by Don Winslow
“Since I talked to Karen earlier,” he said.
“You talked to Karen?”
“I called to ask her if she’s registered for her patterns,” Graham said. “And she told me you were hostile.”
“I’m starting to get hostile …”
“See?”
I swallowed hard and told him about pulling over at the gas station, about going into the men’s room, about—
“You left the keys in the car and he took it,” Graham said. “But you found the car again.”
I told him about Trooper Darius.
“That’s where the ‘blood on the dashboard’ thing comes in,” Graham said.
“There wasn’t any.”
“Which is good,” Graham said.
“Graham, I’m scared out of my wits. We checked at the trooper station, the Sheriff’s Office. I called the hospitals, the morgue. What if—”
“Neal,” Graham said, “somebody else probably saw him standing by the road and picked him up. Silverstein’s probably halfway home by now.”
“You think?”
“Sure,” Graham said. “Listen, leave the cops my number. Then you drive to Palm Desert. Check the rest stops as you go, in case someone dropped him off and he’s trying to call. Check in with me every two hours.”
“Okay.”
“You’ll probably get to his house and find him in his living room watching Wheel of Fortune.”
I started to feel better. Silverstein was probably sitting at home watching Wheel of Fortune. He was fine. Bored, but fine.
Thank God.
“Unless—” Graham said.
“‘Unless’?”
“Unless,” Graham said, “there’s a reason Silverstein doesn’t want to go home.…”
A reason?.…
Not wanting to go home?
What would make Graham think that Nathan doesn’t want to go home? Just because he disappeared yesterday, wouldn’t get on the airplane, wouldn’t get in the Jeep, wouldn’t get in a Toyota, a Mazda, a Nissan, a BMW or a Mercedes, then took the car, drove off, dumped the car and disappeared …
“You think he was stalling?” I asked.
“Maybe.”
“Why wouldn’t he want to go home?” I asked.
I asked Karen this question when I called her up.
“Before you say anything about sperm or hostility or knitting or anything,” I said when she answered, “I need to talk to you.”
“I’m listening.”
I told her the entire odyssey (so far) of my experience with Nathan and finished with the question, “Why wouldn’t Nathan want to go home?”
“Let me see,” Karen said. “In Las Vegas he has booze, a girlfriend, and an audience. And chocolate cake. In Palm Desert he has … television, I guess. The more interesting question is, why would he want to go home?”
“I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
“Neal, he’s a lonely old man who had some fun and company in Las Vegas,” she said. “Then you hurt his pride so he decided he’d show you. And he did.”
Yes, he did.
She said, “So go find him, apologize, and then talk to him about getting a nice condo in Las Vegas.”
“Karen, my job is to get him home, not take care of him forever.”
“Neal, life puts things in your way for a reason.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
This is a big difference between Karen and me. She thinks that life is a fated journey of challenges and discoveries. I think it’s a random sequence of arbitrary occurrences. I also thought that she was veering dangerously close to the baby thing. If Karen decided that having a child right now was fate, I was doomed.
“I’m glad you’re not mad at me anymore,” I said.
“I didn’t say that I wasn’t mad at you,” she said. “You said that you needed to talk. Now, when I tell you that I need to talk, which is about once a week, you listen, right? So when you tell me that you need to talk, which is once about every eight months or so, I’m going to listen because I love you. But I’m still royally pissed at you.”
“Royally pissed?”
“Royally.”
“Jesus.”
“Damn straight.”
She broke the silence by saying, “So go find Nathan Silverstein, get him settled, then come home and knock me up.”
Click. Dial tone.
First things first, I thought. First find Nathan, then get him home.
Sigh. Then find out if he’d really rather live in Las Vegas. It shouldn’t be too hard to convince Friends to get him organized with a nice little condo in Vegas. Maybe somewhere near the Great Hope White, so they could do whatever it was they did together. Then Nathan could happily totter around, smoke cigarettes, drink vodka, ogle women, eat chocolate cake, and perform impromptu stand-up routines in cocktail bars. Karen and Graham were right. What was I so worried about?
Where to begin, where to begin …
Chapter 10
There’s a lot of talk these days about the learning curve. learning curve. You know, you’re “ahead of the curve,” you’re “behind the curve,” etcetera. Well, on the issue of why Nathan didn’t want to go back to his condo in Palm Desert, I wasn’t ahead of the curve or behind the curve.
I was standing flat-footed and stupid on the curve and the car was speeding around the curve right at me.
In my defense, I didn’t know then what I know now. At the time, I headed west through the desert on I-15 looking for the Nathan I knew nothing about.…
Listen, it ticked me off when I found out about it. I mean, when I finally had a chance to look at the following documents I thought something along the order of, “Sure, now. Why didn’t you show me this when it could have done me some good?”
