“I guess a sketch might not look like much, even if it was a DaVinci,” I said. Sketches I’d seen in museums were a mixed bag. Some were impressive but a lot of them faded into the background.
“DaVinci or not, I don’t believe Mikey stole it.” Luke turned and gazed out the window which faced Latimer. His calm resolve and determination was like armor.
“Who’s the client?” Might as well know who I’d be going up against, if I decided to take the case. I had to take that into account. Even though Luke’s belief in his worker was compelling, I didn’t know Luke well enough yet to make a decision based on that.
“Client is a Mr. Haldane. Lives with some of his family in a ginormous Skye Tower condo. Getting the Haldane account opened a lot of doors for me. With a relatively new business, accounts like his are better than any advertising I could do.” He gestured elegantly with his hands as he spoke.
The name Haldane was familiar to me and one I hadn’t thought about in a long time. But the Haldane I remembered lived out on the Main Line and ten years in the past. There were some nice memories associated with the name Haldane.
“I guess the art theft might close some of those doors, if word gets around. You could lose some rich clients.”
“That’s not important. I can always find clients. Keeping an innocent kid from being prosecuted for something he didn’t do – that’s what’s important.” Luke looked me in the eye when he said that.
“You and Mikey close?”
“Mikey’s a friend, a good one. He’s thrown himself into his work, and he helps me out when things get tough.” Luke brushed a hand through his thick black hair. “Thing is Mikey’s got no one else. No family and few friends. He doesn’t know where else to turn, and he’s kind of panicked. I don’t want to see him railroaded.” Luke’s eyes were bright with indignation. Didn’t sound to me like he was trying to blow smoke. That’s the kind of thing I can tell a mile off.
“Why do you think Mikey’s being railroaded?”
“I know Mikey. He’s not the kind of person who’d do this.” Luke paused. “I’ve got a the feeling he’s being set up. Somebody’s framing Mikey but I can’t figure out why.”
“You’re gonna need more than feelings, Luke. The police aren’t gonna take anybody’s feelings into account. If there’s evidence, circumstantial or not, they’ll run with it.”
“So, Mikey’s as good as arrested, right?”
“Has Haldane pressed charges?”
“Not yet. For a guy who owns half the property from here to Cape May and a few major companies thrown into the mix, Haldane seems pretty fair minded. He says he doesn’t want to see an injustice done.” Luke smiled weakly.
“Sounds good. At least he’s not chompin’ at the bit to get his insurance claim in. What else did he say?”
“He’ll wait a little while to see if we can clear Mikey. At some point, though, he’ll call in the police. What he wants more than anything is to have the piece returned.”
“All right, tell me everything you know.” I was falling for more than the case, and I knew I had to be careful.
“Then, you’ll take the case?” Luke asked, his voice filled with more energy. It was easy to see he cared about something other than his financial situation. I liked that.
“I’m not promising anything.”
“I can pay your fee, it that makes a difference. You don’t have to worry about the money.” He brandished a checkbook. Luke was good-looking and his willingness to pay to keep a kid from being railroaded was an appealing quality.
“I’ll need all the details to make a decision. Whatever you can tell me.”
“I’ve had the Haldane account a few months. Once we got the account, I put Chip in charge of the Haldane place. He can tell you more about the whole thing.”
“Chip’s the guy who wears a red bandanna on his head? He was at my place, am I right? You trust him?”
“Good memory. That’s him. Chip’s been with me almost since the company started. I was still doing jobs myself when I hired Chip and took him along with me on bigger jobs. I trust him implicitly, and he’s never let me down.” Luke paused and resettled himself again. “Chip took a crew of three on the Haldane job. Took them the better part of a day to finish the first time. Getting used to the place, finding out what Haldane wanted and didn’t want. Takes a couple of visits to establish a routine.”
“That makes sense,” I said. Then I stood. “Need something to drink? I’ve got coffee and water and, uh, that’s about it.” I stood to pour myself some coffee. “How about it? I need coffee.”
“No. I’m already edgy enough. Thanks.”
I needed the edge. Caffeine and I were old friends. I poured a cup and sat back down.
“So, how long, on average, do they spend at Haldane’s place?”
“The Haldane job usually lasts three hours or more. It’s a huge place. Lots of bathrooms, lots of dustcatchers. But Chip’s good and Haldane was happy.”
“And Mikey was part of the crew.”
“Not at first,” he said resettling himself in his seat. “Chip also trains my new hires. I couldn’t let him stay on the Haldane place forever. Once things had become routine, I put one of the others in charge and added Mikey to the team.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Two, two and a half months.”
“When did the theft take place?”
“Haldane discovered the sketch missing less than a week ago. Less than a day after the cleaning crew left. He claims it was there before they arrived.”
“You believe him?”
“I guess I have to. There’s no reason not to.”
“No. You don’t have to. You hardly know the guy. He could be playing insurance fraud for fun and profit.”
“Didn’t seem like that type, y’know? He’s got a bank account bigger than some small countries.”
“What about his kids?”
“They’ve all got trust funds. None of them needs money.”
“But were any of them at home when Mikey and the crew were there?”
