by Neal Davies
Gino smiles and says, “While we’re waiting for our drinks Mr Sebastian, I’m going to excuse myself and take a piss. I’ll be right back.” Sebastian takes a seat and tries to make conversation with Gino’s two goons but they just keep staring at him like they would an animal at the zoo. Pete serves the drinks and heads back to the bar. Sebastian doesn’t notice, but while he continues his attempt to create conversation; Pete has silently moved around the corner of the bar and is in deep conversation with Gino.
Gino eventually arrives back at the table. “Now Mr Sebastian, you can ask all the questions you like in the time it takes me to finish my scotch, so I suggest you get started!” Gino is a short stocky guy who fits the description of the prime suspect that Jean and the landlord had seen.
Sebastian takes a sip of his bourbon and says, “How well did you know Frank and did you get along?”
Gino doesn’t hesitate to reply, “Look, Frankie used to drink at this bar and I liked him. I heard on the grapevine that someone had popped him and that’s sad. But I’d imagine you already knew that. So I guess you’re snooping in here to see if he had any enemies. Frankie was a good guy and nobody in here would touch him. So maybe you should talk to some of the dregs he worked with at the homeless shelter. You don’t know what sort of nut jobs hang out there.” Sebastian asks him where he was the night that Frank was killed. Gino sculls down his whiskey and says sarcastically,” Times up! If you’ve got anymore questions you can talk to Pete at the bar. Fuck off, Mr Sebastian!” He knows he can’t push his luck any further and decides it’d be best to head over to the barman.
Pete’s wiping down the bench at the furthest end of the bar, which suits Sebastian as he knows it’s out of ear shot. He pulls up a stool, leans forward and says in a low voice, “So Pete, Gino tells me you’re the man to speak to regarding Frank. What can you tell me?” Pete keeps wiping the bar and glancing over toward Gino to see if he’s watching but Gino and the others have produced a deck of cards and are busily entertaining themselves. Sebastian sees this isn’t the time or place as Pete’s forehead is dripping with fear. So he drops his voice even lower and says “Look, I know this isn’t good for you, is there somewhere else we can talk?”
The barman looks over at Gino again and can see he’s still preoccupied and replies, “Twenty four Dawson Avenue at 1pm.” Sebastian nods in acknowledgement and then says loud enough for the others to hear, “Well thanks Pete, you were as helpful as everyone else here, not at all!” Pete and Sebastian see Gino look up and grin from ear to ear and Pete blinks his eyes as if to silently thank Sebastian for taking the pressure off him. It’s now 11am and Sebastian has two hours to kill. The first thing he does when he gets back to his car is ring Cynthia, “Hi honey reporting in like I promised. I also want you to know that I’ll be heading over to St Benedict’s homeless shelter. It’s about 15 minutes from here.”
She’s pleased to hear his voice and responds positively, “Great! How did you go at the bar?”
“I got a couple of leads; one that particularly interests me. So can you do me another small favour? I hate to ask but can you check out a fellow by the name of Gino Gambini for me?”
Cynthia’s taken aback by a name she knows only too well and responds immediately, “What the hell are you getting yourself into Seb? I don’t have to check on Gambini, I already know more about him than I do about Frank Portola! You’re really beginning to worry me. This guy is a known crime boss believed to be responsible for at least two criminal figures disappearing without a trace. I worked on one of those cases and I know he has a record that’s longer than a politicians promises. I understand that you want to do this more than anything but I’m feeling really unsure of this now Seb!”
He can hear the sincere concern in her voice and wants to appease her but the whole idea of investigating has become addictive to him and he’s not prepared to give it up. Everything about Gino has already made up Sebastian’s mind that he’s involved in some sort of criminal activity. But to hear Cynthia in this state worries him, as she’s always been his first concern.
