by Mike Faricy
“I’ll let you know.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The more I thought about Nancy Reilly’s offer the more I liked the sound of it. If I could get Nancy at the table, and maybe one of the cops for some added credibility. Then, with a cop at the table it might just work to have Swindle Lawless and Woofy Barker join us. I was suddenly beginning to feel like I had a pretty good chance of getting Heidi to finally listen to reason.
“You gotta be kidding me,” Detective Randolph said. “No, I have absolutely no intention of attending some dinner with you, Haskell just so you can confront a former girlfriend.”
“She’s not a former girlfriend, exactly,” I said.
“Haskell, she could be your mother for all I care. My answer is still the same. No. Is that clear enough?”
“You sure?”
“Very.”
“Maybe Sergeant Perez might consider, if I could just…”
“Perez has got better things to do than sort out your failed relationships.”
“Okay, what if you let me have your images of that stolen jewelry. It might go a long way in getting it back and nailing the guy ultimately responsible for taking it.”
“And if you have those images you won’t be expecting us to join you at this gala dinner event, correct?”
“Yeah, right, well unless you had a change of heart and wanted…”
“Believe me, we won’t. Why don’t you give me your email address and I’ll send those images to you? And remember, we meant what we said, forty-eight hours, Haskell and then all bets are off and you’re going to find yourself behind bars until we get this mess sorted out.”
I phoned Nancy Reilly back. “Nancy, the more I’m thinking about your offer the more I like the sound of you coming along to add credibility to my presentation.”
“We were hoping you’d reconsider, Marcia already booked a flight for late this afternoon, she’ll be in just before seven.”
“Oh, she doesn’t have to do that. I mean your presence will…”
“You’re still not listening, Dev. You’re going to need all the help you can get and that’s not a reflection on you. It’s just that we’ve been there, we know exactly what she’s dealing with. What’s her name by the way?”
“Heidi.”
“Well, you’ve no idea what Heidi’s going through. Just think about it, there you are ready to pour cold water on her future and there’s Austin, dangling fancy jewelry, a big house, the promise of romantic getaways. Which one would you want to take? Course she’ll be broke within twenty-four months and ready to jump off the nearest bridge if she ends up with him. But right now, from where she’s at she just can’t see it. I don’t care how smart she is.”
“Thanks, Nancy call me at anytime, otherwise I’ll see you at six-thirty at Il Corvo.”
“That little Italian place?”
“Yeah, Heidi’s joining me around seven. You think a half-hour is enough time for us to go over things beforehand?”
“More than enough. We’ll see you there.”
I phoned Tom Connelly next.
“Hi, Tom, Dev Haskell.”
“I’m sorry, who?”
“Dev Haskell, we had coffee the other day after you and your wife…”
“Oh yeah, sorry, wasn’t ringing a bell there for a moment. What can I do for you?”
“Well, first of all I wanted to check with you and see if anything had happened on your end.”
“With the lawsuit? Yes, and no. Our attorney gave Hackett the word we plan to fight. We’re sort of hoping to get his offer to settle out of court, which we don’t plan on doing by the way. I also brought in a contractor, that front entry will be adjusted for a fraction of what Hackett threatened us with, so that’s happening next week. Can’t thank you enough for taking the time to talk with us.”
“Actually, I’ve got a favor to ask.”
“Oh?”
I went on to explain the situation. I didn’t mention Heidi by name, I did mention the interest the police had shown and certain aspects of my conversation with Hilton Brady.
“That’s beautiful. He offers to pay these guys to rip the stuff off, then he stiff’s them, too? Talk about a loose cannon.”
“Yeah, so I’m assembling a group to meet tomorrow night. We’re going to talk with my friend, I know she’ll listen to reason and turn the jewelry over to the police. They can deal with Mr. Hackett. I should also mention he’s in arrears on his property taxes and hopefully his mortgage too, although I don’t have any confirmation on that last part. Think you’d ever consider joining us and telling her your part of the story.”
“Hey, the bastard’s in arrears and I can help send him to jail on another charge. Are you kidding? That’s fantastic news, you just made my day. Tell me where and when and I’ll be there.”
Chapter Forty
I phoned Heidi’s office the following morning, not that I wanted to talk with Heidi. “Is this Kate?” I asked when the phone was answered.
“Yes?” she didn’t sound too sure.
“Kate, this is Heidi’s friend, Dev Haskell.”
“Pretty generous with that description,” she said then added, “Oh, sorry.”
“Not a problem.”
“Actually, she’s in the conference room going over that IPO offering right now. I’m guessing they’re going to be in there for a while longer. I can put you into her voice mail or take a message if…”
“Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment.”
“I s'pose,” she said, not sounding all that sure.
I told her what I wanted her to do then offered to pay her for her time.
“Whoa, not asking for too much, are you. I could lose my job, you know.”
“Well, I was thinking if you maybe called from a pay phone, told them you were just trying to get a current figure to settle up. I don’t need anything like a written statement from them, least I hope I don’t.”
