Mystery on the Tramway

by Albert Simon

  Chapter 4

  The next morning Henry was swimming laps trying to organize his thoughts and figure out what he knew about the tramway murder. He realized that it was taking up a lot of his thinking, and while he never for one moment forgot Gloria was coming tomorrow, he was challenged by this mysterious puzzle Wayne had thrown at him. His thoughts of Gloria took a second place in his mind, at least momentarily. His watch started beeping; he’d already been swimming for forty-five minutes.

  He climbed out of the pool and sat on the chaise lounge watching the sun come up the rest of the way. Palm Springs was beautiful this time of the morning, and Henry enjoyed sitting here in his little oasis watching and hearing the world wake up around him. This was the kind of morning that made the early day life make sense here in the desert.

  When he first moved here, Henry was amazed at how early there was traffic on the road, people having breakfast or riding bicycles and shoppers in the grocery store. Then at nine o’clock everyone slowly disappeared and everything got quiet as though he were living in Sleeping Beauty’s castle and someone was pricked by a poisoned pin. The heat of the day started shortly after nine o’clock, that’s when most folks shut themselves inside their air conditioned houses not to come out again until the evening breeze brought some relief from the heat.

  He looked over and saw the first rays of the sun hit the top of Mount San Jacinto and was reminded again of the tramway that climbed to its top. A gorgeous sunrise like this morning’s was something that Terrance Quinn was never going to experience again. That thought was sobering and made Henry more determined to find his killer.

  He had enough time today to go out to the tramway to talk with Quinn’s boss, George Margolis, before going grocery shopping this afternoon. He wanted to stock the refrigerator, pick up some wine, and maybe get some flowers for the dining table. His house looked really good and he wanted it to look great, though as the guys said, Gloria wasn’t coming to visit the house; she was coming to visit Henry.

  Getting up, he wrapped the towel around himself and walked through the French doors into the kitchen. He started the coffee pot and while it was brewing, went into his bathroom to take a shower. After some toast and several cups of coffee he drove over to the tramway.

  It was early and the parking lot had only a few cars in it. Henry parked his car and reached behind his seat to put his sun shade on the dashboard. He wasn’t sure that these screens really worked, but he thought it probably had to. Even though it was just after nine o’clock in the morning, the temperature, even here above the valley floor, was already ninety-five degrees. By the time he got back to the car, it could well be over one hundred ten.

  Henry walked over to the Valley Station. He could see the thick cables heading up the steep Chino Canyon, he couldn’t see the top of the tram from here, but he did spot the first two towers of the cableway. The first tram of the day was in the station waiting for passengers. Henry walked over to the station and asked the ticket seller behind the window if he could talk with George Margolis. She looked at him and apparently decided that he was legitimate, picked a walkie talkie up from the desk and asked Margolis to come to the box office.

  Henry looked around the little souvenir shop while he waited for Margolis to show up. There were numerous black and white pictures of the tramway’s construction and Henry read some of the stories of the numerous helicopter flights it took to build all but the first of the cable towers. He was looking at a display that detailed the recent renovation of the tramway when he felt someone walk up behind him.

  “Mr. Wright I presume?” A deep voice asked.

  Henry turned around to see a short powerfully built man in his late forties with black hair that was graying at the temples wearing a khaki uniform with a tramway patch above his left shirt pocket. Henry held out his hand and received a firm handshake. “Yes, I’m Henry Wright, but please call me Henry.”

  “Good to meet you Henry, I’m George Margolis. I called Wayne Johnson at the police department yesterday afternoon to see if he had any news on who did this terrible thing. He told me that you would probably be coming by to see me.”

  “I’m happy to meet you as well George. Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” Henry wondered how Wayne knew that he was going to come by the tramway. He hadn’t mentioned where he was going to go or who he was going to talk with. Then again, since he told Wayne that he was going to look into this killing for him, the tramway was the logical place to start. He wondered how many other people would be expecting him.

  “Sure, let’s go to the employees’ lunch room. Do you want any coffee? George turned and headed out of the public area of the Valley Station and towards a building on the other side of the cableway.

  “Well, I just had two cups at home, but I never turn down a fresh cup.” Henry followed George into a brightly lit room with a sink, refrigerator and a large coffeemaker. Henry sat down in one of the plastic chairs at a small round table while George headed for the coffeepot.

  “Well, no telling how fresh it is, how do you take it?” George asked grabbing a Styrofoam cup off a tall stack of new cups.

  “Just black, please.” Henry looked around. Obviously the tramway took good care of its staff, though everything in this room was basic and whoever picked out the furniture and appliances was obviously on a tight budget.

  George dug into his pocket and put some money into a box on the counter and handed Henry his cup. Henry raised an eyebrow. “If I had known that you had to pay for my coffee, I would not have agreed to have some.”

