“Thanks for the warning, Mr. Stone. I think I got away from the restaurant just in time. Two men arrived and requested my tables, and then this lady asked for me, but no one else,” said Ben.
“Ah, Ms. Kingsford, I was hoping to catch up with you! I’m always glad to have additional guests when I throw a party. Please, join Charles,” offered Jonathan Stone as he pointed to the other side of the booth.
Carrie slid in next to Charles. When she looked at him, she saw his cheek was bruised.
“Charles, you’re hurt!”
“It’s nothing, just a bump.” Charles was clearly surprised by Carrie’s arrival. “Carrie, what are you doing here?”
“I came to warn you, but it looks like I didn’t do a very good job.”
“That’s all right. I didn’t do a very good job, either.” Charles looked away from Carrie at the young man standing next to Jonathan. “I assume this is Ben from the Admiral’s Saloon.”
“Hey, who is this guy?” demanded Ben.
Jonathan Stone decided to play the perfect host by providing introductions.
“Ben,
I’d like you to meet Charles Faraday, Jamie Faraday’s brother. Obviously, you’ve already met Carrie Kingsford, and you know me. Ben, come, sit down here.” Stone patted the wooden seat next to him.
Ben wasn’t sure about Stone’s offer to sit next to him, but Stone’s two associates helped him decide. They stood beside Ben, and the bigger man placed a hand on his shoulder. Ben slid in next to Stone.
“Shall we get started?” offered Jonathan.
“Wait a minute!” Charles interrupted. “You haven’t finished your introductions. We don’t know the names of these gentlemen.”
Carrie wasn’t sure their names were important, considering the circumstances, but decided to play along with Charles’s request. “Yes, I’d also like to meet these gentlemen. Although I feel I already know them, having experienced so many close encounters.”
“Of course, my dear,”
Jonathan said, addressing Carrie. “This is Mr. Tomas Petrovich. I met him on a trip to Eastern Europe.” Petrovich, the bigger man, stood to attention, clicked his heels, and bowed slightly to the group. “And this is Mr. Bill Genello, whom I’ve known for many years from my early days in New York.” Mr. Genello looked at his fingernails and grinned. It was a nasty grin. “Now, everyone knows everyone, and it does make it more pleasant,” said Jonathan.
Carrie heard a noise and looked back over her shoulder. The couple sitting at the bar was leaving. The bartender followed them to the door, flipped the “Open” sign to “Closed,” and locked the door.
“All set, Mr. Stone. The place is all yours,” the bartender said as he passed the booth and took the stairs at the back of the pub, leaving Stone and his group alone on the first floor.
“Now, folks, it is important for me to understand how much you two know and what evidence led you to me.”
“Look, Mr. Stone, if I could just get my money, I’ll be out of here,” Ben said.
“You’re right, Ben, it’s time for your payoff.” Stone nodded to Petrovich, who in one quick motion snapped his hand against the back of Ben’s neck. Petrovich and Genello pulled Ben from his seat and dragged him to the back room.
“Jonathan, there’s no need to hurt the boy,” Carrie said. “He really doesn’t know anything about the murder.”
“He knows we were together, and I can’t have him tell the police even the little bit he knows,” answered Stone. “Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry. I’m afraid I’m not only going to have to deal with Ben, but both of you as well.”
“Before you ‘deal with us,’ as you put it, I have one question for you,” Charles said. “Does Ben know you murdered my brother?”
“No, as a matter of fact, he doesn’t. What he saw was a brief meeting between me and Jamie at the Admiral’s Saloon bar the night of the murder. Unfortunately, he heard Jamie call me by name. Fortunately for me, the police didn’t question him about that night. I went back the next night and talked with Ben. I was able to convince him that Jamie and I were working on a story together. After all, would I come back to talk with him if I had anything to do with the death? I told him there was a possibility the death wasn’t an accident, and I was investigating what happened. I gave him a nice tip and promised him more money if he would let me know if anyone started nosing around. You see, Ben was convinced I was one of the good guys in this whole affair.”
“
Ah, so it was Ben who alerted you I was at the Admiral’s Saloon? That’s how Petrovich and Genello were waiting for me at my car,” confirmed Carrie.
“
Yes, the boys were having a terrible time trying to catch you. They missed you on the highway.”
Stone just verified the nagging feeling Carrie always had that her incident on the highway was not a coincidence. “I wondered about that encounter,” said Carrie.
“Then they missed you in the garage the day you lunched with Joel and again the night you met Ben.” Genello reached over and lightly tapped Stone on the shoulder. “Yes, yes I remember. The boys would like me to ask where you hid the night they chased you.” Stone’s tone remained light and friendly.
Carrie looked at Charles. “I guess it doesn’t matter if I tell. I hid in a bank’s ATM lobby and used the customer service phone to call the police.”
