The Black Widow - Mark Kane Mysteries - Book Three: A Private Investigator Crime Series of Murder, Mystery, Suspense & Thriller Stories...with a dash of Romance

by John Hemmings

  “Of course what makes this case so challenging is that we’re far from home, not getting paid anything and not making a lot of progress,” I said, to nobody in particular.

  I glanced sideways at Lucy but my cloak of invisibility was still firmly in place. Instead she sat forward again in her chair and said earnestly:

  “But you know Gary, sometimes you just have to do what’s right.”

  I wondered whether the bank would concur with that opinion when I was unable to pay my mortgage.

  “Well, back to business,” I said, before Lucy could utter another sound. “Would you mind if I look at the watch? Cary has no knowledge of its transfer to you and was thinking of making an insurance claim in due course. She gave me a copy of an insurance valuation of the watch which contained the serial number.”

  “Sure, no worries,” Gary said as he unhinged the gold band and handed it to me. “I’m not surprised Cary didn’t know because Larry wouldn’t have told her about his problems in Macau. I don’t think she ever heard about it.”

  “Perhaps it was the same with the boat,” said Lucy.

  I wrote down the serial number from the wristwatch. I had the document back at the hotel but from my memory it was the same number.

  “Do you think that the gentlemen from Macau could be responsible for Larry’s death?” I said.

  “They seemed quite capable of something like that,” Gary said.

  “But then they wouldn’t be able to get their money back,” Lucy said.

  “Well they’d already got back what they lent him. Larry told me it was a hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars, which is about twelve thousand US dollars, and that a friend in Hong Kong had lent him five thousand. That’s why I came up with the seven grand. The rest of what they said he owed was interest at some ridiculously extortionate rate. But I think they can probably be disregarded in connection with Larry’s disappearance because I don’t think they knew where he lived, apart from the Subic area. After they released Larry I drove him back here from Angeles.”

  “It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility they could have found out, is it?” I said.

  “No, I guess not. If they crossed a few palms with silver they could probably have done that, especially if they have contacts here.”

  “But as far as you knew they never bothered him again?”

  “Not directly, but he disappeared only a month or so later, and he told me in September, not long before he disappeared, that he’d seen one of the guys in a casino in Clark, which isn’t that far away.”

  “Paul told us that Larry and Dale invested in a bar together in Olongapo,” I said.

  “That’s right. There were several partners besides them. The bar had to be owned and fronted by locals because neither Dale nor Gary was allowed to run a business. I can’t tell you much about that, except that it was a bar where the drinking was incidental to the main business, which was hookers, or ‘bar girls’ as they euphemistically refer to them here. I don’t know how much money was involved or what share they each had, and I never saw the bar. All I know is what Dale told me, which was basically that he’d lent Larry some of his share of the stake money and Larry couldn’t pay it back. Maybe that was because of the casino business, I’m not sure. It was around the same time, in early September, that the bar had to close down because they couldn’t keep going without more funding. Larry was the fall guy because he couldn’t come up with the bread. I heard from Dale that the other guys who’d put money into the bar lost their shirts as a result and there was a lot of bad blood between them and Larry. Dale told me they were potentially dangerous enemies.”

  “How close would you say Larry and Dale were after the money problems started?”

  “We were all just casual friends. Maybe they were a bit closer to each other because they had common interests, mainly about making a buck. If you’re asking me whether their friendship survived the fallout from the bar closure I couldn’t say. I haven’t seen either of them since early September. I haven’t seen Dale since Larry disappeared. I think he’s moved to Manila. It wouldn’t surprise me if I saw him again, but equally it wouldn’t surprise me if I didn’t.”

  “From what you know of Dale, his temperament and so on, do you think he’d be capable of violence towards his former friend?”

