Dead Man Code: A Jarvis Mann Detective Novel

by R Weir

  A pretty twentysomething Hispanic girl strolled past the table making eye contact. Her tight spandex shorts and halter top were hard to ignore. I smiled and received one in return, before she reached the counter to order.

  “Ever since I’ve been on this case, there have been those who have tried to run me off of it by any means necessary. That in itself leads me to believe it is possible. Now the question is what I can do to stop it. In the end, I’m trying to solve a murder. But the two seem to be connected.”

  “Most of the cyber theft happens overseas. China, Russia and even North Korea. But they all, especially China and North Korea, are trying to infiltrate the US government and military networks. I don’t know what equipment the government uses, but they have a history of going with the lowest bidder when it comes to contracts. So heaven help us if this is true about WANN and if any of their networking gear controls our government or military infrastructure.”

  His words weren’t comforting, and gave me quite a chill. I looked over at him and decided refills were in order. Oh, and he wanted a couple of more scones, too. Apparently his appetite wasn’t affected by world-changing events.

  Chapter 36

  Once back home I sat down on the sofa, feeling exhausted. I understood more about technology now than I cared to, though it was important to understand. Still, it made my head hurt, and along with a still-throbbing left hand, I was spent. I should have crashed right there and fell asleep. But I didn’t want to. I needed to go out and drink a few beers and maybe shoot the breeze with someone. Standing up, I piled back into my Mustang and headed to my favorite watering hole, Boone’s, with many questions on my mind.

  Why was it some people worked so hard to steal from others, when with the same effort they could make an honest living? Of course, why did people strap on bombs, walk into a crowded area and blow themselves up.

  Trying to solve the perplexities of life would drive you insane. If I had answers to all of life’s mysteries I could probably retire a rich man. It was why hard-working people went to places like Boone’s, to forgot their personal troubles and avoid the shocking news headlines, and just enjoy themselves, escaping to a sane environment, if for only a little while.

  When I arrived I found the place fairly quiet. It was the middle of the week, and students at Denver University weren’t back in session yet, so it wasn’t surprising. I found a spot at the bar waiting for Nick the bartender, who was always normally there. But instead it was Julie tonight tending bar, rather than waiting tables.

  “Hi, Jarvis,” she said with a smile. “A beer, I presume?”

  “Hello, Julie. Yes on the beer, and some mild chicken wings. I don’t think I’ve ever been here when Nick wasn’t working the bar.”

  “Believe it or not he does take nights off and has a life. A wife and three kids, with another on the way.”

  “I didn’t know that about him. We always talked sports. Funny, I never inquired about his personal life.”

  “He is a fairly private guy,” Julie said while placing a cold mug of brew in front of me. “When tending bar it’s all about the customer. Let them blow off steam and forget about their day.”

  She must have been reading my mind. Bartenders were often amateur psychologists.

  “True. But next time I will try not to be too self-absorbed and ask how he is doing. With him soon having four kids I’m sure he would have something to talk about.”

  Julie smiled and moved on to help another patron, and put in my order for the wings. I sipped my beer and looked around the room. There were a few people I knew and saluted with my mug to a couple of them. To the left of me in one of the booths was one of April’s friends, Jessica, who was being wooed by a tall gentleman in jeans and T-shirt. She looked around him, straight at me, and gritted her teeth. It would seem she was not enjoying the company. I waved down Julie.

  “Who is the guy with Jessica?” I asked.

  “No one, really. He is always trying to make a move on her. She has shot him down so many times, but keeps coming back for more. Can’t take no for an answer.”

  “Do you know what she is drinking?”

  “I’ll find out.”

  Julie waved over to the waitress handling that side of the room and found she was drinking a Cosmopolitan. I had her make another and I carried it over to her table.

  “Jessica, so good to see you again,” I said, while sitting down the drink next to her other one. “So glad you could meet me here. It’s been a long time. We have so much to catch up on.”

  I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, then turned and smiled at her hopeful suitor.

  “Jessica and I have known each other for years. I’m Jarvis, and I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  “No, not at all,” replied Jessica. “The gentleman was about to leave, weren’t you?”

  He was a little stunned, but turned and walked away. Jessica put her hand on my shoulder, with a big sigh of relief.

  “Thanks for saving me, Jarvis. You are my hero. He really is persistent. Every time I come in here he tries the same move. Really not my type. Too full of himself. Always talking in the third person. Likes to tell me how much money he has and what he has spent it on recently. How he works out every day to keep in shape and goes to the tanning salon so he can have a bronze body. Oh my, he is so self-absorbed!”

  “Glad to help. No worries on prattling on about finances from me. I don’t have any money to spend, so nothing to brag about.”

  “No, but I know you can carry on a conversation that will include the person you are talking to. Something he knows nothing about.” She started fondling the drink I brought her. “So, how have you been?”

  “Busy. Been running all over town working a case. I needed to come in tonight and unwind. Hopefully not think about it. Have you talked with April recently?”

