Cold Winter Sun

by Forder, Tony J.

  Drew came through the door a moment later. After he and Donna had embraced and handshakes and smiles were offered all around, he asked us what we wanted to eat and then went up to the counter to place the large order. The food was good and fresh and plentiful, and my two cheeseburgers went down well.

  Although I had provided Drew with the basic story before leaving New Mexico, the rest of us now had the opportunity to fill in the blanks. Most of them, anyway. Those we wanted to talk about. Others would never come to light if we had anything to do with it.

  Donna took Wendy across to an ice-cream parlour: none of us thought it a good idea for her to be there while the story was told.

  ‘So Vern is really guilty of this casino scam?’ Drew said when we were done, a deep sense of betrayal squeezing his voice. ‘He confessed to you both?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I replied. ‘Chelsea van Dalen admitted to it first, and Vern’s story almost entirely matched her own. There’s no doubt in my mind that they did it together, but I have to say that so far Vern has been gallant, and has tried hard to keep her out of it. Provided those two say nothing, then she won’t be charged. As for Vern, well, siphoning off money to the tune of millions of dollars means he will go to prison if he is found guilty. Which reminds me, have you managed to speak with him yet?’

  ‘No. Neither has his mother. But while you were travelling this way, the best criminal attorney we could find at short notice was going in the opposite direction. Vern was instructed to remain silent until he arrived.’

  ‘If it’s any consolation,’ Terry said, ‘your nephew is in good hands. We formed a bond with the country sheriff and the FBI agent whose capable hands we left Vern in, and they’ll treat him respectfully. They’ll make sure he’s not placed in general population until after his arraignment. If he makes bail, well then you probably have him for a year or so given the pace at which the law seems to function out here.’

  ‘Thank you. That does make me feel better, and Sheryl will be grateful for everything you two have done. Which we’ll come back to shortly. In terms of defence, how do you think Vern will play it? Because, in effect, no money was stolen at all.’

  ‘In effect,’ I replied. ‘But not in the eyes of the legal system, I’m afraid. Just because the money was returned does not negate the fact that it was stolen in the first place. If they can prove that, and prove he was behind it, then he’s in trouble.’

  ‘What about other charges?’ Drew asked.

  ‘By and large, mainly it was bad guys who were killed during the past few days, but the FBI will be looking for a reason why their agent was shot to death. Then there’s also Al Chastain’s murder, although the police will have found his killer right there beside his body. I honestly doubt whether any of those casino owners will volunteer to step forward and make allegations against Vern. But perhaps the biggest thing in Vern’s favour right now is that there is not a trace of this software having existed. He told me it was designed in such a way that the moment the install file was run it disappeared, but equally if it wasn’t run it couldn’t be copied without an encryption key.’

  Drew was clearly puzzled by this. ‘So if the casinos got their money back and the software is no longer around, why were these men still holding my nephew, why did they then snatch Donna and Wendy after you two rescued Vern?’

  I shrugged. ‘Because like most people, Vern has an ego. He was proud of his work. So proud he could not let go of it completely.’

  ‘He kept his own copy.’

  ‘He did. Not only that, but he also kept financial records stolen from the casino servers that they would much rather were never revealed. To them he became more than a thief, Drew. He became a threat.’

  ‘So how will that change? Surely he remains a threat provided that information still exists?’

  ‘We have that covered,’ Terry reassured him. ‘In whatever statement Vern makes to the police or FBI, he will insist that no copy exists, that he lied about it in order to buy time during his abduction. Agent Green will release that information, or at least make sure it is released.’

  Drew was shaking his head. ‘I can’t help wondering if that will be enough. Will these people take the chance, when all they have to do to fully protect themselves is make Vern disappear for good?’

