by Nick James
She hadn’t been kidding, between the caramel roll and her omelette, it really was the best breakfast he’d ever eaten, or at least the best he’d had in a long, long time. He’d turned the radio on to listen to the news and see if there was any mention of Agent Drake or an unidentified body. There wasn’t.
“I really should get dressed and get into the office,” Bobby said.
“Okay, look I know you think it’s dumb, but just humor me and put those creams on that bruise. They really will cut the healing time by about half.”
He nodded.
“And, I’ve got a couple of bowls of left overs in the fridge for you. You can heat them up tonight for dinner.”
“You mean you trust me?”
“No, not really, but I’ve got a hot date with a couple of girlfriends and you seem to be on the mend.”
“I really appreciate the help, Emily, but I’m a little embarrassed about all the attention you’ve given me.”
“Maybe you should start to get used to it,” she said then stepped in and gave him a kiss. “Okay, I’ve got to get home and get some things lined up. Come on, walk me to the door and then you can get back to your dull, boring life.”
He walked her down the hall, kissed her at the door, then watched her through the peephole until she stepped onto the elevator.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Actually, Bobby did follow her directions and applied the creams to the bruised area of his face. Then he quickly dressed and hurried to the office. Marci was at the receptionist desk when he stepped off the elevator.
“A couple of messages for you, and Mr. Hinz would like to talk with you when you have a moment,” she said and held up two little pink message slips. He could see her studying the bruise on his face, but she didn’t bother to comment and he didn’t offer an explanation. One of the messages was from an insurance agent, which he crumpled on the way back to his office. The second was from Camila Morales asking him to call her sometime today.
He phoned Bennet’s office and was immediately dumped into his message center. Bobby made up a story saying he’d just returned from visiting Noah Denton and thought it best if he and Bennett got together. Next, he listened to his phone messages from yesterday afternoon, there were six of them, all from Emily. The tone in her voice sounded just a little more frantic with each message until the final two suggested she was near tears and about to have a panic attack. Thankfully, no one had called from Agent Drake’s office.
Bennett Hinz returned his message just before the noon hour. “I’m about to head over to the Capitol City Club for lunch, care to join me?”
“Let me just finish up here and I’ll meet you at the elevator in five minutes,” Bobby said and hung up. He moved a few more cards on his computer’s solitaire game before he left his office and ended up waiting next to the elevator another ten minutes for Bennett.
On the walk over Bobby used his tale about slipping and hitting the granite counter in the men’s room to explain the swollen bruise on his face. The lunch special was a shepherd’s pie, which they both ordered, Bennett added a glass of port with his.
“Not having any?” Bennett asked after Bobby declined the drink and sent the waiter on his way.
“A ton of reading to do this afternoon, a glass of wine would probably just put me to sleep in five minutes.”
“It’s why I sauna every afternoon, helps me relax and prepare for whatever is happening in the evening.”
Plus, you don’t need the money so you can afford to be completely worthless, Bobby thought.
“So,” Bennett said once the waiter had delivered his port. He held his crystal glass up toward the window letting the sun play off the various cuts in the glass. “Noah Denton,” he said then took a long sip and let out a slight gasp as he set the glass down.
“Where to begin?” Bobby said then gave a verbal laundry list of the problems as he saw them. He described Denton’s reaction to the ecstasy tablets he had slipped him as ‘psychotic fits.’ Then went on to embellish the fall Denton had after slipping on the soap Bobby had squirted on the bathroom floor describing it as an ‘issue of balance’.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get him back in the office, I mean the man is a legend. But, the problem still remains, he has these fits and seizures and now this dizziness along with the balance thing, I just don’t know,” Bobby said and shook his head.
Bennett nodded, took a sip of port and said, “Maybe it’s best if the legend remains untarnished.”
“I wonder if it isn’t too late for that.”
“Oh, most definitely,” Bennett said then held his glass up once more to the sun streaming in through the window. “But I’m afraid the time has come to move from damage control to cutting our losses. If he came back, I honestly believe it would only be a matter of time before there was another incident. God, our insurance, if we could even get coverage, the cost would be catastrophic. Not to mention the fact that the Saunders family seems intent on following through with their lawsuit. Can you imagine how it would look if he was back with us? As if we don’t have an uphill fight on our hands already.”
“How can I help?”
“I think the best thing you can do right now is to make sure Mr. Montcreff remains with the firm. I must say, you seem to get on well with him.”
“If I could be reinstated and get my license to practice I could get on even better.”
Bennett didn’t waste time gazing at the sun, but simply hoisted his glass of port and then drained it. “Ahhh,” he gasped then leaned forward with both elbows on the table. He quickly glanced around the room. A white coated waiter caught his eye and took a couple of steps forward before Bennett lifted his hand in the ’stop’ mode and returned to the task at hand. He took a deep breath, looked Bobby in the eye and said, “I don’t think there’s a nice way of putting this but, well, that just is not going to happen.”
