“We can’t take any chances then,” Benson decided. “He’s got to go.” He looked at Salazar and received a single nod of agreement. “Only this time I don’t want complications, I want an accident, and if it seems to be somebody’s fault I want it to be somebody else’s. I want it to be somebody that’s not even remotely connected to us. You two take care of it. Now, I’ve got things to do.”
Benson left by the rear door, Salazar got up and walked to where Cade was sitting. “I have told you before, Efeminado, that you take liberties with me. I will not tolerate one more.” His right hand came up in a blur and Cade felt a sharp pain at the spot where his heart pounded. He looked to where the pain was. Salazar’s knife was there, with his index finger along the blade acting as a stop, his fingernail pressing into the fabric of the accountant’s lapel. Cade tried to back away but he was a captive of the chair and he knew he could be dead on a whim. The Colombian twisted the blade; he withdrew it and wiped it clean on the accountant’s shoulder. The pain was intense but Cade sighed with relief as he felt a trickle begin a course down his ribs under his clothes.
“You are not hurt but I repeat, no more liberties.”
Cade’s face was the colour of the pad that Salazar thrust into his hands. “We need a plan, a watertight, and completely foolproof plan. Our last action was hastily conceived and I blame you, more than myself, for the oversight of the briefcase. You were closer to the man, you should have been more aware of his habits. Now that we have time we will plan for this, meticulously. I want you to put on paper everything you know about this man, family, friends, associates, where he lives, the entertainment he enjoys, anything of which you know. No matter how obscure, how insignificant it may seem to you.”
Cade had never heard Salazar speak for so long and so carefully choose his words. His previous utterances had been mainly short threats. Cade knew it would not be wise to treat the plan with less importance than the Colombian or he may not get to hear another threat. He grudgingly conceded, but only in his own mind, that Salazar was right in absolving himself of some of the blame for the briefcase gaff. But hell, Cade had never been involved in anything more illegal than theft and, before that, cheating in school. Here he was becoming a hit-man and of all things an apprentice to an automaton. He was caught up in something that was too big for him. All of his actions now involved a large degree of self preservation. He idly wondered if he cut Salazar would the Colombian bleed blood or some sort of silicon semi-conductor coolant. He was snapped back to reality by Salazar saying “We will meet here tomorrow at the same time. You will then give me a copy of your list and I will study it for a method to be used.”
Chapter
33
“OK, now,” Danny had a large notepad and Jan could see he’d made a list, “this is what we’ve got so far.”
“One Jim’s character. He wouldn’t risk anything. There is no way that this man, this ultra-conservative person, would drive his car under the influence of alcohol.”
“Two – The reason for the trip. I guess item one comment would be relevant again here and something important must have come up between us leaving and Jim driving off. If in fact he did drive.”
“Three – The briefcase. You’ll agree, he went absolutely nowhere without it.”
“Four – His business diary. Item three comment, ditto. It should have been in his briefcase.
“Five – An inconsistency. When Dave found us at the house on that Saturday morning he said Missus Mitchell told him that Cade told her while he was waiting on the street for a cab, Jim backed out, locked up, and drove away. Yet, when I spoke to her recently, she told me Cade saw Jim back out and drive away and that he ran to the car but wasn’t quick enough to stop him. If Jim got out of the car to lock up Cade would have had plenty of time to speak to him. She also said Cade told her Jim was very drunk. We know the word ‘drunk’ was a bit strong, what about the ‘very’?”
“Six – No memos. We can find no memos relating to requests to Cade to produce some VPL spreadsheets. Yet I know that requests were being made for months, I was making them.”
“Seven – No spreadsheets. Item six comment ditto.”
“Eight – The broken Johnny Walker Bottle. A scuffle perhaps?”
As he ticked off each item he held up his hand to stop Jan from butting in. “Now let’s discuss it.” he said.
“Right,” said Jan, “remember that Saturday morning when Dave came looking for you? I recall that he said something about blokes and nookie. Perhaps Mister Mitchell did have a woman and perhaps the whiskey stirred him up a bit. I can’t explain his briefcase or his diary, that’s a bit of a mystery. No memos, well, perhaps there were no memos, who knows? The spreadsheets I can’t comment on but the whiskey label doesn’t necessarily have to belong to the bottle that you shouted.”
“Whose side are you on? What do you think about the ‘very drunk’ description? By your own standards you reckoned that Jim wasn’t even drunk, probably just over the o-five limit, that’s all.”
“Danny, I don’t know, it’s only an opinion but if you could convince the police to investigate Mister Mitchell’s death as a killing with only these items as clues it would surprise me. There’s nothing there, no substance, you just don’t like Mister Cade.” Jan said. “Anyway the police are satisfied it was a DUI accident.”
“I know it’s all pretty iffy, Love, but if, just if, all of what I’ve just said was to fall into place. Wouldn’t it be scary? It could mean that Jim was murdered. But I don’t think Cade could do it. So who could it have been?”
Jan slowly shook her head, she couldn’t suppress a shiver.
