FORGET ME NOT (Mark Kane Mysteries Book One) (20 page)

“Even your creditors must know that, given
time, your prospects will improve?”

He smiled grimly and shook his head. “I’m
afraid the people I owe money to aren’t the type to be
accommodating. Can you promise that you won’t tell my father about
this?”

“As far as your personal circumstances go it
has no bearing on my investigation, so I give you my assurance that
nothing will go outside these four walls.” I almost said ‘these
windowless four walls’ but caught myself just in time.

“I’ve got a gambling problem. You know how it
is, you dig a hole for yourself and then borrow money to get out;
but it’s never enough so you gamble again. You just need that turn
of luck. I’ve built up substantial debts with a couple of casinos;
signed notes for them. It’s been going on for a few years actually
but it’s kind of escalated out of control. I had no problem before,
because if I got into difficulty Gloria would help me out. She
didn’t know I was gambling in casinos, I always told her it was bad
investments. It wasn’t really a lot in those days, but it is now
and I’ve got some pretty unsavory people on my back.”

“Who exactly? You don’t need to tell me if
you don’t want to, but since you’ve come this far you may as
well.”

“The notes I signed are treated as
negotiable. If the casinos can’t collect they discount the notes to
others. There’s a black guy called Calypso who’s been promising to
do some rather unpleasant things to me. He even tried to get me to
approach my brother and my father for loans to pay off the debts,
but Simon’s got his own problems. Fortunately nobody’s bothered
Greg yet. I guess I should go to the police but I can’t see them
being particularly sympathetic. I doubt there’s anything they could
do.”

“Is that why you are difficult to reach? I
was trying to get hold of you for a few days?”

“I’ve moved out of my rental apartment to
give myself a bit of breathing space, but I basically need to watch
my back all the time.”

“As far as the investigation goes I can’t
make your problems disappear. Whichever way the investigation goes
it’s not going to result in a very speedy resolution; but I can
give you some advice and I may be able to give you some assistance
in another way.”

“Any way you could help would be tremendously
appreciated.”

“Okay, well just hear me out first. I have a
few questions relating to my investigation. You help me with those
as much as you can and I’ll see what I can do,”

“Okay, anything; what do you want to
know?”

“I appreciate that towards the end of her
life your mother was seriously mentally affected by her condition,
but in the first few months of her illness, maybe as long as long
as a year or so after the initial symptoms, did you spend much time
with Gloria?”

“Yes, we all helped as much as we could. She
was still largely okay for the first year or perhaps fifteen months
or so. We could still enjoy a fairly close relationship during that
period. There were times when she was perfectly lucid, and her
physical health was fine. I wouldn’t describe that period as
burdensome; we just had to make adjustments, that’s all.”

“When did you first become aware of
Susan?”

“I didn’t know anything about her at all
before Gloria died; neither did Simon. I understand that Susan
visited Gloria a number of times at home, particularly when Gloria
started to go downhill, but I never saw her at the house and nobody
ever mentioned her. On those occasions that I visited Gloria during
the last few months I generally only stayed for perhaps half an
hour or so. There just wasn’t anything to be gained from staying
longer. The nurses looked after her physical needs. I know now that
Greg purposely arranged for visits by Susan that wouldn’t coincide
with our visits. Before she became seriously ill Gloria had asked
Greg not to tell us, me and Simon that is, about Susan. I think she
felt very awkward about the situation.”

“Were you involved in Gloria’s day to day
care, like feeding or grooming her, helping her wash and so
on?”

“No, we left that to the nurses. Well I can’t
speak for Simon or Sally; we were seldom there at the same time.
Greg arranged things so that Gloria’s visits didn’t overlap. In the
beginning Simon and I used to go and see her together, but then we
just ended up talking to each other, so we decided it would be
better to take turns.”

“Were you surprised when Gloria died? I mean
she was still relatively young.”

“I was relieved. I don’t remember any other
feeling than that. I was relieved for her, and for Greg.”

“And you never heard your mother mention
Susan?”