“Not going to happen now, or not going to happen ever?”
“I’m afraid the latter.”
“But I’ve paid my debt, I thought reinstatement would be a logical…”
“It’s not going to happen, I’m sorry, but those are the facts. Your disbarment is virtually irrevocable. Good lord, the State Supreme court made the damn decision, they don’t take that action lightly.”
“But I…”
“To my knowledge they have never, ever reversed a disbarment. Now for the record, your position is secure with the firm. We need you to hang on to the Montcreff account, he is key to the continued success of the firm.”
“I’ll do my best,” Bobby said and screamed inwardly at the unfairness of it all.
“We’re all counting on that,” Bennett said then leaned back in his chair as the waiter delivered their lunch. Following lunch Bennett waddled off in the direction of the sauna and Bobby returned to the office and phoned Camila Morales.
“Mr. Custer,” she answered.
“I had a message to call you. Is everything all right?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing, how is that face.”
“Nothing that a couple more days won’t cure. I’m just fine, thank you, but more importantly, how are you?”
“I’m fine. I would like to meet if you have a moment, but not here, somewhere that is safe, public.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, but we should talk.”
“What about here, in my office?”
“I think with both of us a little black and blue it might not be the best idea. Would you be free to meet me somewhere this afternoon?”
“I could do that.”
“Do you know that stretch of garden along Kellogg, between the bridges?”
“Overlooking the river?”
“Yes, there is a fountain there, could you meet in say an hour?”
“I’ll be there,” Bobby said then hung up the phone and wondered what was up.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Kellogg garden actually ran along th
e top of a river bluff. True to her word, Camila was seated on a bench next to the fountain when Bobby arrived an hour later. Her back was to the street and she seemed to be watching the river traffic a hundred and twenty feet below. There were four men scattered around her, thugs, bodyguards, whatever you wanted to call them. Their mere presence seemed to be enough to ward off anyone with half a thought of sitting on one of the other benches. Ignacio was one of them, sitting there wearing his silver toed cowboy boots. Bobby hadn’t thought of it before now, but he wondered if Ignacio had been the one to kick him. All four men sat and watched with expressionless faces as he approached.
“Camila,” Bobby called as he nodded at Ignacio and headed toward her bench.
She turned and sort of half smiled. Her upper lip was swollen and split, offset by her right eye which looked almost purple and appeared to be swollen shut. The bridge of her nose was bruised but did not look broken.
“Mr. Custer,” she said and examined his face as he drew near. “Don’t we just make the pair.”
“Mine looks worse than it really is. Does that eye hurt?”
“I’ve had worse,” she said and left it at that. “Thank you for coming, please sit down and join me,” she said and patted the bench next to her. “Look at this river, it’s amazing, all the traffic.”
“All the way down to New Orleans and the gulf.”
“Yes, the gulf,” she said then half turned to face Bobby. “I feel, well first of all, let me thank you again for what you did yesterday.”
“I had no idea anything like that was going to happen. I didn’t know him all that well, but the few times I’ve dealt with him he was, well the complete opposite, almost a gentleman, if you forget for a moment he was with the feds. It was almost like there was someone else inside him. I was unaware he knew you,” he said.
“We had some dealings,” she said and flashed a quick smile, but didn’t elaborate. “That aggressiveness, the paranoia, it’s the result of the drugs.” She smiled again then stared out at the river.
“But he was beyond crazy, who knew he was that kind of crazy? The guy was like, on a binge or something, cocaine steroids.”
She nodded and seemed to smile to herself, “That would be the flakka.”
“Flakka, what the hell is that?”
“A newer drug, we use it to cut the cocaine, it increases,” she paused as if to think of the term. “It increases the need, and well sometimes with that an aggressive side effect.”
“What do you mean, we use it?”
She shook her head. “You can’t possibly be that naive, Mr. Custer. A man with your experience? You of course knew Drake worked for your friend, Mr. Montcreff.”
Bobby was silent for a long moment. “No, I didn’t know that, are you sure?”
“Oh yes, very, it’s the reason Agent Drake developed a rather special interest in both of us.”
“A special interest, are you here illegally?”
“No, at least I’m not, immigration or visas weren’t his area of concern. He was more interested in our finances.”
“The drugs you sell.”
“Oh my, see, you can be rather perceptive, Mr. Custer,” she said, meaning the complete opposite.
“So what do you want from me?”
“What do we want? Nothing, well except your friendship and perhaps your knowledge of Mr. Montcreff. What he does in his business undertakings, what he…”
“I can tell you his business undertakings are largely in the property area, at least the ones I know about. He’s in a variety of partnerships with people and groups. Apartment buildings, shopping malls, commercial buildings. It all seems very much above board, pretty much a matter of public record, at least the things I’ve reviewed at this stage and I’ve reviewed most of it.”
“I believe he might have some additional interests. Interests that fund his more legitimate enterprises.”
