Bay of Deception (20 page)

Her smile sent his heart skipping.

“I’ll settle for that, for the time being.”  Regretfully, he pulled out his note pad and pen.  “I know your strength won’t last long, Jenny, so I’ve got to ask you a few things about the last few days.”

A shadow passed over her, then cleared.

“Go ahead, the medication is taking effect, so I’m fine.  Ask away.”

“Well,” he tapped the pen onto the note pad.  “I understand you had a visitor this morning.” 

Distaste flashed across Jenny’s face. 

“Yeah, some man claiming to be with the FBI was in here.  He said Carol had worked for the FBI and that he needed my help somehow.  He was awfully pushy.”

“He’s an agent with the FBI alright," Oliver said, still holding her hand.  "That much checked out.  His name’s Benson and he’s after those documents Jenel was so hot for.  says that if you cooperate with the FBI, you might be able to get immunity as a government witness.”  He paused. “
Do
you know where those documents are?”

Jenny nodded. “Yes, I’m pretty sure.” 

He cocked his head to the side. “So how come you allowed me to go on a wild goose chase?”

“Because I was afraid Jenel would kill us on the spot if I told him where they were.”

“What made you think he would do that?  Holding those papers would have given me a huge bargaining tool.”

“Because what Jenel wanted was only a couple of hundred feet away at the time.”

Understanding came as his mind flashed back to Jenel’s Office. 

“The papers have been at JenelCo this whole time?”

"Yes," Jenny grinned, her puffy face seeming lopsided a bit.  "The best place to hide something is where no one thinks to look.” 

He shook his head in amazement.  “So where are they?”

“In Carol’s personal file box at JenelCo.” 

“Hold on now,” he said, hearing the tiredness in Jenny's voice.  “I
watched
Jeffers open Carol’s personal employee container and it was empty, thanks to your midnight visit.”

“Correct on every point, Oliver, except the box itself.”  She apparently saw his confusion and backed up.  “Carol had told me she’d put some very important papers in her employee box and had keyed its electronic lock to my birth date.” 

Awareness began to dawn on him.

“Willy found some personal papers with Collin’s name in Carol’s house, along with some insurance forms under his name.  He and I were amazed to find that JenelCo was the beneficiary, if something were to happen to Collin.” 

“That makes sense and maybe explains what pushed Carol into action," she said, yawning.  “I guessing she didn't want to keep all of Jenel's secret papers together in one place where they could be found.  I think she decided to hide half in her box and half in Collin's. My only guess is that she put
her
name on Collin's box at the last minute to throw off Jenel and Jeffers if they came looking for them.  So when Jeffers opened 'Carol's' box in front of you, he was
really
opening Collin's box, however I didn't know any of this the other night.  I'd opened a box with her name on it, found the papers and simply ran."

Oliver's head was beginning to spin and Jenny must have noticed it.

"Stay with me now," she said, stifling a growing yawn.  "You see, Collin, like a typical husband, must have keyed
his
personal container to my
real
birth date.  Thing is....Carol didn’t
know
my real birth date."

“What do you mean, ‘My real birth date?’” He said, tapping his pen to note pad.

“Well, actually.." Jenny said, grinning sheepishly. "I have a confession.  I’m a tad older than you think." 

Jenny pressed the bed’s controls, raising herself up several inches.  “Just before I tried out as a Bear’s cheerleader, an outgoing girl told me I’d have a better chance of making the squad if I told them I was nineteen years old, instead of twenty two.  At the time, it seemed like a small thing, but after a while, it’s something I stuck to more out of habit than anything else and what girl doesn’t want to be younger?”

“So Carol didn’t know your true birth date,” he guessed.  “Only Collin?”

Jenny nodded.

“That’s right and two days ago when I was hiding out at the motel, it suddenly hit me. In my rush to get in and out of JenelCo the night before, I’d used my true birth date and that meant it shouldn't have opened for me. After reading through all the papers, I realized that only half were there and the rest were still at JenelCo.

"So..." Jenny said, grinning.  "I think Carol’s
real
employee box with the rest of missing papers is tucked away in the Records Department over at JenelCo.  Probably labeled with a name nobody would look at twice.” 

He paused for a minute, smiling. “Nice piece of deduction, Mrs. McKenny.” 

There was a noise as the door parted carefully, Wanda's kind face peering in.

“Hey, young lovers, another ten minutes and I got to kick Romeo out, you hear?”               

Oliver couldn’t help but smile at the nurse’s obvious affection for Jenny.

"Wanda,” he called as she began to back out, then reappeared.  “What would you think of adopting Jenny?  She hardly eats anything.”

