I had worked
straight for three months without a day off. I was starting to feel normal once
again. I still missed Joe, a day never went by that he was not in my thoughts.
Work was my therapy.
My business
was steady and growing, I had hired a part-time secretary, she came in everyday
for four hours and kept track of my clients did all the paper work. Susan was a
middle-aged woman who had lost her husband a few years back and just wanted to
get out of the house and stay active. Leo also spoiled her with cappuccinos in
the mornings. He had taken a shine to her and she enjoyed the attention.
Arriving late
on Monday morning a tall lanky man was waiting in my office. His dress told me
he was a cop. Susan was chatting away as I opened the door. He introduced himself as Jeffery Brown from the F.B.I. Would I answer some
questions off the record?
“Why off the
record?” I asked. That seemed to take him aback for a minute, I could tell he
was a newbie.
“Well I just wanted it to be informal,” he
stuttered.
“I prefer
formal when dealing with police, what do you want?”
That is when
he took out a picture of me from Brazil, blond hair loads of makeup, laid it on
my desk. The picture was out of focus and taken from a distance.
“Well who is
this?” playing dumb.
“Her passport
says her name is Susan Graft.”
“And why are
you here asking me about her?”
“Because
Susan Graft is no where to be found, she seems to have disappeared.”
“Are you
asking me to find her, I am sure the F.B.I. has more resources than me.”
That is when
Leo walked in, I introduced them, and Leo never missing a beat asked Jeffery if he was a new client. He obviously over heard the conversation before he came
in the door.
“Leo seems
like this girl Susan Graft is missing and I am not sure why they want me to
find her.”
“I am sorry
if you misunderstood, we don’t want you to look for her.” Again stuttering.
“Then why are
you here bothering this nice lady then?” Leo keeping his voice low.
“A lady in
Brazil thinks this woman had something to do with her boyfriend’s murder. And
your partner was killed by this man.”
“Is she an American citizen? What do the Brazilian police say? Are you
accusing me of being Susan Graft?” I laughed.
“When was
this man murdered?” Leo nonchalantly asked.
When Jeffery
stuttered out the date of the murder. Leo started to smile.
“Well, Meg
that was when we went sailing for the week.” You must have had twenty witnesses
that week of sailing, guess you have plenty people to vouch for you.”
Jeffery
thanked me leaving and apologizing for taking up my time. Leo’s look, told me
not to say anything.
“Meg a client
of mine wants to meet with you at dinner tonight, are you free?”
“Where and
when?”
“Same place
as we met Gilbert at eight.” Leaving he turned telling me he would have the
list of the people’s names and phone numbers that sailed with us if I needed
it. Leo was always thorough.
Tom called
asking to meet for a drink tomorrow, same place same time. I messaged back I
would be there, looking forward to seeing him.
Dinner was
the usual five-course meal with no business discussed until coffee was served upstairs.
Daniel Markus
was in his mid sixties, greying hair, with dark brown eyes a paunch showing
over his belt. I would not call him handsome, but had a pleasing face. His skin
tanned from being out in the sun. He was very polite and well spoken with a
hint of a European accent. He explained why he wanted to hire me.
His wife,
Sally, was being blackmailed by a man that she knew when she was a prostitute twenty
years ago, she wanted to be an actress, but never making it she had gotten into the
wrong crowd. This man had hooked her on drugs and exploited her. She had been
upfront with Daniel before they married as she wanted to start out with a clean
slate with him, she had not touched drugs since she married.
She had told
Daniel right away when the man contacted her for fifty thousand dollars, saying
he would expose her to all Daniels business associates and had a reporter
willing to follow up her story. He wanted me to track him down expose him and
scare the hell out of him.
I looked at
Leo, “What am I missing? You could have one of your men scare him off easily.”
“Daniel is
the owner of the ship we were sailing on and I have to stay clear of any connection here in case
we are being watched by the F.B.I. Meg.
Daniel said with an inside smile, ”The week on my boat was me looking you over for this job.”
