“It’s getting harder to put up with this domestic crap, Benny. I never thought it would be this exhausting. At least the kid should keep her occupied.”
“You’re a trooper. Just keep your eye on the money.”
“I don’t know anymore. When you cooked up this scheme, it felt like a sure thing, but the longer it goes on, the less good I feel about deceiving Geraldine. She’s going to cotton on if she hasn’t already.”
“That’s why you have to start investing more time in keeping her happy. You have to make it look like you really want to be married to her.” Bennie took one last puff and dabbed the cigarette in the ashtray next to him on the desk. “We knew going in this was going to take time.”
“Why was I the one who had to get married again?”
“Because you’re better looking and you have way more charm.”
“I’ll bet you say that to all the guys.” Max’s fingers moved lightly up Benny’s leg. “It’s just not as easy to keep up the pretence as time goes by. Believe it or not, I feel sorry for Geraldine.”
“Well, use your empathy to start treating her better. We’re too close to the jackpot for you to grow a conscience now.”
“You always could talk me into … stuff.”
“We’re going to have to be careful about meeting for a while. With the cops poking around, it could get dicey. After this evening, you need to spend more time at home. Act like you and the missus and your kid are one happy family.”
“Great. For how long?”
“After they stop investigating Tom’s death, we’ll start moving money again. If all goes well, you can extricate yourself by summer. We’ll winter somewhere warm. What do you think about next Christmas in Cuba?”
Max nodded slowly and looked at this man who’d had a hold on him since high school. Benny was too short and slender and his black hair too bristly to be called handsome, but it was the blue eyes that won him over — that and Benny’s wild side. Benny took chances that maybe bordered on reckless. When they first met, Benny had needed someone to dominate and Max had been happy to oblige. A Bonnie to his Clyde. What had he let this obsession lead him into?
“I’ll hold you to that,” Max said. His fingers had reached Benny’s zipper. “So this could be it for a while?”
“Sadly, we have to be careful,” Benny said. His face changed and he held up a hand. “Did you hear that noise?”
“What noise?”
“I thought we were the only two in the building.” Benny jumped off the desk and crossed to the partially open door. He pushed it all the way open and looked both ways down the hall. He shut and locked it, then walked slowly back to Max. “I guess I’m just getting jumpy.” He leaned against the desk and cupped Max’s chin in his hand. “You really are a delicious-looking man, you know that Maxy? And if we stick together, you’ll soon be a rich and single delicious-looking man.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t blow it.” Max looked up at Bennie and batted his eyes. “Although you are another matter.” He growled deep in his throat and they both laughed.
Max placed his hand on Benny’s thigh. “If this is going to be it for a while, let’s stop wasting time.”
29
Saturday, December 31, 5:10 a.m.
Carla Rodriguez woke up earlier than usual when her husband Phil grunted like a bull moose and rolled over to toss a beefy arm across her back. His mouth came to rest next to her ear. The ripple of snores coming from deep in his chest sounded like a small plane engine preparing for takeoff. Carla opened her eyes and tried to focus in the small bedroom’s dim light. Phil mumbled something in his sleep before a new snort broke the sound barrier. Well, that settled it. There would be no more sleep for her this morning.
She slipped out from under his arm and stood looking down at this great hulk of a man she adored more than life itself. His black hair had turned grey above his ears and the deep lines in his forehead were no longer softened by sleep. Two children grown and gone — the last off to find himself six months ago — and they were acting like newlyweds. They couldn’t get enough of each other. It was funny how life went in circles. For years, they’d barely had breathing space to be alone together, let alone have sex. Phil was sure making up for lost time. It was as if he hadn’t realized they were sixty-two years old and should be past all the physical lust. For this, she lit a candle of thanks every Sunday before mass.
She placed a kiss on his shoulder and grabbed her robe from the foot of their bed as she made her way to the downstairs shower. A quick rinse and she’d stop at Andy’s Diner for coffee and a muffin on her way to the office. If she got in an hour early, she’d have the floors washed before everyone started trooping into the building. Christmas holidays and the moguls barely missed an hour of work. Well, next year at this time, she and Phil would be retired in an adult-only community in Florida and she wouldn’t give a hoot if these people wanted to work themselves to death. She’d been a careful saver and with Phil’s bus driver pension from OC Transpo, they’d do okay. It would be a relief to get out of the rat race.
A half hour later, Carla pulled into the staff parking lot at the back of the five-storey office building at the corner of Kent and Somerset. The street lamps were still on with the sun rising late on these winter mornings. Her employer had sent her to this building three weeks earlier to look after the cleaning on the first two floors. John Schiemann had the top three floors, but his medical clients had the decency to close over the holiday. Her client had put in a request for their cleaner to work regular hours through the holiday season. Just her luck. She’d gotten into the habit of finishing her two floors and helping John with the third. It had been a surprisingly lonely week with him on holidays.
She removed the blueberry muffin from the brown wrapper and bit into it. Still warm from the oven. It took effort to rip the plastic from the coffee lid with her teeth but she managed. A few sips and she felt ready to face the cold outdoors. The temperature had dropped from the day before and it had taken forever to warm up her car. It was a shame to have to leave it to make a dash to the back door.
