I nodded. I could certainly understand her concern. “Betsy Ann, I think Gilbert had something on Carlton. Something serious enough that Carlton felt he had to kill him.” I reached into my other pocket and pulled out the other two pictures of the employees I had met on Tuesday. I turned them up in front of her.
Her hand instinctively flew to her mouth indicating she was shocked. She picked up one of the pictures, looked at it, turned it over, and saw the $5,000 amount. “Susan, both of these people work in distribution!”
“I know,” I said. “Do you think we could talk to them and try to find out what Gilbert had on them?”
“I don’t know, Susan,” she said with great hesitation. “I think it crosses the boundary of work-place ethics.”
“Betsy Ann, I truly can’t tell you very much. The fewer people who know about this, the safer everyone will be, but I think we have to find out what’s going on before someone else gets hurt.”
She nodded her head. I could see she was trying to regain her composure. A few moments later, she picked up the telephone, called distribution, and asked to have the two employees sent to her office. She slipped her picture into a desk drawer.
Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and a girl and a guy entered. I stood so they could each take a seat in the two chairs in front of Betsy Ann’s desk.
“Robert, Jackie, this is Susan Hunter. I believe you met her on Tuesday.” They nodded and smiled at me. I returned warm smiles, and Betsy Ann continued, “I want you both to know you’re not here for company business. Everything you say in here today will get you a pass and won’t affect or jeopardize your employment here at Slimmers in any way. This is highly personal, and whatever you hear from the other cannot be shared with anyone in any way, or that could jeopardize your employment. Do you understand?”
Both of them looked like scared kids. I felt sorry for them. Jackie said “yes” while Robert simply nodded his head.
Betsy Ann placed their pictures in front of them. Jackie’s reaction was the most intense, and she immediately started to weep and slightly rock back and forth in her chair.
Betsy Ann tried to calm her. “Jackie, this isn’t going to be used against you, I promise. We know Gilbert Torres extorted money from both of you, didn’t he?”
Jackie blurted out, “I hated him!” As soon as she said it, her eyes lit up with fright, and she followed up with, “But I didn’t kill him!”
Betsy Ann smiled and said, “Jackie, we know you didn’t. We know both of you didn’t have anything to do with his death.” She looked to me for a little help.
“Robert, what do you know about this?” I asked him. “Why did Gilbert want money from you?”
He looked at me and simply said, “Cocaine and pot.”
I gave him a quizzical look and said, “And?”
“He had pictures of me buying pot from a guy on the street. And then he had a picture of me doing a line of coke at a party. He told me if I didn’t pay him $5,000, he was bringing the pictures to Mrs. Tucker here. Slimmers has a no drug policy, and I knew I would be tested and fired. I need this job, and I like this job. I paid the sleazebag the money, and I quit the drugs. It was mostly recreational, but to protect myself, I enrolled in a short-term rehab program.” He looked at Betsy Ann and finished with, “I’ve been clean for six months, and you can test me if you need to be sure.”
Betsy Ann smiled at him and said, “That won’t be necessary, Robert.”
I looked at Jackie and asked, “What about you, Jackie?”
She looked at Robert with concern, as though she were afraid he might not keep her secret. He tried to reassure her by saying, “Jackie, I have to trust you. I don’t want it known around the building I was into drugs. I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”
She nodded. “Mrs. Tucker, I’m sorry. I did something really stupid last year. I was desperate for money. I had a marker at a downtown casino I had to pay. I started sneaking out boxes of product. I thought if I sold them on eBay under generic terms, I could make enough money to pay off my debt. Then Gilbert showed up with pictures of me putting a box in my car, and the printout of the first box I listed on eBay. He said if I didn’t give him $5,000, he would bring the evidence to you and demand I be prosecuted. He said it was a felony offense, and I would end up in jail for years.”
She was crying harder now. This was going to be really hard for Betsy Ann. Stealing from the company was an immediate termination offense, but Betsy Ann had promised them immunity for anything they said, so she would have to honor her word.