He passed me
a folder and envelope, “This should help you get started, Meg.”
When I
arrived home, I filled another paper bag putting it in my old suitcase. I had to open a safety box soon. Going
through the papers the one on top had twenty names and phone numbers people
that had been on the ship with me, all had written a statement saying I never
left the ship for the whole week.
A man name
Martin Kline was the blackmailer, Daniel supplied his address and cell phone. A picture showed
a sleazy man in his forties, sitting beside a pool holding a drink. I would get
my friend downtown to run him through the database. Then start following him
until he made his first mistake. I hoped.
The next
night I met Tom at the pub, he hugged me as I came to sit down beside him. “Is
this our special place for meeting?” I chuckled.
He surprised
me by ordering two beers. “Has Lawrence turned you to drink?”
“He is
intolerable Meg and I only started to have a drink since he came to the
office.”
“Then I am
glad I got out when I did.”
We chatted,
ordering a second beer, and then he got serious. Lawrence had asked him, what
kind of clients I dealt with? Did he know I had been seen with the drug dealer
Leo and my office was in his building? Did Tom know if I had been to Brazil in
the last year?
“It is none
of Lawrence’s business who I associate with or who my clients are.” I said with
a smile.
I explained to
Tom that a Jeffery Brown had came to my office asking questions about a Susan
Graft who apparently was a suspect in the murder of Mathew. He knew Mathew had killed Joe.
Fortunately, the week that the murder occurred I was out sailing and had twenty
witnesses to say I never left the ship.
Tom sat back
relaxing, with a huge smile. “Meg, I am thinking of retiring next year, so until
then if I can be any help.
Martin
Kline’s rap sheet was waiting for me at the office when I arrived the next
morning. Susan and Leo were enjoying their coffee and she poured me one. Leo
seemed to have a lot of time on his hands lately.
Martin had a
few arrests for assault and a list of misdemeanors, the women always dropped the charges
before he was charged. Stolen credit card fraud, spent a year in jail. His last
address was about a mile away, so telling Susan I would be gone for the day I
left them talking about Spain.
Martin’s
house was a small rundown place, his yard a mess grass that needed to be cut. A neighbor was out trimming his flowers. He nodded as I went up to the door,
calling he was not home. I walked over complimenting on his beautiful yard.
“Always one
in every neighborhood looking towards Martins place,” he said.
Asking him a
few questions, knowing he was not on a friendly terms with this neighbor. In
addition, would probably never mention the questions I asked.
Martin had
parties most weekends with women and men coming and going all night. His
garbage can filled with liquor bottles.The police had made many trips here over
the last year that he had lived here. But he told me they never did anything about the parties. One woman had been taken away in an
ambulance, apparently from a drug overdose. He asked me to wait as he went
inside and brought me a page of license numbers he had kept track of. The last
one belonged to the woman taken away. I thanked him and left.
I sent a
bottle of good Scotch to the home of my good friend from the station with a
list of these plates. He had them waiting for me the next morning.
Lisa Shank -
1248 Leland Drive
Mac Grain –
3478 Shanty Street
The list went
on mostly woman that lived in the surrounding area.
A woman
answered when I called Lisa’s number, the person sounded older and told me she
was in the Sea-View hospital. The nurse asked if I was a relative, lying I said
I was her sister.
Lisa was
hooked up to medical instruments and had a bandage around her head plus a black
eye. I told her who I was and asked how she received the damage to her head.
She mistook me for police, right away saying she would not lay charges against
Martin.
I assured her I was not a cop and asked, “Why would
you protect a man that hurts you?”
Her shakes turned to sobs. “He threatened to kill my Mom if I said anything against him.”
“I can help
protect you and your Mom as I am a private investigator and working on a case
against him.” She wrote out a statement and signed it. I got on to a couple of
retired cops that I knew did security work and had them, watch over the Mom and
her. Until I had Martin in jail.
