Authors: Gene Grossman
The pieces of the puzzle are finally starting to come together. Eaton is definitely one of the guys in the picture. The corpse in the trunk is definitely Marvin Kupchic, the safecracker. The fingerprints on the trunk of the car that Kupchic was found in belong to the third member of the group, Alan Rosenbaum. That’s it. I’ve now placed Eaton with the dead body and the killer. Now, all I’ve got to do is convince Myra that she’s got the wrong guy. I call her for an appointment and head over to her office.
I lay out my versions of the entire case for her.
“
First, Eaton sends in a letter to the licensing boards making it look like his wife was complaining about Joe. This sets up the start of a motive. Second, he brings his safecracking buddy Kupchic to California and lets him in the dealership on several evenings while the place was closed, so that he could rig all three of the cars to explode. Third, he makes sure his wife and mother-in-law have a fatal accident in the same type of explosion that stopped the first two Suburbans. This was designed to make it look like either a product defect or serial bomber, either one would be sufficient to cover up the fact that it was all a plot to whack his wife. And, because he also knows about Joe’s little bribery scam, he phones in the anonymous tip, so you can do his dirty work for him. We haven’t got the voice analysis back yet, but I’m sure it’ll prove that Eaton made the call to both you and to Special Agent Snell, letting the FBI know that Joe is a Muslim and that the specially painted Hummer was being worked on at the dealership before being in the Presidential July Fourth parade.
“
Putting all the evidence together, not only does he get rid of his wife and her mother, he also gives up a sacrificial patsy to take the rap in both State and Federal Courts. And it’s a good thing that Snell kept Joe in custody during the parade, or Eaton would have also probably framed Joe for some explosive incident there too.
“
I’m not sure what happened between Kupchic and Eaton, but it probably was something about money. I’d guess that Kupchic found out how much dough Eaton was going to collect from insurance and inheritance, and he probably wanted a much bigger cut, so Eaton called his old buddy Alan Rosenbaum, the third member of their little group, and hired him to ‘off’ Kupchic.
“
We’ve already found Kupchic. He was the stiff in Stuart’s Camry trunk that your boys picked up over at Victor’s place. We also found his prints on some brake tools in Joe Morgan’s service bay, so we have that piece of the puzzle together already.
“
We also lifted Rosenbaum’s prints off of the trunk that Kupchic was found in, so we can be pretty sure of that chain of events.
“
We sent Jack Bibberman to Chicago on a fishing trip, and he was successful in getting a picture of all three of these losers together. Rosenbaum, Kupchic and Eaton. It’s an old photo, but Victor’s Photoshop expert can age Rosenbaum for you. A picture of what he probably looks like now, along with his prints, should give the locals a good chance at finding him.
“
Eaton’s money isn’t in yet from either his wife’s insurance policy or the Will, so it’s a good probability that Rosenbaum’s still in town waiting for his pay-off. The real good thing we’ve got going for us is now is surprise, because Eaton has no idea how close we are, or that I’ve got his whole plan figured out.”
I sure hope that the rest of her office is listening in to this oratory, because it must have rivaled the best fictional detective’s end-of-the-book summation. Here comes the real acid test.
“
Now it’s up to you, Miss District Attorney. Do you have the stones to admit that Joe Morgan is innocent, and to take this to the Grand Jury for a murder indictment of both Eaton and Rosenbaum?”
“
You’ve done a good job of putting this together, Pete, but I still don’t have enough to go against Eaton. Rosenbaum, no problem, but Eaton’s the tough one.”
“
Myra, what are you talking about? Didn’t you hear me lay out the whole case for you? Without Eaton, Rosenbaum would have no motive to kill his old friend Kupchic. If it weren’t for Eaton, Rosenbaum probably wouldn’t even know where Kupchic was. C’mon, you know you can do it.”
“
Okay Peter, I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll go to the Grand Jury and get an indictment against Rosenbaum. Then we’ll pick him up and sweat him a little with a capital charge hanging over his head. We’d be justified in sticking a needle in his arm because of the special circumstances here because it’s a murder for hire.