Jackie continued her story, “I was so afraid Gilbert would tell, I had no choice but to go to my parents and beg for the money. They gave it to me, and I paid Gilbert. The whole thing scared me so much, I snuck everything back into the warehouse, and I’ve been trying to figure out how I could make it up for the one box I did sell. I’ve been clocking out at 5:00 every day, but a couple of days every week, I work over for an hour. I thought if I tried to give the company free work, it might make up for what I did. I’ve been doing it for a long time, but the guilt never goes away. Mrs. Tucker, I’m so sorry. I’m not a criminal.”
“I know,” she told her sympathetically. “I promised both of you your jobs wouldn’t be in jeopardy, and I’ll keep my word. Jackie, I’ll get confirmation from your supervisor of your extra hours. If he confirms this, we’ll consider your debt paid and never talk about it again. Ok?” Jackie nodded.
I thanked both of them for talking with us. They left the office, and I looked up and down the hallway. Gregory wasn’t anywhere in sight, and neither was Carl. I shut the door again.
“Betsy Ann, Gilbert was obviously making a side living off of extortion. There isn’t any doubt in my mind he had something on Carlton. Gregory said he was snoopy, and I think he found out something about Carlton and Slimmers.” I stood up to leave her office. “I have some things to follow up on. As soon as I can tell you anything, I will; but for now, it’s important you don’t discuss any of this with anyone.” She simply nodded her head, and I left her office.
As I walked back to my office, I thought of the unintended consequences of Gilbert’s actions. Betsy Ann had worked things out with her husband, Robert had quit using drugs, and Jackie gave up stealing. There was something a bit fascinating about it all to me.
I sat down at my desk, unlocked the drawer, and started fishing in my purse for my cell phone. The battery was almost dead, but not quite. I punched Darby’s speed dial number. It went straight to voice mail, so I hung up. He was probably having a good time with Nate. I hated to do it, but I had to go through with the plan forming in my mind. I punched Mick’s speed dial number.
It rang about four times. He never let the phone ring more than twice when I called. I could only assume he was still upset with me. “Hello,” he answered warily.
“Mick. Can I ask you for a favor?” I jumped right to it. I didn’t want to have small talk or discuss the events of last night yet.
He paused before answering, then simply said, “Sure.”
I looked at my watch. It was nearly 5:30. I stretched the truth a bit, and said, “I just finished working. I need a ride back to the hotel, and I’d like to stop and see Anna Torres for a minute on the way. She’s the widow of a man who worked here. Would you mind coming to pick me up? Ask Dad for the keys to the car.”
I couldn’t gauge his emotions by his voice and his curt answers. He simply said, “I’ll be there shortly,” and he hung up.
I gathered my things and went out to apologize to the driver, telling him his services wouldn’t be needed this evening. A short time later, Mick arrived in a Buick Regal.
“What happened to Dad’s car?” I asked as I slid into the passenger seat. I didn’t even know how to start a conversation with him, so I asked about the car.
“I didn’t need his car,” he said. “I rented this one at the airport last night. I thought we might want our own transportation for the weekend.”
Just hear
ing the words last night set me a on edge. “I don’t know if you heard about it,” I said, “but one of the janitors at Slimmers was murdered recently.” He didn’t respond. “I want to stop by and see his wife, Anna, for a few minutes. She needs help with something, and I want to help her.”
“Ok, but aren’t we supposed to have dinner with your parents?” he asked.
“Not until 8:00, and this won’t take long,” I told him.
“Show me the way,” he said. His voice was still expressionless.
Anna opened the door right away when I knocked, and she said, “Susan. It’s nice to see you.” She looked quizzically at Mick, and I’m sure she wondered why I had another man with me. She stepped back and said, “Come in.”
“Anna, this is my fiance, Mick. Mick, this is Anna Torres.” They exchanged pleasantries, and I asked her, “How are you getting along today? Is there anything I can do for you?” I wasn’t proud of what I was about to do, but I really did care about her, and if there was anything she needed at the moment, I wanted to help.”