  ‘That is a risk he has brought upon himself,’ I said. ‘The thing is, Drew, these men have their money back. Their sole concern now if they don’t believe what the FBI statement says, may still be that Vern somehow still has access to tax-related data which could ruin them if the IRS got hold of it. That puts Vern in their crosshairs. But equally, they will ask themselves why Vern would ever release that information. No good could ever come of it. The only thing such a move would achieve is to put a target on his back once again. I think they will also have another concern. That if they take Vern for a one-way trip out into the desert somewhere, his absence or death might trigger the very thing they are afraid of: the appearance of that data. Cool heads will prevail, I think. I’m not saying for sure that Vern will be entirely safe, only that I believe these people will arrive at the same conclusions Terry and I have.’

  ‘That sounds right. Hopeful, at least. Thank you both again. Sincerely.’

  I waved his gratitude away with a smile and a flippant hand gesture. ‘You’re welcome. Your nephew may just have got lucky this time.’

  ‘He was lucky you and Terry were around to save him. And I was lucky that you were around to save Donna and Wendy.’

  ‘We were all lucky there, Drew. We had some help along the way, but luck always plays a bigger role than you might expect.’

  We fell into silence then, the knowledge of how bad things might have been suddenly overwhelming us.

  38

  Donna and Wendy rejoined us at the booth. Donna squeezed her husband’s arm as she sat down. She smiled at me and Terry, a little defensively I thought.

  ‘Wendy and I heard the men at the house talking about a major battle at the abandoned sawmill where Vern was being held,’ she said, looking pale and drawn. ‘It sounded terrifying.’

  At the mere mention of the incident, Wendy pulled herself into me again. I grabbed her chin and tilted it upwards, staring into her beautiful eyes.

  ‘Kiddo, you don’t have to worry about me now. I’m here, those other men are not. I had training and experience on my side, plus your Uncle Terry in my corner. He’s like the Hulk when he gets going. No way he would let anything bad happen to me. And I must be getting better at it, because last time I ended up wounded and this time barely a scratch. That’s a good thing, right?’

  I pictured two different gunmen aiming their weapons at me. I blinked them away.

  Wendy nodded. ‘But what about next time?’ she asked me softly.

  ‘Who says there has to be a next time?’

  ‘Isn’t this what you do now?’

  That brought me up short. It was a question for which I was wholly unprepared, because it was something I had not even considered asking myself. Was this what I did now? If so, what the hell was it exactly? Drew would pay Terry for his time, though I would refuse payment if it was offered. I had done my ex-wife and her husband a favour. This was not a living. I had no plans to make it so. But then, I had no plans for the future at all.

  Or could Wendy be right? Was this something I now did? It was how Terry made his way in the world, and had done now for many years. While I was in Scotland making myself feel better, I had not planned anything beyond the time and place in which I found myself. Since being here I had not looked further ahead, either. There had been little time to consider anything beyond the moment. But now, Wendy’s observation felt as if it had an almost suffocating importance. Not only concerning the rest of my life, but my daughter’s also.

  While I was considering all this, Drew took a call from Vern’s attorney. When he was through, he explained how co-operative the sheriff and FBI had been, but that bail was in doubt due to the death of the FBI agent. Whilst all concerned a
ccepted the shooting had not been engineered by Vern, and that at the time he had clearly been a victim, the entire process may well have occurred because of him. Or at least, that was the charge they were putting together. The conversations were ongoing, and the lawyer had promised to get back to Drew as soon as he had the final word.

  ‘It’s such a shame for everyone involved,’ Drew said, looking around the table. ‘That young man had such a bright future ahead of him. Now all those people have lost their lives. And I must apologise to you both, Mike and Terry. I had no idea I was putting you in so much danger. I thought we were asking you to find a missing person, not put your lives on the line.’

  I raised a hand. ‘That’s okay. Things spiral out of control sometimes.’

  Terry nodded and jerked a thumb in my direction. ‘What he said.’

  ‘Well, thank you anyway. You’ll both be compensated, naturally.’

  This time I waved my hand. ‘Let’s discuss that later, shall we?’

  ‘Of course. You must both be tired and looking forward to getting a decent night’s sleep. So, Mike, if I’ve pieced it all together correctly, I take it you have the disks?’

