Chapter 7

"Mr. Barnes, I have been looking forward to this meeting all week." Eaves said shaking my hand. Since I didn't know what to say I simply nodded in response.

"I'm sorry about all the secrecy, but I wanted to be the one to talk to you." Eaves went on.

"What about Mr. Eaves?" I asked.

"Two things actually. First of all I wanted to offer you a job." he said pausing to assess my answer.

"I appreciate that sir, but I really am not looking for work. I mean I have about all the work I want."

"Really, I was led to believe you were only working part time." he said.

"That's right sir. Even that is more than I had originally wanted. My one ambition is to be a beach bum." I noted with satisfaction that they all blanched.

"Well, I must say that is a little surprising. I mean you did such a bang up job on that Lester thing."

"There wasn't that much to it. The local police chief actually did all the work." I answered.

"That is not the way Chief Sims tells it. Her story is that without your help the whole thing might still be lingering. She went so far as to write us a letter of appreciation."

"How the hell did you get a letter so quickly," I asked.

"Fax," Edna said.

"Yes Fax, we even faxed it to the insurance commissioner. He was very impressed." Eaves said.

"I'm glad, since that was the purpose of the whole thing anyway." I admitted.@@@

"Yes, well back to the subject. Maybe when you hear what the job offer is you will think more favorably about it." I wanted to say fat chance but I didn't. I might have, if I hadn't seen the warning in Edna's eyes.

"I will be happy to listen but I doubt it will change my mind." I admitted.

"At least take a few days to think it over," Edna said. It was a way out. One she wanted me to take.

"The job is investigations manager for the region." Eves said.

"You mean Edna's job?" I asked.

"Actually, Edna's boss. She is the District Claims investigations Manager," he said.

"To tell you the truth, I am flattered. I will think it over, but I really don't think at this time that I could do it." I was going to elaborate but I noticed the subtle shake of Edna's head.

"Just think about it. The other reason we wanted you to come down may be more to your liking." From the table he took a letter sized envelope, then handed it to me.

I found two checks inside. One was attached to my invoice and the other was for two thousand dollars with no invoice. "Why the second check?" I asked.

"Call it a bonus for the Lester job. I do have a favor to ask of you." Eaves said.

"What might that be?" I asked cautiously.

"We have called a news conference for this afternoon. I would like you to be present to answer questions from the press. I had hoped to announce that you would be taking over our investigations, but that can wait." he said.

I almost said no, I again caught the look in Edna's eyes. "Sure if it won't take too long. I have a little business to take care of in Charlotte. So what time is the press conference?" I asked.

"Not until two," he replied. He was still smiling, though I knew I was testing his good humor.

"No problem, I should be through with my other business by then. If not I will just cut it short. Do I meet you here."

"I don't imagine there will be too many reporters. I think we can do it in the conference room." the manager said. He hadn't spoken at all during the meeting.

On the walk down the hall Edna said, "God EJ, you can't talk to the vice president that way. He can cut off any work we have for you."

"Like I told him, I want to be a beach bum. If he wants to cut the work, that would be fine with me."

"Bullshit, you could never lay around on the beach. You would get bored the first day."

We parted company as she entered her office. I went to the parking lot to try and find Gaston's old law firm. The firm was large enough to have an office manager. I spoke with her. According to her Michael's work had been satisfactory. She didn't want to elaborate until I explained that I wasn't doing a job application investigation. I explained that Michaels fiancee had hired me to check out his past. I just wanted to make sure she got her money's worth.

Once the office manager determined that she would not be in the middle of a lawsuit, she spilled the dirt. Not that their was much of it. Michael had indeed been an fair employee. She let me see his evaluations. Mostly they criticized his preparations of cases. In the large firm that had been his job. He prepared the case work for the other more senior lawyers. The senior lawyers wrote that his preparations were adaquate but not inspiring. He left the firm after being denied his yearly raise.

"Did Michael have any close friends at the firm. You know someone I could talk to about his personal life." The question fit with my purpose so the office manager arranged for me to speak with another associate. Her name was Jill something or other.

"Sure, I knew Mike," she said with a sour look.

"From the look, I have to assume something less than perfect happened."