  “Yes, I have,” Jessica said after a sip of her drink. “Most every day since she has been in the hospital. She’ll be coming home in a day or so. I told her I’d take a day or two off and help her out once she is home. Damn shame about her getting shot.”

  “Something I don’t feel good about,” I said. “Saved my life. She is a tough lady.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, she says you saved hers as well. If you hadn’t tended to her wounds and gotten her the help when you did, she probably would have died. I know she is a little smitten with you. Hard not to feel something for a good-looking private detective. I know you’ve caught my eye many times when you walk in.”

  She has certainly caught mine as well. Tonight the thirtysomething woman wore pink capris and a dark blue halter top, braless from what I could tell, for the fabric barely contained her chest, nipples poking through. She had straight shoulder-length auburn hair she twirled between her fingers at times, with telling hazel eyes, with a few freckles on her cheeks. She was wearing flat shoes, but was still almost 5’10”, with a good firm rear end and smooth tanned legs and skin. We had talked a few times before, but never alone. April had mentioned her pleasurable disposition towards me, but I had always remained distant. For some reason tonight I was feeling amorous and wanting companionship. I needed a release and she might be able and willing to provide it.

  “Jessica, I don’t believe I know what you do for a living?” I asked.

  “Executive assistant to some asshole CEO,” she replied. “Got a bachelor’s degree to bring him coffee, make his travel and hotel arrangements, do his personal shopping, pick up his dry cleaning and make sure his wife doesn’t know about his mistress. It pays well but hardly challenges me. Every now and then I’m thrown a bone and actually do some real work.”

  The waitress brought me my chicken wings. I offered some to Jessica but she declined, for she had eaten earlier. I gnawed off the tender meat carefully, without making a total mess of myself. But there were plenty of napkins handy.

  “Sounds hideous, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

  “It is, most of the time. I hope not t
o do this forever. I have a profession on the side, that I hope someday will provide the income I need. What did you do to your hand?”

  I held it up, the two last fingers on my left hand bandaged. The knuckles still swollen.

  “I had someone try to point these two fingers towards the heavens by dislocating them. One of the hazards of my profession.”

  “Sounds painful.”

  “It was and still is. Though slowly healing.”

  “That speaks to my other profession. I sell essential oils. I have stuff which can help with the pain and healing.”

  I nodded my head. I was willing to try anything, if it helped at all. She reached for her purse and pulled out a black zipper pouch with small vials, removing one and showing it to me.

  “This should help,” she said.

  Taking the liquid, and pouring some on her fingers, she gently rubbed it into my exposed knuckles, her skin soft and soothing when contacting mine. It smelled minty and a little warm to the skin. Maybe it was smoke and mirrors, but it seemed to help. I flexed my fingers and found the pain didn’t seem as bad and I had more range of motion.

  “Definitely helped.”

  “It’s not magic. It won’t heal your injured tissue and joints instantly. You’ll need to apply each day, maybe several times. But it should help speed up the process.”

  “I’m sure that small bottle won’t last long. Do you have more?”

  “I have more out in my car.”

  “What does it cost?”

  “One drink and running interference to protect me from a loser. So you’ve already paid. Care to escort me to my car?”

  We both finished off our drinks while I finished off the wings, and I walked her out. On the way her body kept brushing up against me. She certainly wasn’t tipsy, but was doing this to let me know she was interested. When we got to her car, she opened the trunk and found what she was looking for, placing it in my right hand, while squeezing it, her skin pleasurable to the touch.

  “I could also provide a massage for you as well, if you want to come to my place. Deep tissue will rub those worries away. Once you are relaxed we could take a swim and sit in the hot tub at my townhouse and enjoy each other’s company.”

  She still held my hand, as I looked into her eyes. I pulled her forward, took a minute and kissed her. I felt a surge in my body I’d not felt in a while. She didn’t resist any, and actually squeezed in closely, her hands on my chest. Her heart rate was increasing, as was mine.

  “Nice,” she said after ending the kiss. “I’m guessing that is a yes to the massage.”

  I mouthed the positive answer and was ready to plunge in head first, when my cell phone rang. When I looked and saw the name, I knew I had to answer it.

  “Sorry, I need to take this. Please wait here.”

  I stepped away and hit the answer button. The nervous voice on the other end, matched the name on my phone.

  “I need to meet with you,” said Wilmar Boylan. His timing couldn’t have been worse.

  “When?” I asked, hoping for something like tomorrow.

  “Tonight. Right now if you can. I have new information about Aaron’s death.”

  I could hear the quake in his voice. I wondered if he lived his whole life nervous.

  “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

  There was a pause of silence, as if he muted his phone. Then I could hear his breathing, which was labored.

  “No, right now. Come by my office. This is big news. And I can’t give it over the phone.”

  Crap, I said to myself. I was primed for a little interaction with Jessica. But duty came first.

  “OK. Give me about thirty minutes.”

  “You know where it is?”

  “The same as the address on the document?”

  “Yes. And come alone.”

  I looked at my phone and it showed after eight.

  “How do I get in so late at night?”