  ‘I do. I need to ask Vern what he wants done with them. If it were me it would be a toss-up. One part of me would want them destroyed. On the other hand, if anybody ever comes asking in the future, it would be good to still have something to trade with.’

  ‘If you want, let me take care of them. I can lock them away in my safe.’

  Terry shook his head and said, ‘You might want to reconsider that offer, Drew. As Vern’s employer and the boss of the company responsible for installing all that software, the FBI may yet serve a warrant on you to go through your house and business premises.’

  ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘I hadn’t considered that. Of course, that would be a likely move on their part. Perhaps you two should hold on to them for now.’

  Right then was the moment the penny dropped. At first I assumed I had to be wrong, that I was being ridiculous. I thought back, replaying the conversation. I felt sure I was recalling it accurately. I had no idea what it meant, but I intended finding out.

  ‘Drew,’ I said. ‘Do you mind if you and I have a private word about the compensation side of things?’

  ‘Of course. I could do with a cigar, so shall we step outside for a few minutes?’

  I agreed. I stood and said to Terry, ‘Play nice with others while I’m gone.’

  Wendy giggled. Donna laughed. Terry looked sidelong at me and flipped me two fingers.

  Outside, Drew was already lighting up, smoke coiling upwards from the fat cigar he held in his hand. Traffic trundled by us in a nose-to-tail river of steaming metal and hot tyres. He nodded at me and said, ‘Whatever you and Terry want, you only have to name your terms. You not only found Vern as we asked you to do, you saved the lives of three people who are precious to me. That is priceless, Mike. Priceless.’

  ‘Good to hear. But before we get into that, do you mind answering a couple of questions for me?’

  ‘Of course not. Fire away.’

  ‘Thanks. So when was the last time you actually spoke with Vern?’

  ‘The day before he left to go on vacation.’

  I nodded. ‘You didn’t manage to speak to him earlier today, then? Or last night?’

  ‘No. I thought I mentioned it before. They would only allow him to speak to a lawyer the moment they knew one was flying out there.’

  ‘That’s what I thought. And you did mention that earlier, yes. So in that case, Drew, do you also want to tell me how you knew about the disks?’

  ‘What?’

  He was good. The look of bemusement seemed almost genuine.

  ‘Well, Vern told me the only person other than him who knew about the disks was his friend, Bruce. Not even Chelsea knew he had them or had buried them. You admit you haven’t spoken to him, and listening to your side of the conversation with his lawyer, it wasn’t discussed when they met, either. So, given Vern has been out of touch since he left to go on vacation, how could you possibly know about the disks?’

  ‘I… you must have mentioned them. Earlier, you remember, when you told me about the copy.’

  I shook my head. ‘No. I distinctly remember telling you there was a copy, but I didn’t say what it was stored on, nor how we had acquired it or from whom.’

  ‘Well, then I suppose I just assumed it had been copied to a disk.’

  ‘No, I don’t think so, Drew. I’m far from a technical geek, but even I know that most people these days would assume the files had been copied to the cloud. Thing is, Vern knows the cloud is susceptible to hacking, so still relies on the old-fashioned method. He also wanted to ensure it was in one place and one place only, and that it required physical interaction in order to make use of it. He was pretty clear about that. Nobody mentioned a disk earlier other than you, Drew. Not only that, but Vern kept a backup of the copy, which meant he buried two disks. Plural. Which is precisely what you keep talking about. Disks. Care to explain that to me?’

  It was hardly definitive, but the verbal slip had given me reason enough to question him about it. The rest relied on my ability to read him correctly. And having done so, I now knew I was right about him.

  He looked at me for a few moments, studying my expression. Seeming to reach a decision, he tossed his cigar to the floor and stood with both hands on his hips, shaking his head.