"Not really, Mike was lazy then. I did a lot of his prep work. I thought he might be planning to marry me. I went out with him often enough. When he got passed over for the raise he split. I never heard from him again. He was just using me to help with the casework." She was almost in tears by the time she finished.

"Did Mike have any other girlfriends?" I asked.

"None that I knew of. I would have known. We spent a lot of time together, if you get my drift."

"Well thank you. I appreciate your candor." I said.

"Tell his fiance to look for a motive before she marries Mike. He is probably trying to get something besides her ass," she said angrily.

I decided right at that moment to make the two hour drive to Greensboro after the press conference. I would have to spend one more night on the road but so be it. I stopped on the way to the office for a sandwich. I killed as much time as I could at the coffee shop.

I had expected a couple of reporters at the dull news conference. When I got to the conference room I found a half dozen. It must have been a really slow news day in Charlotte.

Eaves spoke first. He explained how the insurance company's payments work. He explained that the company has it's clients foremost on it's mind. He told how the unusual death claim was handled. In the end when the company couldn't come to a decission based on the facts in the police report, they had dispatched their best investigator. What a crock. Eaves could tell a story, I grant him that. The true life murder mystery had the reporter's attention. He stopped the story when he reached the point of my entry into the case. At that point he indicated I was to continue.

"Well like Mr. Eves said, "The case wasn't exactly open and closed. I went to Southport to reinterview the people involved. Somewhere along the line the lady who stabbed Mr. Lester confessed. The local police chief deserves the credit. She did an excellent job with the second investigation."

Eves almost pushed me aside so that he could toot his own horn. In the end I was pretty much unnecessary. That is till the questions started to fly. These guys were pretty good. At least a couple of them were."

"Mr. Barnes," a young woman asked. "What made you suspect foul play."

"I didn't really know what happened. It just seemed kind of hard to believe that a man would stab himself in the heart. You know it's kinda like the old Sherriff who found a body in the river. The body had thirty pounds of log chain wrapped around it. The man had been stabbed twenty times. The Sherriff looked at his deputy and said, 'Damnest case of suicide I ever saw.' I felt kinda like that. If Lester had stabbed himself, it would have been the damnedest case of suicide I ever saw."

"Mr. Barnes, there aren't many details about the case. From what I could find out, there had to be a conspiracy. I mean some kind of cover up?"

"What I think happened was that a decent man, in a cop uniform, thought he was doing the right thing. It looks like after that, a lot of decent men tried to do the right thing. They just let the fact they were cops slip into the back of their mind for a while. They all did the right thing in the end."

"Mr. Barnes, the word coming out of Southport is that there might have been child abuse involved."

"And your question is?" I asked.

"Do you think there was?" the reporter asked.

"What I think don't matter spit. What the judge down there thinks is all that counts. He is a local man and he will know what's what."

"Mr. Barnes, from the hand out, I gather you were a decorated Atlanta cop. Is that true." another reporter asked.

"Not really, I collected a bunch of commendations, but they were pretty much for not kicking little old ladies." I replied.

"Did you get a commendation when you lost your eye?" the young woman who had begun the guestioning asked.

"No ma'am, I got a pention for loosing the eye. Which will buy a hell of a lot more than a commentation." I didn't mean to sound angry. I might have.

"So what do you plan to do next?" a man asked.

"I had hoped to spend the summer laying on the beach. It's too late for that now. I think I might spend the winter reading war and peace."

"Not if we have anything to do with it." Jerry Eaves said. "It is our hope to keep Mr. Barnes busy. There are lots of other cases we need looked at hard. Eaves took over the spotlight while I tried to slip away. I got caught at the door.

"Mr. Barnes," the same young woman asked. "I wonder if I could speak with you a couple of minutes."

"Well I am on my way out of town," I said.

"One of those things that pompous ass has you working on.?" she said.

"You noticed, no I am going to Greensboro on a different matter." I said.

"Perfect, I will ride with you." she said.

"In the first place, I didn't invite you. In the second place, I am not coming back this way." I said.

"I am good company on a boring drive, and I can rent a car in Greensboro."

"Now why would you want to go to all that trouble. You know all there is to know about the Lester thing." I said.

"Actually, I am not a reporter. I mean I do sell articles to the newpaper, but I am a novelist."

"Really, what exactly have you written? I might have read some of your books." I asked.

