Mystery on the Tramway

by Albert Simon

  Henry turned the car onto Highway one-eleven and passed the turnoff to Tramway Road as they headed for Interstate 10 before he spoke to Charles about the tramway slaying. “Wayne did ask me to help, but he knows that I’ll be busy with Gloria in the next week or so. I told him that his problem was definitely not first on my priority list.”

  “The Desert Sun says that Palm Springs finest are baffled, I’m surprised that Wayne didn’t call you in earlier. You’re getting quite a reputation for solving the unsolvable you know.” Charles looked over at Henry not without some pride.

  “Stymied, the paper says they’re stymied, not baffled.” Henry corrected with a smile.

  “Same thing. The newspaper says that the police may be calling in a freelance investigator to help them solve this crime. That would be you.” Charles looked out the window as they came down the sweeping onramp and headed west on Interstate 10.

  “I didn’t read that, the paper said that? I hardly qualify as a freelance investigator. I’m just helping out a friend, that’s all.” Henry couldn’t believe that the paper would be referring to him as an investigator. He was just a retired police chief who enjoyed the occasional challenge. Maybe he had solved two murders in the past three months, and that one last year, but that didn’t make him an investigator. Or did it?

  “I know that the FBI sends you a check every time you do a job for them, you’re just lucky that you’ve been able to do all your work on the Internet. As your reputation grows, you’re going to start getting calls from all over the country from your ex-colleagues and you’ll be flying all over the place to investigate unsolved murders for cops everywhere.” Charles was carrying this a little far, but it wasn’t inconceivable that Henry’s ability to profile victims and figure who might have wanted to kill them and thereby solve the unsolvable would strengthen his reputation amongst his former colleagues.

  “Hey, hold on just a minute. I’m retired and have no interest in going back to work. The online thing with the Feds is more of a hobby, I’m almost embarrassed to take their money. The way you describe it, that’s a job. I don’t need a job, I like to play pool, swim laps for exercise and hang out with my friends.” Henry was adamant that he didn’t want to fulfill Charles’ prophecy.

  “Ok, then you’re going to need to stop taking calls from guys like Bill Rustow, like you did two months ago.” Charles looked over at Henry to see what his reaction was.

  “You’re right. I’ll help Wayne with this mystery, it is pretty interesting, but I won’t take any more calls from my former colleagues, and that includes Bill Rustow. On the other hand, if I hadn’t gone up to Tuolumne County to help out Rustow, I would have never met Gloria.” Henry took his eyes off the road and gave Charles a “so there” look.

  “True, but now that you’ve met Gloria there is no need to go running around and getting hurt again. You want to enjoy your life with her don’t you? Remember what happened.” Charles was in his teacher mood now, gently chastising Henry for getting hurt during his adventures in California’s Mother Lode.

  “Yeah, I don’t need your reminders. I have the scar to prove it. I think you might be able to help me with this tramway thing though, had you ever heard the victim’s name before?” Henry asked, taking the Fields Road turnoff from the Interstate to head to the outlet mall.

  “Gwynn wasn’t it? No, I can’t say that I have.” Charles thought about it, he didn’t recall anyone.

  “It’s Quinn, Terrance Quinn. He lived with his partner Robert Silverstein over in the Deep Well area of Palm Springs.” Henry corrected.

  “Head for the East Wing of the mall, we’re going to WestPoint Stevens, you should try to find some parking in the courtyard right in front of the store. Quinn I don’t know, but Robert Silverstein sounds familiar. I know that name from somewhere.” Charles looked out the window for parking places even though they had a little ways to go.

  Henry found a parking spot close to the store in the mall’s courtyard. The mall was relatively quiet; July was the off season in Palm Springs. The weather was too hot for most tourists, there were several buses with foreign visitors who were taking advantage of the outlet’s prices, but otherwise, there was a lot of parking space and no one on the sidewalks. They walked into the large bedding store and Charles led the way towards the sheet sets.

  “Robert Silverstein, I know him from the AIDS hospice where I work.” Charles stopped turned so suddenly in the aisle that Henry bumped into him.

  “Oops, sorry. Is he another volunteer, like you?” Henry asked.

  Charles slowly shook his head. “No, he’s sick. He’s really, really sick. He needs full time care, not the once a week drop in that he’s doing now.”

  “If he needs full-time care, why isn’t he getting it?”

  “Most likely it’s lack of money - that would be my guess. Plus I’m sure that his partner was taking care of him. You know, I learned first hand that no matter how good the work is that we do at the hospice, there’s nothing like being in your own home.” Charles looked wistful; no doubt he was recalling the year that he took off from teaching to take care of his partner, Jonathan.

  “Hey, how about one of these, isn’t that convenient?” Henry tried to snap his friend out of the melancholy mood that he was suddenly in.

  Charles turned around and pulled up his nose even before he started speaking. “A bed in a bag? Henry, pahleeeze. I thought you wanted luxury?”