“She never mentioned her to me. That’s why I
was so surprised that she left such a large sum to her. I mean it’s
her money, but it seemed odd; because she must have made that
decision fairly early on, before she deteriorated. So I suppose she
knew what she was doing.”

“How about the nurses? I understand there
were two main nurses. Did they ever mention anything about Susan,
or perhaps another visitor but not by name?”

“Gloria had other visitors throughout her
illness. I never discussed anything of a personal nature with the
nurses. They were just there to do a job.”

“Okay Paul, now let’s see if I can do
anything to help you in your personal problem. You’re living with
your girlfriend?”

“I still have my rental apartment but I
haven’t dared to go back there. Nobody has physically abused me,
but there was often a car parked outside. I’m sure it was arranged
by Calypso to intimidate me. And he’s made threatening calls to me,
I probably don’t need to get graphic.”

“I’m sure you realize that whoever is chasing
you for the money wants the money. Dead men, or even hospitalized
ones, aren’t good for business.”

“You mean you don’t think they’ll carry out
the threats?”

“They might, to a degree, and they can
certainly make your life miserable. Is your rental apartment big
enough for two?”

“Yes, but I’m afraid to go back there.”

“How about I move in with you for tonight?
Maybe I can get the attention of whoever is bothering you and get
them to back off.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“I’ll do it for Greg. He doesn’t know about
this problem and I don’t want him to know; he has enough on his
plate at the moment.”

“Do you think they’ll listen to you?”

“They’ll listen. I want you to understand
something. These debts aren’t going away. You’ve incurred the debts
and you’ll have to pay them eventually; even if they’re not legally
enforceable you have a moral obligation. I can probably buy you the
time you need. You stick around with your girlfriend until you hear
from me. I’ll get home and pack a suitcase for the night and then
we’ll move back to your place. You call Calypso or his boss and
make an appointment for him to meet you at your place to discuss
repayment. And pick up your phone when I call.”

“Sure, I promise.”

I showed him out the office and told Lucy I
was going home.

“You only just got here,” she said.

“I’ve got to pack a few things. I’ll be
staying with Paul Philips overnight.”

“This is so sudden, you’ve only just met
him.”

“Eat your heart out,” I said.

I drove home and packed an overnight bag. I
called my brother, Duncan, and explained the situation to him. I
told him briefly about Paul Philips’ situation and told Duncan to
consider himself on the case for the time being and to expect a
call anytime in the next twenty four hours, maybe as early as this
evening. I contacted Paul and arranged to meet him at a restaurant
near his home at six o’clock. His place was in Dorchester, near
Franklin Park. He told me he had left a message on Calypso’s phone
to arrange the meeting. Calypso’s boss was a guy called
Gearhardy.

I met Paul for an early dinner. He wasn’t
driving; his car had been repossessed. Paul didn’t feel like eating
so we ended up in the corner of the bar munching pretzels and
drinking Budweiser. We drove in my Chevy, parked and went up to his
apartment on the second floor. The drapes were closed so I opened
them. I’d packed a pint of Jack Daniels in my overnight bag and
Paul fetched a couple of glasses from the kitchen counter. We
half-filled each glass and waited for a call.

Just before nine Calypso called to say that
he was on the way up. Paul answered the door and a black guy who
was a shade under six feet tall and about two hundred pounds came
into the room closely followed by a couple of Hispanics who had
apparently been taking classes on how to dress like Hollywood
muscle. They had perfected a kind of swagger, which looked more
than faintly ridiculous in the small confines of Paul’s apartment,
and had presumably honed their perpetual sneers in front of the
mirror. They each looked around before stepping into the room to
make sure there wasn’t some kind of military ambush lurking
nearby.

“Who the hell are you?” Calypso said in my
direction.

“Mr. Philips is my client,” I said, and
handed him my card; the one that simply said ‘Mark Kane, Private
Investigations’.

“This s’posed to mean something to me?”

“It means what it says,” I said. “I assume
you can read.”

“We come to collect from Paulie boy here, it
ain’t none of your business. You best stay out of it.”

“You’re not collecting anything. We’re here
to talk to the organ grinder, not the organ grinder’s monkey.”