"I didn't write War and Peace. I write mystery novels based on real crimes. There aren't that many interesting ones around here. I was hoping I could con you into telling me all about this one."

I suppose you will want to tape it?" I asked.

"The conversation, sure. That is if you don't mind?"

"Does the name Mark Furman mean anything to you?" I asked.

"I see your point. Okay how about I just listen. I have a pretty good memory." she said.

"I don't think so. Look ask Chief Sims down there. She can tell you everything."

"Not what you were thinking. Come on I promise I will play nice." she said with a smile.

"You are wearing me down, but I am going to spend the night in Greensboro. You can ride up with me, but then you turn your pretty ass around and drive back to Charlotte." I demaned.

"Fair enough," she said with a smile.

I led her to my orange van. I opened the door for her to enter."

"My God, what is thing a pimp wagon?" she asked.

"You know you aren't making any friends here." I stated. "By the way, what is your name."

"Trudy, Trudy Dorn." she said extending her hand.

"I hope that is a pen name. It just sounds too damned phony to be your real name." I suggested.

"I'm going to tell my mama you said that. Mrs. Edgar Dorn will not be amused," she said with a smile.

She pestered me with questions all the way to Greensboro. I answered them as vaguely as I could. I also put the best possible spin on the cops of Southport. I doubted they would come off very well even then.

We were within five miles of Greensboro when she asked, "So, do you really think she did it?"

"She says she did, and her story fits the facts of the case. Why shouldn't I believe her?"

"It just all seems too pat somehow. You know like something a cop would dream up."

I knew, she knew. I wasn't about to admit to anything even without a tape recorder. So what do you think happened. I mean since you were there and all." I said sarcastically.

"I think mama killed him for the insurance," she said.@@@

"Really, why do you think that?" I asked.

"Because it will make a better ending. I can have the mother and daughter talking about how they fooled the great investigator." she said.

"That's fiction, you can end the book anyway you want." I said.

"Right, well I know enough from you to start. I am going to have to go to Southport for the rest of the story. How about I get a ride home with you. I can rent a car there to drive to Southport."

I was really beginning to regret meeting her. "You can ride with me, but you can't come with me for the things I have to do tomorrow." I stated emphatically.

"No problem, I can stay in the motel. I need to write down my notes before I forget what you said."

"I didn't say anything." I suggested.

"I know, but I have to write down what you didn't say." she admitted.

I checked us into a Red Roof Inn just off the highway. She arranged her own room. I wasn't a bit disappointed. She was attractive enough, with her red hair and green eyes. She was even pretty enough. I was just afraid to say anything to her. It would probably wind up in her book. I was especially afraid to sleep with her. I wouldn't want the whole world to know what a lousy lover I am.

I found the smaller law firm the next morning. I was ushered into the senior partner and owner's office slightly before ten. I explained my interest to him.

He listened patiently then said, "You understand that I will not discuss the details of Michaels work. I'm sure we can agree on that."

"No problem, I have only a few questions." The way he had spoken led me to believe there was information to be had. That is, if I asked the right questions in the right way. "Mr. Jenson, was Michael a diligent employee."

"Without going into details, I found Michael barely adaquate." he replied.

"Did he come to work everyday?" I asked. It was a harmless question to fill the time while I thought.

"He missed a few days work." the man said. His tone told me to probe deeper.

"He didn't by chance have a grandmother who died more than once?" It was a joke and it got a response.

"I think you pretty much have the answer to that one." Jenson said.

"Did Michael have a lot of car trouble. You know to make him late in the mornings."

"There seems to have been a lot of that sort of thing with Michael,"

"Did you by chance suspect that Michael wasn't doing all his own work. I mean at his former employer there were rumors." I suggested.

"We don't discuss that kind of thing. You know how it is." The answer was obviously yes.

"You wouldn't know, who it was who made Michael late for work, would you?" I asked.

"No, but you might want to ask Ellie, our paralegal. I think she might have a pretty good idea." he said. He also rose extending his hand. "It has been a pleasure," he said dismissing me.

At first Ellie didn't want to talk. I finally wore her down. She and Michael spent a lot of time together. At first anyway. During the last year he had begun seeing another lawyer. The one he saw was not from Jenson's firm. Ellie was more than happy to provide me with the name.

