by Mick James
“Okay. I’ll be in before eleven.”
“I look forward to seeing you,” Marci cooed, then hung up.
He switched on Arundel’s computer and scanned the online news for anything mentioning a body with a dent in the forehead caused by a bottle of wine. He didn’t find anything and wondered if Morris Montcreff had really left the body in that basement. He got dressed for the day, then stared out the window for the next ten minutes looking for anything out of the ordinary. He exited out the front door and took the long way around the building. Nothing seemed amiss so he climbed in the Mercedes and drove downtown.
Marci was all smiles and up on her feet as he stepped off the elevator.
“Bobby, wonderful to see you this morning,” she gleamed. “You know the way back to your office. I’ll bring you a coffee, black?”
“Black would be nice, Marci, thank you,” he said without slowing down. He’d barely sat down behind his empty desk when Marci waltzed in with a large coffee. She flashed her bright smile and lingered for a moment while she set the mug on his desk. He felt like asking her if the two buttons on her blouse had just recently been undone but thought better of it.
“Thanks, Marci. I appreciate the coffee. You said the real estate agent would be here around eleven?”
“Yes, sir. A few of the partners have used her before, Katherine Bandon. I’ve heard she’s very good.”
He nodded and took a sip.
“Is there anything else you’d like, Bobby?”
For just a moment he half expected her to lean breathless against the wall and say something like, “Anything you want, anything at all, just take it.” Thankfully, nothing remotely like that came across.
“No, I’ll just wait for the real estate agent.”
Marci nodded and left. He watched as she rebuttoned her top on the way back to the receptionist desk. His phone buzzed maybe ten minutes later.
“Hello.”
“Miss Bandon to see you, shall I send her back?”
“No, I’m coming out, thanks.” He checked his watch, Miss Bandon was fifteen minutes early.
Chapter Fifty-Six
As Bobby made his way up to the front office he caught just a bit of conversation passing by the paralegal cubicles.
“No, I guess it just burst into flames right there in his driveway.”
“Oh, that’s so scary.”
He was tempted to turn round and ask if they were discussing Noah Denton’s car. Instead, he kept moving toward the front lobby. He wasn’t sure why, but he half expected the realtor to be some sort of blonde bombshell with maybe a sexy accent. What he found was a woman in her early-to-mid sixties on her cell phone. She saw him as he approached, dropped her call and stood to face him with an outstretched hand. “You must be Mr. Custer, I’m Katherine Bandon.”
“Nice to meet you, Katherine. Please, call me Bobby.”
“Thank you, Bobby,” she said and handed him her card. It didn’t list a real estate firm, just her name with a phone number and in quotation marks above her name, “Home is where the heart is.”
“I realize I’m a few minutes early, do you need to tie up any loose ends before we leave?”
“No, let’s get started, shall we?” he smiled.
“Do you know when you plan to return?” Marci asked as they walked toward the elevators.
“I’ve no idea. Maybe mark me out for the remainder of the day and I’ll call if that changes.”
Marci nodded and flashed her toothy smile.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll drive,” Katherine said as the elevator descended. “I’m not sure how familiar you are with the city. It’s not the easiest place to find your way around.”
“Actually I’m a local, born and raised, but let’s take your car.”
Two hours later they’d looked at three different downtown units.
“I’ve got another one I can show you, it’s in an older building, as in a hundred and twenty years old. But it’s got a level of charm and appeal that’s missing from these newer buildings we’ve been looking at. If I’m guessing correctly you haven’t exactly been that thrilled with what you’ve seen so far.”
“Katherine, they’re all nice, but they just aren’t me. Does that make any sense?”
She nodded, “I hear it all the time. I’m still getting a handle on what you like. Thus far, I’ve established it’s not floor-to-ceiling corner windows twenty-five stories up.”
“Yeah, well I’ve sort of got a height thing.”
“Oh really, I’m so sorry. If I’d known that I never would have had you up there. I only got the call late last night so I’ve really had to scramble a bit. I hope you understand.”
“Believe me, I do. Who called you by the way?”
“Called me?” She sounded defensive.
“Yeah, this whole thing was sort of news to me, too.”
She glanced over at him. “Why, one of the senior partners, Noah Denton. Bit of a surprise actually, very unusual I’d hear from him and well, the short notice.”
“When did he call?”
“God, it was late. Sometime after midnight.”
It was my turn to look over at her. “What?”
“Oh, not to worry. I’d take a call like that every night of the week if it meant I’d move a unit. Not a complaint at all.”
“What did they tell you about my finances?” Bobby asked, then looked out the passenger window.
“Not a thing, but then the firm is picking up the tab for twelve months so I’m not sure why that would even be a concern. I do a lot of this sort of thing for companies, some doctor coming into the U hospital doing research or someone from international out at 3M. What’s your specialty?” she asked.
“My specialty? Oh, just sort of a man of many talents I guess.”
She nodded and didn’t probe any further.
The next unit they looked at was gorgeous. The building was a former hotel, circa 1880. The unit was on the fourth floor with a couple of bedrooms, a den, stained glass windows, a living room with a fireplace and a very modern kitchen. It was also just three blocks from the half-way house he had left a little over a month ago.
