“I was just going to ask you. All I know is Mouse called me yesterday morning and invited me and a guest.”
Jeff asked me with a surprised look on his face, “You were invited by Mouse?” I nodded. “Wow, all I got was a call from Silversmith’s office inviting me.”
Sakol popped off, “Situation similar. No warning provided. Silversmith’s office call wife, tell her presence is mandatory.”
The woman I assumed to be Sakol’s wife gave him a look that only married women give their spouses… a look telling him to stop with what she considered his silly way of speaking.
I smiled at Sakol and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Hasaphongse, both of you look very elegant this evening.”
Sakol frowned at me for a moment and then his face lit up in a smile. “Mouse? Right?” I laughed. “Even! I will enjoy having. Not sure how, but he soon big sorry!” All of us laughed. Sakol’s wife elbowed him to show her displeasure that he was talking with his Charley Chan routine.
Eventually the room was full of people and Richard stepped to the front and turned to the assembled crowd. He held up his arms and without his saying a word, the room grew still.
He smiled warmly. “Good evening one and all.” There was a slight murmur and he frowned for a second and then smiled again. With great feeling, he addressed the crowd once more. “Excuse me, but that is unacceptable. One more time, good evening one and all.” This time most of the guests responded. That brought a big smile to Richard’s face and he made a slight bow.
As he pointed to the top of the stairs he began, “Some of you may know me, but I know all of you know my partner, Albert Bradson.”
Albert stepped out from behind a curtain at the top of the stairs as Silversmith continued, “Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to be able to introduce to you the next senator from the state of Washington, Albert Bradson!” The room was totally still for a moment and then broke into a tumultuous roar. I had no idea he was running and I found myself yelling just as loudly as everybody else. I knew he’d be perfect for the job.
Eventually we were shown to tables and I was astounded to find Gladys and myself sitting at the same table as Richard and his wife, Bradson and his wife, along with the current senator and his wife. Normally I am not a man for politics. Too many politicians go into the business for themselves, rather than for the benefit of the rest of us. I won’t get on a soapbox, but I knew Albert would be honest and fair. It was fun sitting at his table and watching so many of the gathered guests coming to present themselves. A few of them were blatantly trying to curry favor, and he wasn’t even elected yet.
Somewhere between the salad and a very good piece of salmon, it dawned on me that I still had not seen Mouse. I thought this was Mouse’s party. I leaned over and whispered to Gladys, “Wonder where Mouse is.” She looked around the room and when she didn’t see him, she leaned over and whispered, “Ditto!”
Between dinner and dessert, Gladys whispered in my ear, “Follow me.” I stood up and pulled back her chair. She headed down a hallway to a door labeled Ladies. I wondered if she was crazy. We were at a high-powered dinner and she wanted to take me to the ladies’ room? She held up a finger and stepped through the door. Within seconds, she had returned and was pulling me through the doorway. She pulled me to another open door and after I stepped through, she quickly shut the door and locked it.
I turned around.
Oh My GOD! We were standing in a toilet stall almost eighty stories in the air, and one full wall of the stall was glass. I was looking out on a territorial view of the city and out to the beautiful Cascade Mountains. The little room had a toilet, a sink, towels and a couple of bottles of something. But when you went potty, you sat there and looked out the window at a breathtaking view from eighty stories up. I had forgotten I was in the stall with Gladys until she asked, “What do you think? Do the guys have anything like this on your side?”
I laughed and told her it was very impressive. Gladys carefully opened the door so we could escape. She looked both ways down the hall, reached out and grabbed at my hand and as we headed back down the hall, I heard the sound of a woman’s cry come through the door of another room. I heard, “Oh God, I’m coming now!” followed by a male’s groan and I assumed he was also in climax. I was snickering when we stepped back into the dining room. Jeff and his wife were headed in our direction, and his wife winked at us. Gladys told her the number of the room we had just left and that it was vacant. Dee laughed and they slipped through the door.
