Code Name: Crescent: A Matt Preston Novel

by Paul Shadinger

  “If there was one, what happened to the diary?”

  “Fuck if I know man. I only saw it a couple of times. I guess he only wrote in it when nobody was around. I doubt if anybody else knew about it. Who knows what happened to it?”

  “I’d love to read that diary. Maybe it could answer some questions.”

  Walter reached over and grabbed my arm. He squeezed it so tight it actually hurt. “No dude, you do not want to read that diary!” Walter’s face was serious and he continued to hold on to my arm. “Matt, listen to me. I know you think you did some strange stuff over there. But I’m telling you what you did was a Sunday school picnic compared to some of the things those two were involved in. You do not want to read his diary.” He leaned towards me and in almost a whisper he said, “I’m positive there are things in that diary that if you ever read, would put your life in jeopardy.” My face must have shown how doubtful I felt at what he was telling me. His voice was now a menacing hiss, “I believe McNaulty would shoot you between the eyes and not regret it for a moment. There are probably things in that book that would cost a lot of people their freedom and a few lives to boot. Promise me if you ever accidentally found that damn thing you would never read it.” He squeezed my arm again harder, “Promise me.” I nodded my head.

  I was shocked at the intensity of his little speech. If anybody knew some of Hollis’ and Price’s secrets, it was Walter. And if Walter told me I didn’t want to read Hollis’ diary, then I would take his word for it.

  “I wonder,” I started, “I wonder if McNaulty knows anything about it. Is there any way he might have known Hollis kept a diary?”

  Walter sat staring off into space for so long I wondered if he had heard me. Finally, he started in, “If he knew, or if he even suspected something like that existed, he’d be frantic to get his hands on it. I’m not supposed to tell you this, but McNaulty was Price’s and Hollis’ controller for a while. If Hollis wrote down any of the things McNaulty told them to do, I totally understand why your two visitors wanted to know what you and Hollis discussed up in the tower.”

  I cannot remember any time in my life when I was more torn over something. I would have given anything to read the diary, if it actually existed, but after Walter’s dire warning, I felt my life might be in jeopardy. I sure wished this whole mess would just blow away, but I knew better. The only way it was going to go away was to figure out how to deal with it.

  “What’s next?” Walter asked. I proceeded to tell him about Kim Tate and the problems she was having. I told him about the Cox kid and the two sides of him I kept hearing about. I explained why I needed to get back to Seattle and help Kim and her parents resolve her mess.

  Walter chided me about getting involved with other people’s problems. He asked me as he shook his head, “Matt, when are you going to learn not to get so involved?”

  “Dude,” I reminded him, “had I not gotten involved, where do you think you might be today?” He blinked and smiled at me.

  And that question ended our conversation regarding me helping people.

  Chapter 13

  SAMARA’S VISIT TO THE HOUSEBOAT

  I was already waiting in the marina parking lot when Mrs. Tate’s limo rolled in. I’d seen pictures of that model, but it was the first time I’d ever seen one in real life. If you take a top-of-the-line S class Mercedes, and then put it on mass steroids, you’d end up with the Maybach. The car just screamed big money as it rolled to the end of the lot. It was painted a pale silver-blue on the top and some sort of white with silver metal flakes on the bottom. I realize I am not really doing the colors justice; you just had to experience the car. Since I’m a real car whore, I was ecstatic to see this car, it was beautiful.

  The car stopped and I reached out to open the back door. As the door opened, the smell of expensive leather greeted my nostrils, and then continued to flow out of the car as Samara Tate stepped out. Ambruster had opened the driver’s door and was coming around the end of the car. I noticed he had on the same style of outfit as the day we had first met. His red jacket was tailored to fit perfectly and even though he was of slim build, he moved with a certain stealth and calm. We acknowledged each other and I extended my arm for Samara to take. By the time we were standing in front of the houseboat, the door was open and Sharon was standing there. Today she had on a lovely dress which looked like it had been designed just for her. She looked like a million bucks. I noticed behind her Kim was peeking around the corner. Sharon invited us all in.