“
Once he’s convinced we’ve got him cold with fingerprint evidence, maybe we can lead him to believe that Eaton gave him up and then offer to take the death penalty off of the table if he rolls on Eaton.
“
It works on television. I see them do it every week on ‘Law and Order,’ so I don’t see why we can’t get away with it.” Not bad. I think I’ve finally gotten through to her.
“
Very funny. After Eaton’s conviction, I can just see the headlines now, describing this case as being ‘ripped from television.’ Whatever. If you think it’s best to do it that way, I’ll go along with it. The main thing is that my guy gets out from under the hook.”
“
Wait a minute, Peter. There’s a small catch. Your guy has to stay in custody until we pick up Rosenbaum.”
“
What? You’re holding my guy as ransom until you can find a replacement?”
“
No, dummy, think about it. If we release him now and the word gets out, then Eaton and Rosenbaum will both know that something’s going on and they may get spooked and leave town. Even if Eaton stays for the money, Rosenbaum will be gone. Seeing your guy released might even push Eaton to kill Rosenbaum. He’s a loose end that Eaton can’t afford to have out there.
“
If he’s bad enough of a guy to hire Rosenbaum to kill Kupchic, then he’s certainly bad enough to hire someone to kill Rosenbaum. No, I’m sorry, but Joe Morgan can’t be released yet.”
“
Okay Miss prosecutor, I’ll tell you what. At least put him in a safe house somewhere. I’ll get my client Berland to foot the bill if you’ll provide the security and let Joe stay in some hotel somewhere.”
Myra thinks about it for a minute.
“
All right, he can stay in a hotel, but if you let word leak out that he’s been released before we get a chance to grab up Rosenbaum, then the whole deal’s off. Joe Morgan doesn’t pass ‘go’ or collect two hundred dollars. He goes directly to jail.”
The deal is made. I call Mister Berland to tell him that he’s putting up Morgan in a hotel. He surprises me with an even better idea. He wants to host Morgan at his home in Hidden Hills. It’s a gated community with armed guards patrolling. I call Myra and she agrees to it. She even says that she’d like to save the expense of providing county security, so if Morgan agrees to wear an electronic anklet, he can vacation in Hidden Hills for a while. Why not? It was a good enough neighborhood for Robert Blake to stay in during his trial.
I agree to everything Myra wants and head down to the jail to give Joe Morgan the good news. I’d really like to let Indovine know that the dealership will soon be cleared of any wrongdoing, but decide to follow Myra’s advice and keep the lid on everything for now.
After visiting with Joe I go back to the boat where I can sit down in comfort and put the rest of the plan together. I call Mister Berland again to finalize the arrangements. Joe will be transported to his home in an unmarked District Attorney Bureau of Investigation vehicle. Once in the house, the anklet will be attached. He’s also curious about how the matter of the Will contest is going to be handled, and after explaining about Eaton’s whole plan, I instruct him to continue as if none of this new info has come to light. He’s to go ahead with an appraisal of all the parts of his late wife’s estate, her share of the house and the business and other assets. After the appraisal is done, we’ll tell Socrates Gutsue to inform Eaton’s lawyer that you’re ready to settle everything up in open court, at which time you’ll present a cashier’s check to the court in the sum of over two million.
I also tell him not to even think about liquidating anything, because no cashier’s check will ever be prepared. Once Eaton’s lawyer is informed that the appraisal processes are under way, all we’ll have to do is call him every couple of days with new amounts in the increase to his client’s share. That way he won’t object to the time it’s taking to finish things up. As long as his waiting time is being constantly rewarded with increases, we can buy the extra time it takes to round up Rosenbaum and connect Eaton to the deaths.
Eaton is no dummy. He knows that his luck can’t last forever, and he probably can’t keep Rosenbaum in hiding indefinitely, so he’ll be pushing his attorney to move things along quicker. I hope that his pushing is tempered by his greed when he keeps getting informed of the increases in the amount he’ll be winding up with out of probate.