She glanced to the north end of the lot. Who was working this early? She tried to remember the man who drove the black Impala that was backed into one of the spaces. Did he have no life at all? She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was just going on six thirty. Even this crowd usually didn’t make it in before seven thirty.
She wrapped the muffin back up and stuffed it into her bag. Then she opened the door while holding onto her coffee cup. As she locked the door with her key, she again glanced across the lot at the car. Snow had blown over the windshield and piled onto the hood on the driver’s side. The car must have been there a while. She shook her head. What in the world could get someone into work so early over the holiday week? It was New Year’s Eve for goodness sake. She’d be going home at noon no matter what the other workaholics planned to do. Phil had tickets to the Legion dinner and dance and she needed a few hours to get ready. He’d even had her book a hair appointment and buy a new dress. She’d picked a cherry red number with silver sparkles around the neckline. A bit tighter than she usually wore, but the salesgirl said it made her look good. She could live with good.
Carla started walking across the parking lot toward the back entrance. The fresh layer of snow from the night’s snowfall covered the walkways. It hadn’t been snowing when she got up at quarter to five and something didn’t feel right. She slowed her steps. Where were the footprints from the person who’d beaten her in to work? She turned and looked back at the car, her brow furrowing into puzzled lines. The parking lot was empty and the strengthening dawn sunlight cast long shadows. The sun wouldn’t be completely up for another hour or so.
She started back toward the car. They’d had a problem with people parking in the lot who didn’t work in the building. It wasn’t the case this time though. She recognized the car. It belonged to one of the men who liked to work overtime. He was usually in the other one’s office with th
e door closed. In the mornings she’d find empty pizza boxes and sometimes beer cans from late night sessions stacked beside the garbage can.
A memory worried itself into her mind. There’d been a murder connected to the company recently. Phil had read the article out loud in the paper, but she’d only been half listening. It wasn’t like she felt any connection to this place. Phil liked to read stuff to her because he knew the effort it took her to work through an article. Then she’d go back and reread what he’d just read out loud. He knew that it helped her make sense of the jumble of letters on the page if she already had an idea of their meaning.
She remembered now. One of the big shots was found in the trunk of his car a few days before Christmas. She’d been instructed not to clean his office until further notice. She’d never met the man who died and hadn’t felt anything more than passing sadness for a stranger. She slowed her steps. What if there was a body in the car?
She stood still, trying to convince herself not to be foolish when John Schiemann’s blue truck pulled into the lot a bit faster than necessary. He parked it next to hers and got out, jingling a row of keys as he approached. He was just a kid in his late twenties with green and black tattoos winding up his arms and the back of his neck. He usually covered his Mohawk haircut with a baseball cap at work. Today, he wore an unbuttoned duffle coat and runners, the sight of which made her shiver inside her down coat.
“What’re you doing just standing there? Locked out?” he asked.
“No. I was wondering … well, it seems silly, but that car has been here a while and I was going to make sure it was … empty.” She laughed self-consciously.
He turned and studied it. “You’re thinking of the old dude they found in the trunk.”
She nodded.
“Let’s check it out.”
She followed him to the car, trying not to slip as she hurried to keep up with his loping strides. By the time she caught up, he’d cleared off the front driver’s side of snow and was cupping his hands to look inside. She moved next to him and rubbed a spot on the glass to look in the back seat. They shrugged at each other before he circled around the back of the car. He thumped the trunk a few times before coming back to stand beside her.
“Doesn’t look to be anything weighing down the trunk. I think whoever owns this already split.”
“Well, thank the lord for that,” she said, feeling relieved but oddly disappointed at the same time. The empty car made her look like a fanciful, old woman afraid of her own shadow.
They crossed to the office building and she unlocked the door. Her fingers were numb through her gloves and it took a few tries.
“I’m supposed to work New Year’s Day, but screw that,” John said. “I came in to do the floors and nobody’ll know the difference.”
“They won’t hear it from me,” said Carla.
They cleaned the snow off their boots before starting down the hallway.
“You want to take a break around ten?” Carla asked. She frowned and pointed. “What’s that mess on the floor by the storage room? I didn’t leave it like that yesterday.”
John glanced over then back at her. They stared into each other’s eyes as comprehension dawned, then looked back at the closed door. A pool of dark liquid had seeped from under the opening.
“I’ll go see what it is,” John said. His voice had risen to the shrill range. He cleared his throat. “You stay here.”
“No, I’m responsible for this floor.” They both stood for a moment without moving. “I’ll do it,” Carla said with more determination than she felt.
John nodded encouragement.
She marched over to the storage room and took a deep breath before yanking the door open. Immediately, she heard somebody screaming. It took her a few seconds to figure out that it was her.
She remembered now who owned the car in the parking lot. He was lying scrunched up in front of her with the back of his head beaten into a bloody pulp. She backed away and bumped into John who’d followed her to get a better look.
