by Nick James
Shit. “No, don’t do that. He was very specific about remaining in the background.”
“Well, okay, but if you ever need it, I can be a charmer. So, when are you looking for an answer?”
‘You’re a no hire, based on your offer to call Montcreff’, Bobby thought, then said, “An answer? I’d just like you to think about it. If you’re interested then we can talk further. You’ve been in front of the Bar’s ethics committee once or twice, haven’t you?”
Bishop smiled. “Three times to be exact. But if you already know that, then you probably also know I was vindicated all three times.”
“As a matter of fact, I do know that. It’s one of the things that got me interested in you. I may need someone with your expertise, and shall we say, your stage presence.” He paused for a second or two, then decided he’s had enough of Bishop Dalton for one day. “Listen, I’d love to talk further, but I’ve got another meeting at three.”
“Another meeting? You looking at someone else?” Bishop asked. His concern was apparent.
“No, nothing to do with what we’ve been discussing. Would it be all right if I called you early next week? Give you some time to weigh your options for a few days. See if you think this would be a good fit for you, and I’ll do the same.”
“I’m sure you’ve already made your decision. I’ll look forward to your call,” Bishop said, then laughed. “Give my best to Mr. Montcreff. Small world, isn’t it? Damn small world.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bobby cautiously checked up and down the street as he left Luigi’s, then hurried across the street and climbed the stairs into the skyway system. By the time he reached the top of the stairs, he’d already made his decision. He wasn’t all that thrilled with Bishop Dalton and the fact that he knew Montcreff, even slightly, was a deal breaker. Amazingly, Montcreff had been dead for weeks and he was still a pain in the ass.
He walked through the skyway system toward his building, but kept on going for another two blocks. He went down to the ground level and hurried across the street and into a hardware store. He was back out in five minutes with a duplicate key to the file room.
Bennett Hinz’s office was locked up when he returned to the office. Bobby figured he was in the airport, if not already in the air headed to San Francisco. He let himself into the file room with the duplicate key he had made, just to make sure it worked, then placed the original on Dorsey’s desk and settled into more Montcreff files.
He was having trouble concentrating and his mind slowly wandered. He thought alternately of Bishop Dalton having at least a passing acquaintance with Morris Montcreff, and then Bennett flying off to San Francisco with Emily. Two evenings of paying for very expensive dinners with Emily. No doubt they’d return to some pricey hotel suite and have mad, passionate sex for two or three minutes before Bennett rolled over and went to sleep. It would serve both of them right, and in the end, he had a fairly good idea of what the end result would ultimately be for Bennett.
As for Dalton Bishop, he could only hope Luis’s people could find something on the guy. It still struck Bobby as strange that he called back to set up the appointment. His cellphone rang twenty minutes later and for half a moment he hoped it was Luis with news on Bishop Dalton. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
“Hello, Cori, how are you?” he answered.
“Well, fine, I guess. I’m in George Bush and I’ve been sitting here trying to reach that damn Addison for days.”
“Where did you say you were?”
“George Bush International. I’m in Houston and flying back to the Twin Cities in about forty-five minutes. I was hoping Addison would be available to pick me up from the airport. I haven’t seen or heard from the little brat since her father’s funeral. Believe me, when I do, she’s going to get a piece of my mind.”
“Did you call her?” Bobby asked, hoping his tone wasn’t giving anything away.
“Call her? I’ve called so many times I’ve lost count. Her number is currently unavailable, at least that’s what the recording says. I’m sure she’s forgotten to pay her phone bill, again. Lord only knows what she’s been up to or where she’s been living. You haven’t heard anything from her, have you?”
“From Addison? No. I guess just like you, I haven’t seen her since Denton’s funeral. Maybe she just needed some time away.”
“Oh sure, seeing as how she’s so incredibly busy accomplishing all that she does.”
He ignored her sarcasm, and wiped the image of what had been left of Addison in the remains of his car from his mind. “Can I help? When are you getting in? I’d be happy to give you a ride.”
“Oh, thanks, but I don’t want to impose on your Friday evening.”
“It won’t be a problem, I’m just working. When do you arrive?”
“The flight is scheduled to arrive at seven-fifty this evening. I’m flying Spirit Airlines so I’ll be landing at Terminal Two. You’re sure it won’t be a problem?”
“Not at all,” he said, thinking the day was gradually turning into a complete and utter shit storm. “Be happy to pick you up. I’ll be out in front at about eight.”
“Oh that’s so kind. Thank you, Bobby. I really appreciate it.”
“My pleasure, Cori. It will be good to see you,” he said then disconnected and swore, again.
It suddenly dawned on him that he really didn’t have a car. He did, the Mercedes, but it came with Miguel and he didn’t want Cori to see him being chauffeured around and begin to ask uncomfortable questions. He was still trying to come up with an alternate plan when Mike Dorsey opened the door.
“Hey, Mr. Custer, you got in okay?”
“Hi, Mike, not a problem. Thanks for the key. I put it back on your desk. How was your meeting?”