“God, every bit of common sense tells me I should hang up on you right now, but that Hackett guy has been such a prick. Excuse my French, but he really has been.”
“You don’t have to convince me. So you’ll help me out?”
“Let me see what I can do, no promises, but I’ll try, I’ll have to do it over my lunch hour.”
“God, Kate I can’t thank you enough.”
“Just get this creep out of Heidi’s life, which will get him out of mine and that will be more than enough for me. Gotta go,” she said and hung up.
I phoned Nancy Reilly next.
“Hi, Dev thanks for checking in. Marcia and I spent the night getting caught up. I hope we’re still on for this evening.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were going to be there.”
“Believe me, neither one of us would miss this for the world.”
Kate phoned me back around two that afternoon. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Haskell Investigations?”
“Hi, Dev, Kate. I got that information, wow, worse than I could have imagined. It makes me nervous just looking at the figures.”
“That bad?”
“He hasn’t made a payment in over six months, there’s a one month grace period, but they’re threatening to start legal action on the first of next month if he doesn’t bring the mortgage current. There’s also a second note of some kind that’s out there for five hundred thousand dollars,” she said and just let that figure hang out there while she caught her breath. “The woman I spoke with said it’ll run over a hundred and fifty thousand to bring his note and the mortgage current. She couldn’t give me an exact figure because the interest accrues every day, but they plan to call the note on the fifteenth of next month if it’s not current. Sounds like the whole house of cards is about to come down.”
“If they’re going to start proceedings on the first of next month with the mortgage, that gives him barely two weeks to get control of Heidi’s finances.”
“What a bastard.”
<
br /> “Yeah, you got that. Listen Kate, I and a number of other people are sitting down with Heidi tonight and we’re going to lay all this on her, hopefully get her to see what he’s been up to. Would you consider joining us?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I’ve got two former wives, a business guy he’s suing, documents, maybe two other people he’s cheated in the past. You could add that information to the pile, I really want to overwhelm her to the point where it’s completely obvious he’s just going to take advantage of her, drain her accounts then cast her aside. We’re all going to get together at about 6:30, compare notes, Heidi’s due about a half hour after that.”
“Oh, God, I don’t know. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to say no. In fact, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t even mention me. We’ve got a two and a four year old, my husband has been laid off for the last four weeks with no end in sight. If she doesn’t go for what you’re saying, I’ll probably lose my job and we just can’t afford to do that. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, believe me I get it. Listen, I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done already.”
“Thanks for understanding. Let me give you the exact figures the collections woman gave me. I just hope this is enough to convince her.”
“You’re not the only one.”
I phoned the restaurant, the more I thought about it the more a table in the main dining room sounded like a very bad idea.
“I wanted to have an informal meeting, approximately a half dozen folks, we’d have dinner and some wine. Maybe lots of wine.”
“We do have a banquet room that can handle up to thirty people.”
“Does it have a door that can be closed, so we’d have some privacy? We’re going to be discussing some financial matters.”
“The banquet room would be perfect. I can assign you a server so you won’t have a number of people coming in and out.”
“That would be great,” I said then gave her my name. I planned to have everyone waiting in the banquet room, I’d meet Heidi in the main restaurant then bring her in and hopefully all of us would be able to talk some sense into her. I debated my next move then figured it would be a shame to lose because I hadn’t included both of them. Now, I just had to find them.
Chapter Forty-One
He wasn’t at Wang’s or the Poodle and I was beginning to feel a little desperate, it was almost five. I had to meet everyone in just an hour and a half. I found him at the Yuk Club. Woofy Barker was in the process of trying to convince the bartender his credit was good if only the guy would see fit to pour him a drink. It sounded like it was going to be a pretty tough sell.
“Hey, Woofy, maybe you didn’t hear me. No offense or hell, take offense, it don’t bother me none. But no. You already owe us money and I’m not giving you one on the house. Besides, I don’t like you anyway, you’re always a pain in the ass, so maybe just get out of here.”
“I’ll have you know I’m a veterinarian, you unpatriotic bastard.”
“I think what you mean is you’re a veteran, so am I, and the answers still the same, no. Now get out of here before I throw you out.”
The Yuk Club was the kind of joint where this was probably a daily sort of conversation, and not always with Woofy, which probably accounted for no one really paying attention to the current exchange. There was a bulletin board on the wall behind the bar with photos of various patrons apparently passed out. Some had their heads resting on the bar, others in a booth and a handful of individuals on the floor where it looked like they were simply left and folks hopefully managed to step over them. The sign along the top of the bulletin board read, “One free drink if you make the wall of shame”. I looked, but couldn’t see Woofy although there were three or four images where the faces were covered.
“Come on, Andy,” Woofy pleaded.
Andy shook his head no and pointed to the door. “Out, Woofy.”
“You can’t tell me…”
“Out Woofy,” he said and continued to point toward the door.
“What’s he owe?” I asked.
