by Brian Meeks
“I’d have used my considerable detective skills to track you down...or knocked on both doors.”
The cabbie took them to the Ritz and Henry tipped him well, saying as they got out, “Nobody needs to know where you left us off.”
“Sure, whatever you say.”
Mr. and Mrs. Smith checked into the hotel.
The cabbie turned off his light, drove for three blocks, and met the other cabbie. They pulled into a parking garage and wiped down the cars. Once the cabs were free of prints, the two men left the fares and keys on the seats. The black sedan was waiting for them outside the garage. They both got in.
“They’re staying at the Ritz under the name Smith.”
CHAPTER 61
A waiter pushed his cart towards room 1501. He looked the part. His instructions had been clear. He was to wait until the call from 1501 came in for room service, then bribe the real waiter so that he could take the tray. If room service hadn’t been ordered, he was to slide the note under the door of 1501 but no earlier than 9 am. There were other instructions in case Henry and Luna left before 9 o’clock, but he had forgotten most of those. It was a relief when they ordered breakfast.
He felt his heart beat a little faster as he approached the door. He knocked and called, “Room service.”
He heard someone come to the door. A moment later he was in the room. A very attractive woman with dark hair, wearing a robe, smiled and signed for the food. She added a nice gratuity, which didn’t do him any good, but he grinned and said “bon appétit” anyway.
Luna waited for Henry to get out of the shower. It would be rude to start eating without him. She brushed her hair and hummed.
Henry shaved, got dressed, and emerged from the bathroom a new man. He hadn’t drank enough to be hung over, and, though things had gotten somewhat tense the night before, he was feeling pretty good. The double-cab move made him smile. “You didn’t need to wait for me.”
“I know, but I did anyway,” she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. Luna sauntered over to the food cart and pulled off the silver dome. “Henry,” she said calmly but with a tone.
“Did they mess up the order?”
“No, but you better look at this.”
Henry saw the envelope tucked under the plate with his scrambled eggs and toast. Damn, another envelope, he thought. Who the hell knows we’re here?
Luna seemed to read his mind. “Nobody knows where we are. Maybe it’s from the hotel manager or head chef?”
“One way to find out,” he said. He tore the envelope open. A tile with the letter ”T” fell out. Grabbing the letter from the corners, as was his habit, he opened it and read aloud.
Henry,
I’m more than a little bit impressed by your swift discovery of the first tile. Oh, true, it wasn’t you who found it, but one of the poorly dressed cops poking around the library grounds, but, still, I know you told them where to look. I guess nobody dies today...unless, of course, you aren’t able to find the second tile by 7pm.
I was much too easy on you with the first clue. I will NOT make that mistake again. I intend to do better with clue 2 than 1 and Club you over the head with the guilt at failing. If you do find it, well, I’ll be truly impressed. I might even raise a glass of Chateau LaTour, 1865, in your honor.
“You know you don’t have to act with me, Steve. You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.”
- Slim, To Have and Have Not
Luna sat down on the bed while Henry grabbed a piece of toast and paced. “What did the guy who brought the food look like?”
“He was average height, brown hair, and was wearing white. I really didn’t look closely. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Henry said as he reached for the phone.
* * *
Associate 2 returned from the bedroom. “I just got off the phone, and our friend who was keeping an eye on Wood lost him. Apparently, Wood rented two cabs. Our man wasn’t able to follow.”
Associate 3 was eating breakfast. He swallowed before asking, “So where is our friend now?”
“He’s watching the office again.”
He shrugged. “Wood will come back.”
The days had started to take more of a toll on 2 than 3. Maybe it was 3’s youth or unbridled optimism, but he seemed completely confident that as soon as they dispatched Henry, everything would go back to normal.
Associate 2 wasn’t so sure. Unable to eat, 2 tried not to show his waning confidence. He had already cleaned every gun in the place, some of them twice. All that was left was finding a moment for the job. Their plan had been simple enough: gather some intelligence, avoid being spotted by anyone from the Enclave who might be trying to kill them, and fulfill the promise they made to Mr. Palmeroy. The only detail which remained...when to pull the trigger.
Associate 3 offered to make some breakfast for 2, but 2 declined. “I’m going out to get the paper.”
3 offered his second shrug of the morning.
The oppressive heat from last week had broken, and 2 found himself enjoying the walk. It wasn’t his custom to make chit chat, but he spent ten minutes talking with a Korean man who was setting out produce. He wasn’t fluent in the language, but he could speak it well enough. The man, probably in his late 50’s, was delighted to hear his mother tongue. They talked about the nice day, how long he had been in New York, and if the apples were good. 2 bought an apple, and told the man it was good. Before he continued on his way, the man introduced his five-year-old granddaughter. She thought it strange that a white man could speak Korean.
