Murder in the Hotel: A Daniel Swift Mystery

by Penelope Sotheby

  The plane landed in Atlantic City, and Jason turned his phone back on and called Kristie to find out if Lindsay had given her information for where to meet.

  “She called, and I let her know what time you should be there,” Kristie said. “She will be waiting in the main bar at the Tropicana for the next hour. If you don’t show up, she’s gone.”

  Daniel and Jason grabbed a taxi and headed to the Tropicana. They entered the lobby and found the main lounge. Lindsay was sitting at the bar with a glass of wine in front of her. There was a large mirror in front of her, and when she saw Daniel, she turned around and started walking toward him.

  “Who is this?” she asked, looking suspiciously at Jason.

  “This is Jason,” Daniel told her. “He is my private investigator.”

  “And the muscle,” Jason said, reaching his hand out to Lindsay. She tentatively took it and gave one shake.

  “Where is Bill?” Daniel asked.

  “He’s in a room at the hotel across the street. I wanted to make sure it was safe before I took you to see him.”

  “Lindsay, I have been here to help since you first came in my office,” Daniel said to her. “It is just us, so take us to see him.”

  Lindsay nodded and they left the Tropicana. They crossed the street and followed Lindsay to a room on the fifth floor. She knocked three times very quickly. The door opened slightly, and Bill Levy looked out.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “They are safe.”

  He shut the door, removed the safety chain and let them in. Bill Levy was dressed in wrinkled clothing and looked like he had not slept well in days. It also looked like he had not left the room in some time. There were food wrappers and water bottles all over the small table next to the window.

  “Mr. Levy, it’s nice to meet you finally. I’m Daniel Swift, and this is my private investigator Jason Hunter.”

  “Lindsay said you are a really good attorney. I sure hope so, because I think I might be in a heap of trouble.”

  “You are a suspect in the murder of a man named Sean Oprah. I would call that trouble.”

  “His real name is not Sean Oprah, and I did not kill him. You guys better sit down, I’ve got a lot to say.”

  Daniel and Jason sat in the two chairs surrounding the small table, while Lindsay and Bill sat on the bed across from them.

  “The man dead in that room is really David Harpo,” Bill said. “Like I said, I did not kill him. He was already dead when I got there.”

  “But you do know him, right?” Daniel asked.

  “Yes,” Bill agreed. “David and I used to be very good friends.”

  “What do you mean used to be? What happened?” Jason asked.

  “The same thing that happens with a lot of friendships. Money came between us.”

  Bill explained that he and David Harpo were childhood friends in Johnson City, Tennessee. After graduating from high school, they decided to go into the mining business together. They spent the next few years exploring for precious metals and minerals. It was during that time that Bill met Lindsay.

  “Not too long after that, probably about ten years after we started our business together, we hit the jackpot,” Bill said.

  While exploring new areas one day, Bill found a large cache of gold just inside the entrance of a large hidden cave on the side of the mountain. It was so well hidden that when he brought David back to see, it took him a little while to find it again. It was late fall, and they would be losing the light in a few hours, so Bill was trying to think of a way to inconspicuously mark the cave entrance.

  “I told him to wait by the entrance to the cave while I went to the truck and found something to mark the area with,” Bill said. David pulled out his flashlight and looked inside. The entire entrance glittered with gold, and he saw that it extended as far as his flashlight would reach. Bill returned shortly with a blue handkerchief and tied it to a branch on the outside of the cave. They gathered a sample for testing and retraced their steps back to the truck.

  “Once we did some testing and found out it was true gold, we were ecstatic. David convinced me not to say anything to anyone, not even Lindsay. He said it would be a great surprise once we got it all mined out.”

  They spent the rest of the fall and part of the winter mining out the gold, storing it in a safe at a warehouse they rented. Only Bill and David knew the combination. When they mined all of the gold, David suggested they go out to the cave and have a cold beer to celebrate.

  “It was freezing cold by that time, and there was about two foot of snow by that cave. That didn’t matter. We had hit it big, he was my friend, and I was going to celebrate with him.”

  David told Bill to head to the cave entrance, and he would grab the beers. At the time, Bill did not find that strange. About ten minutes later, David saw Bill slowly coming his way and yelled out. “Get over here. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”

  “You’re right,” David replied, pulling a gun from behind his back and pointing it at Bill. “It is.”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Bill asked. “We’ve been friends for years. There is enough in there for both of us and more.”

  “Probably, but I think I’ll keep it just the same,” David said, raising the gun. Bill instinctively grabbed the small pistol he kept on his belt to warn off wild animals and fired at David. The bullet hit him in the chest, and David fell to the ground.

  “I was sure he was dead. I panicked. I grabbed the gun and threw it as hard as I could into the cave. I buried David in the snow and got out of there. If anyone asked me about him, I told them that he decided to head to New York and try his luck with a different kind of work there.”

  “What did you do with the gold?” Daniel asked.

