by Nick James
Three office doors stood open, exposing empty offices with bare shelves, the keys to each office remained inserted in the door locks. Bobby quickly looked around before he stepped inside one of the offices. The desk was bare and all the drawers had been completely cleaned out. No computer, no law books, not so much as a scrap of paper in a waste basket and then there was the unmistakable odor of cleaning solutions, a combination of Windex, lemon oil and furniture polish. He sized the empty office up and decided it would make a nice fit for him.
He wandered back to his office and checked his phone messages, two from Bennett Hinz dated Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning wondering where he was. A handful from Marci wondering the same thing. A half dozen messages that simply hung up which could be from anyone including, Angie. There were two messages from Brad Carey on Friday saying he’d been trying to call his cell but couldn’t get an answer and to please call him.
He checked his emails, a number from Marci, three from Bennett Hinz that stopped on Wednesday after Bobby had left the message on his voice mail. Then there was one brief email from the partners, dated close of day, Wednesday;
We wish to inform you we have just received information that Elizabeth Saunders and her partner Chris were involved in an automobile accident in Paris. Elizabeth was pronounced dead at the scene and her partner, Chris Moritz, passed away a short time later. No further information is available at this time. We will pass on details as we learn them. The establishment of a trust fund in Elizabeth’s name has been suggested and Bennett Hinz will be making the arrangements.
A follow up email was dated late yesterday, Friday.
We have just been informed that the bodies of Elizabeth Saunders and Chris Moritz will be arriving via Delta Airlines on Sunday. Funeral arrangements for Elizabeth will be handled by O’Halloran and Murphy Funeral Home here in St. Paul. A service will be conducted this Thursday, 11:00 at Assumption Church in St. Paul with a visitation Wednesday evening from 4:00 - 8:00PM. We all deeply feel the loss of a member of our team. In remembrance of Elizabeth the office will be closed on Thursday.
Bobby had two thoughts, the first was he thought Elizabeth had already left the firm, or was most likely going to leave with the acquisitions team. As a matter of fact everyone expected her to sue the firm. His second thought was he had coincidently told Marci he had been involved in a hit and run accident, maybe there was some opportunity here.
Since the office was completely empty there was no way he could gain access to any Montcreff files. He wandered around the paralegal area for a good forty-five minutes looking in various cubicles and opening any drawers that weren’t locked. Unfortunately he found nothing of interest other than three quarters, which he pocketed. He left the office before noon and on the way home swung past the hospital to check on Noah Denton.
“I’m sorry sir, I can’t seem to find anyone under that name.”
He was talking to a different teenage girl at the reception desk this time, although her nametag was the same, Information. She seemed more than a little flustered and kept focusing on Bobby’s bruised and battered nose. “Do you want me to call someone and see where he is? Maybe he died. Oh sorry, I mean I hope not, but…”
“He’s probably home. I’ve been out of town for a week and was just driving by so I thought I’d check.”
“Oh, well yeah, that’s probably it, I bet he’s at home,” she said which seemed to give her a good deal of relief.
* * *
Bobby settled into his living room couch with a bourbon and dialed a phone number. He was in the opposite corner from where he’d positioned Angie for the photographs, the opposite corner where she’d looked so sexy right before…
“Yeah.”
“Brad?”
The background noise quickly faded, suggesting Brad was stepping away from whatever jukebox he’d been next to. “Bobby? Where the hell have you been man? I’ve been trying to reach you all week long.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, I ran into a couple of problems,” Bobby said.
“Problems?”
Experience had taught him to be mindful of different lies regarding the same subject coming back to haunt him and he thought this would be a perfect time to test-drive his story.
“Yeah, death in the family, sort of. A stepbrother of my mom’s, I only met the guy a couple of times in my life. God, it was way out in a little town in Montana. Christ, not quite the end of the world, but you can see it from there. Anyway, I was involved in a hit and run out there and…”
“No shit?”
“Yeah, some dipshit ran a stop sign, plowed into me. I was pretty banged up, but fortunately nothing broken.”
“How’s your car, that Mercedes?”
First bump in the story. “My car, oh, ahhh fortunately I was in a rental so my car’s okay. Just lucky I had my seat belt on or I’d be toast right now.”
“What was the other guy driving?”
“I have no idea. It was at night and all of a sudden it was just wham, next thing I know the paramedics are taking me to the hospital. Even if I saw the other vehicle I can’t remember what it was, my memory’s just sort of blank.”
“But you’re okay now, right? I was hoping we could get going on this thing we talked about, you know, if you still want to do it. Awakenings and your friend taking her freedom walk. Plus, I was wondering about, um, that advance we talked about, I could sort of really use it.”
“Yeah, I still want to do that. I got a couple of ideas, first let me get you set up. They do this walk every day?”
“Yeah, after the fifth day, they go a couple, three times a day, after every meal, actually. Then you gotta go back and sit in one of those happy thoughts counseling sessions for an hour. God, I wanted to just run away.”
“Sounds better than being locked up, Brad.”
“There is that. When can we get together?”
