Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition

by Moulton, CD

  “There isn’t any way to perhaps delay ... I guess not if you’ve sent the serial numbers out. You know a lot more than they guessed about it.

  “Does the Halverson woman know anything or is she just caught up in the intrigues because of who her father was?”

  “The latter.”

  “I can at least make that clear. I can’t make any guarantees. None of them have a chance, anyhow. No telling what they’ll do.”

  “As you say, they don’t have a chance anyhow, so what good would it do to go after her?”

  He shook his head. “You don’t know how those people, excuse the expression, think,” he said with a grimace. “Thanks. I wish you hadn’t found that chest. The word is that you found two. What’s that about?”

  “One was an authentic treasure chest.”

  “Christ! Why couldn’t I have found that?!”

  “Because you didn’t know where to look.”

  “I noticed you went away from the runnel. I didn’t hang around out there. How did you find it?”

  “We asked an Indio where to look. He said the runnel wasn’t where it is now fifty years ago. We found an even older runnel path and checked out both. Both had chests.”

  “The Indios know that much about where to look?! Why didn’t they?!”

  “They aren’t interested in old treasures. They bring more trouble than they’re worth,” Clint said. “You haven’t a clue as to how they think. They tend to be practical and basic. Treasure may be pretty or whatever, but you can’t eat it, it won’t keep you warm or cool, it doesn’t cure sickness. Leave it to when you have the time to waste on such things.”

  “But they can sell the stuff and have everything!”

  “The government gets most of it and will screw them out of the rest.”

  “But ... why? I mean ... Christ!”

  “Their culture doesn’t have ownership as any real part of it. I can’t explain it. You don’t have the basic concepts.”

  He shook his head. “I guess so. Thanks. I appreciate your help. I wish we had simply asked you about things before. You would probably have told us.”

  Clint nodded. “Most of it, anyway.”

  Brandon headed out. Clint went back inside and called Manolo. “Cano,” is all he said.

  There was a short silence. “It positive or an educated guess?”

  “The half-brother of Sylvia Gordas is a Cano. Nephew. He’s afraid he won’t survive the day.”

  “Tell him to contact Peter P. Hanson. He can possibly be protected and put on a witness protection plan in the states. They REALLY want information about Josefus Cano and his cronies!”

  “Within three days there won’t BE any Canos,” Clint pointed out. “Problem finally brought to a reasonable conclusion.”

  “But we can get very valuable information from them if we can get to them before the others do.”

  “There is that,” Clint agreed.

  He chatted awhile, then called Manny to tell him what he’d learned. Manny said he sort of thought it might be Cano. He was very cool about it and the operative then said he was the only one who wasn’t scared shitless among them all. Now the family will be wiped out because of what grandpa did. Grandpa – who died thirty five years ago.

  “I sort of feel sorry for some of them. They got trapped into something before they were born. Something they didn’t have a clue about.”

  “I think the ones who got out of the business will be Okay. The ones still in it don’t get any sympathy from me!”

  “I suppose,” Clint replied. “How’s the wife and family?”

  “Point taken. I don’t have anything like that hanging over me. I wonder if maybe Pop did, but I’m sure he would have warned me.”

  They talked a little more. Manny would come into Bocas about seven. They would get a meal and spend some time getting to know Gina, who Judi had said would probably end up a permanent part of their group. Everyone liked her – and she was seriously considering being a more or less permanent part of Clint’s life.

  Clint learned the strangest things about his own life this way!

  Deadly Day

  “Avenidas seems to have skipped – or would have. The idiot union has all the boats blocked from coming and going here,” Dave announced. He was with Gina at the new little restaurant where four or five had already failed near the office. “He’s either paid somebody to take him to Almirante or he’s hiding somewhere on the island.”

  “What’s it about?” Clint asked. “I know there were some people killed when a water taxi hit a cayuca full of people, then the water taxis are blocked. Everybody knows that was the fault of the driver of the water taxi and no one else. How did any union get into that mess?”

  “They’re using it for an excuse. It’s like the big union crap in the states awhile back. They did this kind of thing, as much as the government let them get by with, got their union, thought they were getting a better deal and would make a lot of money, paid union fees so that bunch of crime syndicate got rich, wages went up about ten percent, then prices went up twenty percent, they were paying union dues on top of it, they actually lost their asses and those crooked unions are still there and still a major base of inflation. Credit got easy, so everybody seemed to have more than ever, but they were in debt up to their eyeballs until the credit crash came along – but they could get money from their credit union and go into debt even more ... why am I preaching to the choir?” Dave said disgustedly. “The same thing will happen here. It’s part of the human stupidity condition. It’s all there to see, but history has never been listened to and never will. People are collectively stupid. It could turn your stomach.

  “Off the soapbox. Would Manny know when and how many Canos are getting erased?”

  “He’ll be here later. So long as none of the innocent are involved, I say to let it lie,” Clint said.

  “What about the relatives who aren’t involved in it?” Gina asked. “No one gives a thought to them.”

