Kendall - Private Detective - Box Set

by John Holt

  “No,” Kendall said. “I don’t go along with that idea. Not the airport. If he was kidnapped anywhere it had to be in New York itself, and the kidnappers must have known that he would be going there, simple as that.”

  Mollie looked up, and nodded agreement. “Precisely,” she said. “I was just coming round to that conclusion myself.” She looked pleased with herself. “So who would have known?” she asked. “Who knew that he would be at the airport that night? And who knew that he would switch planes and go to New York?”

  “His wife knew that he would be at the airport,” Kendall replied.

  Mollie shook her head, and glared at him. “But she didn’t know that he was going to switch planes did she?”

  Kendall smiled, and shook his head. “All right, so who else knew?” he said.

  Mollie thought for a few moments. “Well Russell knew. He was party to the switch remember. And he had bought the airline tickets hadn’t he? Perhaps he was part of the kidnap plan. Maybe it was all his idea.”

  Kendall grinned, and shook his head. “I don’t really think so,” he said. “He couldn’t be part of the plan. Remember he was in Chicago wasn’t he? Not New York.”

  Mollie started to nod her head slowly. Then she stopped and began shaking it instead. “We don’t know that for sure, do we,” she said. “Yes, he certainly told us that he went to Chicago, but how do we know that he was actually telling us the truth. Maybe he actually followed Simmonds to New York.”

  Kendall looked at her. She was absolutely right, he did say that didn’t he? But saying it didn’t necessarily make it so. Perhaps he did go to New York after all. Maybe he never actually went to Chicago. Perhaps he had already got another ticket for New York. Maybe the whole kidnapping plan was his idea. Then he suddenly shook his head. Although he had no proof, he just knew that Russell was not part of the kidnapping plan. It just wasn’t possible.

  “I don’t believe that Russell was part of the plan,” said Kendall.

  “Why not?” asked Mollie, sounding disappointed.

  “Don’t you remember the other thing that Russell told us?” Kendall continued. Mollie shook her head. “He said that there were two men at Miami airport, who appeared to be watching Simmonds very closely.”

  “Yes that’s right” Mollie replied. “The same men that he saw a few nights later when he was meant to meet you.”

  “Correct. The two men that he was so afraid of,” Kendall said. “It was the same two men who were also seen staying at the Lexington Hotel in New York. It would be hardly likely for Russell to be part of the same team as those two would it?”

  Mollie nodded. That made sense, she thought. “You’re right,” she said.

  “Those two men must have acted alone,” said Kendall. “They must have heard that Simmonds had changed his plans, and switched flights. They simply followed him onto the New York flight. They must have changed their tickets at the departure lounge. That would be simple enough. Maybe they didn’t actually bother to exchange their tickets. Maybe they just purchased new ones. Anyway that part of it doesn’t really matter. The point is that they followed him to New York. Once there they simply bundled him into a car, as he came out of the airport, and kidnapped him.”

  “That sounds about right to me,” said Mollie.

  “Maybe,” Kendall said. He did not sound convinced. He started to rub his chin, and sighed deeply. “I don’t know though. I really do not know. I’m still not absolutely sure that I’m right. There’s something that doesn’t fit.”

  Mollie was puzzled. “But it was your idea,” she said. “You just worked it out. It sounded fine to me. It fits perfectly, exactly as you said.”

  Kendall wasn’t so sure. “I know, I know, I know,” he said. “I hear what you say, but there’s still a few things that I’m not clear about.” He started to tap the desk hard. “Certainly those two men were at the airport. And certainly those two same men,” he flipped open his notepad. “Mr. Gardner, and Mr. Cartwright were at the Lexington Hotel. That much is a definite. There’s no argument there.” He stopped tapping. “And I’m certain that those two men were the kidnappers.”

  Mollie shrugged, and sighed. “So what’s the problem?” she asked.

  “The problem is quite simple,” replied Kendall. “How did they know that Simmonds would be at the airport that night? Answer me that?”

