I call Frey.
“We’ve got Lorraine,” I say. “You still have Genny in sight?”
“She jumped out of the car when she heard the crash, but she hasn’t moved. Should I bring her in?”
“Do it.”
David wrestles Lorraine to her feet and shoves her into a desk chair. He breaks out a nylon double-tie handcuff and yanks her hands together. There’s no question why he chose those instead of our steel cuffs. He makes sure they’re as tight around her wrists as his cuffs were around his.
Lorraine yelps, “You’ll cut off my circulation.”
“Where was that concern when you handcuffed me?” He moves around to face her. “As long as you stay still and don’t struggle, you’ll be fine.”
The door opens and Frey comes in holding a squirming Genny tight in his arms. He lowers her to the floor. “Where’d you find this one?”
David gets her to a chair and has her bound before she has a chance to compose herself. She lets loose with a stream of invective that startles us all, most of it directed at Lorraine and that she let herself be caught.
Lorraine says nothing in her defense. It amazes me how this diminutive person has such an effect on her. I understand why she’s maintained her distance.
Duke is quiet since his outburst at Lorraine. He sits on the floor, head bowed. David, Frey and I form a phalanx around him.
I level my face with his. “What’s going on Duke?” I ask quietly. “Where did you get all that money and how—” I jerk a thumb in Lorraine’s direction, “—does she figure into it?”
“Don’t tell them anything, Duke,” Lorraine says. “We can still make this work.”
Duke shoots her an exasperated look. “Make what work? You were going to kill me once you got the money. You think I’d trust anything you say now?” He scowls at her before turning back to me. “She was a friend of Howard’s.”
“A friend? Did you know she was with him at Sullivan’s right before they were killed? Hell, she may have been there when they were killed.” I turn to Lorraine. “What about it?”
Lorraine’s lips are drawn tight, her jaw clenched. She stares at me, a defiant lift to her chin.
I focus on Duke. “The money? How’d you get it?”
“I didn’t. I got a note from Sullivan saying I’d find eight million dollars, our investment, addressed to me in a PO box in LA. We were supposed to meet and go after it together but he never showed.”
“We didn’t find the key among Sullivan’s things,” David says. “We found it in a file cabinet in a police lockup.”
“We thought it was a safety deposit box key,” I add, “until David found a receipt for a post office box among his papers at Sarah Sullivan’s apartment.”
“She just let you have it?”
David shrugs. “She didn’t know I took it. I don’t think she had any idea what her husband was involved in. It didn’t matter. She was killed right after Anna and I went to speak to her.” He eyeballs Lorraine. “Your handiwork?”
She presses her lips together and glares at us. We’re not getting anything from this one.
“Let’s piece together what we know without her,” David says. “We know she was with Howard when he visited Sullivan with Taylor. She knew about the scam before you did, Duke.” He stares at Lorraine. “Were you Howard’s mistress? You meant something to him or he wouldn’t tell you what was going on. Things begin to unravel. Sullivan worked with Taylor, and when he found out he was dead, he must have panicked. Taylor was the money man between him and Oswald. He didn’t know how much Oswald knew or if Taylor ever divulged his identity to Oswald. As far as he knew, Taylor made the payments as arranged, just enough to keep the ship afloat and allow Oswald to keep up appearances.”
Duke shakes his head. “Why go after me?”
Some of the dominoes are falling. “Howard was your nephew,” I say, taking up where David left off. “Taylor’s killer wanted you out of the way while he went after Howard because he knew Sullivan and Howard were in on the scam together…not the sporting ticket thing, but the skimming. Unfortunately, Howard was killed for information he didn’t have. Sullivan was the one who knew where the money was.”
I focus on Lorraine. “When you found out how much money was involved, did you decide then to cut Howard out and go for the money yourself or did that happen later? Was it a pleasant surprise when Howard showed up dead?”
