“So who did the killing?”
“I thought you were above asking such sordid questions.”
“Humour me this one time.”
“Ziggy felt protective of Yuri, so he told Yuri about Santiago’s affair with Lionel after he saw them together. It wasn’t long before Yuri threw Santiago out. I think that was when Yuri discovered the missing money. His private file showed they’d been siphoning it out of the bar for months. When Yuri confronted Santiago, he killed him in his kitchen. With Lionel’s help, they made it look like Yuri died while Lionel was in Mexico and Santiago was off with the girlfriend at Jane and Finch. Lionel had an old recording of Yuri’s monthly meeting reminder. Santiago played it back to him over the phone while he was away.”
“When did you catch on?”
“It took a while. There were so many things telling me I was wrong, particularly the coroner’s report on the timing of the death. But once I reconsidered that in light of their affair, everything made sense. Lionel even made threatening calls to Santiago’s girlfriend to warn her off. He would probably have married Santiago himself if he hadn’t already been married to Charles. A divorce would have cost him dearly. I first began to suspect Lionel because he tried too hard to convince me it was Charles, when he should have been protecting him. It would have been all too convenient for them if Charles had been convicted of Yuri’s murder.”
“Hmmm …” Donny said meditatively.
“I blame myself for Ziggy’s death,” Dan said, running his fingers across the lettering overhead. “I don’t think anyone knew he was in the house till I mentioned it. The decision to make it look as though Santiago committed suicide figured neatly into their plans. Santiago lured Ziggy to the bridge, saying Charles wanted to meet him, only Charles wasn’t there when he arrived. Lionel planted his card on Ziggy to make sure he would be asked to identify the body. Being an illegal, there was no record of fingerprints or family to come looking for Santiago when he disappeared. Ziggy was perfect.”
“How long will you beat yourself up for that one?”
“How long have you got? I feel culpable. That won’t change.”
“But in reality, Ziggy started the ball rolling by telling Yuri about Santiago and Lionel. With or without you, it would have come back to him once they knew. And you have to remember you saved Charles’s life, at least.”
“I suspect the trip up north would have resulted in another fatality, made to seem accidental. Lionel hated that Charles was able to lord it over him once he’d signed the prenuptial and then went all over town having affairs. I was wrong about Charles, though. He may have ordinary human flaws, but he wasn’t the cesspool of immorality I thought he was.”
“Glad to hear. So does this mean I can stop worrying about you for the time being?”
“Why would you worry about me?”
“Oh, I don’t know — getting beaten up in Quebec didn’t exactly quell my fears.”
“A couple of thugs hired by some renegade cops, nothing more. Lydia thinks she knows who to pressure for an answer. I doubt I’ll be looking over my shoulder for that one the rest of my life.”
“I just wish you’d stop taking chances. By the way, where are you?”
“Yuri Malevski’s mansion.”
Donny sucked in his breath. “Okay — I don’t even want to know.”
“It’s all right. I wouldn’t tell if you tortured me.”
“That sets my alarm bells ringing.”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it. Besides, you know what they say: wild horses couldn’t drag it out of me.”
A match flared on the other end.
“Question,” Dan said.
“Shoot.”
“If you were single and knew a very sexy cop who was also single, would you date him?”
“If I were me, sure. If I were you? Definitely not.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s a cop and you’re a private eye. Isn’t that a little like dating the enemy?”
“Kind of. It’s okay, I just wondered. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Wait!”
“What?”
“If you do date him, will there be coercion?”
Dan smiled. “If there is, it’ll be willing.”
“Then it won’t be coercion. But in any case, take pictures.”
Dan was seated at his kitchen table. He glanced up at the cupboards that once held his alcohol. What would they hold when Ked went away to school in the fall?
He pulled out Nick Trposki’s card, pushing Hank’s orchid aside as he reached for his cell. The cop answered right away. There was a pause when Dan identified himself.
“I’m not in a bar, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Dan said. “I’m not calling you to rescue me.”
“Glad to hear. How can I help?”
“Do you ever think about the future?”
“Is this a trick question?”
“Not really. I’d like to know.”
“All right. Then, yes. Sometimes.”
“That’s it?”
There was a laugh. “Okay, here’s what it is. Mostly it depresses me to think about the future. I can barely stand to think about tomorrow let alone the distant future, but every once in a while I think about what I’ll be doing a year from now and whether I’ll be with anyone in another five. How’s that for a true confession?”
“Pretty good,” Dan said. “I’ve got one, too. I don’t want to grow old alone. Especially since I’ve come to the realization that I can’t live with alcohol in the house. Imagine that — a grown man who can’t trust himself.”
Nick gave a begrudging laugh. “I hear you.”
“Some days I think the solution is to live with somebody. But then I think about it and I don’t like what it says about my independence.”
“Giving it up, you mean?”
“Yeah, that. At times I want to be with someone, but at other time I don’t want to be crowded out.”
Nick waited. “So why are you telling me all this? Are you asking me out or something?”
“Yes, I am officially asking you to go out on a date with me. No commitments, apart from dinner. What do you think?”
“I’d be willing to consider it.”
Dan laughed. “That’s it? Just willing to consider it?”
“It would have to be a decent place. I may be a cop, but I still like good restaurants with nice atmosphere and top-quality food.”
“How about Italian to start?”
Nick laughed again. “When?”
“I think we should begin tonight. No use waiting. I don’t know about you, but I’m already forty. I’m pretty sure neither of us is getting any younger.”
“I agree,” Nick said. “I’m not far behind you in years.”
“Tell you what. I just got home. I’m going to take a shower. Then I am going to make a reservation for two somewhere in the city. I’ll call and tell you where.”
“Sounds good.”
Dan waited a beat. “By the way, you know how you told me your last lover was the best guy you ever met?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, that’s not me. I’m more thorn than rose.”
Nick laughed. “I never said I was perfect either. But he wasn’t really all that perfect, to tell the truth. You know the thing that pissed me off most about him?”
“What?”
“When he wanted out of the relationship, he was so angry he just moved away. He never even called to say goodbye.”
Dan thought about this for a moment. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that. I always say goodbye.”
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Red Cruz, Mark Round, Luba Goy, David Tronetti, Keith Garebian, Sheila McCarthy, Geordie Johnson, Phil Bedard and Larry Lalonde, Tim Leonard, the staff of The One in the Only Café, John Scythes (current owner of the Lockie House), Shannon Whibbs, and the good folks at Dundurn who give me a reason to keep doing what I do. A tip of the hat to Scott a
nd Ken of the Crystal Method for the groovy late-night vibes that kept me up writing way past my bedtime. Thanks also to you, the readers, who write to tell me how much you enjoy Dan and his world!
Copyright © Jeffrey Round, 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
All characters in this work are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Editor: Shannon Whibbs
Design: Courtney Horner
Cover Design: Laura Boyle
Front Cover Image: © Olivier Le Queinec
Author Photo: © Don McNeill
Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Round, Jeffrey, author
After the horses / Jeffrey Round.
(A Dan Sharp mystery)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-3131-8 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3132-5 (pdf).--
ISBN 978-1-4597-3133-2 (epub)
I. Title. II. Series: Round, Jeffrey. Dan Sharp mystery.
PS8585.O84929A64 2015 C813’.54 C2015-901268-6
C2015-901269-4
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and Livres Canada Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
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