Sullivan's sting

by Lawrence Sanders

  He hoped with all his heart that might be true. But he was tied in knots, felt the familiar pressure, and began searching frantically for his inhaler.

  50

  He put it off as long as he could, answering her importunate phone calls with "Birdie, I can't talk right now; I have people in my office." Or, "Birdie, I have to go up to Palm Beach on business; call you when I get back." Or even, "Birdie, I have a miserable case of the flu, and I don't want to risk giving it to you."

  But finally her calls took a nasty tone, and he decided to get it over with. The last thing he wanted at this stage of the game was a scorned woman blowing the whistle on him.

  He bought a gold-plated compact for her and had it engraved with a cursive monogram, B.W. He paid for the gift with a stolen credit card, one of many that Ernie sold to trusted customers for fifty bucks a pop. The name on David's card was Finley K. Burden, and they hadn't yet redlined his account.

  Mrs. Winslow met him at the door of her apartment with a glacial smile and a greeting that was barely civil. She waved him to an armchair. No snuggling on the couch and no offer of a vodka gimlet just the way he liked it-for which he was grateful.

  "Birdie," he said, "that's an absolutely smashing suit you're wearing. Donna Karan, isn't it?"

  "No."

  "Well, I think it's divine. Birdie, I want to apologize sincerely for not having gotten back to you sooner. I just can't begin to tell you how sorry I am. But I've never been so busy in my life. The goods news is that your investments are doing wonderfully; so far your net worth has increased almost forty percent, and I think it'll do even better this year. I realize that's no excuse for my neglecting you, but I want you to know that I have been working very hard to increase the value of your account."

  "Thank you," she said faintly.

  He stood, went over to the couch, sat down close to her. He took the gift-wrapped package from his jacket pocket and presented it to her with his dazzling smile.

  "For you," he said. "A peace offering."

  She held the gift but made no effort to open it. "You know, David, I'm very angry with you. You never came to see me over the holidays, and I didn't even get a Christmas card from you, and you've been almost rude to me on the phone."

  He looked at her, shocked and outraged. "You didn't get my card? That's terrible! My secretary said she mailed it a week before Christmas."

  "Maybe you need a new secretary."

  "Maybe I do," he mourned. "It was a special card I picked out just for you. I'm so sorry, Birdie, but I assure you I didn't forget you."

  "I'll take the thought for the deed," she said primly. "But I must tell you honestly that I was so furious at the way you were treating me, I came very close to taking my account away and demanding all my money back."

  He was instantly solemn. "First of all, you have every right to do that. The money is yours, and anytime you want to end our business relationship, the assets will be returned to you without delay."

  "I'm happy to hear that."

  "But before you do it, all I ask is that you consider your financial future carefully. What would you do with your investments? Who would handle them for you? There is an enormous amount of paperwork and very specialized expertise required. Birdie, I don't wish to brag, but I doubt very much if you'll find another asset manager able to provide the kind of return I've been earning for you. Do think it over carefully before you make a decision you may later regret."

  "I thought we had more than a business relationship, David, but I guess I was wrong."

  "No," he said firmly, "you are not wrong. Of course it is more than a business relationship; we both know that."

  She looked at him challengingly. "Well then, what about our taking an apartment together? You never have given me a definite answer."

  He rose and paced slowly back and forth in front of the couch. He had contrived a scenario he thought would fly.

  "Birdie, I've considered it long and hard. I still feel the risks are tremendous. We know how we feel about each other, and I'd hate to do anything that might jeopardize that feeling. You honestly believe we could make a success of living together. I'm more cautious and conservative than you, just as I am in handling your money. But I've come up with a solution I think is reasonable, and I hope you'll agree."

  "What is it, David?"

  "Right now I'm heavily involved in a dozen business negotiations for you and my other clients. The pressures are enormous, requiring every bit of my energy and time. At the moment, I couldn't possibly think of moving. But I think I'm beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. I estimate that in six months I'll have things organized and running smoothly. Then you know what I'd like to do?"

  "What, David?"