“Cynthia my love, I have left the pub now and I’m fine. I even bought Gino and his friends a round of drinks and left on good terms. So you’ve nothing to worry about. You know that I have a way with people and wouldn’t endanger myself unless it was to protect you. So please help me with this; by not worrying. If you can just see it through the eyes of someone investigating the case, as you did when you were working, it’ll make my life a lot easier. The thing is, if I begin to worry about you, worrying about me, then it’s more likely I’ll lose my focus and the possibility of something going wrong will become more likely.”
She knows what he’s saying is true. She also knows he has to focus and replies, “Ok, you’re right, but if you don’t want me to worry you need to keep ringing in. Oh, by the way; I rang Jim at the station to see if there was some way I can get access to Gina’s accounts and he put me on to a mate of his in the taxation department. Let me tell you, she’s one of the richest women in the state but a recent audit from the tax department picked up some anomalies a couple of days before Frank’s death. His inheritance had been moved out of his trust fund and into one of Gina’s accounts. Jim feels she may be connected to Frank’s murder in some way and has arranged an appointment for a detective to see her in the morning.” Sebastian hesitates with his reply as he thinks to himself; if a detective goes down there and does the questioning before he has a chance to talk to her, it would be like someone messing with a corpse before the forensic people can do their initial examination. So he replies, “Listen Cynthia, can you tell Jim to hold off sending his detective there tomorrow, and ask him if it’s ok if I can conduct the interview. Now just so you know, once I’ve been to the shelter I’m meeting with Pete the barman from the Tuscan Tavern. And as I’m not going anywhere dangerous, I’ll ring you after I’ve spoken to him if that’s ok?” Cynthia tells him she’ll ring Frank and agrees for Sebastian to call her after his meeting with Pete.
It’s 11.30 am and on his arrival at the shelter Sebastian can’t believe the stream of homeless that are already beginning to collect outside for a feed. It was lucky he made a call in advance to Doug Jones, the local priest and arranged to meet him at the side entrance. He’d been asked to knock three times and when he does a short stocky guy with a baby- like face opens the door. Sebastian holds out his hand, “Pleased to meet you Doug.”
The man looks him up and down and replies abruptly, “Save it, I’m not Doug! Follow me!” Sebastian follows him at pace through a large dining area the size of a basketball court to the back of the building. Then through another door which leads them to the kitchen.
The kitchen is as active as ants before a rain, with half a dozen volunteers and a couple of permanents busily readying themselves for the onslaught of the hungry who about to enclave the dining area, like a pride of lions to a fallen prey. The stubby fellow comes to a quick halt and Sebastian, at a half- walk- half- trot pace almost runs into the back of him. “Excuse me Doug, Mr Cork has arrived.” A tall, lean fellow with straggly greying hair that can only be seen at the base of a cotton cover glances over his shoulder and smiles in acknowledgement.
“How are you Mr Cork? As you can see I’m quite busy at the moment but if you’d like to help out I’ll get Patrick to get you an apron and we can talk as we work.” Patrick turns and glares at Sebastian,
“Well, do you want to help out or not?”
Doug rapidly swings his head around and frowns, “Patrick! This man is our guest and by the grace of God you’ll treat him that way. If I hear you talking to anyone in that manner again it’ll be the end of your probation period. Is that clear?”
“Yes Doug. Sorry, Mr Cork”
Sebastian’s slightly shocked at Patrick’s demeanour but responds positively, “That’s ok Patrick not a problem. I can see how hectic it is in here and yes I’d love an apron.”
He glares at Sebastian again and answers with some indignation, �
�It’s not hectic at all! I’ll get you an apron!” He turns and scurries off to find an apron.
I must apologise Mr Cork, Patrick’s been a volunteer here for some time and has just started a paid position with us since the tragic death of Frank. I have to bring him back down to earth from time to time as his enthusiasm is becoming a little over the top.” Doug continues talking while stirring the pot. “Now Mr Cork…” “Sebastian’s fine.”
“Sorry. Now Sebastian, you tell me you are a consultant with the police and want to talk to me about Frank?”
Sebastian leans his cane against the fridge near the door and replies, “Correct.”
