“I admit it’s difficult to see how he could be connected to the other case. But then maybe the two cases aren’t connected at all. Maybe my theory’s wrong. Either way, it doesn’t mean he couldn’t be involved in Ditto’s demise one way or another. I accept there’s no evidence implicating him and that I may be being over-cautious, but it’s better to be over-cautious than incautious. And anyway, I was thinking about it earlier and what is there to tell him that would be of any real help?”
During the remainder of the drive home I went through my musings in the café about what we really knew about and what was just supposition.
“Let’s sleep on it,” Lucy said. “We can decide in the morning how much we should tell him.”
“I’m going to study Ditto’s phone records. I’ll drop you off and come by a bit later if that’s okay. Why don’t you send out for some Chinese?”
We pulled up outside Lucy’s place and I dropped her off and then motored the few hundred feet to my own house. I went inside, helped myself to a beer and stood at the counter drinking it. Then I helped myself to another and went to have a look at the phone.
*
“We haven’t told Don about the dead guy,” said Lucy “so…”
“He was called Delmar,” I said.
“Yeah,” said Lucy. “We haven’t told Don about Delmar’s death, and we can’t really tell him about it now. We’ve told him about everything else we saw involving Lisa. We haven’t told him yet about searching Barbara’s apartment – or the place where she’s been living. But since you didn’t find anything significant there ...”
“Except Delmar’s stuff,” I said.
“Well, since he’s dead I don’t suppose that matters really.” She thought for a while. “It’s an awkward situation really, isn’t it? I mean he’s paying us quite a lot.”
“It’s a moral dilemma,” I said. “I’ve never had a situation quite like this before.”
“Did you glean anything from Delmar’s phone?”
“Glean?” I said.
“Glean – find out − it’s a perfectly good word. What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing – it just doesn’t sound very Lucyesque,” I said.
“You’d be surprised by the extent of my vocabulary.”
“Nothing about you would surprise me anymore, Lucy.”
“Well that’s a pity. Don thinks a little mystery is good for a relationship.”
“Is that what we have,” I said, “a relationship?”
“Yes – sort of – it’s just a different kind of relationship from most people, that’s all.”
I smiled at her. “Anyway, the answer to your question is no. They’re just a bunch of numbers. Mostly Minnesota numbers, unsurprisingly. One or two local numbers, and I expect that Lisa’s number and Barbara’s are among them, but I don’t know what their numbers are, and there are no names next to those numbers.”
“No messages?”
“Alas no.”
“Alas?” Lucy said.
“Let’s not go there, shall we?” I said. There was a knock on the door. Fortunately, the Chinese food had arrived.
Chapter Eighteen
A Second Honeymoon
On Sunday Don arrived at eleven on the dot. He was clearly a punctual guy. He seemed in good spirits.
“I’m afraid we haven’t made any further progress,” I said, truthfully but perhaps being economical with the truth. We were seated in the living room and Lucy was brewing some coffee.
“While we’re pretty sure that the couple in the photograph were blackmailing Lisa about something, we’re no nearer discovering what it might have been. I use the past tense because it appears from our surveillance that the couple have been paid off and whatever it is they had which was troubling Lisa has been returned to her. Our suspicions aren’t something we can turn over to the police without Lisa’s consent, as I’m sure you understand.”
“I don’t want the police involved under any circumstances,” Don said. “My only concern in this whole matter is to get things back to how they were before. As a matter of fact, I’ve noticed a change in Lisa already. That’s probably because, as you say, these wretched people have been paid off. I don’t care about them. I’m glad she wasn’t in any kind of physical danger. And I don’t care whatever it was that Lisa felt she had to keep from me. I trust her, and I trust her judgment. I’m sure she was only trying to spare me some kind of perceived hurt or embarrassment. I don’t care about her past, you see. I care about our future.”
“That’s a very pragmatic way of looking at it,” I said.
Lucy came over with some coffee.
“So she’s more her old self again, is she?” Lucy said.
“I think we’re getting there. I’ve decided to take her on a short vacation, so we can put all this behind us. As far as she’s aware I know nothing about the whole thing anyway. Let’s keep it that way. And I want to thank you both for your efforts; I’m sure nobody could have done a better job.”
“Don,” I said, “you realize that this may not be an end to it? If it was blackmail, as we suspect, then it may rear its ugly head again. I’m sure you’re aware of that.”
Don smiled. “I don’t think that’s likely,” he said.
“You don’t think that we should follow up on Lucy’s idea. To try to find out from Lisa what it was all about?”
“No, I don’t think so. To be perfectly frank I don’t really want to know. I just want our life to go back to how it was before. It will now, I’m sure.”
“So where do you plan to go on vacation?” Lucy said.
“Florida. That’s where it all began. It’ll be like a second honeymoon.”
“Where did you go for your first honeymoon?” Lucy said, “if you don’t mind me asking.”
Don threw back his head and laughed. “Disneyland,” he said. “Lisa said she’d always dreamed of going there since she was a small child. Since our meeting and brief romance seemed so magical to us both it seemed that the Magic Kingdom was an ideal choice.”
