To Find a Killer

by Charlie Vogel

  “I don’t get it,” I rolled the beer between my palms. “Why is he doing this?”

  “He said he was tired of you playing games and, now, he has the means to make you do something useful.”

  “Bob, I thought your family didn’t have a lot of money. How did your brother come up with enough to buy this?” Lori asked. “I mean, it is a dump . . . in the middle of a lot of dumps. But, from what you’ve said he’s just a working guy. Right?”

  “Yeah, though he’s a real tight wad. Always saving. He asked Eileen for a couple investment tips over the years. But buy a run-down apartment building?”

  “Just to get you to move?” Lori stressed. “But, Bob, don’t you think it says something that Henry sold it to him?”

  “I know Donald and Henry have been talking. I’m suppose to believe they were both worried about my mental status. Now, we know better about Henry . . . . He’s probably manipulating my own brother to get at me every way he can!”

  “That couldn’t happen in a few hours, Bob. Donald said he just got the final papers.”

  “Remember when I showed you the notice on our door?”

  “What the hell is Henry planning?” I muttered.

  Harry gulped the last of his Pabst. “I think he convinced good ol’ Donald you shouldn’t be living here with us, that’s for sure.”

  “Why?” I looked at Harry and Lori.

  “Because we’ll influence you somehow?” Harry offered.

  “Because he doesn’t want the uppity-ups to connect you, his son-in-law, with piss ants like us?”

  “Or maybe he’s afraid of you.”

  They both looked at me like I was crazy. I picked up the phone and dialed Donald’s office. His secretary immediately connected us.

  “Hello, Bob. I’m guessing you received my message.”

  “Yeah. So, you own my home here. Why?”

  “Price was right and it will provide a nice income. Does it bother you that I’m your landlord?”

  “Bullshit, Donald. You won’t make money on this place. Eight low-rent apartments and only three occupied. The rest are being remodeled. That means money being thrown down the toilet and not being earned back for some time. You just flushed your money away. How much did Henry take you for?”

  “Ah, Harry told you.”

  “Of course. So, how much?”

  “Cheap. He wanted to unload it.”

  “He wanted to involve you. You haven’t listened to me over the years, have you? He’s worse than a ruthless businessman. He hired someone to kill Eileen.”

  “You . . . have really gone off the deep end!”

  “Listen. He found out she wasn’t really his daughter and that she bought Ashland Steel right out from under him.”

  “Total bullshit! He has a position in that city. He’s even respected here in Chicago. Where did you come up with this fairy tale? From those street people you’re living with? Have they got you strung out on drugs and booze?”

  “Shut up! Quit trying to second guess me and listen. Since the day I talked to you on my patio I have done nothing but set up my life to find out who killed Eileen. Now I know who and why.”

  “Why? That’s a good one. Why would he kill his own daughter.”

  “See? You weren’t listening. Charles, his chauffeur, was Eileen’s real father.”

  “The more you talk, Bob, the worse this gets, for you that is. Maybe I should do more than just evict you. Maybe I should have you committed, for your own safety.”

  “You get your ass down here and I’ll show you documented proof, buddy. Tonight. You fly in tonight.”

  “I’m busy.”

  “Do you know how many people have died because of this mess? Five. This has got to stop. Henry has got to be stopped. Now whose side are you on, mine or his?”

  I waited through a long pause.

  “All right. But I want to see proof of every word you’ve said. Or, I swear, Bob, I’ll have your ass carted off to the nearest mental ward.”

  After he hung up, I held the phone against my head for a moment. Lori’s hand patted my shoulder.

  “That wasn’t much fun, huh?”

  I took a deep breath and dialed another number. My jaw clamped as I waited through two rings.

  “Hello?” Henry answered.

  “I want to talk.”

  “Really. What about? My limousine? You do realize I will take the damages out of your allowance.”

  “I’m not paying you one fucking dime. I expect you to pack up your office at Ashland Steel and vacate, beat it, vamoose.”

  Long pause. “Why would I do that, Robert?”

  “Because I own the controlling interest.”

  “You are babbling nonsense.”