Doug looks up, grins and continues, “I must tell you, that before making my decision to devote my life to the ministry I majored in psychology at university and I lost count of the number of articles and theories I have read that were based on your findings. It’s an absolute honour to meet you in the flesh.” Sebastian smiles graciously,
“Thank you, but I believe the honour is mine knowing the work that you do here for the homeless.”
Patrick arrives back with an apron, hygienic gloves and hair cover. He stands there as though he has nothing better to do until Doug urges, “Come on Patrick! What are you waiting around for? We’ll be opening up soon.”
“Yes, I know Doug but I thought I could ….”
Doug interrupts and becomes assertive, “Patrick you know your job. You’ve done it a 100 times. Now please get to work. I don’t have time for this!”
Patrick glares at Sebastian, swipes a tea towel from the bench and abruptly turns and walks away. Sebastian watches Patrick leave then turns toward Doug and frowns with a questioning look on his face. “I’m sorry Sebastian, I know I sound like I’m making excuses for him but there’s been a lot going on in his life recently. Even though they never got along, I think Frank’s death’s affected him a lot more than we imagined.” Doug moves to another pot and hands Sebastian a clean spoon, “Can you give this a stir while I add the potatoes?”
“Sure, can you tell me something about Frank? Who did he mix with, what was he like?”
“Frank was a great guy; I’d known him since he was a teenager when Patrick brought him to the shelter for food. Oh, by the way, the Patrick you saw today isn’t the one with a heart of gold that brings young women and men here because he can see they need a good feed. Anyway, when Frank first came here I asked him how old he was and he told me he was sixteen but then he confessed to me a couple of years later that he was only fourteen at the time and apologised for lying. If he’d told me he was 18 I would’ve believed him. He was such a tall lad and was already shaving. He said he had his reasons for deceiving me and I left it at that. After all, by then he was old enough to leave home anyway.”
Sebastian pauses from stirring the pot as he ponders over what Doug has told him. “How long was Patrick here before Frank came along?” Doug doesn’t mind helping Sebastian out with his enquiries but his first priorities are feeding the hungry. He looks down at the spoon with a frown and Sebastian begins stirring again. Then Doug replies, “He’d been with me for awhile. Three years maybe, I hope you’re not thinking that Patrick…”
Before he gets the opportunity to complete his question Sebastian jumps in,” No, I’m just trying to paint a picture in my mind of how Frank lived, the style of person he was, how he had spent his time and the type of characters he spent that time with. To put it simply, I’m interested in understanding his psyche.”
Doug is beginning to comprehend Sebastian’s motive and style of interviewing. “I understand; you’re building a profile from those that knew him.”
“Exactly, rather than seeking out those that could hurt him, I’ll try to learn enough about Frank to know who would hurt him. There’ll be people I speak to who were close to Frank and can help me build his profile. They’ll give me information that’ll lead me to more friends and associates. That’s how I found you. Then later there’ll be others that I’ll look at through Frank’s eyes; based on the data I have collected about him. For example; if I was a policeman and I had to go on the cold hard evidence that I already have, a chance of an arrest would be imminent. But without understanding the capabilities of the suspects looking from Frank’s perspective, there is more chance of getting it wrong.”
Doug realises that the way Patrick’s been behaving may come under close scrutiny by Sebastian and he’s quick to go to his defence. “As I said, Patrick’s a good man; he was here long before Frank’s arrival and has always been eager to help out. He was like Frank; a bit of a loaner and kept to himself. But he began to open up more as he and Frank become the best of friends. He got Frank a job at the paper mill where he worked and they even shared a unit together for about 8 years. They were like brothers until 5 years ago when I gave Frank the job here. I still feel as guilty as hell over it but Frank was always the smart one and I knew if ever I fell ill, I could depend on him to run every facet of the shelter on his own. It only took one Frank to supervise staff and take care of the books. But now I have Ben Ericson doing the books when I’m not available and Patrick taking care of the rest. So you can see why I made my decision. The other thing was, he was a great fund raiser and just recently he’d been trying to raise money for a new oven. As you can see, much of the equipment in here is way out of date and I’m afraid without that oven it’s just a matter of time before we get shutdown. I don’t know what these poor souls will do then.” Sebastian frowns and feels extremely moved by Doug’s predicament
“I’m sorry to hear that!”