“Well I hope the second honeymoon turns out to be as magical as the first,” Lucy said.
“Well,” said Don, looking at his wristwatch as he finished his coffee, “I need to be getting back. You’ll send me your invoice and a list of disbursements, won’t you? We’re leaving tomorrow so if you’ll forgive me I’ll deal with it when I get back. And thanks again to both of you. I think that more than anything it’s been a relief to share the problem with someone.”
As Don disappeared in his SUV I turned to Lucy.
“So what do you think?” I said.
“I think we’ll never know the truth.”
“But it’s not over for us yet, Lucy. It may be just the beginning. There’s been a murder, and I’m determined to solve it.”
“But we don’t have a client anymore,” she said.
“That’s the beauty of it – now we can operate without the fetters of a contractual relationship,” I said. Using a tissue, I picked up Don’s empty coffee cup and popped it into a zip lock bag. “We’ll have no-one to answer to but ourselves. And as long as there’s a chance that Lisa’s case and the cold case may be linked I’m bound to investigate it anyway.”
“Plus there’s Calley to think about,” Lucy said.
“I’d rather not spoil my Sunday by thinking about him,” I said.
Lucy laughed. Shall we take the rest of the day off then?” she said. “I wish we could have a vacation in Florida.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to settle for Minnesota,” I said.
Lucy looked at me. “You’re not serious,” she said, “are you?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” I said.
Chapter Nineteen
In the Mood
In the morning I drove over to Complete Forensics in Cambridge for an appointment with Jill Bloom. On the seat next to me in the car were two plastic bags. One of th
em contained the swab that I’d taken from Barbara Green’s apartment and the other had Don’s coffee cup inside. As I drove I was planning my, or our, trip to Minnesota. I hadn’t decided whether to take Lucy along with me yet. Lucy had called the number provided to her by the hospital and discovered that Barbara had sustained a fracture of the left femur and a hairline fracture of the ulna in her left arm, and it was likely that she’d remain in hospital for a few days.
This was good news for me, if not for Barbara herself, because I no longer needed to worry about her disappearing for the time being. I was confident that at least some of the numbers in Delmar’s phone would lead me to people who could provide a wealth of information about him – maybe even his family. I needed to be there so that I could arrange to see them since generally people are reluctant to talk to strangers over the phone about a friend, colleague or family member. Delmar was the best clue I had as to what was behind the blackmail and I needed to know what it was that he knew about Lisa or had found out about her over there in Minneapolis. He could have been someone that she knew from her past or he might be a stranger to her. I needed also to find the link between Barbara and him. Was she from Minnesota too? How long had they known each other? Was the connection between them limited to their involvement in the blackmail I wondered?
There were two things I was undecided about. Should I take Lucy, and how to get there? The office was going to be ready to move into soon and Lucy should really stay to deal with everything there. On the other hand, if she wanted to come with me and I didn’t take her I’d never hear the end of it. As for transport, I considered driving, but I wanted to be there and back as soon as possible; better to fly and then hire a car − one that was used to semi-arctic conditions.
I drew up outside Jill’s lab. The lab didn’t belong to her but it was where she worked and she was one of the most accomplished forensic examiners there. We were friends too, although it was a friendship that had grown out of our business relationship. I’d occasionally been out with Jill and her husband. He was an enthusiastic fisherman; but not enthusiastic enough to be doing any fishing at this time of the year. I was on time and Jill was already in the reception waiting for me when I arrived.
“Here are the two items I told you about over the phone,” I said. “The swab is from a female, the cup from a male. I guess that’s all you need to know.”
“Okay, provided there are no unforeseen problems they should be ready in one to two weeks. We’re pretty busy at the moment – are they urgent?”
“Not especially; but as soon as you can.”
“How was your vacation?”
“Oh, you heard about that? It was interesting. Ten days in the Philippines. It was work really but, as they say, a change is as good as a rest; and I managed to stop over in Hong Kong to see an old acquaintance on the way, and then on the way back we had a couple of days in Bangkok. Visiting temples,” I said, making a sad clown’s face.
“You’ll be changing the name to Mark Kane International Investigations I guess.”
“I don’t plan any more trips anytime soon,” I said; “except Minnesota this week.”
“Dress warm. How’s Lucy?”
“She’s good. We’re working together now as a matter of fact. She’s my new assistant investigator. And we’re moving to a new office in Norbury in a week or two. I took out a new business card and handed it to her.
“Wow, when did this happen?”
“Very recently, actually; we’re working our first case together right now. Or rather our second – Lucy helped me with the investigation in the Philippines.”
“Is she going to Minnesota with you?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“You’ll need someone to keep you warm at night.”
“There is that,” I said.
I headed home again. On the drive home I thought over what Duncan had told me. I’d called him yesterday, after Don left. He’d worked with Don for several years, but when Don married he quit. He was financially sound and wanted to enjoy his life with his new bride. He and Duncan were strictly colleagues and had never socialized together; he’d never met Lisa and hadn’t seen Don at all since his marriage. He told me that Don traveled widely after leaving the army and worked as a mercenary, or as Don himself put it ‘a soldier of fortune’. He’d had several stints in Africa, and he’d also worked in South America and Asia. He’d go wherever he was needed.
