by Rick Polad
“Thanks, Ben.”
Before we left his office, I thanked Bast for the hospitality.
“No problem, Spencer. This is obviously a frame. But you seem to be in good hands.”
“A frame that happened in your parking lot. That raises some questions, not the least of which is how did they know I was here.”
“Already working on it. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything.”
“Appreciate it.”
The prints and photo took twenty minutes and then I was escorted to the cellblock. There were two others there, but we all had our own cells… high-class joint. But then I had ordered a private room. The cell was clean, and the bed was spartan but comfy. I sat on it and leaned back against the wall. I had been in jail cells before, but that was in the army when I was doing the escorting. This was my first looking from the wrong side.
I looked across the aisle at the other two occupants. One was obviously younger than me, the other older. The younger one was asleep. The older was staring at me. I was dressed better and obviously not from around here. He looked like someone I didn’t want to mess with, and like he was certainly capable of doing whatever it was he was in for. It was also obvious that staring was all he intended to do. There was none of that jail cell comradery you see in the movies… “Hey, Buddy, what’re you in for?” And I would have a bit more consideration the next time I heard someone say they were framed. I had already done all the thinking I was going to do about how this could have happened, so I found a comfortable spot on the wall and took a nap. That was easy to do… I knew I was getting out. I was pretty sure my people were as good as Nadem’s.
Chapter 31
I pulled into Stosh’s driveway at ten to twelve Saturday morning and could see something on the front door. When I got up to it I saw it was a copy of my arrest sheet. Nice. I tore it off and let myself in. He was in the kitchen laying out the sandwich fixings.
“Thought you wouldn’t have time to get lunch ready what with being so busy decorating your door.”
“Thought you might like to have it for a souvenir.”
“Very considerate.” I took a plate and a roll and decided on pastrami.
“And maybe a reminder of what you got yourself into. Maybe time to put your feet up and read a book.”
“Don’t need a reminder. And Bast told me the same thing when they released me. He thinks I’m better off not playing with matches. Said he’s got better things to do than arresting me.”
“He’s right, you know.”
“Sure. One better thing is finding out who planted the drugs in my car.”
We brought our sandwiches into the living room, and he settled in his recliner. I took my usual spot on the couch.
“I’m sure he’d like to find out too, Spencer. A bit embarrassing for him. I’ll ask some discreet questions. Tell me about the frame.”
We ate and I talked. I started with the surveillance and ended with the officer walking into Bast’s office with the baggie.
“You think Nadem is behind this,” Stosh said. It wasn’t a question.
“Of course. Don’t you?”
“I’ll remind you. I don’t think. I leave that up to juries. We just follow the trail and see where it leads.”
“Exactly what I’m doing, and if I backtrack it ends up at Nadem’s doorstep.”
“Yeah, the doorstep surrounded by federal agents.”
“Mom always said life wouldn’t be easy.”
As he set down his bottle of Schlitz, Stosh said, “You said Wednesday that you had an idea you didn’t want to share. Anything more on that?”
“Sort of. I gave a couple of people a heads up in case something happens.”
“Well, that clears that up. Thanks for sharing.”
I laughed. “It’s still not a great idea, and I get enough crap from you without adding this to the list.”
He bit off about a third of the sandwich and chewed for a bit. “So you know I wouldn’t like it, and even you don’t like it… yet still you plod ahead.”
“All I got at the moment… except of course for an arrest record.”
“Your dad would be proud.” He finished his beer and looked at my almost empty bottle. “You want another?”
“No, maybe later. Let’s play some gin.”
After two hours I was down over two bucks at a penny a point. My mind wasn’t really on the game. The more I thought about it, the angrier I was about being framed. After three hours I had decided to put my plan into action.
A little before five Stosh said he was getting hungry and suggested going out for steak.
I declined and told him I needed some time to myself to think. He gave me a questioning look and told me to stay out of jail.
***
I was glad Sunday was the next day. That gave me time to think some more. I took a long walk in the morning and ran in the afternoon. By the end of the day I hadn’t changed my mind. Monday was going to be a busy day. That night I made calls to Williams and Sister Katherine and told them we were on. They both were ready.
Chapter 32
I was in the office at nine when Carol arrived. I had instructions for her, too, that called for her asking no questions. She didn’t ask. I left at a quarter after as she wished me good luck with whatever was up my sleeve. I took it… I needed some luck.
A little after ten Monday morning I parked across the street and down half a block from Nadem’s office. The Maserati was elsewhere. The sun lit up Nadem’s plate glass windows, and I couldn’t see in. I wondered what color Mrs. Stadler’s nails were. I was taking a chance on him being there and had already decided if he didn’t show up by eleven I’d move on to my other stops and come back. He pulled in at a quarter to eleven. I watched as he stopped to smile and chat with a voter and then walked into his office. I gave him two minutes to get settled.
