Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition (58 page)

“
Ecuador?
Probably because they could easily disappear there and because
extradition from there would be too much of a nightmare to bother
with.”

They chatted a bit more. So.

He called the airlines and booked back to
Panamá with a flight two days later to Quito.

Ecuador et al

“
I can’t
find much in Ecuador outside of a couple of larger cities, such as
they have,” Manny protested. “She might get away with it in a way.
You’d have to get her out of the country to even think of
extradition to the US.”

“
Maybe. I
have an idea about that. All you have to do is tie it to the drug
trade and you get a lot of cooperation you would never have,
otherwise,” Clint argued. “We can prove money laundering and
murders. We claim we have to investigate if they were getting the
money for drug deals with someone in Ecuador.”

“
Why
would they be any easier for that?” Judi asked.

“
Because
I can go on the web with a message to the congress in the US that
Ecuador is protecting drug dealers who kill people in the US and
other countries,” Dave replied.

“
And they
will ... wonder if maybe there will be a new commission to
investigate where US aid is going?” Judi said. “I see. It doesn’t
have to be anything you can prove, it just has to be something that
could affect the aid.”

“
I think
I can get them to leave Ecuador,” Clint replied. “If not, I’ll be
asking a favor, Dave.”

Dave gave him a thumbs-up. Manny said it
wouldn’t work, but was worth a try. It might be the one thing that
would make them decide to leave Ecuador. They then discussed what
had happened so far. Clint said he personally thought most of it in
Panamá was due to Amanda’s hatred of her father. He didn’t really
know what was the motivation for Frieda and the other woman, who it
turned out was Lindsay’s girlfriend.

“
He was
using the girlfriend to take attention away from Frieda. He married
Frieda to get control of the money-laundering part. It was him and
Amanda all along,” Dave suggested. “He was through using them and
didn’t want anyone left around to tell tales.”

“
What if
he decides he’s through using Amanda now?” Judi asked.

“
It’s
much more likely to be the other way around,” Clint answered. “You
just have to pay attention to the past and to what happened and
with whom. Lindsay had to know about the child molestation. I think
he used it to get to Amanda. I think she damned well knows it. Look
what’s happened to everyone who knew and didn’t do anything to stop
it!”

“
Christ!
If he was using her that way all along she’ll be after him more
than even her father!” Judi cried. “She’ll save the best, the
slowest and the most painful death of all for him!”

Manny grinned. “Clint, maybe you should
consider the options for a few days before you go off half-cocked
again. It could be a thing that mostly resolves itself. This isn’t
the states and this isn’t the culture and the rules are different
here. They’re pragmatic enough to say it was God’s vengeance for a
bunch who were damned from the start by what they were. The best
thing you can do now is to watch the money. They’re damned well not
getting anything you know about unless they can work something
through someone else. Trudy’s the only one that could be.”

“
Trudy is
NOT involved with them!” Dave said in a very positive way. “They’ll
try to get her involved or they’ll try something dangerous to her
and to anyone who tries to help her.

“
Amanda’s
nuts, in case that slipped by you! she’s a homicidal maniac and
she’s teamed up with the one who probably pushed her over the edge.
If I thought he was worth half a second’s consideration I’d
probably feel a little sorry for him.

“
Clint, I
think Trudy should disappear for awhile.”

“
Your
place in Quiteno?” Judi suggested.

“
Maybe my
place here,” Manny suggested.

“
No way!”
Dave exclaimed. “For the sake of sanity! You have a wife and kid
who would be put right in the line of fire! I’d suggest we have her
go to David on a flight and not show up at the pre-booked
hotel.”

“
And go
where?” Clint asked.

“
Cusapin,” he replied. “I have quite a few friends there,
it’s on the comarca where no one will know anything about anything.
They know every gringo or other foreigner who comes to the place
and there won’t be any gringa there who fits her
description.”

“
You
might want to consider another little facet of that,” Manny
suggested. “The Comarca’s have their own law to a VERY large extent
here!”

“
Yup! And
the law is what the jefe says it is,” Dave added.

“
I wonder
if she can get this afternoon’s flight?” Clint asked.

Manny took his cell phone to call Aeroperlas,
who had no seats. He called Air Panamá and they had the same answer
– but she could appear at the top of the standbys. Roger owed Manny
favors.

Manny asked for the names of the passengers.
He said to give it a minute and put her in the O’Neil spot. He was
delayed.

“
She’s
got about an hour to get packed and convinced,” he told Clint.
Clint called her and said he had to talk with her. Urgent. He’d be
in town in fifteen minutes. Get packed and to the airport as soon
as she can. He’d meet her there to explain what was going on. She
was in a lot of danger so stay with as many people as she
could.

“
What was
that about O’Neil?” Judi asked.

“
He’s
talking with some people for some land that’s a total scam on his
part. I’ll suddenly have them call him and say they have to see him
this afternoon because funds should be released today and they can
put down a hundred grand. They’ll have to go to San José first
thing in the morning so it’s now or never.

“
He’ll
meet them. They’ll wave a bunch of legal papers around and call
their lawyer to have a check made out to him.”

“
And?”

“
The
lawyer will say the funds have been held for ten more days for
collection because the idiots in the states sent a counter
certified check, not a cash transfer like they were
instructed!”

They all grinned. They loved it when a scam
artist was scammed.

Clint and Judi went outside to flag a cab
while Manny made a reservation for her with the Hotel Alcalá in
David.