“My, my, you are a clever girl. Boys, you will have to add ATMs to the list of places to check when you are chasing someone.” Stone returned his attention to the couple. “Now back to my original question. How much do you two know about what Jamie was doing?” His tone changed.
“
Not enough to understand why you murdered my brother. Of course, I know you didn’t do it. Which of these two goons did your dirty work?”
Petrovich s
tepped forward and nodded to the group.
Charles continued, “
I assume you were the one that decided to try to make it look like an accident. Jonathan, come clean and tell us what happened that night.”
“Unfortunately, I was responsible for your brother’s death. Your brother just wouldn’t stop digging
into smuggling at the harbor. His research coupled with his idealized sense of right and wrong made him a big problem for my business.”
“What kind of a business are you running that you have to hire thugs to murder people?” Charles demanded.
Stone looked from Carrie to Charles. “I guess it won’t hurt at this time to tell you about my caviar business. I really haven’t had the opportunity to share my success story with anyone.”
Stone was obviously pleased that Charles had asked the question. However, Carrie wondered why Charles seemed so determined to keep Stone talking. It was clear now what happened to Jamie would happen to them. Perhaps Charles was trying to delay their ultimate fate.
“While your brother was in Poland, he notified Bill Owens he had a tip about smuggling and thought it would make a great story. Owens asked me, and I approved the idea.”
“Good grief, Jonathan, if Jamie asked about working on a story that would affect your business, why didn’t you stop him?” Carrie asked.
“There were several reasons, my dear. First, Jamie’s original story was not specific to the caviar business. It had more to do with political corruption. Second, I thought with Jamie’s research expertise, I could learn more about law enforcement techniques for spotting illegal imports. Third, if Jamie’s investigation led to my business, it meant I had a weak link that needed to be fixed.”
“Jonathan, who are you working for?” Charles asked. “Who is supporting this little sideline of yours?”
“Who’s supporting me? Don’t be ridiculous!” Stone huffed. “No one is supporting me. I’m in charge. People work for me!”
Carrie remembered Jamie’s wake and her first impressions of Stone as he munched on a toast point with caviar. She couldn’t help but wonder if the caviar was provided by Stone.
“Did serving as general manager for the magazine help you find contacts to run your business? How many Faraday employees are helping you in this sideline?” Charles was lightly tapping his fingers on the tabletop.
“You’ll be glad to know, Charles, that no members of your staff met my standards for employment. Although
, I admit, I occasionally used the overseas staff to take small packages back and forth for me. Of course, they thought these packages were just personal gifts between friends.”
Charles asked point
blank, “What else are you importing besides caviar—military documents, art, or drugs?”
“
Good heavens, no. I’m not a criminal! I’m a businessman. You may not believe this, but caviar has become quite a tasty little business for me.” Stone laughed heartily at his little joke. He quickly regained his composure and added, “Since the fall of the Communist-controlled governments, the strict regulations regarding caviar exports have become lax. As a result, more people around the world, including TriCity residents, want caviar. The profits are huge, but, alas, there is a limited supply.”
“Jonathan, what are you saying?” asked Charles. “Are you smuggling real caviar, or are you producing fake caviar to sell?”
“Both,” Jonathan replied. “Most consumers are fascinated by the aura surrounding Russian caviar. However, except for the most experienced connoisseur, the average person can’t tell one fish egg from another. This leaves the market wide open for some blending of less expensive eggs. I have sources that provide me with authentic Russian labels, so no one is the wiser. Of course, I also import black market Russian caviar for those special affairs where someone might know the difference.”
“Did Jamie discover a shipment of your caviar on a dock in Europe?” asked Carrie. “Is that what led him to your smuggling activities?”
“Actually, if he had discovered a caviar shipment for me, I doubt if anything would have happened. He would have teased me about my expensive tastes. No, what he discovered was a shipment of the fake Russian labels. One of our reporters was dropping off some material for Jamie and picking up a package of labels for me. The idiot got the packages mixed. With a little backtracking, Jamie found one of my caviar sources in Poland. It didn’t take him long to put together what I was doing when he found Polish caviar in a tin with one of my fake Russian labels.”
“You’re saying this…
this, as you call it, ‘little caviar business’ cost my brother his life!”
Carrie sensed the emotion rising within Charles. She was afra
id he might do something foolish. She reached over and gently touched his arm. She felt him relax.
“You two still don’t understand that my
‘little business’ is worth millions. However, I’ll tell you that no one was ever supposed to be hurt,” he added softly.
Stone looked down at his suit jacket and carefully picked off a speck of lint. Then he turned his eyes to Carrie.
“Carrie, don’t you have any questions about my business?”
“I was wondering if Joel works with you since he also does importing.” The minute Carrie asked the question, she regretted it, realizing she may have just placed Joel in danger.
“I’ve used Joel as a backup. If I couldn’t get a shipment out of a particular location, I’d check with Joel to see if he had a contact. But Joel assumed my shipments were legitimate.”