“I’m … I’ll …” His face was as white as toilet paper and he couldn’t get his words out. Carla felt as rocky as he looked. Her knees buckled and she took a step sideways to lean against the wall. John opened his mouth before turning to flee, almost making it to the men’s room before he vomited down the hallway.
Geraldine woke from a deep sleep and rolled onto her side. Amy Rose was in the bassinet a few feet away, sleeping peacefully at last. They’d been up most of the night. Amy Rose had fussed and cried for no reason Geraldine could figure out. She’d finally taken half a bottle at five a.m. and mercifully fallen asleep. It hadn’t taken Geraldine long to follow suit.
She stretched and looked at the bedside clock. Ten after eleven. She did a quick calculation in her head; just six hours of sleep, but it would have to do. Her breasts were engorged and uncomfortable. She’d missed her pills to dry up the milk and needed to get up and find them. She felt like hell. She’d risk a shower and hopefully would have time to make a cup of tea. It was highly unlikely that Max would take over if the baby woke and she was in the shower.
She sat on the side of the bed for a few moments to watch her baby sleeping. It was hard to believe this perfect little person came out of her. Giving birth could make you believe in miracles. It could make you want to stop drinking. She looked at Max’s tidy side of the bed and sighed. He’d called just after supper the night before to say that he’d be home late and would take the guest bedroom. He’d said it was so that he wouldn’t disturb her. He’d accomplished that feat because she hadn’t heard him come in. He planned to take today off. She wondered how long before he went out somewhere.
She sighed again and looked back at Amy Rose. It was amazing that she’d been conceived at all. Max’s initial interest in the bedroom had died off completely once she became pregnant. He’d said it was because of all the extra hours he was putting in at the office to prove himself. They’d laughed once about his body becoming like a worn out old tire. She knew deep down that he’d been pulling away from her. He’d spent more time with his assistant Benny than he had with her.
Geraldine stood up too quickly and swayed against the side of the bed as a wave of dizziness spread through her. It took a few seconds to regain her balance. It was as if she was drunk, but not on alcohol. She moved closer to the bassinet and looked down on Amy Rose. So innocent. So undeserving of this cruel world. She leaned forward so that her hair trailed onto Amy Rose’s blanket. The baby startled in her sleep, her eyelids fluttered as if she was dreaming. Geraldine held her breath and counted to ten. Amy Rose didn’t wake up. It was a good sign. She would still had time to shower and make tea before Max put in an appearance downstairs.
30
Saturday, December 31, 12:15 p.m.
Rouleau rang the doorbell and took a step back. He drew his coat tighter around his neck and cursed himself for forgetting his hat and scarf at the office. He hadn’t realized how low the temperature had dropped. He saw movement through the bevelled glass and it wasn’t long before Geraldine opened the door. She held a nearly empty cup of tea in one hand and a baby bottle of milk tucked under her arm. Her wet hair had left dark splotches on the shoulders of her bathrobe. She looked at Rouleau with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Yes, can I help you?” she asked.
He realized they’d never met even though he knew so much about her. She’d inherited more of her mother’s facial features than her father’s, but somehow in the new mixture, the beauty had been lost. Even her body was slightly out of proportion and too large to be feminine. He could imagine the childhood cruelties she had endured. He held up his ID. “Geraldine Oliver?”
She nodded.
“I need to speak with you. It’s not good news I’m afraid.”
“Of course, come in out of the cold.”
She didn’t wait for him to remove his boots but walked down the hallway as if his last sentence hadn’t registered. She called over her shou
lder, “I was expecting my mother. She’s supposed to be coming to help with the baby today.”
He followed behind her into the kitchen. It was a newly done-over room, quite welcoming with pine cupboards and a sitting area arranged in front of patio windows. The smell of Earl Grey tea and baby formula mixed sweetly in the air. She slipped past him toward the hallway.
“I’ll just get Max, shall I? It’s almost lunch time and he should be up.” She disappeared from the room before he could respond.
Rouleau walked over to the window and looked out at the mounds of snow on the deck and the birds circling a feeder atop a pole further down in the yard. A squirrel was entrenched in the middle of the feeder, fending off his competition. He slowed his breathing and tried to get into the zen place Malik told him helped with stress. So far, he hadn’t mastered it.
Max Oliver took his time coming downstairs and into the kitchen. His hair was uncombed and his eyes were bleary from sleep but he’d put on jeans and a cable knit pullover. He held out a hand to Rouleau.
“Sergeant. Sorry, I was up late with the baby and took the opportunity to sleep in. I understand you have news?”
“Yes, sad news I’m afraid. You have an assistant, Benny Goldstone?”
“Yes.”
“When did you see him last?”
“We worked late last night on the project I was handed because of Tom’s death. The contract needed some tightening up and it took us until about eight o’clock. What’s this about?”
“Did you come home right afterwards?”
“No, I went for a few drinks and got home around midnight. Look, detective, I have no idea why you’re asking me this but …”
“The cleaners in your office building found Benny Goldstone dead this morning.”
“No.” Max’s face drained to the colour of paste. He clutched his chest and staggered back a step. “I … can’t believe … this.”
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