Life's a Beach Then You Die

by Falafel Jones

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  When I got in the house, I went to my office, turned on my laptop computer, hooked up my iPod and emptied my briefcase. After my computer started up, I moved some files around and went to the A. V. Designs web site. I looked up their number, picked up the phone and dialed it.

  “Good afternoon, A. V. Designs. How may I direct your call?”

  “Clive Howard in Security, please.”

  “Yes, sir. Please hold while I connect you.”

  “A. V. Designs, Corporate Security Office. How may I direct your call?”

  “Max Fried for Chief Howard, please.”

  “One moment, sir.”

  The line went quiet for a short time. Thankfully, there was no canned music.

  “Mr. Fried. Chief Howard. What can I do for you today?”

  “You told me you were looking for something and you thought I may be able to lead you to it.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Well, I think I’ve found it and I think whoever stole it bugged a lawyer’s office in an attempt to locate it. We’re planning to use that bug to set a trap for the thief. At one o’clock, the lawyer, Ed McCarthy, will be calling the D. A.’s office to tell them I have the device. The D. A. is going to tell Ed he’ll be at my place in two hours to take custody of it. We expect whoever planted the bug will attempt to recover the device during that two hour window.”

  “And you’re certain I’m interested in this device?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s an unreleased A. V. Designs product.”

  Silence. “Where is it now?”

  “I have it here. At my place.”

  Another pause on the line, then, “Mr. Fried, why are you telling me this?”

  “It’s 11:00 now. You’re invited to join us at 1:00, when the police arrive.”

  “How come I’m invited?”

  “It’s an A. V. Designs product. You’re their Security Chief. If you’re a part of the recovery, you look good. If you’re out of the loop, you don’t look as good. Consider it a professional courtesy.”

  “I like that. Good. I have a couple of guards licensed to carry. I’ll bring them. We can station them around the house to make sure no one gets away. See you at one.”

  About 11:05, my doorbell rang. I wasn’t expecting anyone yet. Clive Howard couldn’t have gotten here that fast. I took a deep breath and went to the door. I opened it just in time to see the back of a UPS deliveryman as he headed back to his truck. I looked down and saw my new desktop computer had arrived. I picked up the boxes and lugged them into my office. I started unpacking the boxes, and ten minutes later, the doorbell rang again.

  When I got to the door, I looked in the peephole. I couldn’t make out who it was, but he was alone. I thought he looked like Clive Howard. I opened the door and I was correct. I invited him in.

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Fried. I hope you don’t mind I’m early? I thought it would be prudent. I’ve also stationed my security staff outside. May I see this device you spoke of?”

  “Sure.” He followed me into my office. I pointed to the devices lying on my desk. “Why don’t you have your security team come inside? You’re way too early. Ed hasn’t even made the phone call yet.”

  The Chief reached for the iPod. “I’m sorry I missed this when I took the computers but then, I would have had to come back anyway for the prototype.” He put the iPod in his pocket and held out his hand for the “bicycle mirror”. “Funny, this is the second time I had to steal this. Oh, and since I’m the one you are trying to catch, there wasn’t any point in bringing a security force. So I didn’t. Well, except for this.” He smiled and pulled out a handgun.

  It was a Smith and Wesson .38 snub nose revolver. It had a concealed hammer so it wouldn’t catch on your clothes when you took it out of a pocket. I think it was the model 642. I was familiar with the gun as I was thinking of buying one. It was small, lightweight and easy to carry concealed. However, all I could think of now was it looked a lot bigger from this end and I wished I had already bought one. Involuntarily, I took a step back. If he fired, being a foot further wouldn’t help me, but my movement was instinctive. I tried to recover from the shock of the gun in my face and speak normally. I’m not so sure I succeeded.

  ”I don’t think you want to shoot me.”

  Howard smiled. I think my comment actually amused him. “Why would you say that?”

  “Well, you may want me dead, but shooting me wouldn’t be your style.”

  “It wouldn’t?”

  “No. I know Ray was blackmailing you for money and he coerced you into stealing the prototype. However, when you killed him, you tried to make it look like an accident. You did the same thing when you murdered Zorky Eastwood.”

  “Mr. Eastwood’s demise was unfortunate. He had information that could hurt me, but Ray, he deserved it. Did you know that even after I gave him that device, he was still demanding cash? At that point, I realized the only way to extricate myself would be to eliminate him and retrieve the prototype. No one would even know it had been missing.”

  I didn’t like standing in front of a loaded revolver, but I felt an odd calm. When a suspect actually shot me on the job, I never even saw the gun. The guy sitting across the table from me just opened his attaché case and started firing. No one expected that kind of thing at an employment termination hearing. No one figured a guy who was fired for running his own business on State time and equipment would find shooting the investigator a viable solution. At least this time, I could see the gun and hope that if Howard hadn’t shot me yet, maybe he wouldn’t.