  “Quit playing the goddamn games. We both know I have Eileen’s original will. Not one of your doctored copies. The original.”

  “Then I suggest you contact an attorney.”

  “You better believe I’ll do exactly what I have to. That means, I will be coming to my office tomorrow morning. Either you have my desk empty or I’ll shit-can your stuff. There is not one thing you can do about it.”

  “You are so wrong, Robert. The police will simply escort you out of here. My attorney has already filed a contest to all other wills Eileen may have written. That original you have is worthless. And remember, I hire only the best legal minds. There is no one who can stand up to quality.”

  I decided to strike. “Really? Is that why you had Eileen killed?”

  “You’re insane!” He actually laughed. “Go see a good psychiatrist. I will even pay for that myself. I have a business to run. Good-by!”

  Harry cocked his head at me. “By the looks of that shit-eating grin, you just ate a mouse.”

  “Not yet, but I’m getting the mouse closer to the bait.”

  “Now what?”

  “It may get uglier. Are you two still with me?”

  “Hey, I haven’t had this much fun since . . . since . . . I can’t remember when!”

  “And I don’t like repeating myself, Bob.” Lori lifted one eyebrow, immediately reminding me of her emotional investment.

  I nodded. “Well, like I told Henry, tomorrow morning I take over my office.”

  * * *

  The guard at the gate of Ashland Steel refused to allow me entry. The first rays of the sun over the distant bluffs glinted gray off the black brim of the man’s hat.

  I turned to Donald in the Mustang’s passenger seat. “What would you do to one of your employees who acted this rude?”

  He sighed heavily. “Bob! Just go to the visitor’s parking and wait for the place to open. This can be handled without a scene.”

  I threw my arm across the back of the seat and looked over my shoulder at Harry and Lori. “Should we do what my brother says or should we drive through the pansy-assed barricade?”

  Harry thought a moment. “Did you get insurance on my car when you bought it?”

  “Fully covered.”

  Together, Harry and Lori shouted “Go for it!”

  I smiled at Donald. “Out voted!” My foot drove the accelerator to the floor. Tires squealed. The guard jumped back and the Mustang lurched forward. The wooden bar smacked the windshield, snapped, and disappeared over the roof of the car. A crack in the windshield slithered across Donald’s side. He pushed himself back as if expecting the glass to strike him. Lori and Harry hooted. We sped across the empty lot toward the large brick building.

  I saw the sign at Henry’s reserved spot but couldn’t stop before running over it. The car bounced on the concrete tire bumper, the pan scraping painfully. I slammed on the brakes a few feet from the front entrance, the tires skidding on the thick, green sod.

  “You’re acting like a goddamn teenager, Bob,” Donald huffed. “There’s guards at the door. Do they look like they’re going to let us in?”

  “I guess we’ll just sit here and stare back at them. That should unnerve them a bit. At least until Henry arrives with the keys. T
hat shouldn’t take too long.”

  “Accompanied by the police, no doubt. You told me you would handle this peacefully. But, I should have known better. I’m getting out of this car so I can talk to Henry first. Maybe I can calm him down long enough to make some sense of this.”

  “Do whatever you have to, Donald. Harry, test the mike. Is everything on?”

  Click. Whir. Click. “Yup. Working and ready. Word is the tape recorder is waiting,” Harry spoke up from the back seat. “This stuff from Electronic City is some neat shit. Definitely better than guns, Bob.”

  Donald stared at me in disbelief. I grinned happily, then waved at the watching guards, beckoning them outside. As the minutes dragged by, the four men warily filed out the door. One man directed them into a semblance of a line in front of the doors. They didn’t look professional or enthusiastic.

  Just as the sun cleared the horizon, Lori settled down in her seat with “They’re coming!”

  The convoy drove by the guard shack without hesitating. The blinking red and blue lights of the police cars reflected off the long cream colored vehicle in the lead.

  “Henry must’ve bought a new limo,” Harry quipped.

  “Why did he bring so many cops?”

  I shrugged. “Witnesses?”

  “You should become a comedian, Norris!” Harry wasn’t laughing. “I’m not so sure about this.”