  “I’ve never seen him act violently or aggressively. But who knows what happens when there are arguments or problems between two people? When Larry disappeared it never crossed my mind that it had anything to do with Dale. After Larry disappeared, Paul and I talked about the Macau hoodlums and the bar investors. To be honest we both thought Larry had just done a bunk – you know lying low somewhere else, maybe even gone overseas for a while, or perhaps for good. But then there was Cary, you see. She was Larry’s life. He would never have abandoned her. Then when we heard about his body being found the word was it was an accident. Paul thought it might be linked to his debt problems. It was just idle speculation.”

  “But Dale disappeared from the Subic area at the same time that Larry disappeared?”

  “I guess so, although I never connected the two things. Dale may have left before Larry disappeared. I can’t be sure when I last saw him. I only know that I haven’t seen him since Larry went missing because if I had I would have discussed Larry’s disappearance with him.”

  “Do you remember if Larry ever mentioned to you about transferring his boat to Dale, or did Dale tell you about it? Apparently it happened in September, not long before Larry disappeared.”

  “No, I never heard about that. But as I say, he had money problems because of Macau. It’s quite feasible that he used the boat to pay Dale back.”

  “And you wouldn’t happen to know who the local shareholders in the Olongapo bar were?”

  “Not off hand, but I can ask around if you like. I expect Cary knows; she knew about the problems with the bar and you can bet she’s heard all about the fall-out from the locals. I wouldn’t expect to get much help from them though, even if you can find out who they were.”

  Gary was toying with his beer. Something seemed to be troubling him.

  “You said earlier that Cary might have a motive to harm Larry,” he said, “because of the insurance policy. There’s something I know about which would knock that theory on the head. It’s also possible that it might have something to do with Larry’s disappearance. It’s something Larry once told me in confidence, but things have changed, haven’t they? Larry’s dead and you guys are here to help find out how and why he died and you’re doing all this for nothing. And you’re the only real chance that Cary will ever get to know the truth.”

  “If it was something told to you in confidence then it’s a matter for you and your conscience Gary. If you’d rather think about it for a while that’s okay. But if it turns out to be something relevant to the investigation, particularly if it’s something that may be helpful to my client then I can’t promise not to act on it. The best I can do is to keep the source of the information confidential.”

  “I appreciate that.” Gary paused for a while before continuing. “I’m going to tell you for two reasons. First because it absolutely scotches any theory that Cary would have killed Larry for the insurance money, and second because it might lead you to the real killer. But first I’m going to have something stronger to drink.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Suitor

  Gary ordered a double rum and coke. Lucy eyed me warily so I stuck with the half bottle of beer left in front of me. Lucy said she was fine, but Gary ordered her another cocktail anyway. We waited until Gary’s drink arrived. He took a couple of sips. Lucy sucked her cocktail through the bendy straw. I looked at her sideways. Her eyes were beginning to glaze.

  “Not long after Larry and Cary met she told him she couldn’t see him anymore. Larry was depressed and came to me for advice. He said that Cary told him that she had another suitor – he actually used that word − bit old-fashioned isn’t it? But
I can imagine Cary using a word like that. He was a local man, much older than she was but very rich. He’d made it clear to Cary that he wanted to marry her but she wasn’t interested. But her parents put a lot of pressure on her. Cary’s from quite a poor background; her family are farmers. This guy promised a lot of things for them which would have changed their lives, so you can imagine the mental torment she went through. But to cut a long story short Larry was persistent. He went to see her parents and convinced them to let her make her own choice; that their daughter’s happiness was worth more than a few acres of rice and an extra couple of carabao. He won them over and they told Cary that she was free to make her own choice. So Cary told the suitor, but he wouldn’t let it go. It was probably to do with face more than anything else. Anyway, to make their point Larry and Cary made it clear to everyone soon afterward that they were engaged. The jilted suitor sent guys round to Larry’s place to try to intimidate him, and when that didn’t work they tried to buy him off. Larry stuck to his guns and, as you know, they were married. Larry paid for a house to be built on a piece of land that had been in Cary’s family for generations and Larry got on well with Cary’s family. Cary’s got a load of younger brothers and sisters and Larry even helped with the younger kids’ schooling. But once or twice Larry confided in me that he still watched his back. He knew what the jilted guy was capable of. He never felt entirely easy about it.” Gary took another large sip of his rum and coke. “So you see if Cary was interested in money she could have had it on a plate.”