2 ate his apple and thought about his first job. He had had to eliminate a transient spy in Incheon. The spy had gone rogue, and an important member of Parliament had been worried he might divulge state secrets. The agent had been a complete ghost for a year but had been spotted in Seoul. It had taken three weeks to make the arrangements and another one to get a clean shot. It had had to be done so that nobody would hear the shot or know he had been eliminated. When the moment arrived, 2 had fired through a window open less than 3 inches. The body was discovered two days later just as his plane touched down at Heathrow.
He tossed the apple core in a trash can and thought about the comments the director had made afterward. It had been a proud moment. He considered what life on the run might be like. It didn’t appeal to him though he had to admit that death was even less appealing.
By the time he returned to the apartment, he had come to a conclusion: They needed to make their move now.
CHAPTER 62
After a fair amount of talking to himself, he finished with a question, “Should I call Mike or grab a cab?” He drifted back into a state of mumbling.
Luna felt better watching Henry work and decided she was hungry. She ate her breakfast, never attempting to cross the rhetorical plain. When Henry wanted her to chime in, she’d know. That time hadn’t come, so she just let him do his thing.
Henry had the phone in his hand and said to Mike who had just picked up, “Yep, you heard right. He made the guys looking for the tile. The letter was his way of conceding the point.”
Henry grabbed a piece of bacon as he listened to Mike and said, “Okay, we’ll wait right here.”
Luna looked at Henry and said, “Well?”
“Things are getting a bit sticky, “ he said. “I need to get a look at those letters from Mrs. Palmeroy not to mention the other one.”
Luna smiled. Then Henry said something that made her day. “What we should do next is get the letters and get to work solving this next test.” All she heard was “we” She nodded and smiled a bit broader.
Henry finally relaxed a bit.
Mike arrived with two patrolmen 15 minutes later. He urged Henry and Luna to come with him to the station. Henry agreed so that he could bring everyone up to speed but not until they retrieved the metal box and mystery
letter.
Mike was on the cusp of objecting but caught a look from Luna that told him he would be fighting a losing battle. A short while later, they were piled into a patrol car. Henry knew they were being watched, but he no longer thought it was worth the effort to hide, at least for now. It had taken less than five minutes for Henry to gather everything from his office, including the gun he kept in the drawer, into an old briefcase that was a gift from a client many years before. It was about the only thing that hadn’t been destroyed in the fire at his last office. Henry put both guns in the side pocket, along with the extra bullets. Once the letters, journal, the file Celine had started on the Palmeroy case, and a few extra pencils were tossed inside, he was on his way.
Henry noticed the lock to Bobby’s office remained broken, which made him worry about where they had gone. It seemed as if questions were coming at him from all directions. If he found one answer, he was sure it would lead to others; at least, he hoped things might start to make sense.
* * *
The din of chatter in the precinct was bordering on a roar. Cops were arriving from their stakeout at the library, and the news of the perp getting wind of their plan had everyone in a foul mood. The captain was yelling above the shouting of two detectives who seemed quite sure that it was the other one who had tipped their hand. Things were well out of control.
Mike shook his head and when he reached the center of the room, yelled, “Shut the hell up! We have another letter, so let’s figure it out and catch the bastard.”
The room went still. The captain said, “Thank you, Mike. Let’s head into my office. Everyone else, get back to work…quietly.”
Mike, Henry, and Luna followed the captain back to his office. The captain read the latest letter and said, “Any ideas where he plans to strike?”
“Not yet,” Henry said. Luna and Mike shook their heads. The captain read the letter one more time.
They discussed the two and the one and the quote. Everyone had seen To Have and Have Not, so it seemed too easy. Mike suggested it might be a fake clue. He reasoned that the person who sent it considered himself to be cleverer than they were, so why would he include a reference that anyone who liked Bogart and Bacall would get? Luna disagreed and said that a hidden meaning was probably in the quote. The captain didn’t make any assumptions and dismissed them to work on it.
Mike had to take the letter to the forensic guys to check out, so he found a quiet room where Henry and Luna could work and left them to it.
The room was quiet, but the glass window made Luna uneasy. “Is this where they interrogate criminals?”
“Yes,” Henry said, as he opened the briefcase.
“You think someone is watching us now?”
“Probably. A while back I brought in a batch of your cookies. They probably want the recipe and are hoping you’ll slip up.” Henry gave her a wink.
“Never! I’ll lawyer up before I give up a single ingredient.”
“These guys are pretty serious when it comes to baked goods.”
“You think they might try the old rubber hose bit?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” Henry said. He handed her the journal. “You start with the journal, and I’ll see what is in these letters.”
A few seconds later the door opened up and the desk sergeant brought in some coffee. “Hey, you da one that baked those cookies, right?”
Henry and Luna smiled at each other. She said yes and asked if the sergeant had liked them. When he said he had, she promised four dozen more of them when they caught the man behind the killings. The sergeant left, motivated to get back to work.
CHAPTER 63
The room was silent for a three count. Luna sighed and opened the journal to page one.
