Fare Play
Page 21
Marian leaned forward on the table. “But it didn’t work out the way you thought, did it, Austin? It didn’t solve your problem. In fact, it just created a whole lot of new ones.”
“Yes! That’s what happened. Oliver’s death didn’t bring me the relief I thought it would. I realized I hadn’t changed a thing. O.K. Toys would go on for years. People were still getting murdered for a fee. I got to thinking about how many people must be taking part in the venture to keep it going so well. Even if Dave Unger eased out all the legitimate toy people over the years, he still needed office staff—records people, computer people, his secretary. Did they know? Were they in for a cut? And what about Oliver’s personal secretary? Surely Lucas Novak knew—how could his personal secretary not know? I even found myself looking at Mrs. R—Mrs. R, a housekeeper, for god’s sake—and thinking that she’d lived under the same roof with Oliver for twenty years … she had to know what kind of man he was! I began to feel I was surrounded by people for whom murder for hire was no more extraordinary a way to earn a living than selling shoes. It was driving me crazy.”
“And Zook and Unger saw it happening to you.”
“Zook saw. I never know what Unger sees.”
“What did Zook do?”
“Well, first he kept telling me to get a grip on myself. Then he started saying I should go away for a while, take a vacation. Once he was so exasperated with me that he reminded me what kind of business O.K. Toys really is.”
“A threat.”
“I took it as such, yes.”
“Then what happened?”
He smiled sadly. “Then you advised me to find a new lawyer.” He played with the crumpled water cup a moment and then said, “I’d just had enough. That’s all. It’s an intolerable situation. All at once it simply became clear that that’s what I should do. Find a new lawyer and admit my part in what’s been going on. Maybe put a stop to this madness.”
Marian said, “When you hired a new lawyer, Zook knew they’d lost you for good. So they went to their standard solution—they put out a contract on you. Unger made the necessary phone calls, and they thought their problem was solved.”
He was shaking his head. “Solving problems—that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? If you have a tough problem, hire a man with a gun to take care of it for you.” He noticed the look on her face. “Yes, I know, I did the same thing myself. But if I can help you put O.K. Toys out of business, maybe I can make up a little for what I did and for what my fa—what Oliver did, for all those years. Are you going to arrest Zook and Unger?”
“We arrested them both an hour ago,” Marian said.
38
“So they’re all three guilty,” Murtaugh said.
“All three,” Marian replied. “But Oliver Knowles was the guiltiest of them all.”
“There’s something missing in people like that. Some essential part’s been left out.”
“I got off the track there for a while, thinking Oliver was just a victim. I should have known Unger wasn’t capable of thinking up a big scam all by himself.”
“Well, that’s when we were thinking the toy company was being set up for a new scam.”
“True. And Virgil had been in business a long time. How long would you say … about forty years? That’s how long Zook had been Oliver Knowles’s lawyer.”
“Sounds about right. My god. Forty years of killing people without getting caught.”
“They must have rotated their shooters a lot. Killing was their profession, and they ran the business like professionals.”
“Unfortunately. I wonder how many Virgils there are in this country.”
“Well, Schumacher gave a list of some of them to her.”
The “her” was Assistant District Attorney Julia Perry, who’d followed them out of the interrogation room. Right behind her was Austin Knowles’s new lawyer, James Archer, silver-haired and silver-tongued.
Archer was patting at his perspiring forehead with a folded handkerchief. “This is going to make one interesting trial.”
“In many ways,” the prosecutor agreed.
“I think we’ve got extreme provocation here.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Perry said. “Austin is more Oliver’s son than he knows. They both reacted to stress in the same way—by killing.”
Archer snorted. “That’ll never fly.”
She smiled. “Wanna bet?”
The two attorneys said good night and left.
The captain and his lieutenant headed back toward their offices. Marian said, “There was some chink in Virgil’s defenses that we missed.”
“Oh?”
“Rosalind Bowman—when she was working in that office of Virgil’s … Twenty-first Century Consultants? When she was there, she must have stumbled across something that made her suspect Oliver Knowles. She wouldn’t have had him followed otherwise. She had no other connection with Knowles.”
“Too bad we can’t ask her.”
“Yes, the lady’s long gone.” Marian wished her well. “We still don’t know why Unger opened a new Swiss account and then closed it again.”
“Maybe he didn’t. We didn’t check on it, did we? Maybe that secretary who told Perlmutter about the account simply saw the handwriting on the wall and was trying to play Little Miss Innocent for the police.”
She looked at him. “God. I never even thought of that.”
“Well, it’ll all come out in the wash. I’m more interested in finding out how Virgil’s clients got in touch with the organization in the first place. I wonder how we can get Unger to talk.”
