Angie woke me with a fragrant cup of coffee, so I must have slept. “Thanks for last night, Alex. You’re the best brother a girl ever had. I am going to be fine. I took your suggestion and talked to my mother last night.”
“You what?”
“Had a chat with Mother, never mind the details. I told you, me Indian medicine woman. Mother reminded me that she’s lost two husbands, and she loved them both. When it happens to other people, we expect them to deal with it. When it happens to us, we flop around like a fish out of water. Mother would have been ashamed of my performance last night, so it won’t happen again. Wonderful of you to help me over the rough spots, but now let’s stop all this maudlin foolishness and get to work.”
Snow had stopped falling, but the world was white and it was going to stay that way for the next seven months. I dropped Angie at the station and drove out to the airport. Reginald and Celeste were parked in their usual spots, and Dave Marino’s car was in the lot. The Otter and Skyvan were tied and covered, so all of the principals were in that building. I used the pay phone at the entrance to call Stella.
“Jim, I’ve got a whole tree of raccoons cornered. I don’t know all the answers, but I know how to find out. Can you very quietly get into the freight shed at Interior Air Cargo in the next half hour?”
“You won’t even see me slip in.”
“Good, stand beside the connecting door between the warehouse and the office, and I think you’ll hear everything you want to know.”
“I’m on the way.” He hung up, so I did, too. I waited twenty minutes, hoping Dave Marino wouldn’t leave, and wondering how I was going to lure him back if he did. Just for insurance, I parked the Power Wagon so it blocked the lot entrance.
Celeste gave me her smile, but didn’t rush to the counter. I raised the leaf and invited myself in. She didn’t seem happy to see me, but she wasn’t surprised, so she apparently didn’t know I was dead. The brunette turned around and did a double take when I stepped through the counter uninvited, but turned back to her desk and buried her nose in papers. It seemed I just wasn’t her type.
“Hi, Celeste, can I tear you away from your ledgers for a minute?”
“Sure, what’s up, Alex?”
“We need to have a chat with Reginald. Is he in his office?”
“Yeah, he’s in, but he’s meeting with Marino at the moment. Maybe we shouldn’t interrupt them?”
“This will just take a couple of minutes. Maybe Freddy could join us?”
“Well, I don’t know….”
“Aw, come on, invite him. He might feel left out.”
She picked up her phone and pushed buttons. Freddy came out of his office and did a double take. He was surprised to see me, but he didn’t register the shock I was expecting. If he had thought I was dead he was a consummate actor. He shook his head to clear it and recovered admirably. “Hi, Alex. I thought the storm would chase you back to Bethel.”
“Very soon. We just need to touch base with Reginald.” Celeste was still seated. I took her arm, half urged, half lifted her to stand and gestured for her to precede me. Freddy shrugged and stepped over to tap on Reginald’s door. I shepherded Celeste ahead of me, and opened the door to the warehouse as I passed. The warehouse was silent. I hoped Stella was as good as his word. I left the door to Reginald’s office open when we entered.
Reginald and Marino were hunched over the computer. Reginald looked up with a flash of annoyance, but he instantly shifted to campaign mode. “Hello, people, what’s up?” Marino backed away from the computer and stood in front of the Nixon photo.
My throat was constricted. I had to clear it. “I’m afraid I called this meeting. The five of us need to go over some details of flight scheduling and billing.”
Reginald stood, Marino backed toward the end of the desk, and Celeste looked ready to cry. I glanced down and noted that Marino was wearing black oxfords.
Reginald was prepared to bluff it out, an expression of concern and perplexity on his movie star mug. “What’s wrong, Alex? Didn’t you get paid for your flight hours?”
“Yes, I got paid for the hours I flew, but not for the sixteen hours that have my name on them that I didn’t fly. Maybe Freddy can explain how the Otter got over a thousand hours of billing but only three hundred on the Hobbs meters?”
Freddy was shaking his head. “Did the Hobbs meters fail? Probably a blown fuse. You can check the aircraft log if you like.”
“No, I’m sure the log matches the billing, but the meters worked perfectly when I flew the bird, and I personally saw the Otter tied down half a dozen times when flight tickets said it was flying. Let me guess. Interior is bilking the consortium out of a million or more a year. Anyone doubt that?”