  “You just be sure the equipment keeps working.”

  “Yeah, yeah. The receiving end just clicked at me.”

  “Donald?” I called out. He had gotten out of the car. “Don’t you blow this!”

  Henry’s limo stopped in front of his flattened sign. The cop cars fanned out behind him.

  “And don’t you do anything stupid! Give me a chance!” Donald ordered as he started forward.

  As the three of us piled out of the Mustang, cop car doors flew open and men jumped out.

  “Don’t shoot! Nobody has guns!” Donald yelled frantically, running forward waving his arms. I was suddenly glad his draft number hadn’t come up or he wouldn’t be here now, looking like a scared fool.

  Lori yawned and settled one hip against the car. “I hope this works. I can’t function on a couple hours sleep.”

  I started to comment but swallowed my words as Henry and Sergeant Morten stepped from the limo. They walked right passed Donald.

  Henry pointed at me. “Arrest this man for trespassing and destroying property.”

  Before Morten could even open his mouth, I responded, “You’re not arresting anybody! I have legal proof that I own this business, Morten! I suggest you take this fairy fruitcake with you and get off my property.”

  Morten hesitated just long enough for me to turn to Henry. “I have a judge on his way here. Harry . . .” My thumb pointed to where Harry talked over a cell phone, “. . . is talking to him now. We can have a friendly little chat while we wait. What should we talk about? Oh, yeah. Why did you say you had Eileen killed?”

  “You are totally out of your mind. Now, I want you out of here. You can talk to Winters. He has all the proof necessary to counter any of your asinine claims. Sergeant Morten has already seen the papers.”

  “Well, I’m sure your wimpy little attorney is hiding back in the limo, but this is really just between us . . . you and me. So why don’t you call off your worthless watchdog here and we’ll talk . . . while we wait.”

  Donald stood to the side, shifting from foot to foot, like a kid who has to go to the bathroom, but doesn’t know how to interrupt and ask. I motioned for Lori. She took him by the arm and led him back to the Mustang.

  Henry sighed sharply. “I have nothing to hide from Sergeant Morten. Do you remember I mentioned how I like to gamble, in a business sense? Well, the Sergeant and I have a bet. He says you will go to jail and rot there. I say you will drop these teenage antics and work for me, either at Ashland Steel or Bison Insurance.”

  “I guess you both lose. When I’m finished here, Henry, you won’t have a business or a job, maybe not even a life.” I looked at Harry. He clicked the phone closed and held up five fingers. “We have a few minutes before the judge arrives. Why not humor me with some answers, Henry?”

  He glared at me a long minute. “I do believe Judge Snyder is on call today. We had drinks last night. Yes, he did tell me that. So, I’ll be patient and play your game until he gets here. Of course, you know I will deny everything anyway and my word will carry so much more weight than yours. Why shouldn’t you know the truth before you go away forever. Your wife meddled in my business and she was removed. Did I feel badly? Not particularly. Her mother proved to be a whore and the daughter an untrustworthy disgrace who regretfully carried my name.”

  “What a cold-blooded sonofabitch you are! Why didn’t you have me killed, too?”

  “You were never a threat, until recently. I realized you would actually figure everything out, and you had Eileen’s will. I undermined your credibility and you graciously cooperated there. Now, if you don’t continue to cooperate, Sergeant Morten will incarcerate you.”

  I laughed. “No, Henry. I’m done kissing your ass. The judge coming? It’s not your piddling little Snyder, but a retired Federal judge. Remember, they are appointed for life? Anyway, Jerry Williams is an old friend, a neighbor, in fact. He’s already seen the will in my possession. He’s perfectly willing to look over the one Winters is clutching. I think Jerry can make an objective evaluation. I’ll honor it, anyway. How about you? Do you have any honor left?”

  Henry glanced at Morten then narrowed his eyes at me. “I thought you said you had called for the judge on duty.”

  “Did I? I don’t think so. I just said ‘a judge was coming.’ Is your mind slipping, Henry? Maybe it’s getting a little over-loaded with too much responsibility.”