Mac Grains wife
answered the door, telling me Mac was at work. His office was downtown and I
circled the block until I found a parking spot. His secretary asked if I had an
appointment, saying no she told me he was in a meeting. I wrote down Lisa's name
on a piece of paper and handed it to her to take it to her boss.
Two minutes
later, she showed me into his office.
“Your wife
gave me your work address.” I smirked purposely.
“You went to
my house.” He yelled.
“Yes a lovely women you have, how long you have
her is up to you.”
“What the
hell do you want from me?”
“I want to
know every detail about Martin, how he operates his services.”
An hour
later, I had a list of his clients, Mac used his services for woman when his
clients from out of town wanted a good time. He occasionally joined his clients
at Martins house. Martin had blackmailed him for over two years to the amount
of one hundred thousand dollars to keep the men coming. He had gone to the
house the other night to say he was no longer going to supply his clients and
not going to pay him any more money. Martin threatened to tell his wife. Mac
called his bluff and Martin told him fine he had another source to fleece.But he wasn't finished with Mac.
“Does my wife
have to be told about any of this?” Mac asked.
“Not as far
as I am concerned.” As I left him, he sat looking overwhelmed.
Martin’s
lights were on when I drove up, he answered on the first knock as if he was
expecting someone. Introducing myself, I told him who my client was and why I
was here, he opened the door wider, looked outside before letting me in. I
explained that I had two written statements one from Lisa the other from Mac,
explaining everything about his girls and customers.
“Guess you
could call yourself Madam Martin,” I said. “Oh by the
way, Sally has no plans to pay the blackmail money neither does her husband. If
you bother her again, everything I have in writing will go to the authorities.” I
asserted.
His face grew
crimson as he came towards me.
“If you want
to go back to prison for assault, I will gladly give you the chance.”
That is when
he lost it and picked up a pottery vase from the table, throwing it directly at
me. As I sidestepped, it crashed into a wall behind me, as I drew my gun from
my holster, he looked shocked I was so quick.
He was seething
with anger, “You have not seen the end of me lady.”
Susan called
me at home the next morning, to tell me the office had been broken into, paper
scattered all over, nothing seemed to be missing except my computer. Should she
call the police?
Telling her
not to bother I knew who it was, and what he was looking for. The statements I
had gotten were at home. Martin thought if he destroyed them, he could scare
Lisa and Mac into repeating them was my guess.
I went straight
over to Martins house, had my gun out when he opened the door. He backed up and
that is when I kicked him hard in the groin, when he bent over I hit him with
the barrel of my gun. He was out cold as I took the rope from my purse tying
his hands and legs. Getting water from the kitchen, I threw it at his head. Looking up groggy he started to swear.
“You are
going to regret this lady, I will hunt you down and kill you,” he started to
try to wriggle out of the ropes. He had one hand loose was trying to get free.
I had to make a move before he could get to me.
“Blackmailers
are the scum of the earth Martin, if you try it again I will come back and do
worse than what I am going to do now.”
I then
stuffed a kitchen towel in his mouth. "Lisa told me what you did to her and other women with a hammer."
I started methodically at his feet, breaking
his toes with my hammer that I retrieved from my bag. His kneecaps were next,
he passed out until I got more water dousing him. Then to his elbows and
fingers behind his back. The last to break was his nose that is when the blood
started spurting down his face. I untied him taking my rope the water glass and the
kitchen towel. Picking up my computer from his desk, wiping the door as I left. Calling back to him cry good and loud Martin.
Stopping on
the way home, I threw the glass and towel and my rope in a dumpster, heading
home for a Scotch. I phoned Daniel and Sally and told them they would not be
hearing from Martin again. Ten minutes later Leo called to congratulate me, his
bodyguard had watched from across the street as Martin had been taken away in
an ambulance. Apparently, his nosy neighbor had told him that Martin had multiple
broken bones.
“Leo have you
been following me?” I asked laughing sipping my drink.
Leo told me not to celebrate to much as he had another big job for me and would see me at my office in the morning.
All he would say was it had to do with my old boss Lawrence.