I don’t want you thinking the same thing, so:
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
17 July 1983
Dear Ms. Holmstrum,
Pursuant to your request that I evaluate the coverage situation vis-à-vis the fire that occurred to your insured, Mr. Heinz Muller, on 30 May, I undertook the following activities: I reviewed the fire inspector’s reports and spoke with Captain MacKenzie of the Coachella Valley Consolidated Fire Department; I took recorded statements of Mr. Muller and his tenant, Mr. Abdullah; I reviewed various financial records of both Mr. Muller and Mr. Abdullah; I attempted to contact potential witnesses to the fire; and I reviewed the applicable statutory and case law relevant to the insurance coverage issues. (Please refer to Appendix A for a discussion of the applicable case law.)
Based on this preliminary investigation I offer the following thoughts:
It seems clear that the fire which destroyed the insured’s house at 1385 Hopalong Way, Palm Desert, California, was incendiary in nature—that is, an arson fire. Sheriff’s investigators found trace elements of incendiary material—to wit, gasoline—in the flooring and subflooring. Additionally, traces of wicks—in this case bed sheets twisted and laid out in various strings throughout the house—were also found. Also, sheriff’s investigators state that this was a “hot” fire, a comment which might seem a redundancy on the surface, but which is actually a piece of jargon that refers to the relative temperature of the combustion, a “hot” fire being indicative of arson.
In English, Ms. Holmstrum, your insured’s house went up like a torch.
Equally suspicious is the fact that your insured’s tenant, Mr. Sami Abdullah (also your insured, as he has a rental policy with Western States Insurance Company), was out of town on a long weekend when the fire occurred. Mr. Abdullah states that he was in Las Vegas, but cannot remember the “precise name” of the hotel in which he stayed.
Mr. Muller, who resides in nearby Ranc
ho Mirage, also seems to have been away that whole weekend. Mr. Muller states that he was in Big Bear, and offered hotel and restaurant receipts to validate this assertion.
As to Mr. Muller’s claim for policy limits benefits under his homeowner’s insurance policy, while we should by all means continue to investigate, I am afraid that, in the absence of any proof of Muller’s involvement in the fire, you will owe such benefits. While it is true that Mr. Muller has been trying to sell the house at 1385 Hopalong Way, it does not appear that he has any apparent financial difficulties that would be a motive for arson. In fact, Mr. Muller seems, as much as we can determine from his complex financial records, to be doing rather well in the international import/export market. Furthermore, he seems to have an airtight alibi for the time of the fire.
As to Mr. Abdullah’s claim for his personal property destroyed in the fire, I can only say that I have some personal doubts as to the legitimacy of Mr. Abdullah’s claim that he had (as a partial sample): 28 Armani suits, 37 pairs of Gucci loafers, 52 silk shirts, 2 large-screen Sony television sets, a valuable 1965 Mustang in the garage and an Edward Hooper (sic) painting valued at $137,000. The claim becomes all the more preposterous when you consider that Mr. Abdullah can show no proof of employment for the past five years although he claims to have been making between “thirty to two hundred fifty thousand dollars” a year during that period as a “consultant.”
I think you are well within your rights to deny Mr. Abdullah’s claim, cancel his policy and sever his additional living-expense payments immediately, based on fraud and misrepresentation. Unfortunately, I do not believe that we have developed sufficient proof to deny Mr. Muller’s claim, and advise that you pay him $600,000 forthwith.
If you have any questions, or if I may be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Craig Schaeffer, Esquire
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
21 July 1983
Dear Mr. Schaeffer,
Thank you for your letter of the 17th inst. and for your valuable coverage analysis. I have only one question:
What are you, nuts?!
You know, I know—and if Helen Keller were alive, she’d know—that Heinz Muller and Sami Abdullah burned down this house. For God’s sake, Schaeffer, Muller had a $500,000 balloon payment coming up. The damn house had been on the market for fourteen months! It was either lose the house or sell it to his insurance company. As to that moke Sami Abdullah, you’re damned right we’re canceling his policy. (By the way, have you asked to see the little bastard’s green card? Let him go back to Beirut and file a phony claim there, see what happens. Don’t they cut off their hands or something?)
Here’s the deal, Craig: I’ll pay Heinz Muller policy limits on the same day a trained monkey crawls out my butt singing “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ’Round the Old Oak Tree” in Polish.
Where are your balls, Craig? I didn’t hire you to roll over like a beaten dog.
Sincerely,
Pamela Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
24 July 1983
Dear Ms. Holmstrum,
Thank you for your letter of the 21st inst. and may I observe what a wonderful thing it is that the attorney-client privilege allows us to have such a frank and open exchange of views.
