Corridor Man Volumes 1, 2, 3,4 5

by Nick James

  Bobby slowly lifted the pistol and pressed it against Miguel’s forehead. Did it feel light, the pistol? Maybe it was unloaded or, was there just a single round in the chamber? It dawned on him that the men standing on either side of Miguel hadn’t moved, which struck him as strange. Not just the idea of a live round being fired but collateral damage, the spray and bit’s of bone and brain matter.

  “What are you waiting for?” Luis asked.

  Bobby pointed the pistol toward the far corner of the basement and pulled the trigger. An audible “Click” filled the room and then nothing except the sound of Miguel softly crying.

  “I won’t kill him, Luis. I respect you. You have my utmost loyalty, but I won’t kill him, I can’t.”

  Luis smiled and calmly pulled the pistol from Bobby’s hand. “Now you have someone who will be loyal to you.” He looked down at Miguel, still sobbing. “He owes you his life. Come on, let’s get you back to your office.” Luis turned without another word and headed back toward the stairs.

  Smiles were on the faces of the two men standing on either side of Miguel. The taller of the two placed his hand on Miguel’s shoulder, gave a slight nod to Bobby and whispered “Gracias,” once he was sure Luis was climbing the stairs. Bobby nodded back, then hurried toward the stairs to catch up to Luis.

  They drove the entire way back to Bobby’s office in silence until they rounded the final corner and his building came in sight. Luis turned toward Bobby sitting next to him. “Very few men would have done what you did today.”

  “If you’re suggesting I was disloyal or that I disobeyed you, I would, with all due respect, disagree with you. I’m loyal to you, extremely loyal and I will always remain so. It’s just that the transgression that Miguel made, if I’m honest with myself, I have to accept at least some of the responsibility. And, that said, I wish to apologize again for not being completely truthful with you about the woman’s arrival.”

  “Two things my friend. God clearly had a hand in this. If the woman had not been there, either you, Miguel or possibly even me would have been in that car instead of the Denton girl.”

  “And the second thing.”

  “Your accommodation is no longer safe for you.”

  “But, Morris Montcreff is gone, he’s no longer a threat.”

  “Someone will be taking his place, if they haven’t already. And with you about to transfer a good portion of his assets it would seem the wise move would be to make sure you’re in a secure place.”

  “Do you want me to start looking?”

  “No, I think it would be best if you began packing and we’ll provide the perfect place.”

  “But I don’t want to trouble…”

  “Please, it would be an honor. I insist,” Luis said as the car rolled to a stop in front of Bobby’s building. The guy in the passenger seat quickly jumped out and held the door for Bobby. As he climbed out Luis grabbed his arm. “You know, with your action today comes responsibility.”

  “Responsibility?”

  “Miguel. He’s yours, your responsibility.”

  Bobby nodded, then hoped the shock of Luis’s statement wasn’t apparent on his face. He walked into the building and took the elevator up to his office more or less in a daze. Marci smiled her shark smile as he stepped off the elevator. She handed him two pink message slips, and continued talking on the phone. He was glad she was otherwise occupied and hurried back to his office. One message was from Detective Carrick, the other from Cori Denton. He phoned the detective first.

  “Carrick,” he answered.

  “Detective, Bobby Custer, returning your call. Sorry, I was tied up in a meeting.”

  “I trust you’re speaking figuratively.”

  “What? Oh yeah, just in a conference with some people here.”

  “And how are things otherwise.”

  “Fair, good actually. I’m thinking of looking for a new place, not too happy with the security situation in my building after the car incident.”

  “You’re not going to let a little bomb in your car and someone being blown to bits chase you off, are you?”

  “I’m not finding anything funny about the situation. Any leads on an ID for the person in the car?”

  “Not as of yet, we’ve eliminated some possibilities.”

  “Oh?”

  “Whoever it is or was, they don’t have a criminal record and they never served in the military.”