Chapter
34
Salazar watched the activity around Danny’s house from the other side of Meredith Street where he sat in his parked car. After a short while he got out and went to the boot. He put on a grey dustcoat and arranged a pen and pencil in the top pocket. With a clipboard under his arm he approached the house. “Hello there, my friends!” he said, “what are you up to on this lovely day?”
“Who are you?” David answered with a question.
“My name’s Gomez, I’m a council inspector.”
Danny took charge. “I’m the householder. I’m Danny Brannigan, this is my brother, Dave. We’ve just finished rewiring the house. Well, he has. How can we help?”
“Safety switches? Did you use safety switches? I believe they are a legal requirement and I am thinking of putting them in my house, are they worthwhile?” Salazar was playing it by ear.
“Haven’t you been here before?” Danny asked and added, “Your face is familiar.” He didn’t realise he had seen this shadowy figure before in Cade’s background.
“It is possible,” said Salazar, “it is my area.”
“Safety switches? Residual Current Devices, RCD’s really, yeah I wouldn’t be without them, they’re worth their weight in gold, but on selective circuits of course.” David said.
“Selective circuits?” Salazar looked genuinely blank. “May I see?”
David looked at his brother; the mute question brought a shrug from Danny. The unspoken answer resulted in an invitation. “Yeah, come inside and...”
The trio began the tour. “I wouldn’t include my freezer or fridge in the common safety circuit. Faults from other appliances can trip ‘em. If you’re away on holidays or business you’ll come back to a stink you’ll never get out of your house. But these outlets here in the laundry and those in other parts of the house, well, they’re included in the common circuit along with those in the kitchen. You know, a toaster and a kitchen sink are a deadly duo.” David led the way out of the house and around to the main switchboard. “And this power outlet here has its own protection,” he indicated a weatherproof power point mounted on the side of the switchboard enclosure. “I put that there for handymen, and contractors. Those people usually look after themselves with their own po
rtable power boards that have trip units in them but you never know.”
“Well, thank you so much, you have been so helpful,” said Salazar who had, as was his intent, committed the internal layout of the house to memory, “there is nothing like advice from an expert. Now where is this bothersome tree that you have? I don’t see it, it must be at the other side of your house.”
“Tree? I don’t have a bothersome tree. I only wish I had a tree.” Danny answered. “Have you got the right address?”
“You have a tree that you want removed because its roots are blocking drains. Your neighbours are complaining.” Salazar flipped open his clipboard. “This is eighty two?”
“Twenty eight, you’ve got it back-to-front.”
He slapped his forehead, “Oooh! A thousand apologies my friend. How foolish of me, I’ve been wasting your time and mine. Please excuse me.” Salazar returned to his car and drove off.
“Did you notice his eyes, he gave me the creeps. Where do you reckon he comes from?” asked Danny.
“I dunno. Spain. Italy. South America. Who cares? Don’t worry about him, we should be finished soon.”
Dusk was turning to dark when David said, “I’ll just connect this main earth and you can turn her on.”
“Don’t we have to get the Council to inspect it?” Danny queried.
“Not now. They’ve changed things. Once the consumer’s mains are energised the onus is on the contractor.” David saw a frown appear on his brother’s face. “Bra, would I lie? Why the funny face?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing to do with you, old son,” Danny said. “I’ve been trying to figure something out since that council bloke left. He’s got a familiar face.”
Dave finished connecting the main earth to the earth spike and said, “Turn her on, Son.”
Danny’s frown disappeared when he flicked the switch, “Wow! Magic.Thanks, Dave.”
Chapter
35
Salazar returned later that night dressed in black. He parked some distance away and walked to Meredith Street. In a gloved hand he carried a handyman’s pocket toolkit. On his arm he carried a coiled electrical extension lead. The outlet socket had been removed from its end and two metres of the active and neutral conductor were devoid of their protective sheath. At their extremities, several inches of each of the conductors were stripped of their insulation. Outside number twenty eight Salazar took a black balaclava from his pocket and slipped it on. He disappeared into the shadows beside the house and waited. He waited for what seemed an eternity through laughter and low banter from within.
He became impatient with the obvious sounds of cooking, eating and washing up which drifted through the house. Finally Jan came into view, she flicked the switch and the main bedroom flooded with light. Danny chased her and tackled her onto the bed where they kissed and grew quiet as they fondled. They stopped their cuddling long enough for Jan to light a large scented candle. She cemented it by its wax to a saucer on a bedside table and Danny turned out the light.
Salazar pressed deeper into shadow and watched as the lovers, dreamlike, slowly removed each other’s clothing. He was then treated to an hour of voyeuristic eroticism as the coupled pair worked their way slowly to climax. The flickering candlelight cast their shadows grotesquely onto the bedroom wall. Salazar knew there was little chance of discovery. So engrossed were the lovers in each other he could probably have walked into the bedroom and out again, undetected. After a long period of inactivity in the bedroom Salazar heard Jan say “I’ve got to go home tonight. I’ll take a taxi.”
“Why? Why can’t you stay?”
“Mum gets awfully sour with me when I stay overnight with you, Dad’s OK, but Mum gets pretty up tight.” To Salazar the girl sounded a little sour herself. “She’ll be alright when she gets over the shock of her little girl growing up and having sex. She doesn’t think anybody’s good enough for me, either,” the black clad figure heard her add.