Wanda mock scowled. “I thought you were a
Detective
, Lover Boy, can’t you tell I already done that.  Now say your good-byes, because Juliet needs her beauty sleep.”

Her warm smile reappeared as she’d ducked back out into the hallway. 

“What’s her last name, Jenny?”

“Johnson, I think,” Jenny’s eyes began to close. 

He pulled on his chin, chuckling.

“I’m pretty sure that’s Willy’s aunt and she’s not kidding.  You’ve made a friend for life, from what I’ve heard of Wanda Johnson.  Willy told me about some rich old locals who finagle their way into the hospital a couple of times each year, just to get her special brand of warmth and care.” 

“Like I said, the mother I never had.” Jenny shifted uncomfortably on the bed, then reached over and adjusted her pain medication.

Oliver squeezed her hand.  “That’s about all I need to know for now, Jenny, I can come back tomorrow morning.” 

Gray and threatening, the dark cloud he saw earlier reappeared and this time settled on Jenny's face. 

“Oliver...I...need to tell you something.”  She pulled her hand free of his.  “While you were gone,” Jenny paused as tears trailed down her cheeks. “Jenel...threatened to kill you when you came back...if, if I didn’t have sex with him.”

He was speechless for a moment, then a spark of rage threatened to engulf him. “That bastard
raped
you?” He began to swear under his breath as she nodded, but stopped as her sobs grew. 

“He taped us," she half whispered, her breath rapid now, almost hyperventilating.  “I didn’t know he recorded it.  Oh God, Oliver!” 

He stood and leaned over the bed, holding her while fighting back his own angry tears. 

"Jenny, oh Jenny. I’m so sorry!  I’m so sorry I left you with that bastard!”  He kissed her forehead and cheeks, cradling her as she sobbed quietly. 

“I just didn’t know what to do, Oliver,” she cried into his shoulder.  “But you were coming back...and I couldn’t let him...” 

“Jenny,"  He pulled back and gently took her head in both hands.  "You had no choice in the matter and you did the only thing you could have!” 

He held her then, for how long he wasn’t sure, until a hand lightly touched his shoulder and found Wanda beside him.

“Detective,” she said in a near whisper. “There’s an emergency phone call from your brother.”

Oliver slowly straightened up, “My brother?”  Wanda nodded. 

"What’s the matter, Oliver?”  Jenny wiped her eyes with the bed sheet. “

"Well," he said, rubbing his chin, quizzically. “For starters, I don’t have a brother.”

Chief Williams knew he was experiencing only a small taste of hell and had to admit, it was of his own making.  The source of his discomfort sat across the dinner table in the form of Monterey Police Chief, Henry Dawson, their respective wives beside them.  Slightly intoxicated, the older man had droned on for two hours about the good old days of police work.  Williams hid a long repressed yawn with his napkin while eyeing his watch and was dismayed to see more suffering was in store.

Several hours earlier he had brought Dawson, along with their respective wives to this trendy Italian restaurant, supposedly to make up for some nasty things he’d said the day before.  Since then, Ruth Dawson and Williams' wife, Shelly, had chatted by themselves about anything other than police work.  This had left him at Dawson’s mercy and Williams had heard more than he ever wanted to know of Dawson’s rise to power.  His main problem, other than staying awake was how to end the man’s lecture at the appointed time. This, according to his watch, was not for another twenty minutes.

It was, of course, Oliver Peidmont who'd talked him into this.  After sixteen years of police work, he knew the idea should have been thrown out the first time it was suggested.  But he hadn’t and now here he sat, slowly dying of boredom at the hands of his counterpart.

They’d met the older couple at the Monterey department and right away the whole setup had nearly fallen apart when Dawson had volunteered to drive.  Only when Shelly claimed to suffer panic attacks if her husband didn’t drive her had Dawson relented, mumbling under his breath about “Therapy,”  as he followed.

Williams eyed his watch as Dawson sipped his wine, then groaned inwardly when he saw only three minutes had passed.  He stifled another yawn and marveled at Shelly’s air of interest, especially listening to Ruth Dawson’s lecture about the social club she’d joined twenty-five years ago.  He would owe Shelly a month of favors for this night.  But Peidmont!  Peidmont would owe him much,
much
more for these last two hours of hell. 

“I don’t suppose mentioning the legality of this would affect your decision.”  His partner, John Collinson whispered to Oliver in the gray darkness of the underground garage.

Hours before, the two men had come to JenelCo, parked in the farthest space available within the underground garaged and waited for the workaholic employees to finish their fourteen hour workday.  Lying across their respective seats in his cruiser which sat in a dimly lit corner, he and Collinson had observed a steady stream of weary professionals plodding from the lone elevator to their expensive imports.  For the last fifteen minutes, however, the elevator had failed to release anyone else and Oliver sensed it might be time.

