Crooked River (Jack Francis Novel)

by MP Murphy

  On the fourth wall a sleek, stone bar with a dark marble top was highlighted by lights from the floor. More candles along the bar top flickered light around the cocktail glasses served to members and their guests. The wall behind the bar had a series of steps lined with an assortment of liquor bottles, and a waterfall ran down each step. It gave the effect of the liquor bottles floating on water. Small lights illuminated each bottle from below, calling for each one to be tasted.

  The opulence of the place would have normally made me a little awestruck, but there was something truly more beautiful at the bar. Madeline stood to greet me as I drew close and I was instantly speechless by her appearance. Long, tan legs climbed into the sky until they were concealed by a short, black cocktail dress. Bare shoulders led to a soft neck calling out to be kissed, and a blue diamond necklace draped into her chest becoming lost in her bosom. More diamonds dangled from her ears, and fought for attention with the sparkles in her eyes. The strawberry blonde hair I first saw in a ponytail was now done up like Oscar Night with not one strand out of place. As Madeline came close to me and as we greeted, I noticed every eye in the room had turned to watch her.

  “Jack,” she said applying a soft hug and kiss along my cheek. “I’m glad to see you made it. Please come have a seat.”

  “The man up front asked me to tell you your table is ready.”

  “We’re in no hurry. Stephan will hold the table all night for me if I asked him to.”

  “Stephan?”

  “The maître d’. He’s been here for as long as I can remember. Come on now, sit and have a drink.”

  I sat down next to Madeline, feeling the eyes of the room upon us. While I struggle to find the right words, distracted by Madeline’s beauty, the Filipino bartender set a Pappy Van Winkle in front of me before I even had a chance to order. “You’re on your game,” I said to Madeline.

  “It really was nothing. I remembered you were drinking it when you came to the house to speak with father.”

  “So you really did catch the whole conversation?”

  “The whole thing,” she smiled.

  “In that case would you like to tell me why I’m here tonight?”

  “No, not quite yet. We will save our business for dinner. For now let’s sit, unwind, and enjoy each other’s company.” Madeline patted my thigh for a second and then added another smile to the mix.

  It seemed like she was working me and I was beginning to believe Katya’s warning about her. A beautiful, smart woman who used every man she came across, now that was a deadly combination. Was I about to be used? With one look at Madeline, part of me didn’t really care. Besides, it couldn’t possibly end any worse than my night with Alex had.

  Chapter 28

  When dinner arrived, so did the business part of our conversation. In front of me sat a plate of medium rare, Colorado lambs chops, with an ample amount of morel mushrooms, and fingerling potatoes, drizzled with white truffle oil. I sure hoped whatever Madeline was going to say would not ruin my appetite.

  “I want to talk to you about your new friend Alex. There is something very fishy about her involvement in all of this.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said with a mouthful of lamb. “She followed me to the art museum today. I was half expecting you to jump out from behind the Monet.” I laughed. She didn’t.

  “A little brave after last night don’t you think? What did she want from you?”

  “I’m not really sure, the whole thing was a bit weird. It was as if she wanted to proclaim her innocence but she never came out and said it.”

  “Was that it?”

  “Pretty much.” I kept it short not wanting to share too much right away. I still had no idea what Madeline wanted from me, if anything, and the food in front of me was bound to get cold if I told the whole recap of the morning’s events. “So what else do you have for me?”

  “There is nothing really new to tell you. It is more like a few things running around my head that I wanted to get out.”

  “Shoot.”

  “OK,” Madeline started, “if Alex shoots Beard, why?”

  “She was after the same things we were.”

  “Exactly, but why?”

  “Could she be working for your father?”

  “I don’t think so.” For Madeline this clearly was not a possibility.

  “Neither do I, which means she is working for someone else. If my assumptions are correct then that party would be the one who shot the man in those photos with Chelsea.”

  “What if Alex did the first shooting too?”

  “I’m not seeing it. Call it a gut instinct if you will, but Alex has hired help written all over her.”

  “Yeah she does,” Madeline smirked. “Do you think she did Beard then?”

  “Right now she is the only suspect we’ve got,” I said tossing back the last few morels on my plate. “But then again we don’t have a body either.”

  “You didn’t answer my question. What does your all-knowing instinct tell you? Did she shoot Beard?”

  “My instinct tells me there is more here than Alex shooting Beard, and whether she shot him or not, we have another problem to worry about.”

  “And what might that be?” I noticed Madeline had managed to finish her dinner of butter-poached walleye, fennel slaw, and Tuscan potatoes, even while talking. I looked her over and wondered where she managed to put it.

  “The problem is that even if Alex did shoot Beard, there is still another party involved and that party now has Beard’s blackmail evidence on your sister. The same party has killed a witness to one murder already, but there are still two other witnesses out there.”

  “I don’t quite follow.”