  “Somebody told them,” suggested Mollie.

  “Who?” asked Kendall. “It wasn’t Russell, we’ve already said that. And it certainly wasn’t Eve Simmonds, so who do you suggest?” He paused for a few moments. “I’m still not entirely convinced about this whole kidnapping thing anyway, that’s another problem,” he replied. “I’m beginning to think that it was all a big hoax.”

  Mollie shook her head and was fast becoming confused. One minute he wraps it all up in a few sentences. Case closed, kidnappers found. Now he seems to be suggesting that there was no kidnapping anyway.

  “But you were there,” she said. “You were there at the pay off, with Mrs. Simmonds.” She took a deep breath. Was she crazy, or was it him? “You actually saw the money in the case, yes.” Kendall nodded. “You actually saw Mrs. Simmonds place that same case, containing the money, into the tree stump, right?” Kendall nodded his head a second time. “You actually saw somebody approach the clearing, right?” Once again Kendall nodded his head. “You saw that somebody pick up the case, and then drive away.”

  “That’s right,” Kendall replied. “I saw all of that, but I still have a feeling that things weren’t exactly as they appeared.” He looked down at the desk, and started to tap once more. “All is not what it seemed. There are so many questions not answered.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Why did Simmonds switch planes anyway? Why didn’t he just go to Chicago as he had planned? Why go to all the trouble? I mean he was supposed to be going to Chicago on business, he was actually booked in to stay at the Grant Hotel.” He paused. “That’s what Eve Simmonds told us at that first meeting, remember? He had a number of business meetings arranged. That’s what she said. So why did he change his mind? Why didn’t he just go? I just don’t get it,” he said. He stopped tapping, and looked up. “If he had gone to Chicago the kidnapping wouldn’t have happened would it?”

  Mollie was getting extremely exasperated. She was also getting so confused that she was no longer sure of anything anymore. She wasn’t sure whether or not the kidnapping could have taken place. She wasn’t sure whether or not it mattered anyway. So Simmonds was originally going to Chicago, or maybe he wasn’t. So what, who cares, what difference did it make anyway?

  “Perhaps he hadn’t intended switching planes at all,” she suggested, not entirely sure of what the implications of that might be. “Perhaps Russell just told us that to put us off. Perhaps Simmonds had never any intention of going to Chicago. Maybe it was all just meant to confuse us.” She nodded and smiled. That part of the plan had certainly worked anyway.

  Kendall shook his head. “It wasn’t just Russell don’t forget. Eve Simmonds also herself told us that he had planned to go to Chicago,” he said. “She also told us that he was booked in at the Grant Hotel.” He shook his head, and started to grind his teeth. “She told us about his planned business meetings, remember?”

  “But I thought that we had agreed that his business contacts weren’t expecting him,” Mollie said.

  “I don’t know,” Kendall replied offhandedly, shaking his head. “Perhaps he had planned on making a surprise visit. He just hadn’t told them that’s all.” He sighed, and started to drum his fingers on the side of his face.

  “But Mrs. Simmonds said that the meetings had been planned,” Mollie said. “So a surprise visit sounds unlikely wouldn’t you say?”

  She looked at Kendall, unsure of where that conversation had actually taken them. Round and round, and back again, she suspected. Two steps forward and a whole mile backwards. “All right, let’s say he intended going to Chicago,” she said. “He never ever planned on switching pla
nes. So he must have been forced to do it. Agreed? Those two men made him do it, probably with Russell’s help.”

  Kendall gave another deep sigh. “If that is correct then he must have been picked up by those two men at Miami airport, and actually taken by force, against his will, to New York,” he replied. “And I don’t go along with that idea at all.” He thought for a few more moments. “Besides if Russell told us that simply to mislead us then he must have been in on the plan himself.”

  Mollie took a deep breath. “That’s right,” she murmured. I thought that it was Russell all the time. He was the kidnapper, he and the other two men they were in on it together.” She smiled. She had cracked the case. She was feeling very pleased with herself. She was grinning from ear to ear. “Russell never went to Chicago at all. That was just a ruse, an out and out lie, to put us off the scent.”