Once we were back at our table, Gladys whispered in my ear, “I’ve been here twice before and it’s kind of a custom that the gal will show the potty to her date, if she thinks he’s cool enough. A lot of women do it and the staff just looks the other way as long as the person is discreet. I’ve always wanted to show my date our little rooms and tonight I was with the right person.”
I didn’t know what to say. I agreed it was sexy as hell and I wondered how many of the rest of the men at the party had been in the lady’s toilet stalls. I felt very privileged.
Later in the evening, Richard came to me and led me into a small private dining room. I was floored to find Mouse sitting in a large executive’s chair. He was dressed in a well-fitted tux and he stood immediately when I entered.
This was just too weird. Why was Mouse in here alone? Why was Richard bringing me to see Mouse? Richard said to me, “Matt, seeing what was happening tonight, I trust you understand now why I couldn’t see you today?” I was sure their office had been a zoo all day long getting ready for tonight’s announcement, and I could keep hidden for one more day.
“It’s okay. At least I get to see you tomorrow,” and I turned to leave the room.
I heard Mouse speak. “Matt, wait a second. I want to talk to you. Please sit down.” He motioned towards the large chair. When I was seated, I found that the two of us were now at eye level with one another. Mouse continued, “I wanted to express one more time how sorry I was about all your problems with Cox.”
“Mouse, don’t worry. It’s over.” I started to push myself out of the chair to leave and he placed his hand on my sleeve.
I dropped back in the chair. “No, it was a bit more than that and I wanted to explain some things to you. The reason you had to wait so long in jail before anyone showed up was because I had to reason with Albert. I had to show him it was better for him, and the firm to step away from defending you.
“Since it was just a matter of a few short weeks and Richard would be announcing Bradson was running for senator, how would it look for the next senator to be defending the man who is accused of murdering the top running back in the nation?” Mouse continued, “To preserve the illusion of the world being on the up and up, other than you, nobody else knows I’m here tonight.” Mouse looked at me intently for a moment. He then went on, “Matt, you asked me once about my life and how I do things. I’m helping Albert and Richard with their campaign. The problem is I cannot be seen too close to this. It would not be good to have my name associated in any way with the two of them.
“The only reason I’m telling you this is I feel I owe you something because I was the one who set the Cox boy on you. I know it wasn’t your fault, but somehow, somewhere somebody should have seen how messed up the kid was. I used you and I’m sorry. I wanted you to question the kid and find out for me just what was going on. I played puppet with you and it almost got you in a lot of trouble. I want your trust. I want you to be my eyes and ears. People like you tell me things. When I see it might affect you, I warn you. But my ties go way beyond this state. I may have to ask a favor of you.
“I heard about the diary and the box.” I actually tried to lean further back in the chair I was so stunned. “I hope you are well covered in this.” I nodded. “I’ll let you know as I learn things. But I wanted to tell you that I swear, when you were in jail, if it looked like there was going to be any problems with your def
ense, Albert would have stepped in and brought the full weight of Goldstein, Bradson & Silversmith on your case. We believed that Krista Sellers would provide you with as good a chance as any attorney at the firm. Matt, I’m sorry it went down that way.”
I thought about this for a moment and started laughing. I could see by the look on Mouse’s face it wasn’t what he expected and he was puzzled by my reaction. “I can’t be mad. When Tate asked me to help him I should have expected it to go sideways. Look where Bud Cox came from. Look at the violence he was committing on women. Once I realized just how many women were involved, I should have gone to Sakol and Jeff and made them do something. Actually now that I know you better, I should have made you understand what a bad apple the kid was. I don’t feel used, I I should have guessed a little sooner along the way what was happening.”
“What? What was anybody going to do? Matt, don’t be naive!”