“Now this is fantastic, just the thing,” he said.
“Obviously, it’s a secure building. It also comes with underground parking, a cleaning service once a week, cable, Wi Fi, and access to a rooftop party room for larger events,” Katherine said.
“I love it.”
“Does that mean you’ll take it?”
“The firm is covering all the costs?”
“Down to the very last penny,” she said and smiled.
Bobby stuck his hand out. “Deal,” he said and they shook on it.
“Wonderful, I’ll have the paperwork in your office first thing tomorrow morning.”
“That will be great, I’ll run it past the appropriate authorities and hopefully they’ll approve it,” he said.
She shook her head. “I’ve worked with Noah Denton a few times over the years. I’m not sure what strengths you’re bringing to the table, but he sounded uncharacteristically desperate last night. He told me in no uncertain terms to get you situated somewhere you were happy and they would take care of the rest.”
Bobby gave her a funny look.
“Look at it this way,” she said. “For thirty-six grand and some change they’ve got you happy and on their team. I’m not sure if its expertise, clients or both that you’re going to deliver, but thirty-six grand over the course of a year is chump change to this firm. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very gracious of them, wonderful for you and great for me, but I’m guessing you represent a lot more to them in the line of business and client relations.”
“You seem fairly confident in that assessment.”
“I’m good at what I do, Bobby. And a desperate phone call sometime after midnight, from a man not used to making desperate calls, like I said, I don’t know exactly what you’re bringing to the table, but it must be pretty big. Now, if I have yo
ur permission, I’ll draw up the paperwork on this and we’ll get the thing moving. Oh, did I mention, it comes furnished? I hope that’s okay?” She smiled.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
“Hello.”
“Morris Montcreff, please.”
“Well, Bobby. How did your day go?”
“Very well. I wanted to thank you for your assistance. The law firm has made me a very nice offer and I’ve decided to accept it.”
“What did Denton say when you told him?”
“I haven’t told him yet. As a matter of fact I haven’t seen him today. I wanted to let you know first, sir, and make sure it was okay with you.”
“What makes you think I’d have anything against it?”
“Nothing. As a matter of fact, I suspect their offer is only as generous as it is because of your involvement.” He let that last statement sit out there for a moment. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you. I’ll be in the office tomorrow morning to begin reviewing your files unless there was something else you would prefer.”
“My only preference is that you watch my back. I want you to go through everything. You find something, run it past me, and I’ll bring it to Denton’s attention if need be. This last bit, the LLC with Zimmerman, I’ll definitely need that redrawn.”
“I’ve already started,” Bobby lied.
Montcreff chuckled on the other end of the phone, then said “Excellent,” and hung up.
Bobby waited around the corner the next morning for Marci to show up. She stepped off the elevator a little before eight wearing walking shoes and carrying a paper bag from Nordstrom’s, he figured it probably held a pair of heels inside. He ran back to his office and phoned her desk before she saw him.
“Yes?” she answered sounding more than a little surprised.
“Marci, good morning, Bobby. I’m not sure who to talk to, Noah isn’t in yet. I wanted to begin reviewing Mr. Montcreff’s files. How do I access them?”
“Mr. Montcreff’s files? That’s restricted access. I would have…”
“That’s good. I don’t want just anyone able to go through them. Now, who do I talk to so I can begin reviewing? I’d like to start with the most recent items and work backwards. In fact, the LLC with Lowell Zimmerman should be the first item I look at.”
“Very well, let me check with Mr. Denton. Once we receive his approval I’m sure we can….”
“Can you reach him? As far as I can determine he hasn’t arrived yet this morning and I’d like to begin the review process immediately.”
“Let me try and get hold of him, sir.”
He liked that “sir” part. “Fifteen minutes, Marci,” he said and hung up.
In just under nine minutes a woman knocked on his office door carrying a thick stack of accordion folders. She was dark haired, wore a wedding ring and a white plastic cord around her left wrist with a small key attached. She carried the stack of folders holding them from beneath with both arms. She kept them from sliding out of her grasp by using her chin to hold the stack in place.
The folders were actually mottled blue-green with white metal tabs on either end so they could hang in a drawer. Each folder appeared to hold multiple files.
“Hi, you’re reviewing the Montcreff files?” she asked walking in.
“Yes.”
She set the stack of files on the edge of his otherwise empty desk and pushed them toward the center. Then she stepped back and gave him the once-over.
“Thank you. This is it?” the stack was about sixteen inches high and tilted decidedly toward the middle of his desk.
“This represents the past twelve months. I can bring everything in if you want, but there’s quite a bit, years’ worth, actually, a little over three full drawers. I’m Angie by the way. Are you with the state or the feds?” she said and held out her hand.
He shook her hand, “Angie, Bobby Custer, and I’m not with either one, actually. As of yesterday I’m officially “Of Counsel” concerning anything to do with Mr. Montcreff.”
“Oh, sorry. Colorful client,” she said indicating the stack of files and let it go at that. He recognized her as one of the people chatting about the car fire yesterday morning.