  “Oh, it’s not a big deal really. We charge fifty cents a cup; it covers the costs and keeps people from wasting the coffee. Payment is on the honor system and we find that it works pretty well.” George pulled another plastic chair out and sat down across the table from Henry. “Now, how can I help you?”

  “Well, I should probably start by telling you that I’m not with the police department, I’m eh, sort of a freelance investigator working with the police on their investigation.” Henry explained.

  “Ok, I understand. But you’re working with them so I should answer your questions as though you are a policeman right? By the way, you look like you could be with the police.” George said.

  “Actually I’m a retired police chief.” Henry took a sip of the coffee, it wasn’t very good, but he was determined to drink it since George had been nice enough to pay for it. He decided that in the future he would not bother explaining his relationship with the police; he was just going to ask his questions, he could always explain later if he needed to.

  “Ok, that explains a lot. You look like a retired police chief, kind of like Andy Taylor before he became Matlock, but skinnier and very short hair.” George smiled.

  Henry smiled at the reference to two of his favorite classic television shows. “Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “I suppose you will want to know all about how the tram operates and you will want me to take you for a ride on it later.”

  “At some point I will. But the way that I work, I’d like to start with finding out more about the victim, Terrance Quinn. How well did you know him, how did he get along with others, how long did he work for you? I may want to ride the tram over the weekend, but I can just do that with the tourists.” Henry set his cup down on the table.

  “Ok, let’s see. Where do I start? Do you want to take notes or something?” George asked.

  “No, I tend to work without notes; my memory is pretty good, unless you start giving me phone numbers and stuff, those I have to write down.” Henry smiled.

  “Terrance was already working here when I was hired. I think at first he was a little upset when he had to work for me, he was also a candidate for this position. After a while, he got over it, I think that he saw the kind of hours that this job demands and he didn’t want to do that.” George shrugged his shoulders as though he was sorry that he put in as many hours as he did.

  “So the two of you got along ok th
en?” Henry pushed the cup with awful coffee away from himself, he wanted to be nice to George, but didn’t want to drink the foul stuff either.

  “Well, I was his boss, and he was an employee. I wouldn’t say that we were buddies like we didn’t go out after work and drink beer and watch football, Quinn wasn’t that type. He was very professional here but always kept to himself. I was kind of surprised when he took young Todd Gregory under his wing the way that he did.” George got up and walked to the water cooler, and got himself a drink in a little paper cone.

  “Can I have some water? I’m kind of coffeed out here.” Henry had an apologetic look on his face.

  “Frankly, I don’t see how you can drink that mud. I usually stop at the Starbucks on Palm Canyon before coming to work.” George laughed.

  Henry chuckled as well; George could have told him that before he poured him a cup he thought. “How did Quinn take Todd Gregory under his wing?”

  “Todd Gregory started here part-time last January. He was still attending Palm Springs High School and got school credit for his job with us as part of their work experience program. He did a good job, so three weeks ago when he graduated; we brought him on full time. Quinn had been looking after the kid and was sort of mentoring him along, teaching him not just about the tramway, but showing him proper work habits.”

  “Do you know if they socialized outside of the office?” Henry asked getting up to refill his paper water cone.

  “Not really, like I said, Quinn wasn’t the type that you’d go out with for pizza and beer. But you know I just remembered something you might find helpful, I found out that they made a little gambling run to Vegas on a day off a couple of weeks ago. I thought that was a little bit unusual, like I said Quinn wasn’t the kind that would go out after work and socialize with his colleagues. He usually went straight home alone, never hung around work when he was done. I guess he really liked the kid though, taking him under his wing like that.” George explained.

  “Did you mention the trip to Vegas to the police?”

  “No, I just now thought of it as I’m telling you.”

  “Did you know that Quinn was gay?” Henry stopped at the water cooler.

  “Not until this guy that called himself his partner, Robert, I think, called the morning after the night that he was killed. I guess I never really thought about it, I thought he was single.” George was almost apologetic. He felt as though he should have known a little more about his employee.

  “Quinn was going home straight after work every day to take care of his partner. Robert Silverstein is a very sick man and needs a lot of care.” Henry solemnly told Margolis.

  “I never knew.” Margolis shook his head. “Like I said, Quinn didn’t talk about his home life at all.”

  “Do you know if Quinn and Todd Gregory spent the night in Las Vegas on their little trip?” Henry asked.

  “Spent the night? I wouldn’t know. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but Vegas is a four-and-a-half hour drive from here. Driving makes for a long day, and hotel rooms there are cheap. When the wife and I go, we spend the night, have a nice dinner, sometimes we catch a show. They both had two days off, so I suppose it’s possible that they made the same arrangements. On the other hand, with two drivers, they could have managed a day trip. If Terrance were gone overnight, wouldn’t Robert Silverstein know the answer to that question?” George looked puzzled.