  “I turned most of it into cash, and the rest I have in a safe deposit box. A few weeks after I shot him, I told Lindsay I had saved up enough to move to New York. She came with me. I told her what happened, and she wanted me to go to the police. I was afraid that no one would believe me, so I refused. I was at that hotel, but I didn’t kill anybody. I need your help.”

  Chapter 12

  With Bill Levy’s admission that he shot his Tennessee partner and left with the only means of transportation, Daniel and Jason were very skeptical that it was the same man who showed up to blackmail him years later. It did not seem reasonable that a man shot in the stomach could have crawled alive off of a snow-covered mountain. Of course, it was also a shot in the dark that someone happened to come across a dead body and figure out what had occurred.

  “I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this,” Daniel said.

  “So did I. At least at first,” Bill replied. “I was there when it all happened. I saw him, and I just knew in my bones that he was dead. If I’d had even the slightest inkling that he was alive, there is no way I would have left him there. And there is certainly no way I would have buried him.”

  “If you knew him like I did, then you would know that is true,” Lindsay said. “There is no way he would have buried a man alive.”

  “Then how do you know it is the same person?” Daniel asked.

  “I did not until recently,” Bill replied

  “What do you mean? You’d better start from the beginning of this blackmailing scheme.”

  Bill explained that about three months ago he received a letter from someone calling themselves Sean Harpo. It had been sent to his nephew’s address in Key West and had no return address. The postmark was from New York.

  “I figured that this must be someone I had met when I was living in New York. I lived there with my nephew until they moved to Florida, but New York was where I started.

  “Why did you move in with your nephew?” asked Daniel.

  “It was his idea. He was having some financial troubles and was at risk of having his home foreclosed on, so we moved in and helped out with the costs. That’s why they moved to Key West - it’s a bit cheaper than Man
hattan, and Joanna wanted somewhere warm.”

  Two weeks later, Bill received another letter. “This time the letter writer introduced himself as Sean Harpo. He said he knew about my past, and that I would pay for it.”

  “Did you know he was referring to what happened in Tennessee?” Jason asked.

  “He had not said it yet, but I’ve only ever done one thing in my life worth blackmailing over, and that was it,” Bill said.

  Bill continued to receive letters as the letter writer slowly spelled out what he knew. “It was like he was toying with me,” Bill said. “Well, not even like he was toying with me. He was absolutely toying with me. He finally got to the point.”

  The man calling himself Sean Harpo said he’d found a dead body in the snow-covered Tennessee Mountains. The dead body was lying next to the name Bill Levy written in blood in the snow.

  “When I read that, I had never been so sick to my stomach. If David had written my name in the snow, then he could not have been dead when I left him. I pictured him slowly dying and freezing to death.”

  Lindsay, who had been quiet during most of the conversation, began to cry softly. Bill turned to her and put his hand on her leg. She looked up at him, and they embraced.

  “That still does not explain how he got to you,” Jason said. “You cannot be the only Bill Levy. And how did he track you to New York and then Florida?”

  “He said in one of his letters that after he had found the body, he went into the nearby town and started asking around. He learned as much as he could about Bill Levy, including information on his friend and business partner David Harpo. It was a small town, and everyone knew everyone. He even went to the local high school and found an old yearbook.”

  “How could he have possibly known that you were from the area?” Jason asked.

  “It’s the Tennessee Mountains. Most folks don’t stray too far from where they started and I just figured this guy was probably from the area too, but I did not recognize the name Sean Harpo.”

  The blackmailer then tracked Bill from Tennessee to New York to Florida and started sending letters.

  “He told me that he found an old picture of me with David, and recognized David as the dead man in the mountains. He tracked me down and told me that he figured there had been quite a find in the mountains if it caused me to kill a man. He wanted his cut to keep quiet.”

  Bill explained that the first request was for $20,000. He sent a check about a week ago to a post office box here in Key West, and a woman somehow connected to the blackmailer cashed it.

  “The woman was his wife,” Daniel said. “Her name is Kate Paglio. I have already spoken with her and so have the police.”

  “Wife?” Bill said shocked. “Did she know about him? I mean who he really was?”

  “I’m not sure. She definitely knew something because she was helping him.”

  Bill said that after the initial request for $20,000, he received another letter telling him to keep quiet and wait for instructions about the next payment.

  “That could explain why Kate’s apartment in Key West was so sparsely furnished; they may have just gotten here,” Daniel remarked, “Did you ever meet with the man?”

  “No, never face to face. It was all through the mail. I did not know for sure that it was my old partner until I found his body in that hotel room.”

  “What about the letters?” Daniel asked. “Where are they?”

  Daniel noticed a brief but apparent look between Bill and Lindsay at the mention of the letters. Before Bill could say any more, there was a loud knock at the door followed by an announcement from the police. Daniel opened the door, and Detective Barclay entered the room with two New Jersey State troopers.

  “Bill Levy,” he said, taking Bill by the arms and putting on some handcuffs. “You are under arrest for the murder of Sean Harpo. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for you. Do you have any questions about these rights as I have explained them to you?”