Duke jumps to his feet. “Is that why Taylor came to visit me? The man he was with—another friend of yours?” He turns to David. “I had a message from Clayton Oswald the morning I was attacked and Taylor killed. I never had a chance to return his call.”
“The newspapers say Oswald claims to know nothing of the Ponzi scheme,” I say. “He may be telling the truth. Taylor’s murder was the incident that made Sullivan keep the eight million he planned to pass on to Oswald. He got a PO box and mailed the cash. Get away money, maybe.”
Duke shakes his head, passing a hand over his face. “Why would Sullivan send all that money to me in care of the PO box?” he asks.
I snap my fingers. “Maybe the answer is in one of the envelopes. We’ll need to get a phony ID made in Sullivan’s name so we can collect the rest of the money.”
Lorraine’s sharp intake of breath makes us all swivel. She straightens in her chair and shoots me a poisonous look. “How are you going to do that?” she snaps. “The box is in Sullivan’s name.”
I ignore her question and pose one to Duke. “Duke, you still have your contact for this sort of thing?”
He grins. “I’ll get him on the line now. He should have the ID ready soon.” He pulls out his cell, but pauses. “Who’s going to be Sullivan?”
“It can’t be David,” I say. “People still recognize him from his football days. Even if they didn’t, someone in that post office is bound to notice Sullivan was not six-foot-six and two hundred fifty pounds.”
“What about me?” Frey says.
I forgot Frey was with us. I throw him a guilty smile. “Are you sure you want to get involved?”
“I already am,” he says.
“Okay. Frey will be Sullivan.”
Duke places his call, exchanges greetings, then makes an appointment for a special rush printing job. He disconnects and says to Frey, “He’s at the shop now. We can go over anytime.”
“David and I will stay here with the girls,” I say, waving a hand in Lorraine and Genny’s direction. “You’ll need cash. How much?”
Duke thinks a minute. “For a rush job, twenty-five hundred should do it.”
David turns Lorraine and Genny around in their chairs so they can’t see the safe combination. I push the envelopes aside to reach our cash, withdraw the funds, close the safe door, and spin the lock.
“Here’s three thousand.” I glance at my watch. “It’s too late to make it to LA tonight. We can start first thing in the morning.” I go to the desk and write out Sullivan’s address. “I hope he used his apartment address when he rented the box. It’s the only one I have.”
Duke takes the note and sticks it in his pocket. He nods toward Lorraine and Genny. “What do we do about these two?”
I shrug. “Sit on them until tomorrow. We’ll decide then.”
Frey brushes my cheek with a butterfly kiss and hands me my gun. “Be careful of the little one,” he says. “She bites.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Day Eleven
Duke’s forger does excellent work. The phony driver’s license with Sullivan’s info and Frey’s picture even has the hologram. He slips it into his wallet. I make sure the note from the post office to come pick up the rest of the mail in person is in my jacket pocket.
David stays at the office with Lorraine and Genny, after letting them take an escorted potty break and feeding them a Mickey D’s sausage muffin and water, Frey, Duke and I head back to LA.
We decide that Frey and I will go into the post office while Duke stays with the car. We don’t know how many envelopes we’ll be h
auling out or what kind of questions we’ll get from the postal employees. We hope that none of the envelopes tore and exposed the contents. Otherwise, we may have local police and the FBI waiting for us.
“Assuming we get the money, what are we doing with Lorraine and her aunt?” Frey asks.
He’s driving and I’m riding shotgun. “I think Lorraine is still on probation. She’s in violation for leaving the county. We have her gun. We could turn her in.”
“What about her aunt?” Duke leans forward. “She’s a tough cookie. I can see her coming after us for revenge.” He pauses. “What if we offer her some money? I doubt there’s much love lost between her and her niece. She may not care that Lorraine is going back to prison as long as she gets a cut of the money.”
“You’re keeping it?” I ask Duke.
He looks at me in disbelief. “Why shouldn’t we? We invested it. I feel for others who lose their nut. I don’t understand why Sullivan wanted me to get our money back, but he did, and I say, ‘Thank you, Harold.’”