“Good question.” Luke placed a hand to his chin as if he were thinking. “I don’t recall Mikey saying anything. Can’t remember if I even asked.”
“What evidence do they have that Mikey stole the sketch.”
“One big thing. Video from their security system. They’ve got cameras covering halls and entrances. They showed me the video. You can see Mikey going into the Den alone and coming out again after a while. He’s got his backpack with him. That’s a violation of our policy. The bag is big enough to conceal something like the sketch.”
“That’s all? No odd shaped lumps in that backpack? No video of him stuffing the frame into his bag? Just him goin’ in and comin’ out?”
“Right, just him going in and out of the room. Nothing else.” Luke had an expression that said he hadn’t considered the video not being quite as damning as he’d thought.
“They have anything else?”
“I don’t know. That’s all the son would let Haldane tell me. The son wants the police in on this.”
“I think it’s time I talked to Haldane and your workers.”
“Then you’ll take the case?”
“Don’t ask me why, but yeah…” I trailed off. I didn’t exactly know what my motivation was. There was money. That’s usually enough of a starter for me. There were other considerations. Luke was hot but it was more than that. I didn’t want to let him down and watch those bright eyes of his turn sad and disappointed. And then there was the issue of the Haldanes. The name Haldane brought some memories to the surface that had been submerged for a good long time. A tall, good-looking blond came along with those memories. And a high school crush I had on that blond. Cullen Haldane lived on the Main Line in the family mansion. This couldn’t be his family but I didn’t want to pass up the chance to find out for certain. Funny things memories. They get you to do something stupid now and then.
It wasn’t like I
risked a lot by taking this case. Luke would be paying for whatever I turned up, good or bad. Thing is I believed him. I didn’t think Luke was lying. I could tell he wasn’t. Of course, all that could mean was that he believed what Mikey had told him.
It’d be an adventure, I convinced myself. I needed something like that.
***
Mikey was waiting for me when I got to Luke’s offices in one of the Penn Center buildings on Market Street. The employee break room was small with a window that faced West toward Drexel and Penn. A long way to look for a kid with not much education and even less luck. Mikey sat at a long narrow table running down the center of the room. A coffeemaker chugged and wheezed on a cart next to a small refrigerator.
“Mikey?” I said as I stepped toward him.
“Mr. F-Fontana?” Mikey stood up and extended a hand. Short and dark-haired, his sad eyes were a deep brown, flecked with gold. A tentative smile flickered across his swarthy face and disappeared even more quickly. His rough-hewn handsome features couldn’t manage a smile for very long. He was young. Maybe it was the worry creasing his forehead that made him appear older. His hard knock life had undoubtedly also contributed to his mature demeanor.
“Nice to meet you,” I said and took a seat at the table across from him.
“I didn’t do it, Mr. Fontana. I didn’t.” He looked at me with such pleading and his voice was strained. I noticed the circles under his eyes now and the tired slump of his shoulders.
“That’s what we’re going to try and prove, Mikey. I’ll need your help.”
“Anything,” he said. He straightened up in his seat. “I’ll give you whatever help you need. I didn’t steal anything.”
“I’ve done my homework, Mikey. You’ve got a sealed record.”
“Juvie offenses. I did some things when I was younger…” his voice trailed off as he peered at the surface of the table. His shoulders slumped again. “But that don’t mean I did this. Right?”
“Of course not, but it’s better if I know more about your background. Just in case. What’s in that sealed record?”
“Kid shi—stuff. You know.”
“No, but you’re gonna tell me.”
“I was arrested a few times when I was a kid. Mostly small stuff.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I ran the streets like a lot of kids. My family didn’t give a shit. Nobody came looking for me when I didn’t come home. I hung out with other kids and sometimes we got into trouble.”
“Like…”
“Misdemeanors mostly. Once I got caught with some weed. There was one charge of petty theft and a couple’a shoplifting charges. But I only took small stuff. Nothing big. Sometimes it was stuff I needed to stay alive on the street.” He kept his head down as he spoke.
“That’s it?”
“I never stole anything… big. I never hurt anybody. Not like…” He stopped in midsentence.
“Not like who?” I watched him but he didn’t raise his head.
“R-Rick and Cass.” His voice was a whisper. “They… they hurt people. They forced me to steal a couple things. Nickel and dime stuff just to prove myself. Show them I could be trusted to do what they asked.”
“How long did you know these guys?”
“Couple’a years. You gotta understand, I was totally livin’ on the streets then. My family threw me out because I… I’m gay, y’know?”
“This Rick and Cass, they took you in?”
“No. Nothin’ like that. They gave me odd jobs. First it was just taking care of their place. Cleanin’ up and fixin’ shit.”
“And then…”
“Then they wanted me to run errands. Take packages to people they knew.”
“No idea what was in the packages?”
“I was homeless but I wasn’t dumb. Y’know? I had an idea what they were doin’ but they gave me clothes and food and sometimes they found me a safe place to sleep. I wasn’t gonna say no when they asked me to do them a favor.”
“So you were a mule?”