“Did I hear you talking yesterday morning about some car difficulty?”
She visibly blushed. “Actually that was one of the other girls. I didn’t say anything, well, except that it sounded scary. But I didn’t pass on any information if that’s what…”
He shook his head, held up a hand and gave a little smile. “Relax, not a problem with me. I just wondered what the story was. Did it concern Mr. Denton? I was going to meet with him late yesterday afternoon, but he was otherwise detained.”
“Yeah, it was his car. The thing apparently caught fire right in his driveway, night before last. Pretty creepy if you ask me,” she said, then glanced at the stack of files, remembered who they referred to and put two and two together. “Well, nice to meet you, Bobby. I’m at extension one-one-five, if you need anything just call. I’d better get back to work,” she said and closed the door behind her.
The third file from the top of the stack was labeled ‘Zimmerman’. He started there. Over the course of the next couple of hours he redrew the contract, which sounds extensive, but it really wasn’t. He simply copied everything, basically flipped the responsibilities in the event of payment issues, put Lowell Zimmerman on the hook and added language that protected Morris Montcreff from any potential liabilities, lawyer’s speak for screwing the other guy.
He thought about Katherine Bandon, the real estate woman who showed him around yesterday. He pulled her card out of his wallet and phoned her.
“This is Katherine.”
“Hi, Katherine, Bobby Custer.”
“Yes Bobby, how are you today? I hope you didn’t change your mind.” She joked, although there was the hint of a serious edge to her question.
“What? Oh, no nothing like that. As a matter of fact, I can’t wait to get into the new place. No, I was just calling to thank you for your time and for helping me out yesterday. I’m really excited about the move. What I wondered was could you give me the addresses of the places we looked at? I’ve got to fill out a report here. You know accountants,” he said.
“Oh goodness. You’re preaching to the choir. Hang on for just a moment I’m walking to my desk. Let’s see, okay the first place was on Kellogg Boulevard…” She listed off a total of four addresses, in the order they had viewed them, finishing up with the fourth floor unit he had decided on.
“Thanks, Katherine I appreciate it.”
“Glad to be of service, feel free to call anytime. By the way, I messengered the paperwork over to Noah Denton this morning. It should have arrived around nine.”
“I’ll look for Noah. When do you think I’ll be able to move into the unit?”
“To tell you the truth, I could have given you a key while we were there yesterday. All I need is Noah’s okay and you’re good to go. It’s been sitting there vacant for two months. How does this sound, the moment I hear from him I’ll get a key down to your office. Then just give me a call so I can alert the building on moving day and we can make arrangements for your movers to get access to the freight elevators.”
Bobby didn’t see any need to explain all his worldly possessions fit into a suitcase and three grocery bags.
“Thank you, Katherine. I’ll keep an eye out for that key.”
“Okay, bye, bye, bye.”
He hung up and dialed one-one-five.
“Angie.”
“Hi Angie, this is Bobby.”
“Oh, of counsel,” she joked. “Don’t tell me you need more files?”
“No, at least not yet anyway. But I did wonder if there was an online file system that I can access for Mr. Montcreff? Something that holds general information, I’m running across some things, I just want to cross-reference them quickly, so I can get a little more up to speed with the overall situation.”
“Situations,” she corrected
. “There’s an awful lot of information there before you’re up to speed. To answer your question we do have an internal system. Let me have our IT department, they’re the powers that be, get in touch with you. Among other things they’ll assign you a login code, based on what level they assign you’ll have access to various files and information. Okay?”
“Sounds complicated.”
“Not really, any ten-year-old could figure it out.”
“That’s what I meant, it sounds complicated.”
She laughed and forty minutes later he was online reading a synopsis of the Montcreff files. Interestingly, the four properties he had looked at yesterday were all connected in some way, shape or form to Morris Montcreff. Montcreff also happened to be mentioned as one of a number of individuals in the partnership that owned the office tower the law firm’s offices were in.
He phoned Montcreff just before five.
“Bobby,” Montcreff answered.
“Good afternoon, sir. I’m having a new contract drawn up for you on the Zimmerman LLC. I’d like to review it with you before I show it to Mr. Denton.”
“I’ve already discussed this with Noah. He’s otherwise occupied for the moment and won’t have time to be looking at it. Let’s plan on meeting tomorrow morning, I’d like you to alert Lowell Zimmerman and let him know you’ll be over with a revision tomorrow afternoon,” he said, then waited.
Bobby blinked first. “Do you want to meet down here?”
“God no. I think it’s better for everyone if I’m not seen down there in the firm’s office. I’ll let you know tomorrow, depending on where I’ll be. Then I’ll need you to go back out to Zimmerman’s and get everything signed. Anything else?”
“Just that I wanted to thank you for your help with the new apartment. All your units were nice by the way. I guess I’m just a bit partial to the traditional,” he said.
“My pleasure,” Montcreff replied, not reacting to Bobby’s all your units comment, then he hung up.
Bobby peeked out his door toward Noah’s corner office. The light was off and as far as he could determine Noah Denton hadn’t been in the entire day. It was just after four on his first full work day in almost four and a half years.