“Tell him Zook said to.”
Murtaugh smiled. “That may be what it’ll take.” They came to Marian’s office first; he waited while she got her coat and bag. “So what happens next?”
“So next we turn André Flood loose on the O.K. Toys computers. Once he uncovers those hidden files, we’re going to be so busy making arrests we won’t have time for anything else.” They walked on to his office. “I want to get every one of them. Every person in this city who bought a death. I don’t want even one to slip through our fingers. Not even the one tonight.”
Murtaugh put on his coat, wrapped a muffler around his throat. “What one tonight?”
They started down the stairs. “The courier who delivered the envelope to Schumacher—she wasn’t the only one the paymaster met,” Marian said. “He paid off a second courier after that, remember? In Times Square.” She hated the thought of it. “Somebody died tonight—because of Virgil.”
“Larch.” He stopped at the foot of the stairs, forcing her to stop too. “Whoever that person was who died tonight—that was Virgil’s last victim. It’s over. Finished. You put an end to it yourself. This is a cause for rejoicing.”
“I know. I’m just tired.”
He sighed. “Lord, so am I. I’m going to spend the entire weekend sleeping. Good night, Larch. See you on Monday.”
“Night, Captain.”
It was almost four A.M. when she started her car to go home. But she didn’t want to go home; she didn’t want to go there at all. She headed the car toward Central Park West. When she’d parked and ridden up to his floor, she let herself in with the key he’d sent her.
He was still awake. “Is it finished?” he asked quietly.
“Yes. It’s finished.”
“And you? Are you all right?”
“Yes. As if I’ve been rubbed raw—but all right.”
“It’s an abrasive business you’re in. It can coarsen you and cheapen you, if you let it.”
“Prevention can be difficult.”
“But not impossible. Don’t give all of yourself. Keep some part of yourself separate, private.”
“I will … consider it.”
He moved over to her and gently removed her coat. “I’m glad you’re home,” he said.
About the Author
Barbara Paul is the author of numerous short stories and novels in both the detective and science fic
tion genres. Born in Maysville, Kentucky, she went on to attend Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh, earning a PhD in theater history and criticism. She has been nominated for the Shamus Award for Best PI Short Story, and two of her novels, In-Laws and Outlaws and Kill Fee, have been adapted into television movies. After teaching at the University of Pittsburgh for a number of years, she retired to write full-time. Paul currently resides in Sacramento.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1995 by Barbara Paul
Cover design by Jason Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-5040-3252-0
This edition published in 2016 by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
180 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
www.openroadmedia.com
THE MARIAN LARCH MYSTERIES
FROM MYSTERIOUSPRESS.COM
AND OPEN ROAD MEDIA
Available wherever ebooks are sold
MYSTERIOUSPRESS.COM
MYSTERIOUSPRESS.COM
Otto Penzler, owner of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, founded the Mysterious Press in 1975. Penzler quickly became known for his outstanding selection of mystery, crime, and suspense books, both from his imprint and in his store. The imprint was devoted to printing the best books in these genres, using fine paper and top dust-jacket artists, as well as offering many limited, signed editions.
Now the Mysterious Press has gone digital, publishing ebooks through MysteriousPress.com.
MysteriousPress.com. offers readers essential noir and suspense fiction, hard-boiled crime novels, and the latest thrillers from both debut authors and mystery masters. Discover classics and new voices, all from one legendary source.
FIND OUT MORE AT
WWW.MYSTERIOUSPRESS.COM
FOLLOW US:
@emysteries and Facebook.com/MysteriousPressCom
MysteriousPress.com is one of a select group of publishing partners of Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
The Mysterious Bookshop, founded in 1979, is located in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. It is the oldest and largest mystery-specialty bookstore in America.
The shop stocks the finest selection of new mystery hardcovers, paperbacks, and periodicals. It also features a superb collection of signed modern first editions, rare and collectable works, and Sherlock Holmes titles. The bookshop issues a free monthly newsletter highlighting its book clubs, new releases, events, and recently acquired books.
58 Warren Street
info@mysteriousbookshop.com
(212) 587-1011
Monday through Saturday
11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
FIND OUT MORE AT:
www.mysteriousbookshop.com
FOLLOW US:
@TheMysterious and Facebook.com/MysteriousBookshop
Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media.
Videos, Archival Documents, and New Releases
Sign up for the Open Road Media newsletter and get news delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up now at
www.openroadmedia.com/newsletters
FIND OUT MORE AT
WWW.OPENROADMEDIA.COM
FOLLOW US:
@openroadmedia and
Facebook.com/OpenRoadMedia