Henry looked at the letters in front of him and decided that the one with the wax seal was far too strange to be first up. The other three were on expensive stationary and didn’t have any signs of passing through the U.S. postal service though they each had proper postage. All three envelopes had been carefully sliced open, likely by the meticulous hand of the late Mr. Palmeroy or his secretary.
Henry wondered whether the secretary might have some insight beyond the contents if she had been the one to open the letters. He started a list with “1. Talk to Palmeroy’s secretary” at the top of it.
Henry removed all three letters and laid them on the table. The envelopes had been put in the box according to date, with the oldest on top. Henry read it first.
Dear Mr. Palmeroy,
I was delighted to receive the roses you sent over. You were such a gentleman last night, and the story about your trip to Africa was wonderful. I hope I wasn’t too much of a giddy schoolgirl at the restaurant. I did try to contain my enthusiasm, but, when you gave that little wink at the orchestra conductor and he played my favorite song, well, I felt like a princess at the ball. I was impressed that you remembered.
As I write this, I can’t help but think of the circumstances that brought us together. If I had not overslept and been forced to take a cab uptown and had you not had your driver show up late, we might have never met. I’m really pleased we shared that cab. Thanks so much for the lovely dinner and flowers.
Sincerely,
Cindy Pollard
Henry was stunned. The earring! he thought. He felt his face grow warm.
Luna noticed his stoic silence and looked up. “What did you find in the letters?”
“You’re not going to like it,” he said and slid the first letter across the table.
Luna looked at the letter and saw the signature. “Oh, I see.” This woman seemed to have trouble staying out of their lives. Her jealous streak was barely held at bay by the gravity of the last 24-hours and she added, “Well, at least she didn’t write the letter to you.” She threw a wink at Henry. The tension on Henry’s face vanished, and a new expression took its place.
Henry turned his attention to the next letter.
Dear Dwight,
I can’t wait to see you tomorrow night. I’ve never been to the ballet. I realize you are very busy and have lots of “distractions” at home, but I just had to let you know how much I have enjoyed the last three weeks.
Last night was the best, though. I can’t believe you got us a table at Club 21 and that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were sitting at the table next to us. And you knew them! She was so nice. When she said she liked my dress, I nearly died. I’m thinking of never wearing that dress again.
I also wanted to thank you for the lovely place you are letting me use. It has the nicest bathroom I have ever seen. I might just take a long, hot bubble bath around lunchtime.
XOXOXO,
Cindy
Luna had stopped reading the journal and was patiently waiting for the next letter. Henry slid it across to her. She gave it a read and snipped, “Well, she sure moves fast.”
Henry knew any response from him would be ill-advised, so he turned his attention to the third letter. Before he could read it, the door opened. It was the captain.
“Henry, I had copies made of the latest letter. Everyone is working on it now, but I thought you’d want one, too.” He handed the mimeographed piece of paper to Henry. “I’ll be right back.” The captain disappeared for a moment and turned on the light in the room behind the glass before returning.
“You have something on your mind, Captain?”
“Henry, you have no idea,” he said. He lowered his voice and continued, “I know the men who were sent to check out the lion statues, and they’re good. I’m having trouble believing they were spotted.”
Luna whispered, “You think there is a leak?”
Henry was proud of her. She wasn’t just a pretty face who worked miracles at the bakery; she was sharp as a tack. Henry looked at the captain who seemed to think Henry might have something to add. Luna had asked the right question and that was good enough.
“Luna, I can’t be sure. What I can do is keep a tight lid on the investigation and limit people
’s access.”
“You know Mike can be trusted,” Henry said matter-of-factly.
The captain barked, “I’d trust that laddie with my life. He’s the best damn cop I’ve ever known.” And then realized he was shouting and lowered his voice, “ I don’t know why I didn’t make him a detective years ago. There are lots of guys around here who I trust, but maybe they have friends on the force that they trust, and I can’t be sure who is talking to whom. I’m thinking we need to find you some place safe.”
Luna asked, “what’s safer than a police station?”
“I should have said some place safe and away from here. If someone is tipping our hand, it will be too easy for him to find out anything you two learn.”
Henry and Luna were silent as they wondered if any place was safe.
CHAPTER 64
Henry assured the captain he had a safe place. The captain was still concerned about security and suggested Mike go with them. He could report in if there was a break. The captain said he would call Henry hourly to update them if any of the other detectives had something new.
Henry wrote down his number for the Brooklyn house, and the captain left to find Mike. Henry said, “We should pack this stuff up. Have you seen anything interesting in his journal?”
Luna flipped a page and said, “I’m not very far into it. The entries date back twenty years and are pretty sparse. It seems that he mostly writes when he is trying to make a decision. Here is one,” she said and flipped back two pages. “‘September 4, 1939. The French and English declared war on Germany yesterday. I got a call from Paul, and he thinks I should be looking at Bethlehem Steel. He says they make armor plate and large-caliber guns, which he thinks we may need if things in Europe escalate. I told him to buy 10,000 shares and we would watch it for a while. If things get worse abroad, then I will consider making a more sizable investment.’”