  By the time we were all in the living room, Kim had her mother wrapped in her arms and tears were flowing from both of them. Finally Kim stepped back and looked over at Ambruster. She extended her arms and moved to take the man in her arms. “Brue, Brue… I’ve missed you so much.” Kim looked over at me and said, “My special name for him is Brue. I always thought Ambruster was too much to say.” I had to laugh. “He was my nanny when I was a little girl.” Ambruster turned bright red, almost the same color as his jacket. “He’s been as much a father figure to me as my real dad. Brue is my special friend.” And Kim gave him another big hug. I could see from the look on his face he felt the same way about Kim as she did about him.

  “I would agree, but somehow I don’t see myself calling him Brue.” Ambruster scowled at me. I could see there was going to be just one person calling him Brue and it wasn’t me.

  I excused myself and Sharon told the three of them she was going to go with me and leave them alone. We went out and walked to the end of the dock, where one of the residents had put a bench. We sat. Sharon asked, “What do you think is going to happen, with the Cox kid I mean?”

  “I went and met with a man Sakol introduced to me about a year ago. This man seems to be able to do all sorts of interesting things. I asked him to put out the word I wanted to see him. I was told to just go about my business and Cox would find me.”

  “What are you going to do with him?”

  “You mean Cox?” Sharon nodded. I explained, “I want to get his side of the story. I heard all these stories about the kid, and I know he’s running around loose and nobody seems the least bit concerned some of these stories might be true. I find it difficult to believe he’s tried to force so many women, and nothing has happened to him yet. I don’t know what to believe about Kim.”

  Sharon put her hand on my arm and when I looked at her, she said in a soft whisper, “Kim said he did and I believe her!”

  I continued, “Kim’s roommate told me Cox had tried to force her as well, but there seems to be a question about that. Kim says she knows somebody else he raped and you thought he had raped the girl you met at the hospital. Through the grapevine, I hear stories of others, and a rough count looks like at least ten. One attempt and who knows how many for real. I’d like for him to tell me what’s going on. I’m sorry, but my mind just doesn’t seem to be able to believe the two totally different stories I am hearing. I want to meet him face to face.”

  “Why do you think he’ll talk to you?”

  “This friend I know, actually I don’t even know if I can call him a friend. He’s more like a very good acquaintance—anyway, he has ah… well, he has ways of getting people to do things. I really don’t quite know what to make of him, but I think he has the power to make Cox come and talk to me.”

  “Who is this amazing guy?” Sharon asked with a puzzled look on her face.

  “He was introduced to me as Mouse. His real name is Steve Fox, but everybody just calls him Mouse. He’s a little bitty guy, but he seems to know everything going on in Seattle.”

  “I know Mouse,” Sharon interrupted.

  “Are you serious? You know him? How come?” This was a tale I wanted to hear.

  Sharon smiled at me. “Well, the fellow who came to visit me the other day, when we had our talk…” Sharon’s face was flushed with embarrassment. She continued on with her story, “George likes to gamble. Or I should
say he liked to gamble. A lot!”

  I gave her a puzzled look and she continued, “George got himself in trouble, big trouble and he ended up owing a lot of money to… well, I don’t know exactly who he owed it to but they weren’t really nice people.

  “One evening Mouse was waiting in the parking lot at the hospital for George when he got off work.” It didn’t surprise me that Mouse would know something like where George worked or how to find him. “This Mouse person instructed George to get into his limo and they took George to a house way up north. There was a man there who had been badly wounded, shot twice. Mouse told George the man could not be taken to a hospital, and that there would be no questions asked about him. George was told to save his life and keep his mouth shut. In return for that, all of his gambling debts disappeared.