“It wasn’t about Howard stealing half a million from you, was it?”
Duke looks abashed. “I couldn’t tell you the truth. As soon as I heard my nephew was dead, I knew I couldn’t put you in any more danger.”
Frey says, “How did a bookie become the money man for your investment? Duke, what were you thinking?”
Duke frowns. “It was a good investment. I don’t know how Sullivan became the money man. Talbot was the only one who could answer that and he’s dead.”
It’s about nine when we pull into the post office parking lot. There’s already a line forming outside the door, so we wait until everyone is inside. Frey and I exit the car, and Duke takes Frey’s place behind the wheel.
“I’ll be right over there,” he points to a parking space close to the door.
Frey and I nod and watch as he backs into the space, ready to pull out when we return.
“Why do I feel like we’re about to rob a bank?” I mumble.
Frey grins and holds open the door. “Here we go.”
There are ten people in line and, as is common in most busy post offices, only two windows open. I shift nervously back and forth from one leg to another until Frey puts his hands on my shoulders.
“Relax. We’re only here to pick up mail. Not a big deal.”
I suck in a breath and stop fidgeting. The line moves at a snail’s pace, but we’re finally called to the window.
I hand Frey the note.
“Good morning,” he says, chipper and calm. He hands over the note. “Sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this. I’ve been out of town.”
The woman behind the counter responds to Frey’s smile with hers. She scans the note. “I need to see some identification, Mr. Sullivan,” she says.
Frey takes the license out of his wallet and hands it to her.
She examines the license, hands it back. “All right. If I remember correctly, you have quite a bit of mail. I’ll meet you at the back door, around the corner.” She places her “back in five minutes” sign up, greeted by the impatient sighs of everyone in line.
“Why would she know Sullivan has a lot of mail?” I whisper as Frey and I make our way to the back door. Alarms go off in my head. “This is a big post office. How would she recognize one customer’s name?”
My skin crawls with visions of cops swarming. The back door opens, and she’s alone with a handcart full of manila envelopes. I wilt with relief. I motion Duke to bring the car over.
“What do you have?” the employee asks, fingering one of the envelopes. “Some kind of mail order business?”
Frey and I haul armfuls of envelopes out of the cart and stack them into the trunk.
“Yes.” Duke answers, pitching in. “It’s very successful.”
“I can see.”
We empty the cart and she turns to wheel it back inside. “We can put mail in your box again,” she says, then laughs. “Unless, of course, this is the norm.”
Frey shakes his head. “I’m sure it won’t be. I think our luck is played out.”
“That happens.” She opens the door and pushes the cart through. “Have a good day.”
None of us say a word until we’re back on the road. I scan the rear view mirrors, expecting flashing lights and sirens to appear. When we make it to the freeway, my shoulders unbunch.
Duke peers behind him, too. “I think we did it,” he says, releasing a breath.
I lean my head back on the seat. “Next problem,” I say. “Where do we put the money?”
“I have a basement safe in my house,” Duke answers. “It’s big enough to fit it all in.”
I swivel. “You have a basement? We didn’t see it when we went to your house.”
“You’re not supposed to,” he answers. “The stairs are hidden behind a false wall in the pantry.”
Frey and I exchange amused looks. “You must keep most of your money there,” he says. “You don’t believe in banks?”
Duke shrugs. “I prefer to manage my own assets.”
“You make no interest,” I point out. “Shouldn’t you be investing?”
Duke snorts. “I just tried that, remember? Look how it turned out.”
Can’t argue with him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It’s early afternoon when we return to the office.
As soon as we walk in empty handed, David groans. “There was trouble. You didn’t get the money.”
Lorraine was slouching in her chair, and at that, she perks up. “I knew you couldn’t pull it off. This has all been for nothing. Let me and my aunt go now, and I won’t press charges against you for false imprisonment.”