  There was one more thing I had to know. I needed complete understanding. “You also tried to make it look like Horton died from an accident too. I just don’t get why you killed him.”

  “Then, you’re not as bright as you think. If the police prosecuted Horton for thefts from my company, Horton would likely see me. If he recognized me like Ray did, all of my efforts to hide would be for naught.”

  “All of this time, everything you’ve done, you’ve done so you could remain hidden. If you shoot me, there will be an inquiry. You’ll be fingerprinted and then your fingerprints will connect you to the very thing you’ve been trying to hide.”

  “Once again, Mr. Fried, you’ve missed the point. I’m no longer trying to hide. That option died with Ben Horton’s obvious murder. It’s too late now. If the authorities are close enough to attempt a trap, then there’s no longer any point in hiding who I am. I’ve changed my plans. After I shoot you, I take the prototype, leave for Asia and sell it to one of my employer’s competitors. They have all been racing to get to this point. Any one of them could reach success without being suspect.”

  “Well, Mr. Howard, in that case I should tell you there is nothing but music on the iPod and this ‘bicycle mirror’ is well, a bicycle mirror.” I tossed it to him and for a moment, he flinched to catch it. That was enough to minimize my risk and give the police a chance.

  “And this” said Detective Torres from behind Clive Howard, “is an arrest.” Two additional police officers came in. One placed his gun against Clive Howard’s back while the other took Howard’s gun from him. Howard dropped the mirror and raised his hands into the air. The two officers led him out of my now crowded office into my living room where there was room to cuff him.

  “Good job, just like we planned,” Torres said to me. “For once, you followed directions.” We followed the officers out to the living room and encountered Ed and A. D. A. Stronberg.

  Clive Howard turned to me and asked, “How did you know it was me?”

  “I didn’t know for sure until now. We knew that besides Ray and Horton, a third person was involved. We didn’t know whom, but each email containing trade secrets, that Ray sent, included a picture of three men on a boat. One was Ray. One was Horton and we didn’t know who the third man was. After I met you, I thought I recognized you from the boat pictures and possibly as the man who
knocked me down, but I was only suspicious. I had no proof, so I got your fingerprints on my ID badge. Then when I heard you got upset with Ray for calling you “Skipper” at work, I was sure you were the man in the photos. Ray had an odd sense of humor. He was using you to sell technology to Horton and was hiding secrets in pictures of the three of you. When we finally matched your fingerprints with the death in Miami, we knew what you were trying to hide.”

  I had an almost captive audience and I felt pumped up due to surviving my close encounter with a .38 so I went on. “But, even if it was you in the photo, you could have been an innocent sailing buddy. We didn’t even know who you were until your prints IDed you. Even then, while we knew Miami Police wanted you, I had no proof you were involved in killing Zorky, Ray and Horton or the attempt to kill Corky. Not until you pulled that gun on me. Then I knew for sure. Luckily, the Police shared my suspicions. We knew a sales rep, like Ray would not have access to developmental prototypes. We knew Ray would have needed help to get it and that a Security Chief would have the needed access. We also guessed you killed Ray to get it back.”

  The officer who had taken Howard’s gun had placed it in his belt and was taking out his handcuffs.

  “That blackmailing scum deserved what he got. Besides, you have nothing on me besides a menacing charge and I’ll swear I was simply recovering company property you stole. That I pulled my gun in self-defense.”

  “You do that, Skipper, but you might be busy planning your defense on the charges related to that dead Cuban you tried to smuggle into the country.”

  The officer had one of Howard’s hand’s cuffed and was about to cuff his other one. A loud noise came from the foyer. Everyone’s head turned as the front door slammed shut. Mariel had just walked in. She didn’t know anything about the plan to capture the Chief. I hadn’t told her. I was afraid she would have gotten upset. I never expected her to come back home until everything had been resolved.

  The distraction of her entrance enabled Howard to step away from the two officers. He ran for the front door and for Mariel.

  “Stop!” yelled Torres. The officer that had been pointing his gun at Howard turned to point at him again. Seeing how close Howard was to Mariel, he pointed his gun towards the ceiling. He kept both hands on it and poised himself to aim quickly and fire if needed. Ed and Stronberg moved out of the way, to the back of the room. The third officer pulled his gun and moved to the side to flank Howard. As he did so, Howard grabbed Mariel by the neck, stepped behind her with his right arm around her neck and said in a calm, quiet voice, “No. You stop.” He then grabbed his left elbow with his right hand and placed his left hand behind her head. “I can snap her neck faster than you can aim and shoot.”

  No one said anything. I looked at Mariel. She looked strangely calm. I was never so scared in my life. I didn’t want to loose her.

  Mariel is a small woman but Howard crouched down behind her so shooting him without hitting her would be a tough shot to make. I didn’t think the police had any plan other than to try to talk Howard down.