  “Manny says things have changed enough that anyone who got out of the crap that started it will probably be alright. They don’t go after anyone not still in the business,” Judi said. “I think I agree with Manny about that. If you stayed in the business I can’t work up any sympathy for you.”

  They changed the subject for awhile, but got back to it. They knew things would be hard to get until the water taxis and ferry were running again. The people who would actually be hurt were the tourists and businesses that catered to them. Then the very people who were on strike would suffer because groceries and supplies would become a problem. The people who lived out of Bocas Town wouldn’t have much trouble, except at the tourist hotels. Tourism would be hurt very badly for a couple of years more, minimum. Maybe permanently, because prices on the island would skyrocket. It was going to cost a lot more to get anything out there and it was already known that prices on Isla Colón were at least double those as close as Almirante, on the mainland. That was why Judi and her friends went to Almirante and Changuinola every month. If it was going to cost more on the taxis they would pool and use someone’s boat among their own group. Screw the idiocy. Martinelli was a businessman. He could surely see what was going to happen to tourism because of this.

  “What do you suggest?” Gina asked.

  “Well, they’re blocking public access on the water, which is public property. Round up the union thugs and put them away for a couple of years,” Dave suggested.

  “How could he ever get away with that?!” Judi asked.

  “Reagan got away with it in the states because the general public, who he’s supposed to protect, was being hurt. Business was being hurt. The economy was being hurt. The airlines themselves weren’t the important feature. They were a necessity,” Dave said drily. “That water traffic is necessary to the economy of Panamá. DO something about it!

  “I thought we were going to talk about something else.”

  “There’s nothing but that and the Cano thing to talk about,”
Judi pointed out. Dave gave her the finger.

  They decided to wander around a bit. Avenidas figured that he was safer with them than alone in hiding and found them. They didn’t want him around, but he would drag along. Dave asked him if he was a Cano or just involved for some other reason.

  “I’m a second cousin,” he said.

  “You aren’t in any danger unless you’re still involved with them,” Judi said.

  He didn’t answer that. Clint smirked at him and said eventually what you do comes back to haunt you. As the Seger song says, no one gets to walk between the rain.

  “But you can carry an umbrella,” Gina said. “Oh! WE’RE your umbrella.”

  “If the wind whips up too strong an umbrella becomes a liability,” Dave replied. “What are we doing? Competing for the worst metaphor of the month?” Everyone except Avenidas gave him the finger.

  “Mr. Faraday, it is well-known that you are acquainted with some powerful people involved in that business. Could I impose upon you to have them intercede? I am NOT involved in that kind of thing. I’m merely stretching the rules a bit in the real estate and stockbroker business. No one is hurt who can’t afford it.”

  “Then why was Betina Blakley here?” Clint asked. “We aren’t stupid. There ain’t no way my friends – who are in the Mediterranean at the moment – will get involved in this kind of thing.”

  “I knew there was a very large cache of money hidden somewhere in the area. I thought it may be as much as two million dollars. Those things are always exaggerated. I also knew she would be the only person in the world who would know how to find it. The fact that her father paid me for certain services with articles from the chest told me that.

  “She’s the one who killed her own father, you know. I have no sympathy with what happened to her.”

  “YOU happened to her,” Clint said. “As you might say, she deserved worse. I don’t really care about her. I care about what happened since.”

  “When that chest was found it was a shock to me that there was so much money. I think she was the one who caused its discovery. She didn’t know much about it. She did know there was some money in the chest, I think. She would claim she had rights to the contents, except for the money. When it was found to contain millions she panicked. That would mean explanations she couldn’t tender if she knew about the chest in the first place.

  “Then Jul ... a certain person contacted her and me. Very powerful people in Colombia wanted to know what was in the chest. Relatives of mine.

  “I did not kill her – but I was there. She didn’t know where the second chest was. The man from the family became enraged. He killed her when she said he could kiss her ass. She wouldn’t be intimidated enough to tell trash such as he anything. No man would ever again make her do anything.

  “His sister, therefore a more distant relative of mine, is living with a man here for the purpose of observing. That second chest must not be discovered, then it was. John Brandon took it upon himself to find the chest. He had no idea of what it contained or why it was so important. He was drawn into it through his naivete. You observed him and found the chest. When it was reported that you found absolutely nothing in that chest to point to anyone, everybody relaxed. Then you checked the serial numbers of those bills and they told the whole story. It was marked money. It was plain from that point who had received the money, thus who was the person who sold out competing businessmen to the E.U.A. Only they would have a hundred fifty million dollars cash with registered serial numbers as to who received the money. They never stop looking for such sums. None of it ever was passed.

  “You know the rest – or the parts that could concern anyone here, except for myself and any other close relative of Josefus Cano.”

  “Yes. Sylvia’s half-brother,” Clint said.

  “Half-brother?” he snarled. “She doesn’t have any HALF-brother. She had two brothers. She’s a niece. She hasn’t hidden that from them with a bunch of phony papers. They know one hell of a lot more about how that works than she does!”

  “Apparently, she thinks she’s safe,” Clint said.