“He was no Che Guevara, though,” Duncan said. “He fought for whoever would pay him. I’m not saying he’s unprincipled, in fact I think he has good moral judgement, but he wasn’t a crusader. He just enjoyed doing work he was good at.”
“What about his character?” I said; “his personal characteristics?”
“Extremely self-disciplined, total self-control, highly focused. Definitely loyal and trustworthy – the sort of guy you’d want on your side.”
“Okay, Duncan, here’s the big one, and I only want you to answer it if you think you’re qualified to. Bearing in mind how devoted he is to Lisa, if someone was bothering her – I mean threatening her or something like that – do you think Don’s the kind of guy that would have any qualms about taking that person out. I’m sure he’s physically capable that way, but in your opinion would legal or moral considerations get in the way?”
There was quite a long silence when I asked Duncan that question. I knew it was one that he’d need to carefully consider. Finally, he replied.
“Don’s evolved a high degree of self-preservation because of his former livelihood. If he thought that either he or somebody close to him was under serious threat I believe he’d be prepared to act according to his own set of values. I think he’d be capable of killing if the situation warranted it in his opinion.”
“Thanks, Duncan. Let’s hope I’m barking up the wrong tree, but I’ll let you know how it pans out.”
“Are you still on his case?”
“No. It’s kind of resolved itself for the time being. Lisa was being blackmailed and the immediate threat has gone. But I think there’s still a possibility that there could be further problems. I’m no longer on the payroll but I have reasons for continuing to investigate the matter on my own. On our own I should say now because Lucy’s been helping me.”
“How’s she shaping up?” Duncan asked.
“As well as I expected her to.”
“That’s a little cryptic.”
“It’s not meant to be. I had high expectations of her – despite my grouching, as she calls it. She’s made a promising start.”
Back home I told Lucy about my proposed trip to Minneapolis. She could stay behind and get the new office up and running if she liked. She gave me a look as if I’d said her ass was too big.
“I’m your assistant. From now on, where you go, I go,” she said.
“Well right now I’m going to the john.”
Lucy gave me a disapproving look, the way a teacher might look at a kid who hadn’t done his homework.
“In that case I shall go on the computer and check the flight schedules,” she said. “When are we leaving?”
“As soon as we can; tonight probably. At the moment we’ve got Babs where we want her; out of harm’s way – herself and anybody else’s. Plus she’s not going to do a disappearing act – although she’s no reason to think she has any need to. But I’d like to see her still in that hospital bed by the time we get back.”
Lucy was on the computer. “We can fly Delta non-stop; takes about three hours,” she said. “How about six thirty-five?”
“Okay. Check the temperature while you’re on the computer and pack accordingly. I’m going to call Calley to get the lowdown on Ditto and ask him to check out Babs at the same time.”
“Pity we can’t bill Don for the tickets. Maybe we’ll be able to if we find out what was behind the blackmail.”
“I doubt it. He said he didn’t want to know. He seems to think that if Lisa didn’t
want him to know he should respect her judgement.”
I went into my kitchen to fix myself a coffee. I had a crafty look over towards Lucy who was glued to the computer and then slipped a cap-full of whiskey into the mug.
“You want a coffee?” I called over to her.
“Thanks, but I’ll take mine without the liquor,” she said, without looking away from the computer screen. Maybe what she’d told me about a woman’s intuition was right.
I called Calley. “Got something for me on Ditto?” I said.
“Delmar Ditto,” he said, pronouncing both names with an exaggerated slowness. “Got a rap sheet going back seventeen years; a couple of thefts as a teenager, vehicular theft at seventeen. Nothing violent. Been in the can three times for offenses of dishonesty – last one for fraud; release date was four months ago. He didn’t oughta be in Massachusetts – he was still under supervision.”
“Can you get me the contact details of his parole officer? I’m flying out to the Twin Cities tonight. I’m going to do a bit of digging around.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Did you put in a request to see the cold case files yet,” I said.
“Sure,” there was a pause. “You don’t need me to actually read all that stuff, do you?”
“Not unless you want to haul your ass over to my place sometime and camp in my living room for a few days. I’ve got a summary for you – that’ll tell you all you need to know. Why don’t you copy it and put your name at the bottom?”
“Really? Gee, thanks. We’re getting to be like Marlowe and Bernie Ohls,” he said.
More like Laurel and Hardy, I thought. But Calley’s comment had startled me; I didn’t know he’d ever read a book.
“How long you going to stay in Minneapolis?”
“As long as it takes, but hopefully no more than two or three days. I’ve got a couple of other names for you to check. Barbara Green. She’s a woman of about thirty to thirty-five. She may be a Boston resident, but I don’t have any other details right now. The other one is Paul Withers. I don’t know anything about him except his name.”
Till Death - Mark Kane Mysteries - Book Four: A Private Investigator Crime Series of Murder, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Stories...with a dash of Romance. A Murder, Mystery & Suspense Thriller Page 12