  “Does that do anything toward narrowing the field?”

  “It does.”

  “I had a thought. Do you think it could have been the person who was installing the bomb? You know, they made a mistake and the thing just went off.”

  “I suppose that’s a possibility, although a rather remote one. It would normally take the ignition spark to trigger the thing, but anything’s possible. I have a tough time thinking whoever installed it would then put the key in the ignition and turn the vehicle on. I mean why? To see if the bomb would work?”

  “I see your point.”

  “I expect you to stay in touch, Custer. I don’t want to waste my time looking for you. If it should come to that, you’ll find yourself in custody. Not a particularly enjoyable experience.”

  “I’ll be sure to check in. I just hope you find whoever was responsible for that bomb.”

  “Always a pleasure chatting with you, Mr. Custer,” Carrick said, and then suddenly the line was dead.

  Chapter Ten

  Over the next few days things began to return to some semblance of normal. Normal if you considered Emily remaining upset because Bobby hadn’t called her immediately after she fled the scene the night of the bomb blast, and Miguel apparently moving in with Bobby, permanently.

  He, Miguel, had taken up residence in the guest room, moving in with what appeared to be all his worldly possessions contained in two medium-sized suitcases. Luis phoned late in the afternoon on moving day.

  “Your security is in place?”

  “My security? You mean Miguel?”

  “Yes, he’s there, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he arrived just a little after the noon hour. Luis, I’m a little new to all this. What am I supposed to do with him?”

  “Do with him? Why nothing, just go about your daily business. It’s his job to ensure that you’re safe.”

  “Well, here’s the deal. I’m reviewing files, in a room with one other person coming in and out of the room all day. Having Miguel there or even if he’s just sitting in my office, that’s just not going to work. All it’s going to do is call attention and in turn maybe raise questions on the work I’m doing, namely getting things organized to begin moving Morris Montcreff’s holdings.”

  “I see. Perhaps it would be best if Miguel made sure you arrived and departed safely and the rest of the time he could remain in the lobby of the building and watch who comes and goes.”

  “That would still call attention, and if one of the security people at the front desk made a call to the police, it wouldn’t bode well for anyone.”

  “I sense you have a suggestion.”

  “Yes, I do. He can see that I arrive and depart my office safely. During the day does it make sense that he looks at the new office or residence with an eye on providing security?”

  “I have people who are taking care of that.”

  “I’d like Miguel involved. If he is going to be taking care of my security, he should have input on the new location, or at least be familiar with it.”

  There was a pause and Bobby was about to ask if Luis was still on the line when he spoke. “Once again you have demonstrated your understanding of the situation. Yes, of course, I’ll make sure he is involved.”

  “Good. Now one more thing.”

  “Yes?” Luis drew the word out, perhaps suggesting Bobby might be close to pushing his luck.

  “The new firm. I’ve two individuals I’d like to talk to, just on an introductory level. See if there might be some interest and leave it at that for the moment. I’d also like t
o do some background investigation on them. Should we bring them on board I don’t want any surprises down the road.”

  “I think that would be wise,” Luis said. “And, do you have someone in mind to perform this task?”

  “Actually, no, I really don’t. At least not someone I feel I can really trust.”

  “I’ll have someone contact you. Anything else?”

  “No, sir, that about does it.”

  “Thank you, Bobby. Let’s talk again in a day or two.”

  Bobby hung up the phone and Miguel wandered into the kitchen a few minutes later. “What would you like me to make you for dinner, Señor Custer?” He shrugged and looked a bit sheepish.

  “You can cook?”

  “I could learn, I think.”

  “I tell you what, there is an Italian restaurant up the street. I’m going to order dinner from there. You can pick it up, grab a bottle of wine from the shop across the street, and then let’s talk about how all of this is going to work. Okay?”

  The idea seemed to bring a genuine smile to Miguel’s face. “I think I can handle that.”