“About like I figured, nothing that couldn’t have been accomplished in less than fifteen minutes or with an email. Instead there were about ten of us sitting around the table twiddling our thumbs while the ‘Great ones’ listened to themselves talk.”
“You working tomorrow?” Bobby asked.
“No, thank God. I’ve got a wedding to go to, so, oddly enough, I won’t be in the office until Monday. Gee, a whole weekend off. Who knew?” he laughed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mike Dorsey began his weekend off thirty minutes early, and left the office at half-past four. On his way out the door, he told Bobby to have a nice weekend and thanked him again for locking up. Bobby locked the file room door promptly at five. He laid his suit coat on the carpet along the bottom of the floor so light from the file room wouldn’t shine out from beneath the door. He set about copying another stack of Montcreff files and taking the originals. He worked until a little after seven and then phoned Miguel for a ride.
They met in the lobby of the building. Bobby indicated the box of files, and Miguel picked up the box and carried it out to the trunk.
“How did the move go?” Bobby asked as he settled into the back seat.
“We were finished by mid-afternoon. All your clothing is put away in the closets and the dresser. Just let me know if anything has to be changed and I’ll have them do it.”
“Did you get the steaks and wine?”
“I got wine, but I thought you might prefer to choose the steaks.”
“I have to make a stop on the way home. So I’m thinking you can drop me off and I’ll call you when I need to be picked up. Is it just you and me for dinner?”
“It can be be,” Miguel answered, sounding a bit disappointed.
“It might be nice to have some company,” Bobby said. “But I probably won’t be able to join you until around nine. I can take a taxi from my appointment and…”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’ll drive you.”
“I hate to interrupt your evening.”
“It’s not an interruption. It’s my responsibility.”
Bobby directed him to Emily’s, and Miguel waited at the curb until Bobby let himself inside with his key. The ala
rm beeped its warning. He quickly entered the code, then stood in the entry and listened for any additional noise. Hearing none, he made his way up the stairs and into the den on the second floor. He turned on Emily’s computer, emailed her file on Bennett Hinz to himself, then hurried over to the closet where her safe was installed. He input the combination, opened the safe and fanned through three number ten envelopes, each holding five thousand dollars in cash. He took two hundred out of one of the envelopes, then hurried down to the kitchen, pulled Emily’s car keys off the hook in the kitchen, and headed out to the airport.
He waited for fifteen minutes at the curb before he saw Cori step out of the terminal. He flashed his lights, then honked the horn as he pulled up in front of her.
“Oh, Bobby, thanks so much for doing this. You’ve no idea how much I hate taxi’s and they want to charge you an arm and a leg to get home from the airport. New car?”
“No, actually, I borrowed it from a friend. Mine’s in the shop being serviced and rather than go across town to get it and then come back out to the airport, he was kind enough to let me use his car.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to put you out like this.”
“Not a problem, Cori. It’s good to see you.”
“Oh, thank you. I tell you, when I get my hands on Addison I’m just liable to strangle her. She hasn’t even bothered to call since the funeral. Lord only knows what the issue is this time. Honest to God.”
“So you were in Texas with your friends?”
“Yes, and we had a wonderful time. You know, after the funeral I was thinking, well, there is only a finite amount of time left. I need to see more of them, and lo and behold, it turns out we were all thinking the same thing. And, well, now we have the time. Our children are out the door. The girls that worked are retired or about to retire. Anyway, we had a lovely time. Maybe a little too much wine, way too much fun, if that’s possible.”
She went on from there, telling Bobby how much fun she had and how it was so nice that no one had to work, although as far as Bobby knew, Cori had never worked. They finally pulled into the driveway. Addison’s pickup sat in the same spot where she’d left it in the driveway.
“Oh, I could just scream. Does it even look like it’s been moved?”
“Hard to tell,” Bobby said. “You know she may be out of town. Maybe she just needed to walk on the beach for a while. Get her head screwed on right.”
“I think you’re giving her way too much credit. She’s probably in some self-induced haze somewhere and doesn’t even know her own name.”
‘Not far from the truth’ Bobby thought. “Here let me get that suitcase for you,” he said pulling it out of the back seat.
“Oh, thanks. Can I interest you in a glass of wine?”
“Oh, Cori, I’d love to, but I should really get back to the office. We’re reviewing files for a client and we’re under a bit of a deadline.”
“So I really have interrupted your evening. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not a problem. In fact it was my pleasure. Can I get a raincheck on that wine?”
“No, you’ll have to have dinner with it, too. I’d love to catch up with you, say possibly next week?”
“I’ll call. Great to see you, Cori. Give my best to your daughter when you see her.”
“I’ll be giving her something all right.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bobby hurried back to Emily’s. He phoned Miguel when he was about three blocks away. “Miguel, can you pick me up?”
“Ten minutes. Don’t come outside until I pull up in front.”
He hurried around the corner into the parking area in the rear. The space the car had originally been parked in was taken, but there was an empty spot at the far end next to the wall. Bobby hurried down to the end of the building. Whoever was next to the empty spot had parked almost a foot over the line. He could pull in and park, maybe, but he’d never be able to open the door and get out of the car. He pulled around the block and parked on the street, then hurried in the back door of her unit. He ran upstairs to check her computer and make sure it was off. He double checked her safe then debated about hanging her keys up and decided to hold on to them. He walked back downstairs then stared out the window for two or three minutes until Miguel pulled up in front of the unit.