“That is funny, Lorraine,” I say. “But you’re going back to jail. We already called the cops to collect you. Being here in San Diego violates your parole.” I walk over to the desk where her shotgun lays. “Possessing a firearm ensures you won’t get another chance at parole for some time.”
Genny is watching us, eyes narrow. “What about me? How will you explain tying me up?”
Duke grins and walks over. He cuts her free and takes her arm. “You’re going to take a walk with me. Say goodbye to your niece.”
Lorraine gives a startled cry. “Aunt Genny, You can’t let them do this to me.”
“Whatever can I do?” Genny turns from a pit bull into a Pomeranian. “I can’t get myself arrested. I’m an old lady. I’ll never last in prison.”
Duke begins to escort her outside. I stop him with a hand on his arm. “Be careful. Remember, she wanted to shoot me and David in your office. She would have, too, if she had half a chance. Don’t let this poor old lady routine fool you.”
Duke’s mouth forms a thin, hard line. “I haven’t forgotten. I know how to handle this. Will you three be all right until the police get here for Lorraine?”
I nod. “We’ll be in touch as soon as she’s taken.”
Duke leaves with an acquiescent Genny, and Lorraine’s eyes widen with disbelief as she watches the door close behind them.
“You didn’t call the police, did you?” she says after a moment.
“We did,” I reply.
“What’s to prevent me from telling the cops about the money you have in your safe? How will you explain that?”
“We won’t need to,” Frey answers. He points to the slider lying on the floor. “You broke in to rob us. We’re bounty hunters. We are often in possession of large amounts of cash. Besides, we know most of the cops in town. They’ll take our word over yours anytime.”
I see the wheels turning in Lorraine’s head.
“What is it, Lorraine?” I ask. “Do you have something to tell us? You don’t have very long before the police arrive. We told them we had you cuffed, so there is no rush, but they will get here eventually.”
Lorraine looks back and forth between me and Frey, studying us, as if deciding who to appeal to. She decides.
“You look reasonable. Can’t you talk sense into your wife? If I�
�m arrested, you won’t know who was behind the Ponzi scheme. Believe me, he’s still out there. He killed Taylor and probably the others as well. He won’t stop until he gets the rest of the money Sullivan hid from Oswald.”
Frey smiles, amused. “You appeal to the wrong person,” he says. “You have to convince David and Anna.”
David plants himself in front of Lorraine. “I don’t believe you know any more than we do. If you did, you wouldn’t have chased Duke.”
“I didn’t chase Duke,” she spits. “I was told to stick to him. After you spoke with Sarah Sullivan and she couldn’t help, you found something on your own. You moved too fast for him to intercept you after your first trip to the post office.”
“Who told you to stick with Duke?” Impatience sharpens my words.
“If I told you that, you wouldn’t need to call off the police.”
“We’re not calling off the police,” I say. “Whether you tell us who this mystery man is or not, we did pretty well on our own. We’ll figure it out.”
She shakes her head. “No. You won’t. Believe me, you don’t want this man after you. He won’t give up until he has the money or you’re dead. All three of you.”
I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. “You were willing to take that chance.” I move to stand beside David. “You and your aunt were going to take the money from Duke and run. After all, two million in the hand…”
Lorraine looks up at me. “Going after the post office money was too big a risk. I made him believe Duke was still looking for it. Since he would be dead, he couldn’t argue the point.”
Duke came back in time to hear Lorraine’s remark. He scoffs. “You are a peach, you know that, Lorraine?”
David jerks his head toward the door. “Did you take care of Genny?” he asks.
Duke smiles. “Sent her home in a taxi smiling like she found a fifty thousand dollar lottery ticket.” He glares at Lorraine. “Which, in a way, she did.”
“What?” Lorraine straightens. “You gave her money?” She struggles against her restraints. “Why? What did she tell you?”
Duke peers out the front window. “I’m disappearing for a few minutes,” he says. “I don’t recognize those officers, but if they recognize me, I’ll have to explain where I was for the last few days.”
Paradox Page 15