Ten minutes before Trudy was to board Dave
came in to tell her that she would be met by a taxi with a driver
named José Ovaldia to take her to the Alcalá. He would take her
around a couple of blocks to be sure she wasn’t followed, then
would go to the secure private section of the airport where Lorenzo
Machazini would fly her directly to Cusapin. She would be called
Daniella Justice there. Dave handed her an ID card with her picture
and that name. “It’s a phony. I used the picture from your passport
and made out the card with that lamination machine Manny has,” he
explained. “Lorenzo will introduce you to Nica, an Indio friend.
You’ll stay with them. I think you’ll like the place and the
lifestyle. It’s a long way from what you’re used to.”

She smiled and agreed it would be an
adventure. Ever since they arrived in Bocas it had been an
adventure. They watched until the plane was in the air, then went
back to Clint’s house. Bobby Longstreet, a gay neighbor, waved and
called that some very handsome man had come to see him and would
return in about half an hour.

“
Did he
give you a name?” Clint asked.

“
I think
he said Manuel. He’s a knockout doll! Beautiful, but sort of
dangerous-looking. I was a little scared to ask him for a
roll.”

Clint thought, then said, “Rolex watch, gold
chains, built like a bodybuilder, maybe six or six one, nut-brown
hair and brown eyes?”

“
Yes.”

“
Manolo.
A friend from San Blas.”

“
Will he
roll?”

“
I don’t
know. Ask him. He’s a decent guy and won’t do more than say yes or
no.”

Judi giggled. Dave said most people here
would like a roll if it’s raining and there’s nothing else to do.
Bobby said he would pray for a real storm! – just not like the last
one. One that made people want to go to bed and didn’t screw up the
whole country.

“
This is
someone I have GOT to meet!” Judi said. “I admit that I admire your
taste in men.”

They chatted a minute, then all of them went
into Clint’s house. Clint looked around and shook his head. “Did
Manolo come inside?”

“
No. He
just came to the front door. Why?”

“
Because
someone’s searched the place. I leave traps that the most
professional person won’t notice. Let’s see who.” He went to the
computer and typed in instructions. The screen lit up with a scene
of the room, flickered, the time notation in the lower right corner
changed, nothing, flickered and 9:13:22 came on the time slot.
After a half minute or so a woman came into the room, stood
listening and looking around for a full minute, then began going
through the computer records, looked in all the drawers, stood
thinking for a minute, then went into the bedroom where the scene
shifted. She went through the same process there, then the bath,
then the kitchen, then she exited at 9:37:11.

“
Know
her?” Clint asked everyone. Nobody did, but Bobby said she was in
the Barracuda last night with some big black man.

Manolo came to the door and Clint called to
come on in. He showed him the woman. He said he thought he’d seen
her somewhere, not in Bocas. Bobby said she was with a black man
last night. He described the man and Manolo said his name was
Johnny Bigham, born in Colombia of gringo parents. He was an
enforcer for a drug cartel. The woman would be Linda Bills. She was
with Bigham a lot and was thought to be working for the cartel as a
sort of PI. She was good.

“
Not good
enough!” Dave remarked. “She stood there and almost posed for that
camera!”

“
She
didn’t know there was any camera,” Judi pointed out.

“
Which
proves my point,” Dave returned. “That supposedly good a detective
would find a camera first thing.”

“
You find
it,” Clint suggested.

“
I’m not
a detective, but it’s behind – or in – that vase on the bookshelf.
I could see that from the angle. The one in the bedroom was
probably in the smoke detector over the door to the
bathroom.”

“
She
never saw anything that would tell her anything about angles,” Judi
said.

“
Knock it
off!” Clint said. “Manolo, Bobby ‘s gay and wants a roll with you.
I told him I didn’t know if you liked that kind of thing or
not.”

Judi laughed. Dave said Bobby was praying for
rain. Manolo said, “Praying for rain?” and Dave said he’d made a
remark that people liked that when it was raining and there was
nothing else to do. Manolo put an arm over Bobby’s shoulder and
said he might be interested if it was raining, but there wasn’t a
cloud in the sky at the moment.

“
Don’t DO
that!” Judi cried.

“
Why not?
What?” Manolo said.

“
Now we
still don’t know whether you would or wouldn’t.”

“
Well,
when it’s raining you can find out. With women, it doesn’t have to
be raining.”

“
Whuh
dunt ya come up ‘n sue me sometime?” Judi aped.

“
Why
don’t we all take off our clothes and crawl into a pile and see
what develops there?” Dave suggested. Clint gave him the bird,
Bobby said he LOVED the idea, Judi giggled, Manolo raised an
eyebrow and grinned.

“
Back to
the real world,” Manolo said. “They were probably here because you
were with me in San Blas. They want to know if you’re a narc or
whatever. It will damned well make them more curious that I’m here
now!

“
I came
to see if you’ve made further progress with the case you were
working on. I had to go to Costa Rica to check out a connection and
stopped by on the way back.”

“
Well,
now everyone here’s dead and the killers are, we think, in
Ecuador,” Clint answered.

“
Yeah.
Let them kill each other off and the state doesn’t have the
expenses of trials and housing for life, huh?”

“
Poetic
justice – but there ain’t nothing poetic about murder in general
and certainly not with that bunch. She’s a homicidal maniac,” Dave
said. “You know, I can see what Bobby sees in you.”

“
She?
Homicidal maniac?” Manolo asked, ignoring Dave’s added remark that
was just baiting Bobby.

“
Amanda
Lesley was behind it with a man named Frank Lindsay from
California,” Clint said. “Lindsay was married to Frieda Helmut for
a business/convenience deal. Frank had a girlfriend to keep
suspicion away from him and Frieda. When they weren’t of anymore
use to him he shot them and ran to Ecuador – or somewhere – with
the lovely Amanda, who had knocked off Wanda Lesley, Orison and
Rasmussen as a little vacation diversion.”

“
Shee!
And I thought
I
had
interesting work!”

“
Something just occurred to me,” Dave said suddenly.
“Whatever happened with George Martime?”