Lying prone, his legs pointing off toward gas and brake pedals, Oliver shifted to avoid an impending cramp. 

“John,” he whispered toward the back seat,  “If I’d known you’d try to talk me out of this, I’d have left you at the station....give it a rest!” 

“But this is what search warrants are for, Ollie!” Collinson said for the fourth time.

Oliver pulled himself just above the front seat’s edge, shooting Collinson a look before laying back down. 

“Oh,
sure
," he hissed at his partner while staring up at the car's roof.  "We just have to go to Judge Parker at 9:00pm on a Friday night and tell him we need a search warrant, immediately.  Why do we need a search warrant, Judge Parker?  To search JenelCo, one of the Monterey County’s biggest employers, who also happens to be a major contributor to your re-election campaign!” 

Oliver shifted his right leg as it rested against the steering wheel, now growing sore.

“Oh, one more thing Judge Parker,” he continued.  “We need to search the Personnel files of JenelCo. We believe we might have evidence of organized crime, in a company who may have funded your successful bid it to become Judge three years ago!" 

Collinson was silent for several minutes. 

“Well, answer me this then, Ollie. Do you think it will work?”

“If what my 'Brother' said is true, yes, however we’re dead meat if he was lying.”  Oliver took a deep breath. “You plugged in, John?”  He heard Collinson shift in the back seat.

“Yeah,” Collinson said after a pause.

Oliver sat upright in the near darkness and unlatched his door.  The resulting click echoed softly against the cement walls around them. 

“Let’s do it,” Oliver said, pushing his door wide, then stepped out quietly.  Collinson followed and soon both were at the garage elevator that led into JenelCo’s main entrance.

“Hello, Peidmont...Collinson,” Benson said as they came around a nearby column and into the light.

Oliver ignored the agent as he came up alongside them and entered the code, Jenny had provided that called the elevator downward after business hours. 

“Why, Benson.” Peidmont turned toward the agent.  “What an
unpleasant
surprise.”  

“I had a feeling you’d go for those documents without me, Peidmont,” Benson said, ignoring the insult.  “I figured if I followed you long enough, you’d eventually lead me to them.”

Collinson turned to the agent. 

“We’re after something else right now, Benson.”  The elevator doors split wide and Oliver, followed by Collinson, stepped into the large, ornate elevator. Benson stepped in as the doors began to close. 

The elevator had moved upward only a few feet when Benson reached past Oliver and struck the emergency stop button, bringing it to a sudden halt. 

Both Oliver and Collinson turned toward the agent, who spoke first.  “Perhaps you don’t care if a crime’s been committed by this company.  But if you have knowledge that can help in collecting crucial evidence, you both have a duty to do that.”

Oliver looked at his watch and let out an exaggerated sigh. 

“All right, Benson, if we have time to get the documents, great. But our first priority is a tape that could prove Jen...Mrs. McKenny’s innocence.” 

Benson’s eyes lit up. “So you know where they are, Peidmont?  The documents?” 

Oliver punched the release button that sent them moving upward. 

“Yes, but like I said, Benson, the first priority is the tape.  Once we get it, we’ll go after your precious evidence.”  The elevator doors opened into the main lobby where Oliver had met the Miss America left-overs the first time he’d visited JenelCo. 

“Damn!” Oliver pushed the button hurriedly, afraid a night security guard would suddenly appear.  “We’ve gone too far.”  The doors sealed once again and they descended a level before facing a vaguely familiar hallway.

“Where did Jenny say the taping room was?” Collinson asked stepping off the elevator behind Oliver.”

“She didn’t,” Oliver replied.  "But I'm betting it’s near Jenel’s private hideaway.”  

It took a few minutes before they stumbled onto the stairwell and then down to where Jenny had been shot days before.   They fanned out along the hallway, testing doors on both sides, finding all but a utility closet locked. 

One by one, Peidmont and Collinson picked the ten or so locks along the hallway to discover each time an ordinary office on the other side.  Ten minutes later, they converged once more in front of Jenel’s old hideaway.

“Okay, Peidmont,” Benson whispered impatiently.  “We’ve looked for the tape with zero results.  It’s time to go for those documents.” 

Oliver nodded, reluctantly, staring at the agent. “

Okay..but if we can, we’re coming back down here to search for that tape.” 

At that moment, a door opened at the top of the stairwell, and whistling a familiar tune, someone walked down toward them.  All three men slipped noiselessly into the nearby utility closet.  The footsteps approached, then passed before entering an office they’d been in only minutes before. 