“I’m fine, Susan, really I am. It was a quiet day.” She looked at me with a knowing look of something we shared. I nodded. “Would you like some tea and cookies?” she offered.
I looked at Mick and said, “Anna makes some of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten.” I turned back to her and said, “We can’t tonight; we’re meeting my parents for dinner in a little bit. But Anna, I’ve been thinking about the motel key. Let Mick and I go look at the room for you. We’ll see if the key even works in the door anymore. If it does, we’ll take a quick look around and let you know what we find. If there are any personal effects of Gilbert’s, you can make arrangements to get them. This will be something you can then put to rest in your mind. If the key no longer works, then it was nothing, and you’ll be able to throw it away.”
Anna only thought about it for a few seconds and said, “That’s a good idea. It’s bothered me since I found it, and you and Mick go look. Thank you.” She went to get the key, and Mick was shooting sideways looks at me, insinuating what are you doing now?
She handed the key to me, and I told her, “Anna, if it’s important, I’ll call you tonight. But it’s probably nothing, so I’ll more than likely stop by to see you after work tomorrow. Would that be ok?”
“Yes,” she said as she reached to give me a hug. It seemed awkward for her. I gave her a genuinely big hug back.
In the car again, Mick asked, “What was that all about?”
I took a quick look at him, but didn’t sense any anger. He seemed more curious than anything. I gave him directions to the motel, and then filled him in. “Gilbert Torres was an unpleasant man,” I said. “He was even abusive toward Anna at times. No one liked him, and no one was surprised when he was murdered. There were only a few people at the funeral, and Darby and I were two of them.” I instantly bit my lip in regret. I hadn’t wanted to mention Darby at all. I didn’t want to get Mick riled up again. He didn’t say anything, but another glance his way showed a clenched jaw. I pushed on with my story and said, “The police searched their house but didn’t find anything that would lead them to believe the murder was anything other than a random act of violence. Later, Anna found the motel key hidden in Gilbert’s things, and it bothered her. She wondered if he had been having an affair, or if it meant something else. I wanted to offer to put it to rest for her. She doesn’t need to carry that around in the back of her mind for the rest of her life.”
Mick shook his head slightly, and I could tell he thought it was a dumb idea. I didn’t care. I needed to get back into the hotel room, and I wanted to do it with the key and with Anna’s permission. I wasn’t going to get caught and go to jail for breaking and entering.
The motel was south of the city. When we arrived, I had Mick park in the lot just below Room 236. I marched up the stairs like I owned the place and shoved the key in the lock. It went right in. Inside, I turned on the lights and told Mick, “We have to move fast. We’re looking for anything from Slimmers and especially a picture of Carlton Waltham.” I was already starting to dig through pictures on the bed.
“Susan?” His voice was a little high, but I didn’t want to get into a fight with him now.
“Mick, please trust me,” I told him. “I’ve already been in here, and I know what’s in this room. Gilbert was extorting people for money.” I checked under the bed and saw the boxes of money were still there. Dudley hadn’t taken them. “Carlton Waltham was one of the men I saw when I opened the door during the magic act. He is a bigwig at Slimmers, and he had Anna’s husband murdered.”
Mick was staring at me like I had lost my mind.
“Please help me look!” I pleaded with him. “If I can find anything in this mess tying Gilbert to Carlton Waltham, we can leave here and take it to the police.”
“Why don’t we call the police now?” he asked sensibly.
“No, not yet,” I said firmly. “If there’s nothing here on Carl, I’ll tell Anna what we’ve seen and let her call the police after we leave to go home. I don’t want to drag all of us into this if I don’t have to. Mick, please help me look. Something from Slimmers - or a picture of Carl. He’s probably in his late 50’ or early 60s, gray hair, a distinguished kind of look, and maybe some bling in the picture.”
I started scanning the walls. The urge to get out of there was great. Mick only had a sliver of the whole story, and he would be furious if he knew how much danger we were really in, but all I needed was one thing on Carl from this room, and it would all be over.
I moved to the small table and started flipping through papers. Mick was looking through a box on a chair. “Susan, is this him?” He held up Carl’s picture. “It has one million dollars written on the back.”