  ‘You’re going out of your way to protect Chelsea from being prosecuted,’ he said. ‘I think that’s because you realise how events conspired against her and Vern, and she wasn’t entirely responsible. As you alluded to before, provided everybody sticks to the same story then she has nothing to worry about. I see no reason why the same should not go for me. Even if your suspicions about me are well-founded, Mike, do you really think it’s in anyone’s best interests for my supposed complicity to be made public? After all, other than a slip of the tongue, what evidence do you have of any wrongdoing on my part? And do you really want to put Donna and Wendy through the upheaval these so-called revelations of yours would cause?’

  I drilled a hard look through the man. ‘You’re playing on the fact that I would not want to rock the boat for my ex-wife and my daughter. You sure that’s a gamble you’re willing to take, Drew?’

  ‘I’m not a gambling man, Mike. Whatever you may think of me right now, I know you will see the sense in what I say. If I had a part to play in any of this, who benefits from that becoming known? Nobody is worse off as things stand, and that situation won’t change.’

  ‘How about Vern?’ I argued. ‘If you put this together and he’s taking the fall, then I’d say he is worse off as a result.’

  But Drew was shaking his head once more. ‘Even if hypothetically speaking you are right about me, you’re wrong about who put it all together. I would say you need to strongly consider the fact that Vern brought the whole thing to my attention, and I just gave it the nod. Again, hypothetically speaking. You follow me, Mike?’

  I followed it right enough. It was all kinds of wrong, but he knew what he was talking about. If he had simply allowed Vern to go ahead, then he was culpable but no more so than Chelsea van Dalen, perhaps even less so as he had not contributed any of the scamming code or technical input. His was an act of pure greed, no more. Certainly there had been no malice intended. He was also correct in his assumption that I would recoil at the prospect of tossing a grenade this powerful into his marriage, given the aftershock would blow right through my own daughter’s life. A life she clearly loved and did not deserve to lose.

  ‘You had all that wealth,’ I said. ‘And you risked blowing it by taking a cut from a little bit more.’

  ‘You can never have too much money, Mike. The only people who believe otherwise don’t have any to begin with.’

  ‘You’ll owe me,’ I said to Drew, thinking about the gangland boss back in England who also owed me a debt I had yet to call upon. ‘I want nothing financial from you in ret
urn for what I did for you here, but Terry will need paying. Fifty thousand ought to do it. Pounds not dollars. Plus there are a couple of people in New Mexico who could use five grand each. Then there’s an FBI widow who may need a decent care package in the near future.’

  ‘And you?’ he asked, nodding his agreement to my demands. ‘What is your payment going to be if not money? You must want something, Mike. Everybody wants something.’

  I thought about it for a moment. Although his smugness irritated the shit out of me, I could not deny that he was right.

  ‘Partially that my daughter continues to live the good life, and my ex also gets to keep her marriage intact. Other than being a cheating, conniving thief, you’re not a bad bloke, Drew.’

  ‘Thank you.’ He gave a weak smile. ‘So what’s the other part of the debt?’

  ‘Your gratitude. Which I expect you to deliver on whenever I may need something from you at any time in the future.’

  ‘And you will have it. Whatever it is, whenever you ask.’

  I shrugged. ‘I hope Vern’s lawyer is good enough to dig him out of a hole. When all the dust settles on the events that took place out in New Mexico, it seems to me that provided Sheriff Crozier and Agent Green keep their word, there really won’t be a great deal of evidence against your nephew. I think he could make a go of it with Chelsea. I also see for myself now that Donna and Wendy are happy here, so you already have that covered. I’m not quite sure about my own future right now, but it’ll be good to know that I have someone with money and influence to call upon if I need help.’

  ‘You can count on it.’ Drew held out his hand.

  I stared down at it, left it hanging there. ‘We’re good right now,’ I told him. ‘But not that good.’

  He withdrew his hand and spread them both. ‘So what now, Mike?’

  ‘Now? Now I enjoy the rest of the evening with my daughter, spend some time with her as a guest of her stepfather, take a trip with her and have some quality time with only the two of us to worry about. After that… well, as usual, I haven’t thought that far ahead.’