  “George ended up operating on this man in a vet clinic. He told me it was the most bizarre thing medical-wise he’d ever done in his career. I guess it was close, but George did save him. Later, when the man was stable, Mouse had George brought back to the hospital parking lot and dropped off. The next day a courier brought a large manila envelope to George’s office with all of his IOU slips in it, and a note from Mouse telling him he really needed to get a grip on his gambling. Each IOU was marked paid. George said he hasn’t gambled since, not even on a football pool at work.

  “Sometime later we were at a fundraiser together at the hospital and Mouse was there. George introduced us and when George went off to get us drinks; Mouse looks up at me and proceeds to tell me he knows George told me about the man he saved, and that I’m never to say a word to anybody about it. In a joking manner I asked who this mystery man was, and Mouse looked at me with a very serious face and told me if he said who it was, he would have to have me killed. He smiled after he said it, but I felt at the time there was a lot of truth in the statement. He asked me to promise not to mention it to anybody. I didn’t. Well, except for you, but you don’t count.” We both laughed, but I couldn’t help but wonder if somehow Mouse knew Sharon had just told me about that incident.

  The more I got to know about Mouse, the more intrigued I was with him. I felt I understood more about Sakol’s relationship with Mouse and why Sakol seemed to look the other way when it came to the way Mouse ran his life.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  I was sitting relaxed at my table, my tummy happy from my excellent dinner and I gazed out across the view of Puget Sound and the snowcapped Olympic Mountains off in the distance. My old friend and owner of the restaurant, Mac, had just cleared away the remains from the as always amazing meal along with giving me another major ass chewing regarding my semi-breakup with Sharon. I tried to tell him we were still the best of friends and were still more or less an item but he wasn’t interested in the facts. He thought we belonged together and he was voicing his opinion.

  I was still engrossed in the sunset nursing my beer when I became aware there was somebody standing next to my table. I looked up and next to the table was a handsome, young black man. I asked him if I could help him and he replied, “I’m Bud Cox.”

  I stood, wondering for a moment if I should extend my hand, then decided not to. Instead I motioned for him to sit in the vacant chair across from me. “Can I get you anything?” I asked.

  “No, I’m cool.” He turned the chair around backwards and took a seat, resting his arms on the back. “Rumor has it you want to talk to me.”

  “Who told you where to find me?”

  “You asked a lot of people about me. The little man told me where to find you. I understand you want to help me. How?”

  I looked at the young man sitting across from me. He was slightly taller than I am and had at least fifty pounds on me. Fifty pounds of pure muscle. Even sitting quietly in front of me, this young man could be frightening. “Help you?” I repeated, I thought for a moment and then continued. “I guess it depends. Maybe I can, maybe I can’t. I’ll get straight to the point. What can you tell me about Kim Tate?”

  He scowled as he snarled, “That lying cunt. What’s you want with dat ho?” I noticed Bud had slipped into ‘street language.’

  “Why do you say she’s lying?”

  “She be tellin’ people I tried rapin’ her. That’s a fucking lie. I never did no such thing.”

  “Her roommate tells me the rumor around school is she wasn’t the first girl you tried to rape. Her roomie even said you’ve actually raped a couple of women.”

  “Shit man, listen. Look at me, do I look like I need to rape some ho just to get laid?” I regarded the young man sitting in front of me. He was dressed like so many of the young black men I see walking around with his basketball style shorts, long un-tucked oversized shirt and a couple of chains around his neck. His baseball hat had the bill pointed towards the right instead of centered on his head, but under it all, there was a look of intelligence in his eyes and I had to admit, he was a handsome young man. But so was Ted Bundy.

  “I’ll give you the fact you’re a good looking kid, but that still doesn’t explain all the rumors. Why would so many women tell all these lies about you?”

  “Dude, do you know what my prospects are? Do you have any idea where I’m going? I know this comes off as a power trip, but this is also reality. If this season plays out, I’m looking at being drafted in the first round next year. Do you have any idea what kind of bread that brings?”

  I ventured, “A lot?”