  “Your sister may not remember seeing any shooting but she sure did see the corpse—a corpse which has disappeared and probably for good reason. The second witness is me and I’m in the same boat as Chelsea. I may have not seen Charles Beard get shot but I sure as hell saw what was left of him before his remains disappeared too.”

  “If I am following you correctly,” Madeline said, “then Chelsea is in danger still.”

  “All I am saying is there is someone out there going to a lot of trouble to cover up these killings, and so far they’ve been able to keep them off the public radar. Needless to say I have to believe they are going to try and tie up all their loose ends.”

  “Meaning, as I said before, Chelsea is in danger.”

  “Meaning Chelsea and I might be in danger,” Saying it out loud struck a chord inside of me and for the first time in a while, I was a little worried. “Someone should be looking after your sister, and Madeline, you may want to reconsider getting involved.”

  Chapter 29

  Outside the Erieview Tower a man waited in the dark and watched as the valet pulled a silver Mercedes around to the front. Leaping from the car, the young man ran back towards the garage quickly. He smiled to himself amused at the predictability of people, and then made his way to the Mercedes. The doors had been left unlocked and he slipped into the cramped back seat, waiting silently in the dark for his prey. He laughed to himself in silence as he noticed the keys still in the ignition. He had come prepared to bypass the locks on his own but the valet had made it just a little easier. Slouching down further into the shadows of the rear seat he waited silently as he watched the valet come back, driving Jack Francis’s Austin Healy.

  Madeline and Jack had made their way down from dinner, and now stood in the night saying their goodbyes. There was a kiss on the cheek and a hug lasting a little too long. Jack was in his car first as Madeline stood chatting with the valet. The man watched as Jack rolled down his window to speak to Madeline, and then was waved off by a kiss blown in his direction. He watched as Jack’s Austin Healy pulled around a corner and was out of sight. A minute later Madeline tipped the young valet as he opened her door for her. The engines in the German car came alive, and the man sat still in the shadows of the back seat until they were a few blocks away from the c
lub.

  “Good evening Madeline,” the soft and raspy voice came from the back seat. Madeline screamed as she slammed on the brakes forcing the man to jerk forward in his seat. When the tires and Madeline both stopped screeching, the man spoke again. “The alley over on the right looks like a good place to talk, Madeline, and we do need to talk.” He watched her search her rear-view for him but the shadows concealed his face. Giving up, she stayed silent and pulled into the alley slowly, hoping someone would see her. The man could see she was obviously shaken as he looked across her bare, tense shoulders. If he had been a man without control the beautiful woman would have been taken right there in the car, but he had learned a long time ago that primordial urges led to sloppiness and sloppiness would always get you caught.

  “What do you want?” Madeline was finally able to get out of her mouth as she stopped the car in the alley.

  “Just to talk. Now pull up a little further dear, this is going to be a private conversation.” She moved the car a little further into the alley and he noticed her chill as her body stiffened. His voice had that effect on people. His calmness told them who was in control. The raspy sound, mixed with an indistinguishable hint of a European accent, something he had worked hard on, for some reason brought the fear out in most people. Now it was having its way with the woman in the front seat. He was positive Madeline would be hearing his voice in her sleep tonight. That was if she could sleep at all. “This is good,” he said in regards to her moving of the car. “We need to talk about your sister Chelsea. You see Madeline, your time as an amateur sleuth is over. There are certain people who do not want you snooping around anymore. My job is simply to come and ask you politely to stop.” Madeline sat silently look straight ahead. “I also have to ask you to stop Mr. Francis from any further investigating as well.”

  “My father is paying him,” the words fell out of her mouth like a child in trouble.

  “I am aware of that. You will give your father this, and you will tell him of our little talk. I believe these things should be enough to have him call off Mr. Francis,” and he handed Madeline an envelope from the backseat. “Fire him or pay him off, I do not care which, but all of this ends tonight.”

  “But what about Chelsea? She will still be in danger. We can’t stop until she is safe.” Madeline, normally a strong woman, was shaken and her voice revealed it.

  “Chelsea is safe as long as you do as you’ve been told. Do you understand what I am telling you, Madeline? I would hate to have to pay you another visit.”

  Madeline gave a nod with her head as she softly answered, “Yes.” The car door opened behind her and the man slipped out into the dark alley, never showing himself. She didn’t once think about following him and it was probably best. Instead she sat there studying the envelope he had given her. With the overhead lamp turned on, she decided to open it before she got home. The envelope was sealed and she tore through it with her hands as a memory card fell out onto her lap. There was still more inside and Madeline frantically pulled out a small stack of photos. In her hands were photos of Chelsea. The photos Charles Beard had used to blackmail her sister and now Madeline had them.

  Chapter 30

  Out of the northeast, the wind whistled off of the lake, bringing with it some much needed cool air. Today the weather felt nice but tomorrow the rain would come. The third day of a nor’easter always brought rain.