“OK. I’ll ring a cab,” Danny was disappointed, “but I’ll miss you. I love you being here. I love waking up and seeing you here. I love having breakfast with you. I just love you. And your mum’s right, nobody is good enough.”
Salazar listened to all of this chatter; he was relieved that the girl was leaving. He would have had to abort his plan if the girl had stayed the night. He became excited with the thought of dealing with her later. The taxi arrived and Jan duly departed. Salazar knew that shortly Brannigan would slip into a deep, sexually satisfied sleep; he could then carry out his plan.
Heralded by Danny’s deep, loud breathing the moment arrived and the Colombian went to work. He removed his gloves and groped on the ground below the switchboard until he encountered the earth electrode. He ran his hand upwards feeling for the earth clip where the main earth wire was connected. He cut the wire with the sidecutters and removed the ‘Main Earth Wire. Do Not Disconnect’ tag. He then straightened the cable end.
“One.” He whispered to himself.
With the aid of his penlight torch he located the screw and nut and undid the earthclip with his screwdriver and pliers. He removed the short end of earth wire from the clip and carefully placed it along with the main earth tag, in his pocket. He then fixed the clip firmly back onto the earth spike.
“Two.”
He pulled his gloves on again and returned to the window to check on Danny. He was now deeper into oblivion and lightly snoring. Salazar eased the bedroom window open further and climbed through. Danny snorted and rolled over onto his back, Salazar stood motionless until the snoring resumed, this time louder than before. The shadowy intruder continued with his plan. He found his way to the kitchen with the aid of his pocket torch and located a power outlet. He then uncoiled the electrical extension lead he’d brought with him and twisted one of the bared copper wires around each of the gloved middle fingers of his hands.
“Three.”
Even though he wore linesman’s gloves Salazar experienced a moment of apprehension as he plugged the other end of the extension lead into the vacant outlet and turned on the switch.
“Four.”
He let his breath escape and moved down the hallway to the master bedroom trailing the energised lead. The rhythm of Danny’s breathing was unbroken as Salazar drew down the sheet.
“Five,” he breathed as he took one of Danny’s wrists in each of his hands and simultaneously straddled his legs.
Danny’s eyes opened and he stared in bewilderment at the black form above him. He thought he was screaming but no sound came. His body arched in response to violent muscular spasm, the pain in his chest and his head was unbearable. After what seemed, to Danny, an interminable time he mercifully succumbed. It was all over in ten seconds, and a good and useful life was extinguished.
Salazar dragged Danny’s body into the kitchen; he left it on the floor while he set the scene. He found the toaster and jammed a slice of bread in it and turned it on. He set the kitchen table as though for breakfast and placed a knife in Danny’s hand. He gathered his equipment and left by the front door.
Chapter
36
“hello.”
“Hello. Is that you, Dave?”
“Speaking.”
“Dave, look, I’m sorry to bother you, it’s Jan Morrison here. I’ve been trying to reach Danny all day today but there’s no answer. I did speak to him yesterday late, and he didn’t say he was going anywhere. He was going to start clearing up the builder’s mess in the yard, you know, the old pieces of scaffolding, the planks and pipes and things. I hope he’s alright. I hope he hasn’t hurt himself.” Jan always felt that David recognised her as the girl when he looked through the window of the house in Greystanes on the weekend that Jim Mitchell died. She tried to avoid him whenever possible but now her embarrassment was overcome by her concern for Danny.
David smiled when he heard Jan’s voice on the other end of the
phone line. Although he couldn’t be absolutely certain he felt reasonably sure she was the naked girl he’d seen stuck to his naked brother. What reinforced this view was the way she coloured and moved out of his company whenever he joined her group. He hoped it was her bare arse that he saw. She was a beautiful young girl who seemed to worship Danny, and he deserved some one like her. Also, Dave was a healthy young stud himself and he wasn’t averse to fantasizing about a cute, little bare bum. Especially one that he knew but he didn’t know how to put her at ease.
“He’ll be alright, Jan, don’t worry. He’s big and ugly enough to look after himself. But to ease your mind I’ll call in to the house in the morning and check him out,” David promised.
“Thanks, Dave,” Jan said with real gratitude, “I’ll keep ringing. It may be just that his phone’s out of order.”
David went by the house next morning and rang the front door bell. There was no answer, he rang several more times and strolled around to the back door. “Lost yer key?” It was the neighbour at the dividing fence. “I don’t live here, I’m his brother, we’re twins, we look a bit alike.” David advanced on the neighbour. “Have you seen him around? I can’t seem to raise him.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw something that bothered him but it didn’t immediately register on his senses.
“Not fer a day or two, I thought you were ‘im. There was another bloke ‘ere yesterday lookin’ for ‘im.”
“Jesus Christ! Uh excuse me.” The main earth wire was hanging free; the green and yellow cable was not connected to the copper clad earth spike, that’s what had bothered him. He went to his truck and returned with screwdriver, pliers and strippers and a `Don’t Disconnect’ tag.
“That was connected. I’m certain.” He said aloud to himself.
The Cooktown Grave Page 15