“I’m not prepared to disagree, but I wouldn’t know anything about them.”
“You’re his attorney are you not?”
“No, I’m not. His attorney is a man by the name of Noah Denton. Mr. Denton is currently recovering from a fall and a broken hip. Mr. Montcreff has me reviewing his legal files, looking for irregularities. With one rather small exception, that was immediately taken care of, I have found everything to be above board and in the best light relative to Morris Montcreff.”
“But you are an attorney.”
Bobby gave a sigh and said, “Not quite. I’ve been disbarred, Ms. Morales and I have very recently been informed that my status will not be changing.” He paused for a moment thinking, there it is, the first time I’ve actually admitted it out loud. “Are you aware I was convicted, and sent to prison? A very minor infraction, almost a technicality, I wasn’t…”
“We are, I believe you served just a little over four years of a seven year sentence. I was thinking that under the circumstances you might prove rather useful to us and I, in return, could prove very grateful.”
“What if I said no and we just parted as friends?”
She smiled and glanced back at the four men waiting behind them. Ignacio quickly stood and the other three suddenly straightened up on their benches and looked toward her like they were expecting a command. “If you say no, we’ll just find someone else. And then we’ll contact the FBI and let them know you murdered their agent Drake and you will probably find yourself back in prison.”
“Given your occupation I doubt you’ll be going anywhere near the federal authorities. What makes you think they would even believe you?”
She smiled, reached into her back pocket, pulled out her cellphone, and pushed a couple of buttons. “I think if they saw this video most of their immediate questions would be answered. Here take a look, you might find this interesting,” she said then held her cell out so Bobby could watch.
The image was of Bobby in that basement room, the dungeon as she had called it. He was facing the camera, calmly holding the pistol on Drake. Camila had apparently just been punched and was on the floor virtually hidden from the camera by the circular bed. You’d have to know it was her, because only the lower part of her legs and her feet were visible. It would be absolutely impossible to identify her.
“Ready,” Camila smiled then pushed the screen with her thumb and the recording began to play. Bobby watched as he casually told Drake to leave. Drake mumbled something unintelligible and then Bobby shot him, twice. From the angle of the camera you couldn’t really see Drake step toward him, it appeared as though he had been shot for no apparent reason.
“What do you intend to do with that?” Bobby asked.
“Do with it? That all depends on you, I guess. I can tell you this, it was your client, your good friend Morris Montcreff who set you up, set both of us up, actually. Apparently he wanted Drake to discipline you, ‘keep you in line’ I think was the term he used.”
“Who told you this?”
“My brother, Luis, he has his sources.”
Bobby looked at the four guys behind him stretched out on the benches around the fountain. “Is he here? Have I met him?”
“Luis? No, he’s down in Sinaloa. You met his daughter, Valentina in your office that first day we met.”
“Oh, the little girl, she’s your niece then?”
“Yes, and due back up here shortly. Luis has what you’d call an inside track to Mr. Montcreff.”
“But it still doesn’t make sense. Why get me the least bit involved? I can only serve as a complication.”
“I think whatever your original purpose was, you have already served it. I suspect that’s why Drake brought you along yesterday.” She laughed, “Although it certainly didn’t work out the way he planned.”
“But all I’ve really done is review Montcreff’s files, I mean he could have had anyone do that and saved himself a lot of trouble.”
“Time will tell, but let yesterday serve as a warning, Mr. Custer. You cleaned up the Agent Drake problem for him, but in so doing c
reated another, namely yourself. It would appear you might well be on borrowed time as far as Morris Montcreff is concerned.”
“But he was counting on me to be up to speed, all his files, the reviews, I mean it doesn’t make any sense,” he said shaking his head and then thought maybe he had said enough.
“We can always use another set of eyes and ears.”
Bobby held out his hand and said, “I’m glad I was there yesterday, you did not deserve that,” he said and indicated the right side of her face with a brief nod.
“I’m glad you were there, too.”
“Camila, I appreciate you taking the time to explain the situation to me. This has been an awful lot of information to absorb and I’m going to need some time to process it. May I contact you tomorrow?”
“Certainly. You can contact me any time.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said and stood.
“Lovely day, Mr. Custer, thank you for your time.”
Bobby nodded and began to walk away.
“Oh, Mr. Custer,” Camila called after him. He turned to face her. “If I were you I would make sure my doors were locked.”
“Thanks,” he said then headed back to his office.
Chapter Thirty
He sat in his office for the next two hours basically numb, staring blankly at the walls while he attempted to replay everything Camila had told him. He never really got past her warning. “You might well be on borrowed time as far as Morris Montcreff is concerned.”
It was close to seven before he shook himself back to reality and phoned Emily. The background noise when she answered suggested she was out somewhere.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, just fine,” he lied.
From the round of laughter he guessed she’d pulled the cell away from her face and made some sort of comment to her friends. “Hows the head?” she said back on the line.
“Oh, much improved and feeling a lot better than it looks.”