  “And you think the jilted suitor might be responsible for Larry’s death?”

  “He’s as likely a bet as anyone else we’ve discussed this evening, don’t you think?”

  “But do you know who the jilted suitor is?”

  “I’m afraid that’s something he never told me. All he said was that the guy was a local politician and that means he’s likely to be not only rich but also powerful and no doubt as corrupt as hell. Certainly influential enough to have had Larry killed if he’d wanted to. Whoever he is he’s probably untouchable as far as the police are concerned, certainly the local police. These politicians are powerful people who operate with impunity outside the law, such as it is, in the Philippines. Look at Estrada.”

  “He’s the former president who was convicted of plundering the economy, right?” I said.

  “Yeah; an offense for which the death penalty could have been invoked. In the end he didn’t serve a day in prison and now he’s the mayor of Manila. Welcome to Asia, Kane. You have to remember that you’re operating far from home in a country that’s pretty lawless. A man like that can buy himself out of any kind of trouble. No-one will touch him, believe me. Even if you had video footage of him killing someone it probably wouldn’t even get to court. Remember Benigno Aquino? The opposition leader was returning to the Philippines after years in exile and Marcos had him shot by the army as he got off the plane; on video, in full view of the world. So you see why there’s a need to be careful. And I don’t want to stir up a hornets’ nest for Cary. All I’m saying is that in my opinion Cary didn’t kill Larry nor would she be a party to anyone who wanted to hurt him. But if that guy is still carrying a torch for Cary then maybe he’d be capable of arranging Larry’s murder.”

  “We’re very thankful to you,” Lucy said. “You’ve solved the mystery of the watch and saved me a leg of (hic)…lot of leg work so we’ll forgive you for adding to the increasing list of suspects.” She smiled tipsily at Gary.

  “It’s been a pleasure to help. I hope the two of you will keep me in the loop, and maybe we’ll get together again with Paul. In the meantime, happy hunting,” he said.

  “And you’d better tell Cary about the watch,” I said. “You may as well tell her about the Macau trouble too, she has a right to know about it, particularly as it may be linked to Larry’s disappearance. It’s something I’m really going to have to talk to her about.

  “Sure, of course I will. I guess it doesn’t matter so much anymore.”

  We said our goodbyes and Lucy and I made our way back to the hotel. Lucy wasn’t blasted but she was tipsy. She hung on to me on the way back to the room. It wasn’t a good time to take her to task on her ramblings to Gary in the bar.

  “With everything we’ve found out the case against Dale seems a bit thin,” she said. “I mean just because he’s (hic) got Larry’s boat…”

  Lucy was trying to talk to me and brush her teeth at the same time.

  “And had perhaps tried to disguise it by painting over the name and moving its location,” I said. “But I agree, it’s not much to hang a murder rap on.”

  “Especially since the insurance company aren’t even satisfied that the body is Larry’s,” said the voice from the bathroom. “If they’re not sure then Dale shouldn’t be in jail at all, should he?”

  “Well insurance companies are notorious for looking for ways out of honoring life policies, but the fact is that there’s a very strong circumstantial case regarding the identity of the body. Cary’s identified it, Larry’s driving license was found on the body, he’s disappeared without a trace, the remains match Larry’s height and build, he hasn’t used his passport and the decomposition of the body more or less matches the time frame between Larry’s disappearance and the discovery of the body. The problem for Dale is that as a tourist he’s an obvious flight risk, so the police won’t want to risk him leaving the country until they’re satisfied he’s not involved.

  “Even if it is Larry, there’s no evidence that it was a homicide is there? If they can’t establish the cause of death, how can they play it as a murder?”

  “It’s called circumstantial evidence Lucy. You know, where the sum of the parts amount to sufficient proof (so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts, I thought to myself, smiling at the memory of Lucy's earlier ramblings). If Larry had sold his boat how did he get out to sea? If he went out sailing with someone else they probably would have noticed if he’d fallen in and reported it to someone, don’t you think?”