“I don’t know about you, but I could use some dinner. How is the new place?”
Miguel smiled back. “I think you’re going to like it, a lot.”
“Are you cooking or am I?” Bobby asked as they turned off Jackson Street. Miguel pushed a button that opened the overhead door. He looked at Bobby in the rearview mirror and just smiled. He pulled into the underground parking area and parked two spots away from the elevator. The building was sixteen stories tall. Bobby had always known it as the Swift building, although he had no idea what that referred to. It had been retail shops on the first floor and condos on the upper floors for at least a decade. His new place was on the sixteenth floor.
When they stepped into the elevator, Miguel inserted a key into the panel next to the button labeled sixteen, turned the key and then smiled at Bobby. “A little tighter security than before. This bypasses all the other floors so once you’re in here, insert your key and press the button. That makes sure it doesn’t stop at any other floor, just goes straight to the top.”
And that’s what they did, rose straight to the top. The door opened onto a neutral colored hallway, nicely carpeted with soft music playing. A set of metal double doors were at the end of a very short hallway. The doors were painted a glossy black with brass kick plates at the bottom of each door and heavy brass knobs.
Miguel unlocked the door, then pushed it open and stepped back so Bobby could enter. He stepped inside, took a few steps, then stopped to admire the view. The floors were some sort of dark wood, covered with plush oriental rugs. There was a vintage feel to the place. Inset oak panels about waist high ran along the walls of a fairly large room. A fireplace and couches were off to the side with a set of double doors with stained glass panels centered on two of the walls.
“Pretty damn fancy,” Bobby said.
“You like?”
“Yes, very nice. What’s that I smell?”
“Dinner. Come on, the kitchen’s this way,” Miguel said and headed across the room to a set of doors. The doors opened into a kitchen with long granite counters and white cabinets. There was a center counter with a rack overhead with maybe a dozen copper pans hanging from it. The wonderful aroma of food cooking filled the room and Bobby’s stomach suddenly made a loud growl. A half-dozen stools were arranged around the center counter. Maria and a woman Bobby had seen before but never officially met were seated at the counter. Both were drinking glasses of wine.
At the sound of Bobby’s stomach, Maria jumped off her stool and almost ran to him. “Welcome, it’s good, no?”
“It’s very nice. Thank you.”
“We’ve dinner for you, for us. This is our friend, Isa.” Maria said, and the woman immediately got off her stool and sort of half bowed as if she was being introduced to royalty.
“It is nice to meet you,” she said in heavily accented English. She had long dark hair with blonde highlights, dark piercing eyes, prominent cheek bones, full lips, large breasts and a nice figure. She looked a bit on the delightfully slutty side and appeared to be the sort of beauty well able to throw a tantrum under certain circumstances.
“Very nice to meet you, Isa. Do you know Miguel?” Bobby asked, and sort of stepped to the side so she could get a better look.
She seemed to blush and looked at the floor.
“We’re already friends, very good friends,” Miguel laughed. “Come on, you can look at your room and get cleaned up after working all day. Then a glass of wine and you can explore.”
Isa said something in Spanish to Miguel that seemed to have the note of an order. He quickly nodded then said, “But maybe it would be best if we had something to eat first…once you’ve cleaned up and go
tten comfortable.”
“Maybe if you could just show me to my room, I might take a quick shower and then eat.”
“I’ve have your room ready,” Maria said, inserting herself into the conversation. She took Bobby by the hand and led him out of the Kitchen. They walked down a hallway past three doors. Each door had six panels and was open just an inch or two. The fourth door, also paneled, was closed and as Maria turned the knob, she looked up at Bobby, smiled, and pushed the door open. They stepped into a large corner bedroom with the two exterior walls almost all windows. Floor length drapes were drawn back and hung at either end of the windows.
Fancy clothes in here,” Maria said, opening a number of closet doors all along one wall. Two of the closets were completely empty. “Your shorts and shirts are here,” she said, pulling open a series of drawers an inch or two. You like the roses, no?” she smiled indicating the dozen roses in a cut glass vase sitting on top of a built-in chest of drawers. A large beveled glass mirror was attached to the wall above the built-in.
“Nice, very nice,” Bobby said, sort of awe struck as he continued to look around the room.
“I do them,” she said and adjusted the vase on the built-in chest of drawers maybe a quarter of an inch.
“Oh, yeah, thank you, they’re very nice.”
“Shower is in here,” she said, leading him into a bathroom that was just about the size of his former bedroom. The walls were done in white subway tile. Two round, white porcelain sinks with brass faucets and handles were inset in a black granite countertop. A mirror, the length of the granite counter, ran along the wall with large round lightbulbs attached to a brass fixture above the mirror.
The shower area had a dark tile floor with stone covering three walls and a glass panel front. Next to the shower was a high back triangular shaped porcelain tub with water jets on the side, a Jacuzzi Bobby guessed.