  “Well some of these look nice, you don’t think these are luxurious?” Henry knew from Charles’ reaction that he was once again focused on their shopping excursion.

  “Henry, we want to look for Egyptian Cotton, 300 thread count at the least and more is better - closer to a thousand is more like it. Let’s not get the bed bags, no matter how convenient. Come on over here.” Charles led the way to some shelves stocked with packages with all different colors.

  “Thread count? I’m not sure I know what that is.” Henry followed Charles over.

  “Trust me on this Henry. Gloria will have the best night’s sleep she’s ever had.” Charles looked over the selection. “How’s this?”

  “What color is that? Pink? I guess that will work.” Henry looked at the package.

  “Pink? No Henry, you’re close, it’s peach. Here, hold this.” Charles put several packages into Henry’s arms. “Now we’ll need some shams, a dust ruffle and some new accent pillows.”

  “Ok, I trust you. Hey, do you think I could get some of these Arabian cotton sheets for my bed?” Henry started looking around for a shopping cart; Charles was putting too many things into his arms.

  “Egyptian cotton, Henry, not Arabian. Of course, we can get a new set of sheets for your bed as well. Let’s see, a nice cream color would look good in your room.”

  Two hundred dollars later they left the store with four large shopping bags filled with sheets and pillows and other things that Henry knew existed but that he had never purchased before. It was a good thing that they parked close and it was also good that the Grand Marquis had a large trunk; they had no problem putting their new treasures into it. Charles suggested that they go to another outlet store; he thought the bare guest room could use some new artwork. Henry agreed but wanted to have lunch first, so they set off to find a restaurant.

  They found a food court, Henry headed for the Chinese food counter while Charles had a baked potato with all the fixings. They sat at a table near the window and Henry gently asked Charles about taking care of his partner Jonathan before his death. Charles explained that his circumstance was much different than what it appeared that Terrance Quinn and Robert Silverstein’s situation was.

  The San Francisco School District that employed Charles provided full medical insurance benefits to same sex partners. He said that Jonathan could have gone into a hospital or care facility but that they had made the decision and he preferred to stay at home. Charles was able to get a leave of absence from his position as a history teacher at the high school and provided care until Jonatha
n passed away.

  Charles said it didn’t appear that Terrance Quinn had the same sort of benefits, so that probably wasn’t an option for them. He said that Robert was too sick to work at this point, so Terrance would have to care for him. Charles was concerned, now that Terrance had been murdered; he wondered who was going to take care of Robert. Henry suggested that the two of them go see Robert Silverstein, Charles could check up on him and Henry could find out a little more about Terrance Quinn and who would want to see him dead.

  They finished their lunch and walked over to a store that sold posters and prints. Charles picked out a nice framed print of a tranquil garden scene for the guest bedroom and they headed back for the car. It was hot out and Henry started the car and left the door open while he let the air conditioner start cooling the interior.

  They returned to the Interstate and drove back to Mel Avenue and Henry gave Charles the tramway employees contact sheet that Wayne had given him. Henry put the bed linens in the washing machine while Charles used the list to call Robert Silverstein to see if they could come by.

  Charles said that Robert was not feeling well and was going to take a nap. He said they could come later, after five o’clock would be ok. Charles said he was going to take a little nap as well. The gardeners had been at the house while they were at the store, everything looked great but Henry wasn’t satisfied. He picked up his pruning shears and headed into the backyard for some final touchups.

  A couple of hours later Charles helped Henry make the bed in the guest room. Henry agreed that the sheets, ruffle, shams and accent pillows made the bed look luxurious. Henry was sure that Gloria would be very comfortable in here. They hung the picture over the bed, actually Henry hung the picture while Charles told him where, and admired their work when they were all finished.

  They got back into Henry’s car and took Sunrise Way towards the Deep Well section of Palm Springs. A couple of minutes later Henry parked the Grand Marquis in front of a modest house on a tree lined street. Charles knocked on the door and they waited for quite a while before it was opened. The house was dark inside and they could barely see the man who opened the door. It didn’t take a doctor to see that this man was gravely ill. He was a walking skeleton with his mottled skin baggy over his bones. His hair was white and had no shine; his eyes were the same way, flat and unresponsive. He was gaunt and stooped and his bony hand rested on the top of a cane.

  “Robert Silverstein?” Henry asked.

  Robert just nodded and invited them in; their eyes had a hard time adjusting to the darkness.

  “Hello Robert, I haven’t seen you at the hospice for a few days.” Charles said.

  Robert coughed before answering. “I stopped driving some months ago and I haven’t had a ride over there in the past week. This has been a very difficult couple of days for me. Terrance’s death is a real shock; I don’t know why someone would want to do this to him.” He waived his arm at a couch and the two of them sat down. “I apologize that it’s so dark in here, I have to keep all the curtains closed, the light bothers my eyes.”

  “Do you mind answering a few questions about Terrance?” Henry asked gently.

  “I already talked with the police, are you with them?” Robert asked.