As I thought about it, I realized that unless they actually caught him with his pants down, so to speak, nobody would ever believe what he was doing. Once Cox was dead, women felt safe coming forward and telling their stories. Without realizing it, Ambruster had actually done the right thing. Nobody is supposed to be judge, jury and executioner, but sometimes it does seem to work out for the best.
Later as Gladys and I headed for the elevator to go down to the limo, Albert came over to say goodnight. As he grabbed my hand with his hand and placed his other hand on my arm, he asked, “Can I count on your vote? Do you still trust me?” I knew what he meant, for not defending me. Albert leaned in close to my ear and said quietly, “Did you find the ladies’ room interesting?”
I think I about dropped through the floor and Gladys started to giggle. As I pulled Albert into a hug, I whispered into his ear, “I forgive you my friend for not defending me, but if you ever do that again I’m going to kill you!” When I let him go, he walked off laughing. Just as the door to the elevator was closing, he turned and pointed a finger at me with his thumb cocked back. I saw his thumb move forward and his lips say, “Bang!”
The doors closed and we went home.
Once we got home…
Well, that’s a different story.
CHAPTER 21
THE EXCHANGE
Everything had gone well at Silversmith’s office. The diary was copied and Richard had given me some excellent advice on how to handle the exchange. Both Albert and Richard had wanted me to do the exchange in their office, but I wanted only the colonel and flyboy involved. I told Albert if for any reason something went awry he needed to be as distant from me as possible. Reluctantly, both of them eventually agreed.
When I arranged for the pair to come to my apartment, McNaulty seemed surprised I’d called. From his reaction I guess he’d finally believed me when I’d told him for the thousandth time I knew nothing about Crescent. When I had told them that, it had been the truth.
The telephone next to the elevator signaled me somebody wanted to come up from the lobby. Since I expected the colonel and flyboy, I sent the elevator down for my two guests. I had decided the best place to make the exchange was right here in my apartment. The door opened and it was just the suit. I asked him, “Where’s McNaulty?”
“He had to deal with a slight problem, but he’ll be here shortly. He asked me to come here and wait, I hope it’s okay with you?” Suit waited in the elevator until I asked him into my apartment.
“Yeah, sure. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Do you have any whiskey?”
“What kind?”
“Canadian?”
“Yep. Straight? Over rocks? With something?”
“Coke if you have it? Oh, and rocks.”
“Hang on. I’ll be right back.” As I headed towards the kitchen to make his drink I realized he was following me. As I made his drink I tried to make small talk. I asked him if he still flew helicopters.
“Naw. I had enough of that in Nam,” he replied. “I’ve no idea why I got interested in flying choppers in the Army. But, I did really well in chopper school and then I’ll admit, I had fun flying in Nam. I know I was good at it but I got good at it to keep myself alive. I haven’t been in a chopper since I left.”
Something set off my alarm. I could feel my skin tingle and I wondered why I was so freaked out. Right then the phone next to the elevator sounded again and I went to send the elevator back down to the first floor. When it returned, the colonel stepped off dressed in slacks and a Hawaiian shirt hanging over his belt.
I motioned for the two of them to come into my living room and take a seat on the couch. I asked the colonel if he wanted a drink and he asked for water.
Before I sat down in a chair across from them, I went to a drawer and pulled out the box with the key and the diary. I set the two items down on the coffee table in front of them and then took my seat. Suit almost broke his hand reaching out for the box. The colonel picked up the diary instead and opened the cover. When he saw what it was there was an almost sadistic look on his face. He looked at me. “Did you enjoy reading it?”
Looking him straight in the eyes, I told him, “Other than looking at the first page, I haven’t even looked inside the book.”
“Bullshit!” the colonel retorted.
“True. I’m curious about what’s in there, but I really don’t want to know. However—”
“I don’t believe you,” he interrupted.
“Look,” I tried to reason with him, “I have a good life. Now why would I want to read something that will just bring back ugly memories? Look at it this way, do you pick at a sore and pull off the scab? No! You leave it alone and let it heal. I’m healing from my time back in Nam and I see no reason to pick the scab.”