  An hour later they were seated at the kitchen counter. Miguel had devoured his chicken breast, gone through two helpings of garlic mashed potatoes and was now in the process of working his way through the better half of a loaf of garlic bread.

  “Like I said, drop the Señor and just call me Bobby, unless Luis or someone is around. Okay?”

  Miguel nodded, smiled, and stuffed another piece of garlic bread in his mouth.

  “We’re going to be moving. With the two of us here, it’s a little too tight, so we need a bigger place. I want you involved in looking at it. Do you feel comfortable checking a new place out, for security? Making sure we’re safe?”

  Miguel nodded and stuffed another piece of garlic bread in his mouth.

  “What are you thinking, Miguel? Tell me, please.”

  Miguel swallowed and then stared at his plate for a long moment, apparently wondering how to begin. “I owe you my life,” he said.

  “Miguel, the gun wasn’t loaded. It was a test and apparently we both passed.”

  “No, I don’t think you understand. If you had pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger, well then they would have just given you a bullet and let you kill me. What you said made the difference between me being here eating this dinner or getting cut up into little pieces and scattered around for the dogs to eat.”

  “Well, I wasn’t going to shoot you.”

  “Even after what I did?”

  “What? Addison? To be honest you were just the person there at that particular time. She was headed for a bad end either way. If it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else, maybe even me. I told Luis just today that in a way it saved my life, and maybe even his. If we had been in that car when the ignition was turned, we’d be dead.”

  Miguel nodded but didn’t say anything.

  “I’m going to be doing a lot of work for Luis, some of it could lead to problems. In fact, I’m sure it will. I’ll need you to watch out for the both of us.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Tell me about Luis and Camila Morales.”

  Miguel sort of shrugged as he raised his eyebrows. “What’s to tell? They are, what is it you say? The product of their environment.”

  “Mexico?”

  “Sinaloa. We were all children of the street and Luis and Camila made sure that we would survive. In return, we honor and protect them. It’s really quite simple.”

  “What of Gabriella and Maria?”

  That brought a wry smile to Miguel’s face. “Believe me, we were all jealous of you that night. They have a certain set of skills that they bring with them, perhaps more skilled than most women. Is that the word, skilled?”

  “Yeah, I’d say it works.”

  “In a way they’re no different than the man who is very smart, a good shot, or fearless.”

  “I wish I could remember the night. Tequila and I are not the best of friends.”

  “No matter what you make up in your head, I’m sure it was better.”

  “Such a pity,” Bobby said more to himself. “In the next few days I’m going to try and meet with two gentlemen. Separately. I’m interested in them coming to work for me, and therefore Luis. I’d like you to watch them and tell me what you think.”

  Miguel nodded.

  “There is one more thing I would like to ask.”

  “Oh?”

  “I would like you to be my eyes and ears where Luis is concerned…”

  “I’m not sure…”

  “What I mean is, at times I’m not sure how to act or respond. If you could let me know in advance if something is going to happen or if you sense a problem, that would be a great help to me. I’ll learn as I go along, but strange as you may find the way we conduct ourselves here, that’s how I feel at times with Luis. I don’t know who the men are that surround him. I don’t know who is important and who is not. Do you understand?”

  “I can help you. Can I ask you something?”

  “Please do.”

  “Your woman?”

  “My woman? Oh, you mean Emily?”

  “Yes.”

  It was Bobby’s turn to smile. “It’s very complicated. If you’re worried, I already know that you have had her. I would hope that won’t happen again.” The color seemed to drain from Miguel’s face. “I should get to work, tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Thank you for picking up the dinner, I enjoyed chatting.”

  Chapter Eleven

  He placed his calls in mid-afternoon and had to leave a message for both Bishop Dalton and Tyler VanCamp. He was armed with a report on both of them from Luis. Whomever his source or sources were, they seemed to be relatively thorough and had included an image of the individual with both reports.