I drove to the woman's one person office. It was a small office in a much larger building. I found her receptionist willing to talk. Mary Simmons, the lawyer was in court. The lawyer spent most of her time in court. She ran what is commonly called a divorce mill. She handled anywhere from eight to ten each court day. Business was booming the receptionist assured me. I explained who and what I was to her. I wanted an appointment to see Mary.

I didn't need one, Jane the older receptionist was happy to fill me in. Mary had dated Michael until he moved away. "I watched that prick try to take over Mary's business. He wanted to join her in the practice. She would have let him too. That is if her father hadn't talked some sense into her. He explained that the business wouldn't support two lawyers. She could handle the work just fine. He explained, that with Michael's income from his job, they would have almost double her income at the time. He advised her not to join up with Michael. He pointed out to her, that Michael would be bringing nothing into the business. Nothing but a stiff dick."

"Did her father really say that to her? I mean the stiff dick part." I asked

"No that was my addition. Mary was coming into the office late everyday. I kept the place going until Michael moved away. I know for a fact he stayed at her to join the firm until the day he left. I also know for a fact that she wrote about half his briefs." she said.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Because I typed some of them. I mean he couldn't get the women at his firm to type them from Mary's handwriting. It would look real suspecious. That prick was just dirt lazy. I don't know he might have been dumb to."

"Well I appreciate your information. By the way does Mary still miss him."

"She sure does. I don't know what he had, but it must have been something special."

"Thank you again Jane." I said as I stood to leave.

"If the woman he is engaged to now is a lawyer, tell her to run like hell." she said.

"I'll tell her that." I said.

I drove the pimp wagon back to the motel. Trudy was waiting for me. I got her loaded before I checked out of the motel. We drove a little over five hours before we arrived home. I showed her the twenty or so building downtown then dropped her at Mike's garrage. Mike had a car to rent her. I made sure she was fixed up, before I returned to my apartment.

I tried to decide what to do about Bitsy's boyfriend. She must have had an inkling about him. After all not only did she hire me, she warned me that he had too much interest in Sam's practice. Michael was looking for a new home. I expected he would be moving again soon. Just in case Bitsy thought I was prejusticed against her boyfriend, I included a list of phone numbers in my report. I pretty much had it in the word processer when the phone rang.

"Hello," I answered.

"Mr. Barnes?" the man's voice asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"My name is Michael Gaston. I think we need to talk." he said.

"I don't know you sir. Unless you have business with me, then we don't need to talk at all." I was surprised to find the anger in my voice.

"If you have been asking questions about me, then we damned sure are going to talk."

"Well I have been asking questions. I learned that you are a lazy asshole bordering on stupid. I can't prove the stupid yet. If you come here to see me, then the stupid will be confirmed." I said.

"And why is that?" he asked.

"Because I have always wanted to kick a lawyer's ass." I said simply. My anger was deep and I had no idea why. I just knew I hated this prick.

"You really get off on that violence trip don't you?" he asked all puffed up.

"It works just fine for me." I said.

' "Don't you at least want to hear my side?" he asked.

"Not in the fucking least. I have my report finished. It will be delivered in the morning." I replied.

"Who is your client?" he demanded.

"Use your imagination," I said as I slammed the phone down.

I knew at that moment that Michael was both a lazy opportunist, and a dumb ass. He had just verified everything said about him. A man with nothing to hide doesn't make threats.

I finished the report, then fixed myself a microwave dinner. I was half way through when the phone rang again. I expected Michael again. It was Bitsy.

"How could you?" she asked.

"How could I what?" I asked.

"How could you try to blackmail Michael?" she asked.

"Are you on dope, or is he just a dope." I asked. I was actually amuzed.

"Did you or did you not call Michael?" she asked.

"He called me. One of his old flames must have called to warn him. My guess is that it was a Greensboro lawyer. One Mary Simmons I expect."

"I know all about her. Michael told me about their brief love affair," she said.

"In Michael's version how did it end?" I asked.

"What do you mean Michael's version?"

"The way I heard it Michael split when his firm got ready to fire him. He left Mary because she wouldn't take him into her firm. Now how does Mr. Gaston tell it?"

"I don't believe I will tell you." she said still angry.