I was expecting a reaction from Marino, but he didn’t flinch. Reginald seemed to be having a heart attack. “What the hell are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?”
“I’m talking about several hundred thousand, maybe a million dollars’ worth of fraudulent billing.”
“Get out of my office. I’m calling the cops.” Reginald reached for his phone. Freddy stepped forward and waved his hands like an umpire declaring a runner safe.
“Calm down, Reginald. You’ve been so wrapped up in that governor scheme, you wouldn’t know if the business was bankrupt. Alex what the devil
are
you talking about?”
I was standing with hands behind me, but had a grip on my pistol. “I’m talking about a scheme to rob the consortium. I’m talking about hired assassins who killed Stan and have been trying to kill me. Don’t play dumb, Reginald. I know Marino and Celeste have been blackmailing you, but that’s going to end right now.”
Reginald bent over and opened the desk drawer. He fumbled through papers, but came out lifting a nickel-plated .38 revolver.
I jerked my pistol out and had it pointed at his face. “Drop it, Reginald. Leave the gun in the drawer. Don’t make me shoot you.”
“Alex, I don’t know what you’re up to, but there’s too much at stake, the governorship, the business. I can’t let you stop me. Freddy, if Alex wants money, give it to him. Don’t endanger my reputation.”
I took one step forward, letting Reginald look down the gun barrel. “Reginald, you’re forgetting one detail. This isn’t about money. This is about conspiracy to commit murder. I don’t care how many millions you make, they are not worth Stan’s life. You imported assassins and had him killed.”
Freddy groaned. “Alex, that was an accident, not my fault. I answered an ad in a magazine, just looking for some muscle. All powerful men have their enforcers. Do you think Nixon didn’t? I just wanted to protect Reginald. I thought his boyfriend might cause trouble, or there might be a union problem. I wanted some muscles who could threaten and intimidate. I didn’t realize those guys were killers.
“When your friend overheard them talking, they said they’d take care of him—well, I didn’t know they meant to kill him. I told them it was all a mistake and I didn’t want to hire their services, but they told me to get stuffed. No way could I control them.”
“So, it wasn’t your idea to have me and Angie killed?”
“Alex, I didn’t know anyone was going to be killed. I didn’t even know the connection between you and the pickup explosion until the night you introduced Angie, and then the two mercenaries got killed. I thought that was the end of it.”
“But two more showed up from Seattle to take their place.”
“I know, they charged their tickets to the company, but I had nothing to do with that and I never even saw the second two.”
“So, you’re just an innocent victim of circumstance?”
“Alex, millions are being wasted on the pipeline. It just makes sense to grab our share while we can. If Reginald becomes governor and leaves the business for me to run, we’ll all be set for life, you’ve got to see that.”
“What I see is that Marino and Celeste were blackmailing Reginald, but you were all in it.”
I was expecting Marino to make a try for me, or pull a weapon of his own, but it was the brunette who stepped through the door and stuck a gun in my back.
“Come on, Freddy. Grab the phone, jerk the wires out of the computer, and let’s lock them in the office. All we need is enough time to get to Canada in the 310 and we’ll be home free. I stashed a fortune in the Caymans while Marino dithered around trying to connect Reginald to the scam. Couldn’t believe that a mere woman could do it, could you, Marino? Alex, drop the pistol or you’re dead.”
I glanced down at her feet and saw open-toed sandals. I dropped the pistol. That two-pound chunk of steel landed on her toe. She screamed and bent over. I grabbed the pistol out of her hand when it went by. Freddy lunged, grabbed the barrel with his right hand, my wrist with his left and used his momentum to swing me around. I didn’t fight him; I helped him, and tripped him as he went by. When my gun wavered, Reginald jerked his up and shot. I don’t know if he was shooting at Freddy or me, or just shooting from sheer frustration, but the bullet hit Freddy in the shoulder.
Freddy’s head slammed into the wall. He lost his grip on my arm and slid down. Reginald had dropped his gun to his side, not understanding what had happened. When he raised it again, I shot it out of his hand. He shrieked and stuck bloody fingers in his mouth. Freddy was trying to get up, so I stood on the middle of his back. The brunette was bent over whimpering and rubbing her foot. Her big toe was turning purple and blood seeping out around the painted nail.