  Dalton had grown up in Blomkest, Minnesota, population 160. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1996. To date, he had appeared in front of the ethics committee of the Minnesota State Bar Association no less than three times and, apparently to everyone’s astonishment, was vindicated each and every time. He’d practiced with three different firms over the course of the past twenty years. He had divorced, remarried, and was currently separated from his second wife. He had two children with his first wife, a son, now age 18 and a daughter age 16. The children lived with their mother in Minnetonka, a suburb of Minneapolis. He had one child, a son age 4 with his second wife, they now lived in Chicago.

  Tyler VanCamp grew up in Spearfish, South Dakota, population 10,500. He graduated from Willam Mitchell College of Law in 2001. Although never having had to appear before the state bar association, he had been terminated from two Twin Cities firms, one in 2004 and the second in 2010. In both cases the cause of termination was unlisted. He had been in private practice since 2010, and the attached financials indicated it wasn’t going all that well. He had divorced in 2009 and had not remarried. No children were listed to the former couple.

  VanCamp returned Bobby’s call first.

  “Yeah, Tyler VanCamp returning your call, Mr. Custer. How can I help you today?” He had a pleasant sounding voice, although he gave the impression he might be rushed.

  “Thanks for calling back. Please, call me Bobby. I wonder if we might meet. I have a situation, you might say, that I’m working on and I’m thinking you just might be the perfect fit.”

  “A situation. You mind telling me a little more?”

  “Actually, I think it might be easier to explain in person.”

  “Humph, and you’re with DASH, right?”

  “That’s right, Denton, Allen, Sawyer and Hinz. Although the, ahh, situation I’m dealing with does not involve the firm.”

  “Doesn’t involve the firm? And you need my professional services?”

  “That’s what I’d like to find out. I can adjust my schedule to fit yours. I’d prefer to meet outside of my office as well as yours.”

  “Okay. Yeah, I guess we can meet, you’ve
sort of tickled my curiosity. Tonight’s a little tough, but I could do noon tomorrow or, at the end of the day.” Bobby had the feeling VanCamp was working on, or reading something while they spoke.

  “Let’s do the end of the day. I’d gladly spring for dinner.”

  “Let’s meet and see where it goes, how’s that sound?”

  “That sounds fine with me. You know a restaurant called the Salt Cellar, it’s up on…”

  “Yeah, Selby and Western. I know it. Half-past-five suits me.”

  “I’ll see you there.

  “How will I know you?”

  Bobby, flicked the report back to the front page with VanCamp’s image. He appeared slightly overweight, with thinning reddish-blonde hair and a mustache. “I’ll be in an open collar shirt, and a grey suit, sitting at the bar,” Bobby said.

  “Look forward to meeting you, Mr.… Bobby,” VanCamp said, then hung up.

  An hour later he phoned Miguel to come and pick him up, then walked out of the file room where he’d been for most of the day and headed back to his office. Before he unlocked the door he caught sight of Bennett sitting in his office with a dreamy look on his face as he absently stared out the window.

  “Hi, Bennett, how’s it going? You’re here sort of late, aren’t you?”

  “Oh, ahhh, big meeting tonight I’m afraid. Just getting caught up on a few things beforehand.” Other than a blank legal pad and a pen, the desk was clear and Bobby wondered if maybe the big meeting Bennett had was with Emily.

  “Well, good luck, hope you enjoy your meeting.”

  “Oh, I intend to.”

  Bobby ducked into his office and closed the door, then dialed Emily’s number. She answered on the second ring and said, “Please tell me you can still join me tonight.”

  He was surprised for just half a second until he realized the phone number probably came through as the law firm and she figured it was Bennett calling. “Hi Emily, Bobby. I’m sorry, did we have something planned?”

  “Oh, oh, Bobby, yeah. Sorry about that,” sounding like she’d been caught completely off guard. “I was thinking it was one of my girlfriends. A couple of us are getting together, we’re planning a baby shower for a friend.”