Mrs. Stadler looked surprised to see me, like she had been told I wouldn’t be bothering her again.
Her “Can I help you?” was definitely flustered.
“Like to see the senator.” I got the standard line.
“The senator isn’t in this morning.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh? Oh, I see the problem. I didn’t mean that other senator who isn’t here. I meant the one who drove up in the Maserati and walked in your front door less than five minutes ago.” I wasn’t smiling… neither was she.
“Well, he’s in a meeting and can’t be disturbed.”
“Ah, I see. Not being in there, I’m not sure about the meeting, but I am definitely sure he’s going to be disturbed. Now, why don’t you pick up your phone and tell him Spencer Manning is here, and he can have the door open by the time I get back there.”
There was a look of fear on her face as she pushed a button on the phone. As I started for his office I heard her tell Nadem that I was there and coming down the hall. Then she asked if he wanted her to call the police. Her only response was “Okay.” I didn’t hear her start another conversation, so his answer must have been no. But even if they did come I didn’t plan on being there long, and I didn’t plan on causing trouble. And besides, the Glencoe jail had to be better than Bast’s.
Nadem was standing in the open glass doorway by the time I got to his office halfway down the hall. I smiled and said, “Good morning, Senator.”
He sneered at me. “You evidently haven’t been paying attention.”
I thought that was an interesting comment. “Paying attention to what?”
He ignored the question. “I’ll make it more clear. If you don’t leave now, my secretary will call the police. And keep your nose out of my business.”
I smiled. “Make you a deal, Senator. I have something to say that will take one minute. I say it… and I leave. That’ll be the last time you see me unless you call me.”
He laughed. “And why
would I call you?”
“At the moment I have no idea. But you never know where paths lead.”
He looked at me with hatred.
“You’re getting to be a liability, Manning.”
I smiled. “Perhaps it’s your lifestyle that’s the liability.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I keep looking around, and your name keeps coming up. Like Halley Rundel. She has a grudge she’s holding against you. You didn’t treat her so well. All—”
“Hey, she knew what she was getting into. She wanted the glory. She wanted—”
“Oh yeah, the glory of being turned into a drug addict while basking in your sunshine.”
He started to reply, and I stopped him. “The state of your character is irrelevant. All I know is she gives me a name… I go check out that name, and I find him dead.”
“And you’re saying that somehow has something to do with me? What dots are you connecting that have my name in them?”
“Just stating the facts, Senator. I go where the facts lead me.”
He stared at me, saying nothing. But his face was red, and his fists were clenched.
I nodded toward his office. “We talking out here in the hall?”
“You have one minute.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mrs. Stadler peeking around the corner. This was making her day, maybe her week. She’d be on the gossip phone all day.
“I got involved in this with Reynolds Margot being arrested for drug possession and sales. He knew your son, and his mother donated to your campaign.”
“Lots of people donate to my campaign. That doesn’t mean—”
I held up my hand and stopped him. “Of course. I’m not saying that has anything to do with anything… just pointing out the connection. And you cut into my minute. He was offered a plea deal and then ended up murdered. His body was found in an alley on the west side. Shortly after that your son was also found murdered.”
I paused, expecting him to interrupt. He didn’t, but his face was turning darker shades of red.
“Then I have a chat with an acquaintance of yours and a suspected drug dealer in Highwood is found dead… strangled. Three people dead, lots of maybes and loose ends, and I only have one clue to follow up on.”
His fists were still clenched. I wasn’t concerned. I figured punching people wasn’t something he was used to. He let other people swing his fist. If he tried to swing, I’d have plenty of notice and wouldn’t be where his fist was swinging. I waited patiently for him to ask. I could tell it was killing him, but I knew he wanted to know. It was only ten seconds, but it seemed longer.
“What clue would that be?”
Someone came in the front door.
“Well, it seems there was a witness when Reynolds’ body was dumped in the alley.”
That changed his attitude.
“A witness?” He stepped back from the doorway, motioned me into his office, and closed the door. He didn’t offer me a chair and didn’t take one himself. I wouldn’t be staying long.
“Yes. He saw the whole thing.”
“He saw who did it?”
“No… too dark. But he went down after they left and picked up something they dropped.”
“Which is?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Our talk was cut short before I could find out.”
He didn’t ask what cut our chat short. “What’s this person’s name?” he asked with a hard stare.
“Rafael Melendez.”
“I assume you intend to follow up?”
“I do.”
He nodded. “I also assume the police have talked to this person?”
“They have.”
“So they know about what he found.”
“They do not. It’s a recent development.”
“I’m sure they’ll be interested once you tell them.”
“I’m sure they will.”