Charles and Carrie exchanged a quick glance. Wouldn’t Stone be surprised to learn that Joel
had a little secret, too?
Carrie was about to ask another question when she felt Charles take her hand underneath the table and squeeze it gently. Suddenly everything seemed fine. If it was time for her to die, she was glad she was with Charles.
Stone, seeing there were no more questions, said, “Since I have been open about my business, I hope you will be equally open in telling me how you learned I was involved. Should we continue our civilized approach and have Carrie go first?”
Carrie’s mind raced quickly to create a plausible response of how she discovered Stone. She didn’t want to involve anyone else or reveal any evidence. She carefully selected her words. “I think you’re going to be terribly disappointed. I’m afraid I didn’t know you were involved.” She decided to play to his ego. “You see, I was thinking about the night Mr. Petrovich and Mr. Genello chased me. I was positive I wasn’t followed from the house, which meant someone alerted them to my presence at the harbor. The logical person was Ben, and I came here tonight to confront him. He said he would talk with me but not at the restaurant, and I foolishly followed him here to the pub.”
“You’re telling me that you weren’t looking for me, but just tagging along with Ben?” he asked with genuine surprise.
“I warned you my explanation wasn’t anything spectacular. Only now do I realize how stupid my actions were.”
Carrie couldn’t get a reading on whether Jonathan accepted her explanation, but he turned away from her and asked Charles, “What about you?”
Charles looked at Carrie. “It’s all right, I feel equally shortsighted.” Charles then turned to Stone. “I
s it correct for me to assume Suzanne was working for you and the listening device was yours?”
Jonathan nodded his head in agreement to Charles’ question and then added, “
I met Suzanne through Bill Genello. They were friends when Suzanne worked in New York. She wanted to travel in Europe and I wanted someone to keep an eye on Jamie while he researched his smuggling story. So I hired her. I told Suzanne that I needed someone to keep Jamie on track with his deadlines, but she was never to let Jamie know she worked for the magazine.”
“She never
realized she worked for you and not the company?” asked Charles.
“I think she suspected when I had her hide the listening device in the study. She didn’t
like spying on you. But I told her with Carrie in town, I needed her help to know the progress you were making with the murder investigation. In her little girl way she thought she was helping to solve the murder. Of course, it was this same device that helped us realize Suzanne was about to tell all. Unfortunately, this revelation caused Mr. Petrovich to shoot her. But let’s not linger on the unpleasant. Charles, I want to hear about the journal.”
“
The journal? You heard through the listening device that the journal is of no value to you, Jonathan. The journal contains no names or clues about what was being smuggled. I wanted you to meet me at the Admiral’s Saloon to help me question this kid, Ben. Unfortunately, you jumped to the conclusion that we were closing in on you.”
“Perhaps.”
Jonathan’s answer was pensive.
Carrie could tell he wasn’t pleased with the implication he had jumped to a wrong conclusion.
Jonathan continued. “Jamie went to Simpson for his will and the letter for Carrie. Do you think Jamie confided in Simpson?”
“I’m telling you Jamie didn’t tell anyone anything! You know how he worked. He kept his cards close until he sat down to write the final story. In fact, I bet Jamie wasn’t planning on writing a story.” Charles said this and then carefully waited for
Jonathan’s reaction. “Didn’t he tell you he wouldn’t write the story?
“Your brother did make an offer that if I stopped smuggling the caviar, he wouldn’t write the story. Jamie also jumped to a wrong conclusion. He thought
I’d agree to his offer out of fear of losing my job and my income. He had no way of knowing I was making more from smuggling than from my editor’s job.” Jonathan paused and then added, “Although I still find it difficult to believe I was wrong in assuming you both knew I was involved.”
“
I wouldn’t have asked you to investigate Suzanne’s background or asked for your help tonight if I thought you were the murderer? I figured Ben had more information, and hoped he would lead us to the murderer.” Charles looked directly at Jonathan. “Now that you understand how we came to be sitting across the table from you, what are you going to do with us?”
“That’s a problem. I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t see any way I can leave you two around to tell your story.”
Jonathan made a clicking sound with his tongue, indicating his regret.
After
Jonathan’s comment, Carrie could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. Charles must have sensed her feelings because he reached over and gave her a kiss. Then he nuzzled her neck and whispered softly in her ear, “Where are we?”
His question wasn’t what Carrie expected, and she pulled back and looked at his face. Charles gave her another quick kiss.
“That was lovely, but I’m afraid it’s time to go,” said Jonathan. Petrovich and Genello, who were sitting quietly at a nearby table, now jumped to their feet.
“Where are we going?” asked Charles, with desperation
sounding in his voice for the first time.
“I have a place where you won’t be found for quite a while,”
Jonathan answered. “Perhaps people will think the two of you ran off together.”