While I understand your reluctance to reward a criminal act such as arson with a policy limits payment, I would be remiss in my duty as your attorney not to advise you to nevertheless do just that.
You have no proof. You have no witnesses. If you deny this claim, Mr. Muller will most likely file a bad-faith lawsuit which could expose your company to a multimillion-dollar punitive-damages award.
Pamela, I know that you are new to this job and eager to impress your bosses and that at your tender age you nevertheless deserved this promotion. I am further sensitive to the fact that, as a young woman executive, you feel more than the usual pressure to show “toughness.” I understand these things. Nevertheless—and again—my best opinion is to pay the $600,000 now or risk having a very large, multilingual, singing simian indeed force its egress from your digestive system, the hard way.
Sincerely,
Craig Schaeffer, Esquire
By Fax
July 26, 1983
Dear Craig,
Too late. I denied both claims.
Pamela
By Fax
July 26, 1983
Dear Pamela,
He’ll sue.
Craig
By Fax
July 26, 1983
Dear Craig,
He doesn’t have the cajones.
Pam
The Law Offices of Eugene E. Petkovitch
1500 Mitch Miller Boulevard
Palm Springs, CA
Ms. Pamela Holmstrum
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
27 July 1983
Dear Ms. Holmstrum,
This letter is to put you on notice that I have filed a lawsuit on behalf of my client and your insured, Mr. Heinz Muller, for breach of contract and bad faith. The conduct of both your claims department and its coverage counsel, Attorney Craig Schaeffer, has been despicable in the extreme. Your fraudulent, oppressive and malicious attempts to violate the rights of my client and avoid paying the insurance benefits to which he is rightly entitled are flagrant violations of both California law and common decency.
I am personally and professionally outraged—OUTRAGED—that an insurance carrier in this day and age would single out for oppressive treatment an individual just because that person happens to be a foreign immigrant. Immigration built this land, Ms. Holmstrum, lest you or Western States Insurance Company ever forget it!
Your conduct has been despicable!
I am certain that a California jury will send a message to the insurance industry—via a large punitive damages award—that this type of conduct will no longer be tolerated.
There is still time for you to avoid litigation.
My client, Mr. Heinz Muller, is generously willing to accept full policy benefits plus an additional $10,000,000 for the pain, suffering and humiliation that your Gestapo-like inquisition and jackboot investigative tactics have inflicted upon him. This sum represents far less than an outraged jury would award and saves you the cost of a long, expensive, and ultimately futile defense.
This offers expires at close of business, five working days hence, and will not be compromised or renewed.
Sincerely yours,
Eugene Petkovitch, Esquire
The Law Offices of Eugene E. Petkovitch
1500 Mitch Miller Boulevard
Palm Springs, CA
Ms. Pamela Holmstrum
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
27 July 1983
Dear Ms. Holmstrum,
This letter is to put you on notice that I have filed a lawsuit on behalf of my client and your insured, Mr. Amin “Sami” Abdullah, for breach of contract and bad faith. The conduct of both your claims department and its coverage counsel, Attorney Craig Schaeffer, has been despicable in the extreme. Your fraudulent, oppressive and malicious attempts to violate the rights of my client and avoid paying the insurance benefits to which he is rightly entitled are flagrant violations of bot
h California law and common decency.
I am personally and professionally outraged—OUTRAGED—that an insurance carrier in this day and age would single out for oppressive treatment an individual just because that person happens to be a foreign immigrant. Immigration built this land, Ms. Holmstrum, lest you or Western States Insurance Company ever forget it!
Your conduct has been despicable!
I am certain that a California jury will send a message to the insurance industry—via a large punitive damages award—that this type of conduct will no longer be tolerated.
There is still time for you to avoid litigation.
My client, Mr. Amin ‘Sami’ Abdullah, is generously willing to accept full policy benefits plus an additional $5,000,000 for the pain, suffering and humiliation that your Gestapo-like inquisition and jackboot investigative tactics have inflicted upon him. This sum represents far less than an outraged jury would award, and saves you the cost of a long, expensive, and ultimately futile defense.
This offers expires at close of business, five working days hence, and will not be compromised or renewed.
Sincerely yours,
Eugene Petkovitch, Esquire
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
27 July 1983
Dear Craig,
Please see attached correspondence from Attorney Eugene Petkovitch on behalf of his clients, our policyholders, Heinz Muller and Amin “Sami” Abdullah.
FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS!!!???
He sends us form letters demanding fifteen million dollars?!
Who does this guy think he is?!
Pam
Craig D. Schaeffer