“YES!” I couldn’t help how loud it came out. “That’s him!” I said excitedly. “What’s in the box with the picture?”
Mick started to dig through the papers. “Mostly copies of financial records,” he said. “Some of these are accounting files from Slimmers.” He uncovered some handwritten notes. “Susan, according to these notes, Carlton Waltham was embezzling money from Slimmers.” My mouth dropped open. I quickly went to stand beside Mick and look at the papers in the box. This was exactly what we needed.
Before Mick picked me up at the office, I had run to the lunch room and shoved a garbage bag into my jacket pocket. I pulled it out now and started shoveling as many of the other papers and pictures as I could into the bag.
“What are you doing?” Mick asked incredulously.
“I’m taking as much of this stuff as I can now so none of it disappears before we can talk to the police. Leave the money under the bed.”
“Money, what money?” he asked loudly.
Oh, boy. I could hear it in his voice. He was worked up now, but I ignored him. My bag was nearly full. I grabbed the box of Carl’s incriminating evidence and shoved it into the bag. I threw the key on top, and tied the bag shut. I looked at Mick with a look of satisfaction, and said, “Let’s get out of here.”
There was no one outside, and I almost felt like squealing with joy. That horrible man wasn’t going to get away with murder. We ran down the steps, jumped into the car, and headed for the exit.
Just as we were turning out of the lot, a car accelerated from a parking space on the roadway and smashed into us on the driver’s side front fender. It wasn’t a hard impact, but it was a jolt. Before we could react, two men jumped out of the car. One of the men was the tattooed man who had killed Gilbert with the crowbar.
Something akin to a stifled scream came out, and I barked at Mick, “Go! Go! He’s the man who murdered Gilbert!”
Mick pulled out onto the street and punched it. The tattooed man hit the trunk of the car with the crowbar. Mick tried to make a left turn in an effort to head back into town, but the car wouldn’t turn left, and we could hear the front fender scraping the tire. He hit the gas again and continued driving until we could make a right-hand turn. But there were no r
ight hand turns to be made, and we found ourselves driving out of the city by way of a road which would soon see nothing but desert landscaping.
“Susan,” Mick said sharply. “Are those men after you, or are they after the stuff we took out of the motel room.”
I looked behind us and saw the headlights gaining on us. I couldn’t tell him the men were after both. “I don’t know,” I said softly.
Mick did his best to drive as fast as he could, but with the metal fender scraping the left tire, it was only a matter of time before they would catch up to us.
I started looking throughout the car to see if there was anything we could use as a weapon, but came up empty-handed. A few minutes later, the other car was alongside and bumping the damaged fender, making it even more difficult to steer. Rather than to crash, Mick pulled over and stopped the car. He looked at me and said, “Susan, let’s give them what they want. We’ll tell them we have all of the incriminating information on Waltham, and they can take it.”
There wasn’t time to tell him all that had happened with Carl from Friday night at the craps table to Wednesday night at the racquetball club. He had no idea how deep Carl’s hatred of me was, and these men weren’t going to let me go. We needed a miracle.
The driver’s side door was jammed, but the passenger door was jerked open by a man who I hadn’t seen before. He had a deep, scar running diagonally from the corner of his eye, across his nose, and down to his jaw. The man with the tattoos on his arm was, once again, holding the crowbar. They forced us out of the car and onto the side of the road.
Mick spoke first, “All of the evidence from the motel room is in the backseat in a garbage bag. We left the money in the room, and the key is in the bag. Take it, and leave us alone.”
Scarface said, “That’s not what the boss told us to do, and we follow orders.” He reached into the car, grabbed the car keys and opened the trunk. He scowled at us and commanded, “Get in.”
Mick balked and made a sudden move toward scarface. The tattooed man swung the crowbar. Mick didn’t play racquetball, but he did play handball, and he was quick on his feet as he lunged to the side. The crowbar didn’t fully connect, but it did graze the side of his head. A trickle of blood appeared. I let out a cry of alarm.
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