“I could meet you a little later. You know the little park on Summit and Ramsey Hill?”
“The one with the eagle statue? Across from that club?”
“University Club,” Bobby said and thought back to his private meeting with Noah Denton and the time Bobby told him he’d have to think about the job offer. “I’ll meet you there about six, don’t be late, and Brad.”
“Yeah?”
“Be sober, there’s cops all over that area.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
It was officially called Lookout Park, a small triangular plot of land no larger than about three city lots. The park was actually on a bluff which overlooked a freeway and the neighborhoods beyond. It had a number of park benches, a drinking fountain, geraniums planted and maintained by the neighborhood and a large bronze eagle that had once stood atop a now-defunct bank. The eagle rested atop ten feet of buff-colored stone.
Bobby could actually hear Brad before he saw him. An old black pickup truck with rusted wheel wells and mud flaps sporting the chrome outline of a naked woman rumbled up the steep hill minus a muffler. It turned the corner and parked one car length short of the legal parking area.
The driver’s side door screeched open, slammed closed and Brad walked around the front of the truck. Bobby was pretty sure Brad was wearing the same clothes as the last time he saw him, jeans with a torn knee and a T-shirt with the short sleeves cut off. Rather than take the sidewalk Brad cut through one of the geranium gardens, kicking up a handful of leaves and a red flower or two in his passing. “Man, you look like shit,” he called as he drew a little closer.
A woman sitting on one of the park benches had been reading a thick paperback and glanced over as Brad approached.
“How the fuck you doing, man?”
She positioned her bookmark then shook her head as she stood and headed out of the park.
Brad remained oblivious.
“Nice to see you, Brad,” Bobby said as they shook hands.
“Man, you weren’t kidding, you really got banged up. You feeling okay?”
“It’s not as bad
as it looks.”
“Banged your head against the window and the doorframe, didn’t you?”
Bobby shrugged and took note.
“By the looks of it I’m guessing you shattered the driver’s side window. He hit you on the passenger side, didn’t he?”
Bobby nodded.
“Ribs okay?”
“Yeah, bit sore in the chest, it was black and blue for a few days but pretty much back to normal.”
“Whatever that is,” Brad said and then laughed at his own joke.
“So you remember what we talked about?”
“Yeah, chick gets out of rehab, transitions into Awakenings, should be doing her walks by now, like I said five days. You said she’s blonde?”
“Yeah, attractive, not a knockout, but nice looking. Name’s Christine, blue eyes, about this tall.” Bobby held his hand up to about shoulder height.
“She have a favorite?”
“Favorite?”
“What’s she like? Blow, meth, eight ball…”
“Probably started on coke, but it got too expensive for her. She was doing crack last I heard, maybe some meth, but I can’t say for sure. She’d probably look at anything that will get her high.”
“Three hundred should do it,” Brad said.
“How ‘bout half that, a hundred for you and fifty for a couple of rocks for her to start.”
“Come on, man I…”
“You don’t want to do this I can find someone else, no hard feelings, Brad.”
“Okay, okay, you sure you can’t do two? Just fifty bucks more, Bobby.”
“One-fifty,” Bobby said then glanced around to make sure no one was watching before he handed over the cash.
Brad snatched the bills and quickly stuffed them into his pocket.
“One more thing, I want you to ask her where she worked.”
“What?”
“Where she worked, ask her. That way I’ll know you actually got in touch with her. She takes the stuff you call me and I’ll fund another meeting.”
“I don’t know man, this is sounding…”
“Look, all you have to do is stand there for a couple of minutes, talk to a nice-looking woman who is going to do anything you want to get more from you. Absolutely anything, plus you’re getting paid for the fun. God, you ought to be paying me now that I think about it.”
“Just make sure you answer my phone calls this time,” Brad said and then left. On the way back to his truck he kicked another path through the geraniums. The driver’s door screeched as he opened it, and then the engine ground for a long moment before it exploded, emitting a black, sooty cloud of exhaust that drifted down the street as Brad pulled away from the curb and rumbled out of sight.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Bobby was in his office early Monday morning, hoping to avoid the stares his face was undoubtedly going to generate. He turned his computer on and over his first cup of coffee began to check his emails. There was one dated late yesterday, Sunday.
This is to inform everyone that Angie Benedict has tendered her resignation effective immediately and will be pursuing opportunities elsewhere. We want to thank her for her service and wish her all success.
Short and sweet. Bobby wondered if the resignation was Angie’s doing or had it been requested for some reason? Did it have anything to do with his assault? He dialed her extension number and waited for a number of rings. He was just about to hang up when a male voice answered.
“Records.”
“Oh hi, I was trying to reach Angie.”
A brief pause followed, as if the voice was thinking of an appropriate response. “She’s unavailable.”
“Is this Mike Dorsey?” Bobby asked taking a stab in the dark.
“Yes, it is.” Dorsey sounded more than a little surprised. “I’m sorry, I’m trying to get everything figured out here, who am I speaking with?”
“Bobby Custer, Mike. I was calling for some Montcreff files. You going to be there for a few minutes?”