  “You’re right; maybe I’ll go over and have a word with him.” Henry said. He didn’t want to say that he’d already talked with Silverstein who had not mentioned anything about a trip that his partner took to Las Vegas. Henry felt that Robert was withholding something yesterday afternoon, was this what he had kept quiet about? Was there a chance that he didn’t know about the trip? Would Quinn have kept that a secret from Silverstein? Henry knew that Wayne Johnson had put an APB out on young Todd, it seemed as though Gregory was a key figure in this mystery. Perhaps he should go over and talk with the young man’s parents to see if they knew where he was hiding. “What about his work, was Quinn a good employee?”

  “He was very professional. I think he enjoyed working here, he was always nice to the tourists and I never had any complaints. He stayed on here when the tram was closed for a few months for refurbishment a few years ago. There are always tasks to do, so he was busy cleaning, painting and doing general maintenance work while the new cars and counterweights were being put in.” George shook his head. “It’s really a shame that he was killed the way that he was. Everyone here will miss him.”

  “You said that he was up for your job before you were hired. Did he ever indicate any kind of jealousy towards you?” Henry asked.

  “No, like I said he was always professional. I actually found out long after I was hired from our administrator, Nancy, that he was a candidate for my job. He certainly never let on to me that he tried to get my position and he never made me feel that he held a grudge when I joined the team.” George stood up. “You know, I now realize that I didn’t know that much about him. I feel bad about that.”

  “It sounds as though he didn’t want you to know that much about him. Don’t feel bad about it. How about Todd Gregory, was he jealous of Quinn?” Henry stood as well.

  “I’m afraid that I know even less about him. All I know is what I told you that he started here full-time after graduating. I think he still lives with is parents, Nancy in the office can probably get you the address.” George opened the door to the lunchroom. “Can I show you the tram?”

  “Oh, sure, I’ll have a quick look at it. I think I may come back after the holiday to ride it though.” Henry followed George out the door and back to where the sleek white gondola was hanging on the cable waiting.

  “That’s fine; I’ll get you a couple of complimentary passes you can use anytime. This is the quiet time of year; you shouldn’t have to wait at all, though the evening trams are busier as everyone comes back down.”

  Just as they walked to the tram, the last of the tourists were just boarding for their ride up. The gondola operator waved at George as he was pulling the door closed. “Well, so much for showing you the tram car.” George said wistfully as with a quiet woosh and a sound of a powerful electric hum somewhere deep in the station complex the gondola smoothly pulled out of the station and briefly swung back and forth on its cable before steadying and heading up towards the canyon.

  Henry watched its departure and his stomach felt just a little queasy. “Gee, that sure looks powerful, how long does it take to get to the top?”

  George was proud of the tramway; it showed in his voice as he spoke. “The gondola holds eighty people but for comfort we usually limit it to sixty-five. It takes about twenty minutes to travel the two-and-a-half miles of cable before arriving at the Mountain Station at the top of Mount San Jacinto, these cars rotate twice during the trip, it’s quite a ride. You really should go up, there’s a nice video that we play up there that shows the construction and the opening by the original Governor Brown in 1963.”

  “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to do that.” Suddenly Henry was not looking as forward to riding the tram. He figured he had to; he wanted to get a look at how this murder could have been committed during its twenty minute ride down the mountain.

  “If you have the time, the tram coming down will be here in twenty minutes. They pass each other mid-way on the cable. The two cars are identical, in fact the car that is on its way down is the one in which Quinn was found.” George was still watching the tram climb its way up, it had just passed the first of the five towers.

  “Not right now, thanks though. I think you’ve helped a tremendous amount.” Henry wasn’t ready to ride up the tram; not that he was afraid of heights or claustrophobic, but he thought maybe he would be more enjoyable going up with Gloria. Thinking of Gloria made him look at his watch. He pulled his grocery list out of his pocket and decided that since Mel Avenue was between here and Jensen’s, he’d stop off at home to see if Charles needed anything. It woul
d give him an excuse to ask him what he wanted to know.

  “If you hang on a second and wait right here, I’ll be right back.” George said, walking into the main building.

  Henry was already thinking ahead to his shopping trip and Gloria’s arrival tomorrow and momentarily forgot where he was. “Oh sure, I’ll be right here.”

  George came back in five minutes with two large tickets for a complimentary tram trip and a sheet of paper with Todd Gregory’s home address and emergency contact information printed on it. Henry shook his hand and walked back towards the parking lot. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was already nearly eleven; he’d better get started on his errands.

  He started the Mercury Marquis and let the engine run with the door open; the car was well over one hundred and twenty degrees inside. He reached for the bottle of water he had left in the cup holder but despite his window shade the car had heated up sufficiently to make the water tepid and he put it back.