch and transferred the devices into my back seat. Gloria and I thanked him and drove off to have a bite to eat before returning to MacArthur Park.
It was a few minutes after two-thirty. I let Gloria off in front of the apartment building, parked across the street and waited. We had agreed that she would find the manager, tell him of her decision to look at other apartments and then excuse herself to use the bathroom. Then she’d signal me from the front door and I’d give her a few extra minutes to get Harper out of sight before I carried the two suitcases full of surveillance equipment back up to the third floor apartment that faced the park.
I waited for five or six minutes and then saw Gloria at the front door, waving to me. She disappeared back into the apartment building and I checked my watch. Five minutes later I slid out of the car and opened the back door, pulling the two suitcases out and closing the door again. I crossed the street and let myself in the front door of the apartment building. I carried the two cases over to the elevator and pressed the up button. Thirty seconds later I got off on the third floor and carries the cases to the end of the hall.
I set the cases down and pulled a small zipper case out of my breast pocket and withdrew two stainless steel probes like my dentist uses. I inserted them both into the lock and twisted. The door knob turned and I was in. I pulled the cases inside and locked the door behind me. It was still quarter to three when I unpacked and set up the equipment I needed to eavesdrop on Mrs. Armstrong and her lover. With five minutes to go, I aimed the parabolic ear around the park, adjusting the volume control until the voices of the people I’d aimed it at came in clear.
I had also set up a portable digital recorder and connected it to the listening device. It had space enough on the internal chip for seventy-five minutes of audio. That was more than enough time to get what I needed. Next to the listening device I had a digital video camera aimed at the bench as well. At precisely two fifty-eight I began recording both video and audio of the park bench area. At three o’clock a man in a brown business suit casually sat on the park bench and unfolded a newspaper, pretending to be engrossed in its contents. In less than a minute a woman joined him on the bench but didn’t turn toward him or look at him. He kept the paper up in front of his face. I pressed the headphones to my ears and listened, recording all that went on in the three minutes that the meeting lasted.
When she got up and left, I let the equipment record for another minute until he had also left the park. I switched everything off, packed it back into the cases and let myself out of the room. I rode the elevator back to the lobby and hurried back to my car with the two cases. I returned to the apartment building and walked over to the manager’s counter. I read a small sign that instructed visitors to press a button on the counter for service and that the manager would be with them momentarily.
I pressed it and waited. A few minutes later the elevator doors opened and Gloria stepped out, followed closely by the manager. He smiled when he saw me again.
“Was that you pressing the service button?” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “Gloria told me she was coming back alone to check other apartments. I was busy at the other complex that we’d visited before we came here.”
I turned to Gloria. “Good news, dear,” I said. “We got the other apartment, you know, the one with the Jacuzzi.”
“That’s marvelous, honey,” Gloria said and then turned to the manager. “I’m sorry we couldn’t have gotten one of your apartments. They are all so beautiful. Thanks for your time anyway, Mr. Harper. Good bye.”
Ronald Harper stood there, his mouth hanging open with nothing to say as we exited to the street. Gloria and I rushed back to the car and drove away, not wanting to take any chances of someone getting our license number.
“Well?” Gloria said. “Did you get it all recorded?”
“I’ll say,” I told her. “And just wait ‘til you hear what I got.” I told her about what I’d heard in the headphones and had recorded on the video recorder.
Gloria whistled. “Wow,” was all she could manage.
“Yeah, wow,” I said. “Armstrong’s in for a surprise.”
“Ya think?” she said. “That’s the understatement of the year. Infidelity is the least of Arms
trong’s worries. When are you going to tell him?”
“Well,” I said, “normally I’d let it drag out for a day or two and run the bill up a bit before bowing out. I don’t think we can do that this time.”
“I think you’re right, Elliott,” Gloria said. Let’s just get over there and lay it all out for him, collect our fee and stay out of the rest of it.”
“I agree,” I said, and drove back toward the office. Gloria phoned Armstrong on the way back from the park and he agreed to meet us in our office this time. We got there fifteen minutes ahead of Armstrong.
By the time Armstrong walked into the office, I had the surveillance equipment set up and ready for playback. Without a lot of preamble, I invited him to sit across from my desk. I flipped open my laptop computer and inserted a small USB drive into the slot on the side. I selected a multimedia player and started the video playing. Armstrong watch, wide-eyed as his wife took her seat on the bench. The image zoomed in on Mrs. Armstrong’s purse as she reached into it and withdrew a fat stack of wrapped bills and passed it over to the man on the bench.
“I can’t hear what they’re saying,” Armstrong said.
“The video camera couldn’t pick up the conversation from our vantage point,” I explained. “After the video finishes I can play back the audio track that I recorded with the parabolic ear.”
Armstrong went back to watching what was left of the video. Mrs. Armstrong rose from the bench and walked out of the shot. The mystery man lowered the newspaper from in front of his face, folded it up and set it down next to him. He looked around him in every direction before sliding the bundle of bills between the newspaper’s pages. When he got up off the bench, he turned toward us and walked out of the shot, but not before Armstrong got a good look at his face.
“That bastard,” Armstrong said. “It’s one of my own employees. Why on earth would my wife pay him a large sum of money?”
“Hold on, Mr. Armstrong,” I said. “Listen to the audio and it’ll all make more sense.”
I closed the video screen on the laptop and opened another application for playing audio files. I cued the file up and paused it, turning to Armstrong again.
The Complete Cooper Collection (All 97 Stories) Page 222