  "I'd like to take a vacation. I haven't had a real one in years-just business trips. I'd like to take at least two weeks off, maybe a month, and travel through Europe, Russia, maybe even Japan and China. A long, leisurely vacation that'll enable me to unwind and recharge my batteries. I'd like you to come with me-at my expense, of course. Not only will we have a wonderful time, seeing all the sights, visiting Paris, London, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, but we'll be living together for at least two weeks. It'll be like a trial run. If we find we enjoy each other's company twenty-four hours a day, then that will certainly be proof that we can make a success of living together when we come back home. What do you say? Will you be willing to make the trip with me in six months?"

  She tossed the wrapped gift aside, heaved off the couch, rushed to him, enfolded him in a suffocating embrace.

  "Divine!" she cried. "Of course I'll go with you, David. We'll have the time of our lives, you'll see, and really get to know each other better.''

  "And you're willing to wait six months?"

  "Of course, you silly boy, because I'm positive, just positive, that we'll come home closer than ever and eager to get our own place-together. Oh, I'm so excited! I'm going out tomorrow and start shopping: dresses and shoes and maybe new luggage. There's so much, I've got to make a list of all the things I'll need."

  "You do that," he said with a tender smile, "but meanwhile look at your gift."

  She ripped away the fancy wrapping, opened the box, removed the engraved compact, and stared at it with widened eyes.

  "Oh David, it's beautiful! Just what I wanted."

  "I thought it would be," he said.

  51

  It had been a frustrating morning for Manny Suarez. He and the other yaks were hawking the Fort Knox Commodity Trading Fund, commemorative postage stamps, and pork bellies, but it was one of those days when the mooches just weren't biting. Sid Coe was in a vile mood, stalking up and down the boiler room and screaming, "Close the deal or there's no meal! Get the buck in or get the fuck out!"

  Finally, a little after noon, he went stomping downstairs, muttering and cursing. The yaks figured they were safe for a while because it was common knowledge that Coe was humping the comely receptionist in his private office during his lunch hour. Manny Suarez folded up the sucker list, stuck it in his hip pocket, and ducked out.

  Just as he had promised, Tony Harker was parked a block away in a white Chevy van. Harker sat behind the wheel. In the back, a bearded young black waited with a classy Leica camera and a battery-powered floodlight. Suarez slid in next to Harker and handed the sucker list to the photographer. He put the list on the floor, turned on his light, adjusted the lens and started snapping.

  "How's it going, Manny?" Tony asked.

  Suarez flipped his hand back and forth. "Comme gi,

  comme ga. Moaney is tight today. The boss is goin' nuts."

  "Stick with it," Harker said. "I don't think it'll be much longer. Ullman brought in a canary who's singing his heart out. We're going to nail the whole bunch, including your boss."

  "I wanna be there when you take him," Manny said. "Hokay?"

  "Sure, I was planning on it. I guess you'll be glad to get back to Miami."

  "Oh, I don' know," Suarez said, thinking of the C
uban lady and the.cash he was skimming from his commissions. "It's good duty. Maybe you can use me again?"

  "Could be," Harker said. "After this case is closed, there'll be something else. It never ends."

  "Have gun, will travel," Manny said.

  The photographer tapped Tony's shoulder. "Finished," he said. "I took two of each page, different exposures. We're covered."

  "Good," Harker said. "Here's your list, Manny. I hope there's no hassle."

  Suarez shrugged. "He don' even know I'm gone."

  But he did. When Manny walked into Instant Investments, Inc., Sid Coe was waiting for him, his face twisted with fury, and the agent knew he was in trouble.

  Coe jerked a thumb toward his office. "In there, ban-dido," he said, his voice gritty.

  Suarez followed him inside, and Coe slammed the door.

  "Where you been?" he demanded.

  "Having a beer," Manny said. "Hokay?"

  "Where's your sucker list?"

  "Right here," Manny said, taking it from his hip pocket.

  "What the fuck you taking it out of the office for?"

  "So no one swipes it. I got this list marked with all my best mooches. Why should I let another yak make deals with my pigeons?"