This is going to be a good year for me. One real nice thing is that I’ve got three clients paying for my doing the same thing. If I can pull off everything planned, I can collect a reward from Berland for saving the estate from paying Eaton, from Uniman Insurance for saving them from paying Eaton, and from Indovine’s firm for clearing Joe Morgan. The thing that really makes this so sweet is that it’s all mine. My deal is that unless the firm is financing a case or referred it to me, I don’t have to give up any portion of the money to the kid, and if I know anything about her at all, she’s probably staying up nights trying to figure out some way to horn in on these fees. She really helps me out a lot on all the work, but when it’s not on the law firm’s matters, she bills me at a rate of thirty-five bucks an hour for administrative work, and that’s okay too, because I just pass the expense on to my client. I don’t feel sorry for her though, because she’s already a multi-millionaire from the settlements for her mother’s death in a car accident, and her stepfather’s death in a plane crash. Loophole Louie, the court-appointed CPA who oversees her trust account, just sent me a statement last month. The brat is now earning a couple of hundred thousand a year in interest, but it’s not all profit. I get paid one dollar a year as trustee, but I still feel in my bones she wishes I would waive the fee and do it for nothing. A typical female.
The way I have things planned, there’s no way she can get a piece of the several hundred grand I’ll bring in if everything comes together. Maybe I’ll give her a bonus like some side curtains for her e-cart, or a big new bed for the dog. What the hell, what’s money for if you can’t spend a little of it on your friends?
And speaking of money, I turn in my weekly report on hours spent and expenses advanced so she can do the billing to Indovine’s office and Mister Berland’s company.
The phone rings. It’s Jack B. and he’s back from Chicago.
“
Hello Romeo, how’s the interstate lover doing today?”
“
I’m fine Mister Sharp, but I’m afraid that Phyllis and I may be through. It’s just too tough to maintain an interstate relationship, and neither one of us can afford to fly out to visit the other on a frequent basis.”
“
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that Jack. Any time you want to talk about it, I’m sure Suzi would like to counsel you.”
“
Yeah, maybe I’ll talk to her when I’m ready. In the meantime, when I returned I found some results that came in from my inquiry to the automobile transport company. You know, the one that runs the car carrier trucks that deliver to Stuart. Per your instructions, I asked them about that one particular truck that delivered the Camry’s to Stuart’s place in Van Nuys. The delivery to Stuart that trip had only five Camrys on it. Their routing plan shows the truck made only two stops after picking up the five vehicles from Billy Z.’s place. The first one was in Langley, Virginia for a pickup, and the other was a delivery to the dealership where Eaton works.”
I thank Jack and tell him to get an invoice over to us so we can cut him a check. The information he got is really interesting. When I spoke to some employees at the dealership they told me that whatever was off-loaded into that secure garage was done inside, and out of sight of anyone there. If my guess is correct, that wrapped-up item was probably the fancy Hummer slated to be bubble-topped and used in the parade. And if the truck dropped off the Hummer at the dealership, the first stop it made at Langley, was probably CIA Headquarters, where the Hummer was bullet-proofed, painted, wrapped up, and loaded onto the car-carrier truck.
The driver must have gotten curious and peeked under the tarp to see what he was carrying. That must be how he knew it was the Hummer, and he probably mentioned it to Stuart, who then told Vinnie, who then told Olive, who then told me. That answers another question.
Knowing that the car-carrying truck was at the dealership also might solve another part of the puzzle, because I now think I know how Kupchic’s body got into the trunk of Stuart’s car.
Just for effect, I bounce my theory off of the same associate who gets to hear all my ideas… the dog. I explain to him that Eaton was letting Kupchic hide in that secure garage while he worked evenings on those Suburbans that were locked up for the night in Joe’s service bay. He and Eaton had their falling out over the money, and Eaton hired Rosenbaum to kill Kupchic. The body must also have been hidden in that secure garage, so that when Eaton found out that the Hummer was being delivered, he summoned Rosenbaum to the dealership. When the car-carrier truck was backed into the garage to off-load the Hummer, Eaton distracted the truck driver while Rosenbaum dumped Kupchic’s body into the trunk of one of the Camry’s on the truck. The truck then delivered the Camry to Stuart’s place, complete with a body in one of the trunks, and Rosenbaum’s prints on the car.