I snapped my attention back to the desk. “Marino, get your hands up. If you go for a gun, I might miss it and hit your heart. Celeste, get over there beside him. You’re in this up to your pretty little false eyelashes, and your signature is on papers that will put you away for twenty years.”
“Alex, no, I….”
“Can it, get over against that wall.” I gestured with the pistol. “Now, nobody moves but Celeste. Pick up the phone and dial nine-one-one.”
“No need.” Jim Stella stepped through the door behind me. “Put the gun away, Alex, before you shoot someone else.” He knelt and put the cuffs on Freddy, so I stepped off his back. Stella pulled another set of cuffs from his belt and advanced on the brunette, but she was wailing and massaging her toe. He cuffed only one wrist and handed the other end of the manacles to a cop who had come through the door behind him. “I’m arresting you two for grand theft. Your lawyer can work out the wording.”
Reginald was moaning around his fingers. He suddenly looked old, deflated.
Stella looked at the crease in Freddy’s shoulder, then around the room. “Does anyone here want to testify that Reginald shot Freddy?” No one spoke. Stella nodded. “I didn’t think so.” He pulled a note card out of his shirt pocket. “Fredrick and Marlene, you have the right to remain silent….” He read off the Miranda spiel and the cop pulled Marlene toward the door. I grabbed Freddy by the cuffs and jerked him to his feet. He could stand. He wasn’t badly injured, but I was mystified.
“Jim, Celeste had to know. Marino was blackmailing Reginald, but….”
“Alex, maybe you haven’t been properly introduced. This is David Marino, special agent from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Like you said, Interior is stealing millions, and Celeste blew the whistle. I think you should stop waving your gun at her and apologize. In fact, I believe that’s Marlene’s gun, so I’ll take it.”
I handed him Marlene’s .32. “Jim, there’s a lot more going on here than grand theft. Freddy must have tried to kill me by sabotaging my airplane.”
Jim was nodding his head. “So, that’s what happened. The day after we railroaded your two gun-toting missionaries out of town they came back on the early morning jet, but didn’t rent a car or take a taxi to town. They caught the next flight back to Seattle and left that evening for Honduras. I thought they had lost their nerve, but now we know how they spent the hour between jets.”
“But why? If Freddy didn’t hire them to kill us, what was going on?”
“Blood feud, Alex. The original two must have thought you knew something they needed to kill you for. Then you killed two of their group so they had to kill you. That’s the real meaning of honor among thieves. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a date downtown.” Two more cops appeared in the doorway and ushered the prisoners out. I sank down into one of the leather chairs, then remembered to pick up my pistol and shove it in my belt.
“Alex, my eyelashes are not false.”
“I know, I know. You’re absolutely beautiful and the best dancer on the planet. I was just hurt when I thought you were trying to kill me. I guess I was lashing back. Marino, my apologies.”
“Not necessary. I knew you were getting close when I noticed you’d been into the computer and were hiding under the desk, but no harm done. I’ve collected more than enough evidence for the fraud case, thanks to Celeste. I’m glad you went ahead, because I wondered about the murder but I wasn’t prepared to charge them with it.”
“But you met with the two assassins at the Rendezvous Club.”
“I met with two men who flew in from Detroit to help with the campaign. I didn’t see much use for them, but I had no idea they were murderers.”
Reginald had sunk down into his chair. “That was my fault. They were friends of Freddy’s and he wanted me to give them a job. Apparently I’ve been an old fool and blinded by ambition. I sound like a Shakespeare character, and I guess I feel like one, too. I just don’t understand how it could have gone so far.”
“Am I really a good dancer, Alex?”
“Celeste, you are divine, but it was you who wiped Dave’s glass clean, wasn’t it?”
“No, I wondered about it, but I thought you were bluffing, you know? Trying to impress me. Lieutenant Stella matched the prints, checked with Dave, and decided we shouldn’t tell you. We all thought you might be planning blackmail, and I was afraid that’s what you came for today.”
“But you kept the ledger. How could you not be in on it?”
“Alex, the ledger I keep is just for office expenses and payroll. Invoices and flight tickets are numbered and I filed them in order, but Marlene did the billing. That’s why it took me forever to catch on.”
“So nobody trusted anybody? I’m going back to Bethel where life is simpler.”