  “The front entrance isn’t secured. Text me when you are in the parking lot. I’ll text back and then you come on up to the third floor. Knock on my door and I’ll let you in.”

  “This better be good.”

  Another long pause.

  “It is.” And he ended the call.

  I turned and walked back to Jessica. I reached out my hand to grab hers.

  “I’m sorry but I have to leave. Something related to the case I mentioned earlier, which I have to deal with. It could be important.”

  She had a look of disappointment, but seemed to understand.

  “If you finish up early, call me,” she said. “I’ll be up for a while. Here is my card.” She wrote her home address on the back. “I’m not generally to bed until eleven or so. If I know you are coming over, then I can stay up as late as necessary. I can always call in sick if you decide to keep me active all night.”

  She leaned in and wrapped her arms around me, kissing me, her heated chest against mine. I paused as she drove away, cursing I had to wait, hoping the meeting wouldn’t last long, as I headed towards his office, trying to concentrate on the task at hand and not on Jessica’s body and mine entwined. I was in a daze of languor the whole way there.

  Chapter 37

  Back to where this all started, now I stood there with Adam King’s gun pointed at me, uncertain what to do. Thoughts filled my head of why he was there again. He kept popping up into this case, like a bad disease. And now it looked as if he might have killed my cyber informant, who had inside information on WANN Systems that might solve a murder. I needed to stall for time.

  “Adam, what are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing,” he said.

  His hand was shaking some. I hoped the gun didn’t have a hair-trigger. Mine still was at my side. If his went off all I could do was hope to move fast enough and shoot back. Of course at this distance that was unlikely and I’d be dead before getting off a shot.

  “I was called here to meet someone.” I said.

  “Who?”

  I looked over his shoulder at the dead body of Wilmar, and pointed at him.

  “The dead man over there. The one you shot.”

  “Me?”

  “You have the gun.”

  “So do you.”

  On instinct I holstered mine, hoping he’d feel less threatened.

  “Mine wasn’t pointed, ready to fire.”

  Adam had a stunned look on his bruised face, from where I’d hit him. He finally lowered his gun.

  “I didn’t kill him, Jarvis. I reached this room shortly before you. Found him this way. I pulled my gun to make sure the killer didn’t come back. When you stepped in, I was prepared to shoot whomever it was.”

  “Did you call the police?”

  “Hell no. Didn’t you hear me? I just got here. No time. I wanted to make sure they didn’t circle around and take me out too.”

  “So, you didn’t see anyone.”

  Adam looked as if he had an answer, but didn’t say anything.

  “Look, this man was about to feed me some important information. You keep worming into my case like the parasite you are. If you know something, you better damn well tell me. Or I’m going to punch it out of you, gun or no gun, and then call the police.”

  He hesitated, trying to find an answer, his free feeling the felt on his cheek.

  “Not here. Not now. We need to get out of here before the cops show up and think we did it.”

  “Leaving the scene of the crime is a criminal offense.”

  “I don’t care. If you don’t leave, then I will. And you can’t stop me.”

  “Let me smell your gun?”

  He looked at me as if I was crazy. I offered my gun to him, handle first.

  “Here, check mine and you’ll see it’s not been used. I need to make sure it wasn’t you. So let me check the gun to see if it had been fired.”

  He handed it over to me. Not wanting to put my fingerprints on it, I pulled out my handkerchief and held it. A q
uick whiff confirmed what he said was true.

  “Did you touch anything?”

  “No. I saw the door open, pulled my gun and pushed it open with my elbow. Believe it or not, I’m not a complete idiot.”

  I wanted to counter, but figured now was not the time.

  “OK, there is a fifties diner on the east side of Arapahoe and I-25. Let’s meet there and talk. I will call into the police.”

  We got outside and once in my car I called into the Denver dispatch that I was worried about a phone call I’d gotten earlier from a lead and could they send a unit over to check on him. Then I sent a text to Jessica, telling her things had gotten even more complicated and I would be up very late tonight and couldn’t come over. Though I hoped to take her up on the offer at a later date. Her frowny-face response didn’t improve my mood any. After that I arrived at Gunther Toody’s and found Adam King sitting in one of the nostalgic fifties-style booths, with built-in jukebox, though the music likely was digital. I was hungry and ordered a burger, fries and chocolate shake. He didn’t want anything and just ordered a soda, after which the waitress reminded us they’d be closing soon. As I sat there I wondered how best to approach what had taken place. Something was going on I wasn’t seeing. King was a pest, but even more so on this case. There had to be a reason beyond his normal predatory behavior.

  “Something is going on here, King, I’m not aware of. It’s time to ’fess up.”

  He thought over his response before replying.

  “I’m on a case myself,” he said. “I was supposed to keep an eye on two Asian men.”

  This couldn’t be a coincidence.

  “Let me guess. Were their names Cong and Lok?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who hired you?”

  “Come on, you know I can’t tell you that.”

  “You don’t have that many clients, so I’d be willing to guess Bristol & Bristol.”