  “I think we should see Cary again and find out what she knows about the gambling debt, the failure of the bar and the mysterious jilted suitor,” Lucy said.

  “Okay, I’m going to let you ask the questions this time. After all it’s your case – you brought me here and I’m not getting paid by anybody. To be honest I’m beginning to wonder if it’s going to be feasible to determine how Larry met his end. The information about the Macau gangsters, the bad blood over the closure of the bar and possibly the jilted suitor is hearsay. The problem is Cary’s report to the police. In view of what she told them about the boat being missing it’s going to be difficult to persuade them that she knew about the transfer of the boat to Larry. We need to see Cary again, and soon. Perhaps as my self-appointed new partner you’ve got a few ideas of your own,” I ventured.

  I was talking to no-one. I’d been standing looking out of the window and Lucy had crept noiselessly into bed and passed out.

  The next morning, at our usual breakfast venue, I told Lucy that we had to take stock of the situation. We’d now been here a week and we both needed to get back home. As Lucy, apparently none the worse for wear, carefully spooned rice into her mouth I said:

  “Have you any recollection of the gibberish you were talking last night?”

  The fork stopped half way to its destination for a moment and then continued its journey.

  “I think I was slipped a mickey,” she said with her mouth full.

  “I’ll take that as a no. Are the marbles back in place now?”

  She shook her head vigorously first from side to side, then up and down, and grinned at me.

  “Aye aye, cap’n,” she said.

  “I think we should follow up on the bar thing. Paul said he knew something about that; I’m going to see if he’s free to see us again later. Lunchtime if he can make it.”

  Lucy picked up her half-empty glass of orange juice and swallowed what was left
. We walked back to the hotel and I called Paul. He said he’d be working over lunch but would be free early in the afternoon. “Same place?” he said. I told Lucy the meeting was fixed for three o’clock.

  “There’s a kind of Sea World just a few miles down the coast from here,” Lucy said. “I saw the brochure in the hotel. Why don’t we scoot down there? After all we may as well do something a bit touristy if we’ve nothing else to do. And since we’ve found the watch I won’t have to check the pawn shops.”

  “I could still make you search for the wedding band.”

  “The wedding band probably slipped off Larry’s skeletonized finger and is lying at the bottom of the sea.”

  “Is this your analytical mind at work or is it a theory of convenience?”

  Lucy ducked the question. “The fact that Cary didn’t know that Larry had given the watch to Gary,” she said “makes the possibility that Larry didn’t tell her about the boat more plausible, don’t you think?”

  “Except that the reason Larry didn’t tell her about the watch is because he didn’t want her to know about the hoods from Macau. She already knew about the debt Larry had incurred because of the bar.”

  “You haven’t said whether you want to come with me to Sea World?”

  “Do they have a bar?”

  Lucy booked a cab to take us to Sea World. It was about a half hour drive south and it wasn’t exactly Orlando, but the dolphins drew a few ‘ahs’ from Lucy. As far as I was concerned if you’ve seen one dolphin you’ve seen them all. On the way back to the hotel I shared my concerns about our lack of progress in the investigation with Lucy.

  “Lucy I’ve been in the Philippines for a week. In another week I’ll be broke. We need to wrap this thing up and go home. The list of suspects for Larry’s disappearance is growing daily. We have mysterious gangsters from Macau, disgruntled partners from a defunct Olongapo bar and a jilted suitor, all of whose identities are unknown to me and none of whom I particularly want to get acquainted with. Much as I’d like to get to the bottom of all this it’s time to focus on our real goals – to get Dale out of jail and to get the hell out of here. It seems to me that we should be concentrating on the boat. If what Dale has told us is the truth, there must be someone else who knows about it. According to him he had the boat throughout October; perhaps he took some friends out on the boat to celebrate his new toy. I’m considering giving Dale an ultimatum – if he can’t come up with anyone at all who knew about the transfer of the boat I’m half inclined to leave him to his fate.”