Andy looked stunned and Woofy glanced over then slapped me on the back. “Now there you go, my old pal…” He let the rest of his greeting sort of drift off, since we were such good friends and he probably couldn’t remember my name.
“You’re kidding?” Andy said, not quite recovered.
“What’s the damage?”
“I’ll call it even at twenty bucks.”
“I’ll give you twenty-five and pour him one more.”
“Now there’s the spirit,” Woofy said and slapped me on the back.
“Make it a coffee, black.”
“What the…come on, pal. Now that’s not even funny.”
I tossed a twenty and a ten on the bar. Andy snatched the bills up almost before they hit the bar then tossed a five my way and shoved a mug of coffee toward Woofy.
“This really ain’t funny,” Woofy said with a disgusted look on his face.
“Drink up, Woofy we gotta get going.”
“Where we off too?”
“A nice dinner, some fine wine, pretty ladies and it won’t cost you a cent. I’d just like you to maybe give a little testimonial is all.”
“Testimonial?” he said sounding wary.
“Tell some folks about your dealing with Austin Hackett, how he screwed you out of the money you were owed.”
“He certainly did,” Woofy said, then took a sip from his coffee and gasped. “Andy, maybe a little something in there just to make it drinkable.”
Andy looked at me with raised eyebrows.
I shook my head no. “Come on Woofy, finish it up, we gotta get going.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Woofy was snoring in the backseat before I’d made it out of the parking lot. Ten minutes later, I pulled in front of the three story red brick building and parked. Woofy continued to snore and looked to be out cold, so I took a chance and just left him, hoping he’d still be there when I returned.
I hurried up to the door of the building and pushed the buzzer next to number thirteen. I pushed it two more times, each time a little longer than before until finally a voice seemed to groan out. “What?”
“Pepper?”
“Lucky you, baby. Come on up,” she said then pushed the security buzzer. The door gave an audible click, I opened it, and hurried up to the third floor.
There was a fresh batch of graffiti written on the wall next to her door, although it was so illegible I couldn’t read it. She pulled the door open before I’d even finished knocking, then stood there blowing a blue cloud of smoke over my head which degenerated into a barking cough. I could almost feel the vibration from her cough standing out in the hall.
“So, back for more, I see,” she smiled, exposing teeth yellowed from nicotine then took hold of my wrist and pulled me inside. “What’s it gonna be this time?” she asked then raised her eyebrows suggesting God only knew what.
“Actually, Swindle, I mean Pepper, I wanted to invite you to dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“More like a party, sort of.”
“I gotta jump out of a cake or something? Last time I did that I fell and hit my head on the damn table. They just left me there and I had to hitchhike home wearing pasties. Got a ride right away…”
“No, there’s no cake to jump out of. I wanted you to tell your story about Austin Hackett…”
“That bastard.”
“How he was involved with that internet business and was supposed to send you all sorts of customers and…”
“Which I never, ever saw. Not so much as one of them ever called.”
“Exactly.”
“What’s this gonna be worth to you?”
“What?”
“Time is money, lovey. What’s in it for your lady?”
“Well, dinner, wine, and of course knowing that you’ll be sticking it to Austin Hackett, plus helping a nice lady get her head screwed on right.”
“I look like the happy thoughts, good deed type to you?”
At the moment she was dressed in tight, leopard skin stretch pants, stiletto heels and a black sort of low-cut pullover thing that exposed the sunburst tattoo around her navel.
“Yeah, I sort of see your point.” I glanced at the kitchen clock on the wall above a sink overflowing with dirty dishes. It was already after six. “What’s it going to run me, Swindle?”
“It’s Pepper now, sweetie and I’ll do whatever you want for fifty bucks and some tequila shots.”
“Actually, it’s an Italian restaurant.”
“Fine, whatever…”
Chapter Forty-Three
Woofy was still snoring in the backseat when I opened the door so Swindle could hop in.
“Oh, and what do we have back here?” she said, then slid across the backseat and as close to Woofy as she could get. He grunted and groaned for a couple of seconds, sort of wiggled back and forth, then curled away from her. As I got behind the wheel her hand was busy searching around in the pocket of his jeans.
“Lots of luck finding any money,” I said then drove off. It was still rush-hour traffic and I was paying attention to my driving. After maybe five minutes, I pulled up at a stop light and glanced in the rearview mirror. Woofy was the only one visible, but neither rear door had opened so Swindle had to be back there somewhere. Woofy’s eyes were squinted closed and he had a large smile on his face. Swindle was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, Swindle tell me you’re not working in the backseat of my car,” I said just as the light changed. At this point Woofy gave off a low sort of groan. “Swindle, what the hell are…” Her hand suddenly reached up from the floor of the backseat and slapped me on the back of the head and I drove on in silence.
I pulled into the parking lot of Il Corvo and took my time parking. By the time I turned the engine off, Swindle was up, sitting in the far corner of the backseat and staring out the window.
Woofy was wide awake, facing her and ever the charmer, leaning forward in an effort to get as close as possible without being too obvious. “I don’t think I caught your name, babe.”