  The drive home from dinner was as painless as dinner had been. I had escaped unscathed and I couldn’t wait to tell Katya. Even with all the sexual energy Madeline had brought to the table, I had kept my composure and my head. Had it been another time or place I would have done anything to bring her home with me, but not tonight. Madeline also frightened me a little. There was something about the way she handled herself. I found her to be as calculated as Alex, and after last night, maybe that’s why I had veered away from Madeline.

  I reached my floor and left the elevator, unlocked my front door, and entered a dark condo only lit from the street lamps beyond my windows. I really need to start leaving a light on, I thought to myself, as I tossed my keys on the dining room table, and navigated the place semi-blindly. Venturing into the kitchen, I finally hit a light switch, and poured myself a glass of ice with some bourbon on top. With the glass topped off, I turned back toward my living room and the light from the kitchen revealed that I was not alone.

  “Be a doll and grab another glass Jack.” I showed no expression, and instead I just turned back into the kitchen to pour Alex a bourbon. The women in my life were starting to no longer surprise me by their actions, and it really made me worry about where my life was heading. When I came back from the kitchen, a table lamp had been turned on and Alex sat there smiling mischievously at me. “So how was it? Come on and sit down. Tell me all about dinner will you?”

  “Following me again?” I asked damn well knowing the answer.

  “Let’s call it keeping tabs.” I handed her the drink and she sat back into her chair to get comfortable. “It must not have been as good as last night considering you came home alone.”

  “Actually dinner was really enjoyable.” I was not about to give her any satisfaction by responding to her little comment. “What are you doing here Alex?” getting right to the point.

  “We need to talk. Clear the air so to speak.”

  “So get to it. I don’t have a lot of patience with people who have broken into my house in the middle of the night.”

  “Who broke in? The door was open!”

  “Sure it was Alex. Now don’t push me.”

  “Fine.” She took a long pull from her drink. “I did not shoot Charles Beard. Let’s just get that clear right now.”

  “Then who did?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “And I am to believe you why?”

  “Believe me or not it’s the truth. I had just made it up to Beard’s porch when I heard the shots. The gunfire sent me running back to the cab.” There was a small amount of plea in her voice begging me to believe what she was saying, and the strange thing was she sounded sincere.

  “Why are you telling me this now? Why not at the museum this morning?”

  “Because, first I had to decide what I was going to do about you.”

  Chapter 31

  I was going to die. That was my first thought when Alex said she had reached a decision about me. In the end, I had known all along she would try to kill me because Colin was always right about these things. The man always had the ability to foresee my neck in the guillotine. If Alex took a shot at me right now I would be hopelessly dead with nothing but my bourbon in hand. Ever since I left the Bureau I refused to carry a gun. I had used one enough in the Army, and later with the Feds, so I had decided in my private practice to go unarmed. Big mistake, looking at it now.

  My mind was starting to work itself up, trying to figure out the best way to disarm Alex if she did pull a gun on me. But instead it was Alex who disarmed me with a subtle smile, “Relax Jack, I’m not here to hurt you.”

  “What gave it away?”

  “You tensed up like a kid who just crapped his pants.”

  “I knew you weren’t here to hurt me.”

  “Oh really?”

  “If you had been, I would never have known you were here in the first place.”

  “Probably true,” Alex said.

  “So what was it you had to decide about? You’ve got me curious now.”

  “I had to find out what type of guy you really were. You seemed to have a good mind between your ears but I needed to find out how you played the game.”

  “And what did you find?” I asked interested to see where this was all leading.

  “From what everyone says, you appear to be a straight shooter. You do a job and you do it well, but your weakness is you have morals.”

  “I don’t see how that is a weakness.”

  “For some it is, but it’s what I was looking for.”

  “If morals were what you were lookin
g for, then where does that leave us?”

  “To the point where you may be the only one I can trust, Jack.”

  “I’m not following Alex. Why would I be the only one?”

  “You see I am the third notch on a very dirty totem pole. The man who hired me was hired by another man first.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Not important right now,” Alex continued. “The initial job seemed to go off without a hitch, or so my employer thought.”

  “Until Beard showed up with the photos of Chelsea.”

  “Right.”

  “And you were hired to recover those photos.”

  “Also right.”

  “OK Alex, now tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Well, I have a problem the way I see it. Beard is dead, the evidence I was hired to retrieve is still out there, and worst of all, I was setup to look like Beard’s killer.”

  “You still could be.”

  “Exactly my point. Someone wants me to look guilty.”

  “OK let’s say I believe you were set up, then the next question is why.”

  “There was only one person who knew I was going to Beard’s the other night and his motivation would be to close up the whole affair. Eliminate Beard as a witness, recover the evidence of the first murder, and present me as Beard’s killer. Looks pretty open and shut to me.”

  “What about a killer for the first murder?”

  “I thought you had a brain between those ears, Jack. There is no first murder. No one’s called it in because no one has found a body. The only evidence out there was Beard and his camera. By what happened the other night everything gets wrapped up nicely.”

  “Almost, Chelsea is still out there. There is also the fact that Beard’s body went missing too, so either your wrong or another hand is at play here.”