  Torres told him. “Even if we let you go, we know who you are. You won’t get far. In addition, as an armed and dangerous fugitive who has held a defenseless woman hostage, there’s a very good chance you may not survive capture.”

  As Torres talked, he and the other officers moved slightly and slowly to their sides, flanking Howard and forcing him to keep shifting his eyes between them.

  “Stop. Stay still.” Howard shouted. “Stop moving.”

  His command came too late for as he was speaking, Mariel lifted her right leg and bent her knee all the way up to her chest. With a fast downward motion, she put her entire body weight into the effort. She only weighed one hundred pounds, but it was enough. One hundred pounds of fury drove the slim metal spike that was the high heel on her shoe into Howard’s instep. The spike heel broke off her shoe, embedding itself in his foot. I could hear bones crunch. Screaming, he bent over in pain to remove the broken heel. He weakened his hold on Mariel. She pushed him away. On her toes, she ran to me. I grabbed her and held her tight. Torres and the two police officers converged on Howard. They threw him down hard, face first on our tile floor. I was glad to see his nose bloody when they picked him up with his hands cuffed behind his back.

  The two police officers led Howard out the door. Mariel, Ed and I grinned like idiots. Mariel and I hugged as if we were never going to let go. Ed kept on grinning, nodding his head and clapping us on our backs.

  Detective Torres laughed at us on his way out, then looked back over his shoulder and said “Thanks, Max and thank you, Mrs. Fried.”

  “Thank you, Leo.” I kept a tight grip on Mariel and turned to him. “You guys were great.”

  Leo smiled and left.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Mariel and I sat on the patio of Bobbi and Jack’s and congratulated ourselves on how well things turned out.

  She reached over and took my hand as I told her how Clive Howard came to be in our house.

  “So, this Howard man. He is the Skipper?”

  “Yes, and it looks like the only one that knew he was using the name Clive Howard was Zorky Eastwood. Howard killed him to keep his secret. Then years later, Ray Kenwood goes to A. V. Designs for a job interview and recognizes him. Kenwood used the information for advantage and did pretty well until he got greedy. Then Howard decided the cost was too high and killed him and Horton too.”

  Mariel shook her head. “Those poor men. That Zorky was innocent and he died because he gave someone a job. How horrible… and those other two may have been thieves, but they didn’t deserve to be murdered.”

  “Ray was more than a thief. After the police got Howard in custody, they were able to get warrants for his financials. They found proof Ray was blackmailing him, probably about the death in Miami. Apparently, Ray stumbled across the Skipper by chance when Ray was job hunting at A. V. Designs. He coerced Howard, AKA Skipper into making sure he got the job at A. V. Designs and into paying him weekly to keep his mouth shut. Once Ray got into A. V. Designs, he hooked up with his old buddy Ben Horton. Ray was scheming to help Ben’s company and himself by selling Ben A. V. Design secrets. When Ray decided he needed the prototype to go with the plans, he pressured the Chief who got nothing out of the deal to help him. Once that happened, the Chief saw Ray wasn’t going to just leave him alone. The only way Chief Howard could extricate himself would be to kill Ray, recover the prototype and put it back before anyone noticed. Then as we got closer to catching him, his plan changed. He wanted the prototype for himself.”

  “So you used a trap to set a trap. I married such a clever man. I know you didn’t mean for this to go this far and you couldn’t just walk away from this. But we didn’t retire here for you to put us or yourself at risk. This is supposed to be our time together… to make up for all of the time we were too busy doing the daily things we needed to do to get by.”

  “Yup, you’re right. I never wanted you to be at risk. I pursued this because I thought it would make it safe for you to come home. I also tried to protect you by not telling you we had set a trap to catch Howard. Instead, I put you at greater risk. In addition to the danger, this whole thing was way too much work. I missed a couple of days of running and a couple of naps. I couldn’t always wear a bathing suit. I actually had to wear underwear a couple times. Matter of fact, I missed a couple days of something else too. You know, I’m really not too big on sleeping alone.”

  “Hmmm, I would think being big and sleeping alone might go together, but we can take care of that later. For now, I have only one question. Were the bad people wearing business suits or bathing suits?”

  “Business suits.”

  “It’s like I always say,” smiled Mariel looking over at me lying on a deck chair in my bathing suit. “Never trust a man who is wearing underwear.”

  “Yeah, but I’m really proud of you. I can’t believe how brave you were to stomp on Howard’s foot like that.”

  “I
had no choice. When I walked in, I could see he was dangerous and I could see the police had no realistic way of rescuing me. Howard had no reason to keep me alive after he got away. I did the only thing that could be done.”

  “But still, it was incredibly brave.”

  “Sometimes to be safe, you have to do the thing that scares you the most.”