  “No one is safe. She’s involved in the wrong parts of it,” Avenidas replied. “I worry that John, who is a rather decent sort, might end up dead because of this. He doesn’t have any way to know about what’s involved. He doesn’t know anything about the relatives or the money or anything else the rest of the people here know.

  “There is the blessing that it is so difficult to reach the island right now, but it is also most difficult to leave.”

  “Brandon has a boat. She can leave,” Dave said. “You can come and go, it’s just more expensive now.

  “Apparently, Julio is still here. Did you consider that?”

  “Who ... Okay. I made that slip. Julio is family. He’s also marked for extinction. He’s Sylvia’s brother. We might arrange to use the Brandon boat, but that will be watched. We would be going right to them, no matter where we went.”

  “How much information do you have?” Clint asked.

  “A lot. I learned a great deal from my father and uncle and have kept abreast of the situations and persons since I was fifteen years old.”

  “Take the boat to ... like you’re on your way to Cusapin. It would be logical that you might hide there for quite a time. Get a throwaway cell phone, leave me the number. No one else. I’ll arrange for a person to contact you when you’re in a certain area on the way. If anyone can make you disappear, he can. You will answer any calls to that phone with the words, ‘It’s your dime. Habla.’ The answer will be, ‘Bloody hell! I got the wrong number!’ It’ll probably cost you. He’s not in the charity business. He’ll make a deal with people from here and the US who need your information. I’ll tell you flatly that he’ll also sell them the information. He will not sell to the highest bidder. He has that going for him. Within his ... area of expertise, he is known as being completely trustworthy.

  “It’s your only chance. I think he can protect you until the people who want the information can take over. There’s a good chance they can protect you.”

  “We have no choice. To refuse is suicide.”

  Manny came up. Clint explained that Avenidas wanted to make a deal with a mutual friend who was in the Mediterranean – and who would not make deals for this kind of thing. He explained what he was setting up. Manny, who was the person who was supposed to be in the Mediterranean, nodded. He said maybe it would work. He couldn’t think of a better plan.

  Avenidas called Sylvia, who said their place was being watched. They didn’t dare go outside, though they might be a little safer because it was so hard to leave. It was an island, so the police could find them pretty fast.

  “Get the boat, get the two others, meet me at the ferry dock. Don’t take much, but bring all the cash you can get together. All of you. We have one chance. I’ll tell you about it on the boat. Be sure there is all the fuel we can carry.

  “Sylvia. You are not to involve John in this at all! Is that quite clear?”

  He soon rang off and said she’d meet him on the dock in twenty minutes. He would gather what he could carry and the cash he had and be there. He would greatly appreciate it if the group would stay together for the twenty minutes.

  He went to the internet café where Digicel had a promotion and bought a ten dollar phone and two dollars time, then to his rooming house to gather some things he had packed for when he planned to hide on the island. They got to the dock about four minutes before the Brandon boat came. Clint had noted the man watching. He had also called Sergio to have the police boat in the area. The Brandon boat would be followed. The police would stop the follower for a safety check and license check. The Brandon boat would go around like it was heading for Almirante, then would detour behind Sheppard’s Island and behind Isla San Cristóbal, through Dolfin Bay, and out by the Zapatillos. It would be easy to spot any watchers. Avenidas had instructions on what to do if they were followed.

  When they were on their way a
nd the police boats had stopped two boats for ID and license checks Clint et al headed for the new restaurant nearby that was supposed to be good. Clint called Manolo and told him what he’d told Avenidas. He had the number of the phone and was to call when they had enough time to be near Chiriqui Grande and to say, “Bloody hell! I got the wrong number!” when Avenidas answered with “It’s your dime. Habla.” That would identify him. It was up to him after that point. Charge them whatever they could let go of and let them see him make a deal with the DEA and whatever where he also got some cash for delivering them. In case there was ever any communication between them and the cartels, he was simply doing what everyone thought he was doing. His cover would be safe. Then they had a great night. Gina went home with Clint.

  “We’ve gotten a few things done and a bit accomplished for the DEA and that kind of crap,” Clint complained. “There shouldn’t be much danger from that bunch now. Why do I get the feeling something’s been missed?”

  “You got me there,” Dave answered. “I can’t see where anything’s left out of what you set out to do.

  “I’m taking Selma to David, then over to see some friends in Chitre. We’ll spend a night in Santiago on the way back to David, then she wants to see Puerto Armuelles and Rio Sereno. She knows a couple of people in Boquete.

  “What I’m saying is that I don’t have the foggiest when I’ll get back.

  “What’s Gina gonna do now that Avenidas is obviously not going to be running any business?”

  “She’s going back to Colombia and then back here. She has some friends – well, I do – who can get her a residence visa.”

  “She gonna live with you?”

  “We don’t know. We get along well enough and she’s the kind I can stay with.”

  He nodded, then went to pick Selma up and go to the Refugio to use their dock to have an Indio friend take them to Almirante. Clint went to the Golden Grill to talk with the locals. A private jet had landed just before noon. It wasn’t Jimmy Buffet, so they didn’t know who it was. Probably a big union boss.