  "Yeah? Let me see it."

  Suarez handed over the pages. Coe scanned them swiftly.

  "You're lying, you little shit," he said. "All you got marked are Hispanic names. You stole my list that I paid good money for. You sneaked it out of the office against what I told you and had it copied. You're figuring on going into business for yourself."

  "Not so," Manny said, spreading his hands. "Ask up and down the street. Where could I have it copied in twenty minutes?"

  Coe stared at him angrily. "No one messes with Sid Coe. You're fired. Get your ass the hell out of here."

  "Sure," Suarez said, "as soon as you pay me commissions for three days' work. You owe me."

  "I owe you shit," Coe said. He opened his desk drawer, took out the heavy.45 automatic, and placed it on the desktop. He turned it with his forefinger until the muzzle was pointing at Manny.

  "Look what I got," Coe said. "Now get out."

  Suarez lifted the tail of his white guayabera shirt to reveal the short-barreled.38 Special holstered on his hip. "Look what I got," he said. "You wanna see who's the fastest draw in the East?"

  Coe looked up at his face, his eyes. Then he took out his wallet, extracted two hundred in fifties and threw them on the desk.

  "You fuckin' spic," he said. "You're all alike." "Yeah, I know," Manny said, picking up the bills. "We wanna get paid for the work we do. Un-American-right? See you soon, Mr. Coe."

  "Not if I can help it."

  "You can't," the agent said, smiling. "Too late."

  He left Coe trying to figure that and went out onto Oakland Park Boulevard. He found a phone kiosk and called Tony Harker. But he wasn't back in his office yet, so Manny drove to a place that served Tex-Mex and had a big bowl of peppery chili and two icy bottles of Dos Equis. Then he called Harker again.

  "I got canned," he reported.

  Tony took it in his usual laid-back style. "Too bad," he said. "Any heat?"

  "Some. He's a mouthy guy. But nothin' I couldn't handle."

  "Good. Well, come on in; I've got another job for you."

  "Yeah? What is it?"

  "Roger Fortescue could use some help. He's investigating a homicide."

  "No kid?" Suarez said. "Sounds inarresting."

  52

  A real estate agent found Simon Clark a nice two-bedroom condo on the Waterway down near Las Olas. It was completely furnished and had a terrace facing east. He signed a year's lease and moved in. He figured that eventually he'd have to go back to Chicago and pack up clothes, law books, and personal belongings, and have them shipped down. But that could wait; he had bought enough Florida duds to dress like a native, and the condo was equipped with linens and kitchen stuff, so he was all set there.

  He inspected possible office space on Commercial, but he really didn't want to be located there, so he kept looking. The agent, Ellen St. Martin, was helping him, and the last time they spoke, she reported she had a lead on a small but elegant office up near Boca Raton. That would be a long daily commute, especially during the tourist season, but Simon didn't plan on a nine-to-five job, and it was important to have a flash front.

  Nancy Sparco had delivered a copy of her husband's Super Sucker list, and it looked good to Clark: twenty-four names, addresses, and telephone numbers with notations on net worth, personal peccadilloes, and the kind of scams they bought: oil wells, grain futures, computer leasing, real estate, even fish farms and Arabian mares.

  His Chicago checking account was getting low, and it hurt him to run up unpaid balances on his credit card accounts, considering the usurious interest those bastards charged, so Clark figured it was time to hit Mort Sparco. He thought about buying a gun-God knows it was easy enough in Florida-but decided against it. With the ammunition he had, a gun just wasn't necessary.

  He arrived at the discount brokerage a little after one p.m., but had to cool his heels in that ratty reception room for almost a half-hour because "Mr. Sparco is busy with a client right now." Clark doubted that, but waited patiently until the summons, "Mr. Sparco will see you now," like the guy was a brain surgeon or something.

  The broker was Mr. Congeniality, greeting Clark warmly, shaking his hand, getting him seated in a low club chair alongside his desk.

  "Well now," he said briskly, "I suppose you want a progress report on your investment in the Fort Knox Fund. I can sum it up in one word: dynamite! Let's see, you put in a total of about sixty thousand, didn't you?"