He walked to the door and opened it. “Your minute is up, Manning. And I don’t see that any of this has anything to do with me. I have run out of patience with you. This had better be the last time you visit this office.”
I let myself out. Mrs. Stadler was giving pamphlets to a young woman. She didn’t even look up as I walked by.
Chapter 33
I headed downtown, hoping Thward would be in. I grabbed a hot dog and got to his office a little after one. He was in, but Mrs. Mitchell told me he had given her orders not to be disturbed. She was sorry about it. I figured he was probably getting in a nap after lunch, making good use of my tax dollars. I asked if she would be willing to tell him I was there, had some information for him about the Margot case, and that I had come to him first. She said he wouldn’t be happy, but she didn’t much care anymore whether he was happy or not, so she’d be glad to.
When she buzzed him he asked angrily why she was bothering him and wondered if the instructions he had given her weren’t clear enough. She calmly said they were, but something had come up. She gave him my message. After a few seconds of tense silence he told her to let me in.
As I walked past her desk, I said, “I can think of better jobs… like the snake pit at the zoo.”
She smiled. “I might look into it.”
I took a deep breath of semi-stale air, let myself in, and walked to the closest chair.
“Don’t sit, Manning. You’re not staying that long. What information?”
So far this morning I wasn’t making any friends. But then, for my purposes it was better to make enemies.
“I talk better when I sit.” And when I don’t have to breathe smoke, but I kept that to myself. He held a stub of a cigarette, and there was another going in the ashtray. God forbid he take the time to light a new one without inhaling.
He waved at the chair.
“You getting anywhere with the Margot drug case and murder?” I asked.
“That doesn’t sound like information.”
“Just wondering. I know you were interested in the drug end of the case, but I figure the drugs and the murder are all part of the same bad story, and I have information about the murder no one else knows.”
“And why are you telling it to me?”
“I trust you… figure you could use a break.”
“Sure you do.” He sat back in his chair. “I make my own breaks.”
I shrugged. “So you don’t want to know?”
“Not particularly, but as long as you’re here…”
I told him the same story I had told Nadem. He seemed a little more interested than Nadem had been.
“And you haven’t told this to Bast?”
“Nope.”
He thought for a bit. “What cut your conversation short?”
“Someone else came in. He clammed up, and that was the end of our talk.”
“I see. But you have wasted my time. I don’t see how this is any of my concern.”
“Sometimes things take time to be relevant. I figured you’d want to know.”
“Next time do your figuring somewhere else.”
There was no mistaking that exit line. I left without being asked. Before I got to the door I coughed and turned back. “You know, they passed the Clean Air Act a while back.” I quickly opened and closed the door to keep as much smoke in as possible and stopped next to Mrs. Mitchell’s desk.
“What’s the name in front of Mrs. Mitchell?”
She smiled. That was probably more interest than Thward had ever shown in her.
“Gretchen.”
“Good luck, Gretchen.” She had kind eyes that deserved better than Thward. “I’ll keep an eye open at the zoo.”
She laughed. “You do that. Good luck to you also, Mr. Manning.”
***
I had one more stop to make. A cloudy morning had g
iven way to bright sunshine. I was driving right into the sun as I made my way west on Randolph to Ogden and then south. It only took fifteen minutes to get to the station. This time I locked my car. Bast wasn’t in but was expected shortly. I waited and watched the parade of customers. I thought about asking if I could see my cell… just for old time’s sake.
My pager beeped at 3:10 with the office number. I went back to the car and called. Carol had found a computer she wanted to buy and wanted my okay. I told her it was all up to her. If she thought it was a good improvement, go for it. While she was telling me about it, Bast pulled into the lot in his tan Buick. I honked, and he walked over to the Mustang. I hung up and asked if I could have a few minutes of his time. I could.
When we got to his office he said, “Sorry for Friday, Spencer. I’m sure you’ll get that all worked out. My hands were tied.”
“I realize that. No problem. I can check that off my list of things to do. But you need to get cameras in your lot.”
“It’s been requested several times. Your car hasn’t been the only one broken into. Extra points to steal something from a cop’s car. But I’m sure you are aware of the budget problems. You got something?”
I shrugged. “Two things.” I told him about my chat with Nadem.
“You concerned about that?”
“I find it interesting. If you have nothing to hide why make threats?”
“Good point. Second?”
“Not helping me much, but I figured you should know.” I told him about Rafael.
He sat with his elbows on his desk, his fingers steepled, and his thumbs supporting his chin and listened. He only frowned twice.
“And you’re only telling me about this now?”
“I just learned about the evidence he picked up. Before that it was just a crazy story by a guy lost in time. And he only told me the story because I could play the role.”
He nodded and seemed to agree.
“So what do you think this evidence is?”
“No idea. Might only be something that exists in 1943 outside a farm house in France.”