"We’ll wait here for a few minutes"  Oliver said flicking on the light.  “It’s probably just an employee who’s forgotten something.”  But ten sweaty minutes later no footsteps had been heard.

After another five minutes, Collinson became fidgety.

“Come on, Oliver,” he said, finally breaking the silence. ”Let’s get out of here.”  Oliver stood looking at the cleaning supplies around them.  “Ollie!”  Collinson grew impatient.  “Did you hear me?”

“Have you ever seen such a well stocked supply closet?”  Oliver asked, mostly to himself.  “Every container full, the broom’s never touched a dirty floor, the rags spotless and hung just so.  The vacuum is brand new and...”  The two men eyed him warily.  Oliver leaned over and unlatched the vacuum’s main body area where a disposable bag should have been.  “Hah!  Just as I thought!”

“What the hell are you talking about, Peidmont?”  Benson said, clearly exasperated.

“I knew it had to be close by or else it was useless to Jenel,” Oliver whispered in triumph.  He turned and began moving the items on the walls and shelves.  “Look around, boys,” Peidmont instructed the two men.  “I think we’ve found our secret taping room.” 

Finding a secret entrance in such a small area didn’t take long.  An ordinary whisk broom, hanging from an especially thick nail opened a small room filled with electronic equipment.  Across one entire wall stood a bank of monitors, each aglow with key views within JenelCo.  All were empty of movement except for the bottom right screen. 

Oliver’s heart pounded in his ears as he recognized two of the three people now casually talking in Jenel’s bedroom suite.  Paul Jeffers and Jack Sullivan, along with an attractive woman sat lounging on the monitor before him.   He scanned various switches and dials, adjusting several before the silent conversation on the screen filled the room.

Chief Williams peeked at his watch, and with relief, saw it was time to leave.  He reached for the check as Dawson told a story he’d heard twice before and grimaced when he saw the total came to over two hundred dollars.  He turned toward the wives and with a souring stomach, realized Ruth Dawson was still going strong. All he could do was sit back and hope Peidmont would prove to be his usual, late self.

“...will file so many charges against her, she’ll spend the rest of her life in jail.  When I’m done painting Hana as a local saint and hero, cut down in his prime by a bitter, vengeful adulteress, the jury will vote for the electric chair.” 

The words of Jack Sullivan, Monterey’s District Attorney, contained a preacher-like element which Oliver had endured for weeks when Sullivan had tried and failed to bury him during his own trial.  Had Linda not testified, he just might have succeeded.

He turned from Sullivan’s image to the line of seven CD tray's just below the screen.  He counted seven of them, with one lit up, apparently recording the image on the screen.  He pressed an unlit tray and a disk twice the normal size slid out and Oliver understood each could record a full twenty four hour period.  

Collinson made the connection also, “One for each day of the week, I suppose.”

“If today’s Friday...” Oliver moved two trays down, pressed the eject button and withdrew the CD.  “Then this should prove upsetting to Sullivan’s plans.”

“Come on, Peidmont,” Benson called anxiously behind him. “You’ve got the tape, now let’s get my documents.” 

Tempted to grab all the tapes, Oliver turned instead and followed the other two out into the hall.

Five minutes later, Oliver picked his way past a standard door lock and into the company’s personnel record’s room.  As promised, the overhead lights revealed shelves and shelves of small metal containers like the one he'd watched Jeffers open, one for each of JenelCo’s two hundred plus employees.

“So now what, Peidmont?”  Benson’s tone had regained a measure of patience.

Oliver began scanning names atop each of  the containers.  “Now we look for a name that rings a bell.” 

Benson stared at him in disbelief, but Oliver was unmoved.  “If you have a better idea, I’m willing to hear it.”  Apparently the agent didn’t and began calling out the names along with Collinson as they slowly made their way along the shelves. 

Within ten minutes, the three men had gone through nearly every box and had set aside six as possibilities.  It was however, the final name that Benson read out which sent Oliver racing down the small ladder he was perched on.

“That’s it!” Oliver responded eagerly, skipping several rungs as he hopped then walked to where Benson stood holding an identical box to all they'd gone through save for the name.

“Well," Benson said, handing the box.  "Who's Emily Beeler?" 

“The daughter of Carol’s Montoya’s...ex-boyfriend,” Oliver said, thinking of the now fatherless little girl Jenny had described.  “Definitely a name few people would recognize and I’m sure that’s why Carol used it.  Mrs. McKenny mentioned her when I told her about Beeler’s murder.”  

Oliver studied the small LCD display on the front of the box, then entered Jenny's false birth date and a second later, the container emitted out two-tone beep as the inner latch released.   As he lifted the lid, Oliver felt a gun press against his Kevlar vest.