“Smart guy, huh? Maybe you’d like me to teach
you some manners.”

“Let’s cut the crap shall we? I’ve got
someone who wants to talk to you.”

I called Duncan’s number and handed the phone
to Calypso, which he took grudgingly. Calypso’s henchmen were
lounging in a couple of leather armchairs which they had helped
themselves to. Calypso was standing by the living room window,
holding back the drapes as if he was expecting something to happen
in the street outside.

“Yeah, what makes it any of your goddamn
business?” Calypso said into the phone, and then stood silently as
if trying to absorb a set of complicated instructions. After a
couple of minutes he turned towards me, his brow furrowed. After
another minute or so he said: “Sure no problem, yeah probably a bit
of a misunderstanding.” He lowered the phone to his side and let it
hang there limply.

“That crazy sonofabitch Duncan your brother
man?” he said.

“The fleas that bite a horse’s back have
smaller fleas to bite ‘em and smaller fleas have smaller still, and
so ad infinitum.”

“What the hell’s that s’posed to mean?”

“It means he’s taking a special interest in
this case.”

“We don’t want no trouble, man. Just doin’
what we’re paid to do, you know what I’m saying?”

“I think you’ve said enough. Tell your boss
that if he wants to discuss the repayment of Mr. Philips’ debt he’d
better come here himself. If he prefers I’ll go to his office or he
can come to mine. You’ve got my number, he can call me direct. I’m
a busy guy so he’d better make it soon.”

Calypso walked towards the door, pausing as
he stepped out. “Nice place you got here bro,” he said over his
shoulder. “Get off your fat asses, it’s time to go,” he said to his
henchmen, who followed him out the door obediently.

Paul had sat there bemused and hadn’t uttered
a word. He looked as if he’d just seen a magic trick performed by
sleight of hand and was trying to work out how it was done.

“Who the hell is Duncan?”

“He’s my brother, like the man said. He’s
ex-Navy Seal and runs a survivalist school in Vermont. Not for
people who want to survive in the wilderness, more for people who
want to survive in dangerous places, like war zones. Sometimes he
practices his skills in the real world. Let’s just say his
reputation precedes him − to people in the kind of business who
need to know these things. He’s not the kind of guy you’d want to
upset.”

Paul let out a long audible tube of air.

“Jeez, I’ve never seen anything like it. So
you think they’ll leave me alone now?”

“I’d put money on it. But it’s not over until
I speak to Gearhardy. Like I said, you’ll still have to pay him.
I’ll stick my neck out and give him my personal assurance that
you’ll repay him in full as soon as you get your inheritance. He’s
a business man; I’ll sort it out. I hope I can trust you.”

“I swear I’ll do it as soon as I can. I don’t
know how to thank you. I’d like to meet your brother one day and
thank him personally. What do you think he said to Calypso?”

“It doesn’t bear thinking about, but I
imagine that various parts of the human anatomy were alluded to.
He’s a pussycat at heart though.”

Gearhardy called about thirty minutes later.
He’d drop by my office in the morning. He hoped it wasn’t bullshit.
He didn’t have time for bullshit, and so on. I hung up on him.

“I’ll stick around here until morning. You’d
better come with me to the office. He’ll want assurances from you
too. Then you can get your stuff and move back in here.”

We finished the bottle of whiskey.

“Two meetings in the office in two days? Are
you going to start making a habit of this?” Lucy said.

“Not if I can help it; but so much for your
idea of working from home.” I smiled at her benignly and she tutted
and tossed her head dismissively.

Gearhardy turned up at ten thirty accompanied
by a thick halo of cologne. He was a diminutive man, about fifty,
wearing a smart tailored sports coat, a loud tie and a beer gut, so
that like the man in the old British music-hall song he couldn’t do
his bally bottom button up. He looked as if he’d have had
difficulty maintaining his balance in a stiff breeze, but his belly
gave him a low center of gravity so he might be okay. He peered
around the office disdainfully but made no cutting remark about the
lack of windows. He was probably used to it. Casinos don’t have
windows either; or clocks. At least we had a clock.