  “Your sense of humor is lost on this audience, Robert. If this Jerry is indeed who you say and your neighbor, I’m sure he has observed your irrational behavior these past few weeks.”

  “As a matter of fact, we have talked . . . ah, like you and Snyder, over drinks. No, Henry. He will believe me.”

  “Words. Words prove nothing, Robert.”

  “Unless they are tape recorded. I have a mike on me and a very trust-worthy police officer in a van about a mile away. Oh, I didn’t mention Judge Williams and the County Attorney are listening with him! Must have slipped my mind.”

  Henry’s eyes widened in a true deer-in-the-headlights look. But the next moment he stepped close to Morten, his lips in a snarl, his voice pitched low. “You get your goddamn gun out and shoot this bastard, or you’ll lose every penny you’ve ever gotten from my people!”

  Morten’s mouth opened and closed. He backed away from Henry like the man was contaminated. One, two pops sounded. Morten doubled over and fell to the ground. Henry turned and I looked down the narrow tunnel of his small gun. Smoke drifted from the opening, then I glimpsed a flash. A burning fist hit my chest and I fell back, not stopping until my head hit the ground. My hands dug at the holes in my silk shirt. Never liked pastel blue anyway.

  A car door slammed beyond my head. I rolled over and raised up. The cream colored limo backed between cop cars, veered crazily, then tires squealed at it surged away.

  Donald wrapped his arms around me and lifted me to my feet. He didn’t let go as I tried to balance myself. His arms felt pretty good. Then Lori and Harry added their arms to the celebration.

  “Bob, wow, man!” was all Harry could manage.

  “You are crazy!” Donald muttered.

  Lori kept repeating “Are you okay? Are you okay?”

  I wiggled free from them, my hand rubbing over the heavy vest. “Do you think Roy will notice the cut now, Harry?”

  “You sonofabitch!” Harry pounded me on the back. “The cops are coming towards us instead of chasing him.”

  I looked up and saw the uniformed officers cautiously walking forward. “Like hell! Get in the car!”

  “Don’t you think Roy’s calling for assistance?
That’s their job.”

  “I’m not losing the bastard now!”

  Donald backed away. I thought maybe he really had to go to the bathroom and left him there. Lori dove in the rear seat as I took the wheel and Harry slid into the passenger side. I noticed they snapped on their seat belts. As I gunned it and spun sod into the air, I glimpsed Lori putting on the headset and talking into the transmitter.

  A uniformed officer tried to flag me down. I hit the horn and he jumped to the left. The entrance guard waved me on like some rookie cop directing traffic.

  “Bob!” Lori yelled excitedly. “Roy says Henry’s westbound on Maple. State Patrol has road blocks up. They should stop him in about five minutes.

  I took a turn on two wheels. Harry’s hand gripped the dash as his body stiffened, pressing him in the seat.

  “Brake the goddamn car before you turn. You ain’t even going in the right direction. This is south. Maple’s north.”

  “He’ll turn off Maple and head to the Pink Horn. His luggage and passport are waiting, remember?”

  “How do you know he’ll do that?”

  “Expressway entrance on Maple. Straight shot downtown. No lights. My gut tells me he doesn’t intend to be caught.”

  “Well, you got lights!”

  “I’m an expert now!”

  “Shit!” Lori squeaked.

  “Harry, reach under the seat for that stolen gun.”

  “I ain’t reaching nowhere, not the way you’re driving!”

  “It rolled back here.” Lori called. “I got it!”

  I glanced in my rearview mirror and caught the flicker of red and blue lights. “Lori, did you tell Roy about the Pink Horn?”

  “Yeah. He notified the State Patrol. The cars behind us are city police. They think you shot Morten. Roy’s trying to talk to them now, but they don’t believe him.”

  I ran a red light, barely missing a taxi. The Mustang banged over a pothole. I prayed a tire wouldn’t blow. A block ahead I thought I saw a cream car. The traffic slowed. I swerved into the left lane, glad the oncoming traffic was at least two blocks away.

  “Bob! Roy says the State Patrol is with us, but the city cops are siding with Henry. They’re arguing jurisdiction, but the state boys have stopped the city from chasing us. We got a clear shot.”