The colonel stared at me for a moment. “I still don’t believe you. Besides I can’t take the chance. Hollis knew too much and if there’s the slightest chance you read it, then you know too much. Preston, I really do not want to do this, but if you did read the diary, you’ll understand and if you didn’t, I’m really sorry.” I watched as McNaulty pulled up his shirt and revealed a pistol. As he extracted the pistol, I held up a hand.
“Hang on, Skippy, not so fast!” McNaulty still held the pistol pointed at me. “Before you do something really stupid, I think you first need to look at the two pieces of paper on the table. I wondered if you might react this way so I took out an insurance policy.”
I pointed to the two pieces of paper and they stared at them as if the papers were going to reach out and bite them. “What the fuck is that?” suit asked.
“Instead of asking, how about you read it,” I said with an edge in my voice.
The colonel snatched the papers up and scanned them. He shook them at me as he snarled, “Exactly what does this mean?”
I smiled as I replied, “One of those pieces of paper, gentlemen, is a receipt from my attorney. It shows they have three copies of the diary which are now stored in three different banks around Seattle. You might luck out and find one, but I doubt if you could ever find out where all three are stored. The second sheet contains instructions for my lawyers if anything happens to me.” I leaned forward and tapped the table with my finger. Once I had their attention I continued, “Anything! I mean if I get hit in a crosswalk, if I get in an accident on the freeway, if I fall in the shower… anything, gentlemen, one of the copies of that diary will be read by my lawyers and they will do with it what they think best. It might be sent to the press or, well, I leave that to your imaginations.
“From your actions so far, I would guess you do not want the contents of the diary to see the light of day. Is that about it, Colonel?” McNaulty slowly nodded as he realized what was happening. I continued, “Then, if you understand what I’m telling you will happen, I think you can take the diary and the key, and get out of my life.”
We sat there for several minutes. I could see the colonel was wondering if I was bluf
fing. He looked over the two sheets of paper and again read each one very closely. His voice was a frightened whisper, “I hope you’re kidding. You really don’t know what you’ve done.”
“If I’ve done anything wrong, it was because you backed me into a corner. I took the best way out. It would appear, McNaulty, that there are things in that diary that would present some real problems for you. Even today?” I got nothing in return. “Okay then, nothing happens to me, ever and you go away. Any more questions?”
The colonel looked up at me with a pained expression. Eventually he spoke. “But that’s not fair,” he complained, “We can’t be with you all the time. What if there really is an accident? What happens when you die? Preston, this is not fair.”
I exploded, “Fair! What the hell is fair about coming into my life and ordering me around? What’s fair about having you two following me everywhere I go? What’s fair about you screwing around with me?” I paused and then pointed as I bore down on the Colonel, “And you, asshole. You are full of shit. I checked with a buddy of mine who works at the Pentagon. The Pentagon, dipshit. Ever heard of it?” McNaulty looked down. “Don’t look down, look at me.” I waited, “Since I was active for over five years, the day I got out of the service I was done. No reserve to serve, I was discharged and I was out. You fucking liar. Tell me some bullshit I was still active until I was an old man or something.”
We all sat glaring at each other. I needed to calm down. I took a deep breath, and leaned back in my chair until I was able to continue. “Like I said, you seem so frightened of the diary I would assume there’s a lot written in that book you really don’t want known. I’m not even going to speculate about the contents.” I took a deep breath and as forcefully as I could, I told them, “I’m telling you I haven’t read it. Not one word. You’ll just have to take my word on that.” I paused for a second and decided I didn’t have any more to say. I wanted them gone. “You two can take the book and the key and go. I want nothing to do with either of you. I think I’ll go back and also add to the document that if I ever see either of you, the diary will be published.”
Code Name: Crescent: A Matt Preston Novel Page 24