“No I’m sorry for burdening you with our problems. I’m sure the Lord will prevail.”
“Just one more question for now; did Frank have any enemies amongst those that come here for a meal?” Doug pauses to think,
“In the whole time he worked here he was loved by everyone. I’d often see him having a joke or even taking money out of his own pocket to help some of them out. But there was one guy. Oh, now what was his name? Ah yes, Colin, Colin Hayes. Colin asked for a second helping and we were running short that day. So Frank explained the situation in the nicest possible way but for some unknown reason Colin lost control and started throwing chairs around the room. We had to bar him from coming here for a week. I know that sounds harsh but if we didn’t sooner or later we’d have a riot on our hands. As much as we’d like to, we can’t always give the people that come here what they want.”
“How tall is Colin?”
Doug begins spooning stew onto the plates and continues to work as he replies, “He’d easily be your height and no offense, but a lot thinner. He came back a couple of weeks after the event and apologised to Frank. Apparently he wasn’t himself that day as he’d been making an effort to get off the booze and was having withdrawals.” Based on what Doug has just said, Sebastian doesn’t see Colin as a suspect. His height alone tells him he wasn’t the guy that the landlord or Jean had seen. Sebastian can see that Doug is just about ready to serve and needs to be out of his way for now.
“Do you think if I came back in the morning after breakfast, I could have an interview with Patrick and Ben?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s say 10am sharp? That’ll also give me chance to have a chat to Patrick about his attitude.”
“10am it is.”
Sebastian removes his hair net and gloves and begins to undo his apron. “So I guess you’re not staying for lunch then?”
“I’d love to Doug, it smells delicious but as usual I’m running behind time and I have another appointment that I have to attend. Thanks for everything, you’ve been a great help.” He grabs his cane from the side of the fridge and leaves at a quick pace.
He’s not far from Pete the barman’s house, but he’s already running a few minutes late. By the time he arrives he sees Pete walking down the street. Sebastian slows his car to a crawl, leans over and winds down the passenger side window. “Sorry Pete, I’m a bit late! Can I give you a lift somewhere?” Pete keeps walking, while hi
s eyes remain focused directly ahead. Without hardly moving his lips he replies, “What the hell is wrong with you, you dipshit! A car like yours in a neighbourhood like this, are you for real? Now listen there’s a park up the road where it’ll seem a little less obvious. So just pullover to the curb, I’ll point, you’ll leave, and I’ll meet you there. Is that clear enough for you?”
Sebastian was so intent on getting to his appointment he had overlooked the possibility of others seeing the two of them together and the danger it could create for Pete. He pulls his classic Bentley to the curb, withdraws an old map from the glove box and holds it out the window. Pete quickly catches on to what he’s doing and begins indicating to certain areas of the map. Then he points down the road and as Sebastian pulls away he holds his hand out the window and waves to gesture his gratitude.
On reaching the park, Sebastian finds a quiet area off the main drag. It’s now mid-afternoon and he thinks to himself it’d be very unlikely for anyone to be here at this time of day. He knows he has a bit of a wait ahead of him, so he feels it’d be a good time to score some points with Cynthia by giving her a call. “Hi honey, just thought I’d call in a little earlier. Where are you, I can hear traffic in the background?”
She ignores his question and replies, “Hi Seb, I can’t stay on for long. I can hardly hear you. I did what you asked and spoke to Jim about you being able to talk to Gina before the police see her tomorrow. He was fine with that provided you debrief with him at the station straight after the interview. I also booked a meeting with Gina at 3 pm.”
“Great job, I have a few things I need to do tomorrow morning so that fits in well with my plans. Now tell me again why you’re down the street? We have plenty of food as we’ve just recently done a shop. So what have we run short of? I could have picked it up for you.” Cynthia ignores his question again.