“Yeah. But it wasn’t drugs they had me carrying. They fenced stolen stuff.”
“Fences?” This didn’t sound good. Innocent as he might look, Mikey had exactly the sort of underworld connections he’d need for dealing with stolen art. “You ever see what kinds of stuff they handled?”
“They never told me anything except where to take the packages. Nothing else. Like you said, I was just a mule. But the…” his voice became less than a whisper.
“What’s that? Mikey?”
“But they wanted me to do a bigger job for them. Said they’d cut me in for a lotta cash. They said I needed to prove myself.”
“Why’d they all of a sudden want you to steal something major for them?”
“I don’t know. That’s the truth. Maybe somethin’ else fell through. I don’t know. But I never did. Do that job, I mean.”
“You just refused? How’d they take that?”
“I would’a refused but I didn’t have to.”
“How’s that?”
“I was arrested for shopliftin’ and put in the Youth Study Center. I was in there a while. A long while. Things happened to me in that place, things I still have nightmares about. When I got out, I decided I needed to make some changes.”
I’d heard about overnight conversions before, but being me, I had a hard time believing them. One thing helped me think Mikey might be telling the truth. Or something close to the truth. And that’s the fact that he spent time at the Youth Study Center. The Center’s kind of a cross between a prison for kids and a colony of Hell on Earth. I’m looking forward to the day they tear it down.
“You still have contact with Rick and Cass?”
“N-no… not really.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Listen, Mikey, you’ve gotta be straight with me. You’re lookin’ at felony charges here. Grand theft. Who knows what else the law will think up to tag you with? So, no lies. Not even half lies. Or I’m outta here.”
Mikey stared at me, his big brown innocent eyes, glassy. He was like a puppy. Trouble is he probably knew it. He might be innocent of art theft, but he wasn’t all that innocent otherwise. Looked to me like he knew how to wrap a guy around his little finger and do whatever he wanted with him.
“They called me. I don’t know how they found me but they did. I told them not to call anymore. That I had a job and I didn’t need anything else. They called a couple more times before they stopped.”
“Never lie to me, Mikey. You’re not good at it. These people call you again, I wanna know about it. Hear?”
“Sur—yes. I hear you.”
“Tell me about why you went into the den at the Haldane place. You’re on video goin’ in and comin’ out. All by yourself. With your backpack. Time enough to steal the sketch, and you had a bag big enough to hide it.”
“But I didn’t steal—”
“What were you doing in the den? Admiring the view?”
“I—my blood sugar was low. I hadda check it and I hadda eat something or I’d collapse. So, I ate one’a those special bars. I hadda wait until I felt better before I walked out.”
“And you couldn’t do this in front of the others?”
“Naw, I couldn’t. I…” he let his voice trail off.
“You’re diabetic. That’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
“Makes me weak. Everybody else holds their own. I gotta take shots, check my blood, worry about passin’ out. Like some old fart who can’t take care of himself.” His voice was very low, filled with self-recrimination.
“So you’re not like everybody else? You think your friends care about that?” I waited for a response. There was none. “You got proof of your condition?”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “And I cleaned up after myself in that room. No wrappers. No nothing.”
“Anything else? Tell me now. If this goes to the police, they’ll search your place and they’ll search you like you’ve never been searched before. So, you got anything else to
tell me, now’s the time.”
Mikey slowly reached into his pocket and reluctantly placed a folded piece of paper on the table between us.
“What’s this?” I reached for the paper.
“I f-found it…” He hesitated. “I-in… in my backpack when I got home.”
I slid the paper over and gently unfolded it. It seemed to be the provenance of the sketch. Who’d had it, how much they’d sold it for, and on and on. It started sometime in the Eighteenth Century and ended with the sale to Haldane some years ago. The paper looked old. I was certain they had a copy in their files. I’d never heard about anyone doing something like this. But it made sense to keep a copy of the provenance with the work itself.
“How’d you get this?”
“I told you, it was in my backpack. I noticed it when I got home.” He looked at me pleading with his eyes for me to believe him. “I don’t always look in my bag when I get home, but I needed the test kit. And when I put my hand in, this was on top.”
“You leave your bag anywhere after you tested your blood?”
“Sure, I left it with all the other stuff the guys bring in. They all got backpacks, bags, equipment.”
“Nobody was keepin’ an eye on the stuff?”
“Who’s gonna steal from us in a place like that?”
Good point, I thought.
“You’ve got a lot goin’ against you, Mikey. I’ll be honest.”
“I didn’t do it, Mr. Fontana. That’s all I can tell you, ‘cause it’s the truth.”
He hung his head down and his shoulders slumped even more. This was a kid in despair and I wasn’t going to add to that. If I could help him I would.
Did I believe him? The little jury I carried around with me was still out on that. But I believed Luke. Even though I’d only known Luke a little while, I felt I might be able to trust him. Mikey, not so much. Not on everything and not yet. Maybe he’d grow on me.
I squeezed his shoulder. He felt small and bony. The kid had had it tough and even if I couldn’t trust him completely, he deserved to be treated fairly.
Crimes on Latimer: From the Early Cases of Marco Fontana Page 7