  "About that."

  "What would you say if I told you the value of your stock now is close to seventy-five? Is that a barn-burner or isn't it?"

  "Mr. Sparco," Clark said, "I'd like to cash in. I've decided to move back to Chicago. But first, of course, I have to pay off my father's home-equity loan. So if you'll sell my stock as soon as possible, I'd appreciate it."

  He had to admire the broker. Sparco didn't seem shocked or startled, and his affable smile didn't fade. Instead, he leaned back in his swivel chair, took a cigar from his desk drawer, bit off the tip and spat it into his wastebasket. Then he lighted the cigar with a wooden kitchen match scratched on the underside of his desk. He blew a plume of smoke at the ceiling.

  "Now why would you want to do that, Mr. Clark?" he asked pleasantly. "The fact that you're moving back to Chicago needn't make any difference; you can keep your account open here. We have a number of active clients who go north eight months out of the year. They phone collect whenever they want to trade or ask a question."

  "I don't think so. I'd like to sell my Fort Knox Fund and close out my account. How soon can I get the money?"

  "But why should you want to unload such a money-making investment? You're already showing a twenty-five-percent profit, and that stock has nowhere to go but up."

  "I want to sell," Clark repeated stubbornly. "I want my money. Immediately."

  Sparco showed the first signs of discomposure, tapping his cigar frequently on the ashtray rim, blinking rapidly. He licked his lips a few times, leaned toward Clark, tried a smile that didn't work.

  "That might present some difficulties," he said. "As I'm sure you've noticed, the Fort Knox Fund is not listed on any of the exchanges. That means we'll have to negotiate a private trade for you. It may take some time."

  "You mean I can't get my money?"

  "Oh no," Sparco said. "No, no, no. Your investment is perfectly safe. It's just not as liquid as you might have thought."

  "How long will it take to sell it?"

  "Well, that's hard to say. We'll certainly make a best-faith effort to unload it, but I can't guarantee you'll get top market price."

  "That's all right," Clark said. "I'll forget about the profit. I'll be satisfied if I just get my sixty thousand back."

  "Mr. Clark," Sparco said earnestly, "
one of the first things I learned about this business is that a broker should always try to fit the investment to the client. It's not always a matter of dollars and cents; it's frequently an emotional thing. The client should be comfortable with his investments. If he's not, then I'm not doing my job."

  Clark listened closely to this spiel, wanting to remember the phraseology since it might prove valuable in his new career as a shark.

  "Now it's obvious to me," the broker continued, "that you are not comfortable with the Fort Knox Fund, regardless of how well it's doing. All right, I accept that. Around here, the client calls the shots. Now what I suggest is this: Instead of closing out your account, you roll over your funds, including your profit, into another investment. I can suggest a number of equities as good or better than Fort Knox. I see no reason why you can't double your money in six months or less."

  Simon Clark was silent, staring steadily at the other man. The silence went on so long that the broker began to fidget, relighting his cigar with fingers that trembled slightly.

  Clark sighed, leaned back in the armchair, crossed his legs. "Mr. Sparco," he said quietly, "I want sixty thousand dollars from you. Cash, not a check. And I want it now."

  "That's ridiculous!" the broker burst out.

  "Do you know Sidney Coe?" Clark asked suddenly.

  "What?"

  "Do you know a man named Sidney Coe?"

  "No, I've never heard the name."

  "He runs a business on Oakland Park Boulevard."

  Sparco shook his head. "Don't know him."

  "He has a really rotten temper," Clark said. "Alleged to be a wife-beater. A dangerous, violent man."

  "What's that got to do with me?"

  "Well, since I've been in Florida I've had the time to poke around a little. I've talked to some interesting people and found out some interesting things."

  "So?"

  "So one of the interesting things I discovered is that office you rent up in West Palm Beach."

  The cigar dropped from Mortimer Sparco's mouth onto the desktop. He made no effort to retrieve it but sat rigidly, gripping his chair arms.