“More than that, I’ve been sentenced to serve in here until they can hire a replacement, would you happen to know which file numbers you need?”
“Tell you what, let me come back there and I’ll pull them, if that’s okay?”
“God, do you mind? It would really help.”
Bobby headed back to the file area. He passed two paralegals on the way who gave his face a long stare before starting up an excited conversation once he was almost out of hearing range. He knocked on the file room door as he stepped inside. Mike Dorsey stood behind what had been Angie’s desk sorting through one of three tall stacks of files.
“How’s it going, Mike?”
“I’ll live, but they can’t get a replacement in here soon enough to suit me,” he said then looked up from a stack of files and his eyes widened.
“Car accident, hit and run,” Bobby said in response.
“You’re kidding. Man, after what happened to poor Elizabeth Saunders over in Paris? Now you, God maybe we should all up our insurance coverage.”
“Yeah, you aren’t kidding. Anything new on Elizabeth’s deal?”
Dorsey shook his head as he returned to sorting through a few more files. “No, makes you kind of wonder, both of them killed, she and her partner, Chris. Guess they were just crossing the street, least that’s the gossip. I don’t think anyone really knows for sure what the hell happened.”
“What’s with Angie leaving? I got this sort of terse two-sentence email.”
“Well, you know about as much as anyone else. I got pulled into Virgil Allan’s office about thirty seconds after I came in this morning. He told me to do the best I can until they hire a replacement. Bad timing, we got the acquisition guys leaving and taking three paralegals with them. Not to mention Elizabeth’s whole situation and then she’s run over in Paris. Of course, Mr. Denton going off the deep end. Now Angie’s gone, just like that,” he snapped his fingers. “Sort of like there’s this dark cloud hanging over the entire firm.”
“It does sort of seem that way. Were all these files out when you came in this morning?”
“Yeah, not like Angie to leave this, there’s easily about four hours of sorting and filing here, and that’s if no one calls for something. Oh, sorry, I wasn’t referring to you. Anyway, at least you’re back. We were sort of wondering what had happened.”
Time to get the official storyline out there. “Death in the family, way out in Montana, a little town called Beaver Creek, an uncle of mine. I was set to come back when I got nailed in a hit and run, some idiot ran a stop sign. They had me hospitalized for a couple of days while they did some tests. Everything’s okay, it just looks a lot worse than it really is. Bad as things seem here, I gotta say it’s just good to be back and working.”
“You said you wanted some Montcreff files,” Dorsey said. “If I open the drawers do you think you can pull them? Tell you the truth, right about now I’m not sure if I’m on foot or horseback.”
“Yeah, in fact I can show you the exact drawer.”
Dorsey picked up the ring of keys off the desk and unlocked the drawer Bobby indicated. Bobby pulled a large stack of files and carried them back to his office. He noted where the key ring was kept and that Dorsey didn’t have him sign for the files or make any note that they had been taken.
He set the files on the corner of his desk and opened a number of them so that they covered his desk. Then he opened the rest of the files and neatly arranged them on the floor against the wall. When he was finished he went in search of Bennett Hinz.
The door to Bennett’s office was halfway open. He was sitting behind his desk in shirtsleeves and a loosened tie, with the phone wedged between his shoulder and ear. He was red-faced and hurriedly flipping through cards on a massive Rolodex, seemingly oblivious to everything around him. An uncapped blue bottle sat on the credenza behind him, Maalox.
Bobby lingered in the doorway, eavesdropping.
“You gotta be kidding me, Alan. They’re goin
g to proceed with the lawsuit on behalf of the survivors? She didn’t have any children, for God’s sake the woman was a lesbian. What survivors?”
Just as Bennett began to look up Bobby knocked on the door.
Bennett stared at Bobby’s face for a long moment then waved him in. He pointed to a chair in front of his desk and signaled with his index finger that he would be just a moment longer. By the time Bobby was settled in the chair Bennett was hanging up the phone.
“What in the hell happened to you?” he said setting his phone down.
“Sorry for the delay, I was hospitalized out in the wilds of Montana. Out there for a family funeral and was involved in a hit and run,” Bobby emphasized the term. “Just as I was getting ready to leave. Next thing I know, I’d been hospitalized for two whole days while they took their time running a bunch of tests.”
At the phrase hit and run Bennett’s eyes had widened. “God, what in the hell is this world coming to. It almost sounds as if we’re being targeted. We certainly don’t need any more bad news around here, that’s for damn sure. I presume you heard about Elizabeth Saunders?”
Bobby nodded, “I read the emails, that’s as much as I know.”
“”Well, that’s about as much as the rest of us. Tragic, positively tragic,” Bennett said shaking his head.
“And Angie’s gone? I read that this morning.”
“Yeah, not so much as a two-week notice. We got an email saying she is pursuing other opportunities and that was the end of that. To tell you the truth, we’re all walking on eggshells around here so I think we’re just going to let her go. We’re scheduled to interview two replacement candidates tomorrow afternoon.”
Bobby made note of the fact that there would most likely be a replacement hired by the end of the week.