  She looked up and over at Kendall, waiting for a reaction. Kendall was looking directly at the television. His face was ashen, and his hands had begun to shake. “Russell wasn’t the kidnapper,” he said slowly. “It couldn’t have been him.”

  Mollie looked at him, a frown on her forehead. “But you just said that maybe he was. Now you say that he wasn’t. So how are you so sure now?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Two Steps Forward Three Back

  “The police pulled a body out of the Atlantic, on the North beach, earlier today. It has just been identified as Frank Russell,” he replied. “He’s dead.” Kendall walked over to the television set, and turned the volume up. The news item had already changed, and now related to talks about a steel workers strike. Kendall bent down and switched the set off. He slowly walked back to his desk. He was shaking his head. He reached for the telephone and dialed a number.

  * * *

  “Homicide,” a voice replied a few minutes later. “Detective Devaney speaking.”

  “What’s this about Russell?” Kendall asked.

  “Kendall, is that you?” said Devaney. “What happened to the niceties?”

  “Yes it’s me, and hello, how are you?” said Kendall. “Now what about Russell?”

  “Frank Russell?”

  “Yes, Frank Russell,” Kendall repeated. “The guy washed up on North Beach.”

  “I know who you mean. What’s your interest in him?”

  “He came to see me the other day, you know. It was about Carl Simmonds,” said Kendall.

  “You told me that before, remember,” said Devaney. “And that’s it. He came to see you, and that’s all?”

  “For the time being, that’s all,” Kendall replied. “Now come on what can you tell me about him.”

  Devaney started to laugh. “You tell me nothing, but I’m supposed to tell you everything, including what he ate for breakfast, is that it?” Kendall said nothing. “All right Kendall, all right. I’ll tell you, only because I feel sorry for you, and you can’t manage without us.”

  Kendall started to laugh. “Fair enough,” he replied. “Now what can you tell me?”

  Devaney took out his notepad and started to read. “He was seen on the North Beach at twenty minutes after ten two days ago.”

  Kendall looked up startled. He had been at the beach at just about that time. Why hadn’t he seen him? Because I was comatose at the time, lying flat out on that concrete wall.

  “He was seen by a number of people, including a young boy who was out with his dog,” Devaney continued. Kendall certainly remembered the young boy, and the dog. “A dark grey car, make unknown, was seen pulling up behind him. A man got out of the car, and pushed Russell into the back seat. The car then sped off.”

  Kendall suddenly recalled the squealing tires of a speeding car that he had heard that day. He hadn’t even looked around had he? The whole thing happening right behind his back, and he had seen nothing, zilch, nada, rien. Some detective he was. “Could they describe the man?” he asked hopefully.

  Devaney nodded. “Stocky build, about five feet six, looked like a wrestler somebody said. Short blonde hair, aged late twenties, smartly dressed. That description would fit thousands of people.”

  Kendall nodded in agreement. That description could have certainly fitted thousands of others. But more to the point, the description perfectly matched one of the men that Kendall had seen the night that he was to have met with Russell. “The man with the newspaper,” he murmured.

  Devaney never heard the comment but was continuing to read from his pad. “The body was found about five miles further up the coast,” he said. “Probably brought in by the tides.”

  Kendall nodded. Almost certainly the tides, how else, he wondered? A couple of dolphins perhaps; or maybe it was a friendly Killer whale. Perhaps he should check with Sea World. Maybe one of their inhabitants had gone out for the day. One thing was certain. He hadn’t swum back had he?

  “He had been shot,” Devaney continued. “A 38 caliber bullet to the chest.”

  * * *

  “They found him on the North beach,” Kendall said. “Exactly where I was the other day, jogging.”

  Mollie looked at him. “Co-incidence,” she suggested.

  Kendall didn’t believe in co-incidence. “It wasn’t co-incidence,” he said. “Russell had been there probably watching me, maybe he wanted to speak to me.” He looked back at the blank television screen. “I didn’t even know, and now he has been murdered, but why?”