  “Well sort of, I’m a eh…”

  “Henry is an investigator who works on special cases as a liaison to the police department.” Charles interjected.

  “Oh, I see.” Robert said, coughing again. “How can I help?”

  “Did Terrance tell you if anyone was bothering him or anyone had something against him at work or anything?” Henry asked.

  “No, I don’t recall anything of that sort. Terrance was pretty easygoing, he got along with everyone.” Robert shook his head.

  “Did he get along well with his boss at the tramway?” Henry asked.

  “George? Sure, I mean their relationship was strictly that of manager and employee; Terrance and I didn’t socialize with anyone that Terrance worked with.” Robert pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and blew his nose.

  “Would that be George Margolis?” Henry asked.

  “Yeah, that’s right. Like I said, Terrance got along with everybody, at least I never heard Terrance say anything bad about anyone there. I knew who Margolis was of course, but I never talked to him until the night that Terrance… that Terrance… that Terrance passed on. We like keeping our private life private.”

  “Did anyone in particular stand out; did he talk about one person there more than anyone else?” Henry kept probing; he thought that someone who knew how the tramway operated would have the best opportunity to commit this type of murder. The most likely suspect was someone that Terrance worked with. Henry thought that this murder could be solved if he could find two things: a motive and a murder weapon.

  “You know, now that I think about it, Terrance did mention that new kid a bunch of times.” Robert recalled.

  “Which new kid is that?” Henry pulled the list of names of tramway employees out of his shirt pocket.

  “I forget his name, he has two first names.” Robert said.

  “Todd Gregory? He’s the kid that found Terrance’s body.” Henry looked up from his list.

  “He found him? I didn’t know that. The cops that were here didn’t say anything about that.” Robert shook his head.

  “There are some facts that the police don’t release to the press or to the public. They may not have told even you all of the details. The police investigators do that to make sure that kooks and weirdoes don’t confess to the crime.” Henry explained.

  “That makes sense. I thought they were withholding things from me because legally I’m not Terrance’s next of kin.” Robert said. “We’ve only been together for fifteen years.” He added sarcastically.

  “No, that’s not why, they have to keep some facts close to their vests to corroborate the true murderer’s story once they find him.” At least Henry hoped that was the reason that the detectives who had been here to talk with Robert had not told him all of the details about his partner’s death. “What did Terrance say about Todd Gregory?”

  “What did he say? I’m not sure. The kid started working there full time about a month or so ago. I think he was just out of high school when he started. I think they got along pretty well. From what Terrance said the kid kind of looked up to him.” Robert wiped his nose again. “I hope you don’t have too many more questions, I’m getting tired.”

  “No, we’re almost done.” Henry looked over at Charles who nodded. “Did Terrance do anything unusual in the past month or two?”

  “Unusual? I’m not sure what you mean by that, but no, I don’t recall anything out of the ordinary.” Robert answered; as he did he looked down at his hands.

  “Is there anything else you can think of that can help me find whoever did this to Terrance?” Henry felt that Robert knew more and that he was holding back something.

  “No, I don’t think so. I hope you find Terrance’s murderer, it would give me peace of mind and bring some closure. If I think of anything, can I contact you at the number the other detectives left behind?” Robert was coughing again.

  “I think it might be easier if you get hold of me through Charles.” Henry said looking at his friend.

  “I’ll come over tomorrow morning and take you to the hospice Robert.” Charles said.

  Robert looked up at Charles with tears in his eyes. “I’d really appreciate that.”

  Henry got up to leave, Robert appeared frail, he was afraid to shake his hand and hurt him but he held it out anyway. Robert’s grip was surprisingly strong for someone who looked as bad as he did. “Thank you for all your information Robert, I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  Charles got up and gave Robert a careful hug. “Don’t get up, we’ll let ourselves out.”

  “Thank you Charles, I really appreciate all of your efforts.” Robert said coughing again.

  Henry and Charles walked out the door and got into Henry’s car. �
�That was a sobering experience.” Henry said.

  “There are a lot of Roberts in the world.” Charles said staring straight out the windshield.

  “How is he going to pay for his medical care?” Henry asked turning back onto Sunrise Way to head home.

  “He’s probably going to have to sell that house, if they own it that is.” Charles said. “That will help, depending on how much equity he has of course. He won’t be able to live on his own much longer anyway, he doesn’t need that house. It’s become a liability, not an asset.”

  “What about Quinn’s life insurance?” Henry asked.

  “Well, you’re assuming that Terrance had a policy. If he and Robert were registered with the State of California as domestic partners, then any insurance policy that exists can be paid to Robert. But you’ll have to find the murderer first; life insurance companies are funny that way. You know as well as I do that if Terrance Quinn’s death is ruled a suicide, they won’t pay anyone.”

  “Yeah, I’m working on finding his killer.” Henry had no idea how Terrance Quinn had been murdered or who might have done it. He’d have to work on it a little harder especially if he could help out this poor sick man inside this house.