  Bud’s laugh was a snort. “Yeah, a lot. And some of those chicks think if they put out the word about me, I’ll pay them off to keep their fucking mouths shut. But I don’t play that game. Coach knows who I am and my teammates know who I am. You look at the cunts who be spreading those rumors? They be money grubbin’ hos. And I have no idea why Kim would say that about me.”

  “No idea at all?” I asked.

  Bud paused for a moment before he answered, “Well, she did catch me banging one of her friends, but that was just sex, man. This other chick and me go way back and she like a little black cock now and then. We’re friends with benefits. Kim and this girl are pissed at each other now, but she’ll come back. She always does.”

  “Wait a minute, Sam said you raped Kim’s friend. Are you telling me that you were just having sex with her?”

  “Yeah, so what?”

  “Why would she tell Kim and me that you tried to rape her if you didn’t? That doesn’t make much sense.”

  “The little ho don’t share real well. She wanted Kim to stay away from me.”

  “Did you ever try to have sex with Kim?”

  “Naw. She wanted to but I didn’t. That’s why she saying all this shit about me.”

  I had to admit, there was something engaging about this young man. He seemed to realize who he was and the power he had because of the money that one day would be his. I might not like his attitude about women, but I was sure he probably had his pick of many of the young ladies on campus. Perhaps he was right and the rumors about him were not true. But I had seen Gladys’ fear when she told me her story, and I put far more faith in Sharon’s abilities to detect the truth about what had happened between Cox and Kim Tate.

  “Bud, I appreciate you looking me up. I’ll agree with what you say, someday you’ll be a very wealthy man and money seems to bring out a lot of bad in people.” I looked the young man in the eyes as I continued, “My only comment here is this: there seems to be a lot of women who claim you either tried to rape them, or you actually have. I can understand one or two rumors, but in asking around, I’ve heard there are several women making these claims, and some of the women are very creditable. Are you telling me there are that many women who will lie about you just in the hope you’re going to pay them off to keep them quiet?”

  I waited for an answer and when he had nothing to say, I added, “I’m looking for Kim Tate.” I didn’t want Cox to know I had Kim safely stashed away. I felt it was best if he thought I was looking f
or her just the same as he was. I wanted to push the issue a little more about Kim trying to expose this young man. “I’ve been told Kim’s trying to see what she can do about you since you raped her. I also hear you’re looking for her as well and that you threatened her.”

  Bud stood up and glared down at me. “I’m tellin’ you this, keep away from me. Stop messin’ in my shit. Leave me alone, or else.”

  I leaned back in my chair, crossed my arms and looked up at him. I waited for a few moments and then softly told him, “The thing about making a threat, young man, is you need to be able to back it up.”

  “What you sayin? You think I can’t put a hurt on you?” The look on his face showed he thought he had the upper hand should things become violent.

  “I didn’t say you’re not physically able to do it. What I’m saying is, I wonder if you have the stones to do it. You know nothing about me. I know a lot about you. Some advice here for you Bud, before you make a threat, find out who you’re threatening.”

  “Oooo… I’m scared now. Whitey gonna get me.”

  This punk was starting to piss me off. “Bud, you need to leave now. I’m going to find the Tate girl and since I believe you did rape her, if she wants to charge you with something, I’m going to help her.” Seeing his attitude now, I knew I didn’t want him to think I might know where Kim was hiding.

  Bud stepped forward, and I watched as he drew back his fist. When he had first stood up, I moved myself in my chair, ready for him to make just this kind of move. I ducked with ease as his massive arm came forward. As his arm passed me, I grabbed his wrist and stood, using his momentum to slam him onto the table. My half glass of beer jumped off the table and ended up landing on the back of his neck. The table broke in half and Cox went to the floor with it. I put my foot between his shoulder blades and pulled back on his arm. “Bud, if you ever try and touch me again I’m going to make sure it’s the last time you ever touch anybody. Now get up and get out of here.”