  “No sir,” Detective Barclay turned Bill around and started to walk him out of the room. He stopped and gave Daniel a wink and a wicked smile. “You have a nice day now,” he said before leaving the hotel room.

  “Don’t worry, and don’t say anything Bill,” Daniel called after him. “I’ll find out where they are taking you and be there quickly.”

  Daniel told Lindsay to stay put. “Everything said in the room stays between us, got it? There is something fishy going on here.” He grabbed Jason and hurried to follow his client to whatever Atlantic City police station they were headed to. They were able to keep pace with the police cruiser and pulled into the station right after Bill arrived.

  Chapter 13

  The troopers pulled Bill out of the back of the car and led him in through a loading dock designed for arrestees entering the jail. Daniel went in through the front lobby while Jason stayed with the car. He approached the desk sergeant, provided his identification and asked to see Bill Levy.

  “I don’t have anyone here with that name,” the desk sergeant said.

  “You don’t have them yet, he was just arrested and taken inside.”

  “Well then it’s going to be a while until he gets processed,”

  “How long is a while?” Daniel said impatiently.

  “A while is however long it takes,” the desk sergeant replied. “You can sit and wait over there.” He pointed to two small rows of metal benches. Daniel went outside and let Jason know what was going on. He asked him to go back to the Tropicana and get them two rooms for the night. When Daniel was finally allowed to speak with Bill, he had been relieved of his clothes and now wore an orange jumpsuit with ACJ stamped on the back.

  Daniel sat with his client in a holding cell and looked around to make sure there were no recording devices. There was a camera in the corner, but it appeared only to take video. Nonetheless, he lowered his voice to a whisper and asked Bill what, if any, conversations he had with Barclay on the way to the station. Or with anyone else.

  “I did not say a thing,” Bill said.

  “You didn’t say anything about what we talked about?” Daniel asked to confirm.

  “No sir.”

  “Good. Keep it that way. I want that theory of yours to stay quiet.”

  “I didn’t know he was alive, Daniel,” Bill whispered with a tear gathering at the corner of his eye. “Some of the locals must have found him and taken him to the hospital. I would have never left him out there to die.”

  Daniel nodded and began to speak at a normal volume. “They are going to want to extradite you back to Florida. There really is not a tactical advantage to fighting it. The sooner we get you back, the sooner we can get this situation taken care of.”

  “Whatever you think is best. Lindsay has trusted you from the beginning. I see no reason to doubt her opinion.”

  Daniel knocked on the bars, and a deputy let him out of the holding cell. He walked through the station until he found Detective Barclay, who was drinking a cup of coffee and munching on a donut.

  “How’d you find him?” Daniel asked.

  “Funny, I was just about to ask you the same question,” Barclay said. “You wouldn’t be trying to interfere with an investigation, would you?”

  Daniel gave him a cold, steely look before responding. “That’s not my style Barclay, and you know it.”

  “All I know is that you are a defense attorney, so it would seem that is your style,” the detective said, trying to goad Daniel into an argument. Daniel opted to take the high road.

  “Mr. Levy has agreed to waive extradition back to Florida. If you would put down the donut and get the paperwork ready, we can get it signed.”

  Daniel reviewed the extradition paperwork provided by one of the New Jersey state troopers with his client. After signing everything, he assured Bill that he would come and
see him as soon as he was back in Florida. He left the police station and found Jason waiting outside. They headed to the hotel where they had met up with Bill and Lindsay. As instructed, Lindsay was still there. Daniel explained everything that had happened and told her that the best thing to do was to return to Florida the next day. She agreed and told him that she would come by his office as soon as she returned.

  Chapter 14

  Daniel and Jason left Lindsay and went back across the street to the Tropicana.

  “It’s too late to get a flight back tonight,” Daniel said. “We’ll just have to grab one in the morning. Let’s check in and grab some dinner. My treat.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Jason replied. The put their small overnight bags in their rooms and went down to one of the hotel restaurants. Daniel ordered the seared seabass, scalloped potatoes and asparagus, while Jason went for the rib-eye steak and baked potato. They each ordered a local beer.

  “You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to eat a salad every now and then,” Daniel joked.

  “Awww, dad, I didn’t know you cared, Maybe, but not until I have to,” Jason said, jokingly pointing to his defined abdomen. “Don’t you think it’s a little convenient that Barclay showed up shortly after we did?”

  “Yes, I do,” Daniel agreed. “Way too convenient.”

  “If they only called you, there is no way they could have gotten to him unless we were followed. And wasn’t Barclay already at Kate Paglio’s house when you got there?”

  Daniel nodded as he put a bite of seabass in his mouth.

  “I checked around, and the police had not caught on to Kate yet when I told you about her,” Jason said. “There is something fishy going on. I think there’s a way to find out for sure, but you are going to need to get a private message to Kristie.”

  The men finished their dinner and headed back to their rooms. Daniel picked up his cell phone and texted Kristie to call him away from her home or the office. About five minutes later she called.