  “To keep him quiet,” Mollie suggested.

  “To keep him quiet, that doesn’t make sense,” Kendall replied. “Don’t forget I saw Russell the other day, and we had quite a long chat.”

  Mollie nodded. “That’s right,” she said. “You did, but no one knew that he came to see you.” Kendall looked puzzled. “You were watched on the night that you had arranged to see Russell, correct? But you never actually saw Russell that night did you?”

  “That’s right,” Kendall replied. “Unless of course those two men had followed him, and knew exactly what he was up to.”

  “If that’s true, they would have known that he saw you, and had already spoken to you,” said Mollie. “So why would they kill him?”

  “Why indeed?” said Kendall.

  “So what exactly did he tell you?” Mollie asked.

  “Not a lot really,” Kendall replied. He held up one finger. “Firstly he told me Simmonds had gone to New York, and not Chicago.” He thought for a few moments longer, and then he held up two fingers. “Secondly, he told me that he usually stayed at the Lexington. Thirdly, he said that he had received some instructions, from Simmonds, about taking a package to East Shore Drive, and that’s about it.”

  “And Russell was murdered to keep that a secret,” said Mollie. “That just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

  “Some secret, considering he had already spoken to me,” said Kendall. “This doesn’t make any sense at all.”

  “Unless, the whole thing had been planned that way,” Mollie suggested helpfully. “I mean perhaps Russell was meant to tell you about the two men at the airport. He was meant to tell you about Chicago. Then once he had served his purpose he was to be eliminated.”

  Kendall pricked up his ears. Could Mollie have stumbled on something, not just about Russell in particular, but the case in general? He thought back to his conversation with Russell. They had discussed the whole thing, Chicago, switching planes, New York. They had spoken about the two men at the airport, and at the Hotel Lexington. Now Russell was dead, murdered. Had he served his purpose? Was he meant to say what he said, and nothing more? The whole thing was so complex, and so confusing. There was no logic to it. It made no sense, unless it had all been deliberately planned.

  He shook his head angrily, and started to smile. “Of course it had all been planned,” he announced. “Planned by Carl Simmonds himself, but why? Why go to all of that trouble?”

  Still there were so many unanswered questions. Two steps forward and three back, just as you think you are getting somewhere, and getting a few answers, you find another dozen question
s waiting in the wings.

  He started to tap the desk nosily. “According to Russell, Simmonds already had tickets for both the Chicago flight, and the New York flight, didn’t he?”

  Mollie was sure that they had been at this point before. It was hardly earth shattering. She said nothing, but merely nodded her head.

  “Why would he have tickets for both places?” Kendall asked.

  Mollie had no idea, but she was fairly sure that point had been raised before, possibly more than once.

  “Because it was all planned that’s why, just as you suggested a few moments ago.” Kendall continued. “He never ever had any intentions of going to Chicago. That was just a ruse, as our friend Russell had thought. He needed the two tickets though, so that he could give one to Russell.”

  He sat quietly for a few minutes. “You know I don’t actually think Simmonds went to New York either” he continued. “After all they never knew him at the Lexington did they?”

  Mollie wasn’t sure where this was all leading to, although she suspected that there would be another brick wall waiting for them, another dead end beckoning. An unfortunate saying, she thought, bearing in mind the latest news about Russell. “He could have stayed at a different hotel couldn’t he?” she suggested.

  “He always stayed at the Lexington,” Kendall replied. “That’s what Russell had said. He always stayed at the Lexington when he was in New York. But he wasn’t there, not this time.”

  “That’s hardly conclusive proof that he never went to New York is it?” Mollie replied. “And besides Russell said that he went there didn’t he?”

  “No, Mollie, he didn’t say that” Kendall replied. “What he actually said was that they had switched flights, Russell apparently taking the Chicago flight, for whatever reason, and Simmonds taking the ticket for New York. Russell naturally assumed that Simmonds had taken the New York flight.”