Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition (7 page)

Clint thought a few seconds, nodded, and said
his goodbyes.

“
Carlos
around?” Clint asked Virginia, Carlos’ wife.

“
No. He
fell in the boat and has to get some stitches so he’s at the
hospital.”

“
Oh. That
explains what Silvio said about him not seeing him this morning.
One way, anyhow. Thanks.” Clint grinned a very wry grin. He headed
for the hospital.

“
Carlos
Conant? He was here a couple of hours ago,” Nilsa, at the nurses’
station said. “Got a cut on his scalp that needed stitches and
another across his hand. He didn’t get either falling in any boat!
I’d say he’d been in a fight and came out second best, you ask me.
Osirio was here for the report and took him to the station. Llanas
came in and they took him together.

“
It about
Hank? Carlos killed him?”

“
I think
so. I really do. It would explain a lot.”

“
Stupid!
Now who will he work for if he DOES get off from killing Hank? Hank
was almost all the work he’s had lately.”

“
I
imagine he was working for his next employer when he killed Hank.
This is ridiculous! Who else is in this mess? How? WHY,
damnit!”

Nilsa gave him a funny look and shook her
head.

Vic came in to say he’d been looking for
Clint for the past hour and was always two minutes behind him. He’d
left his phone in the car so couldn’t get a call.

Clint checked the phone pouch and groaned. “I
didn’t think, but should have known when I didn’t get any
calls.”

Vic handed him the phone and said Marko would
be there tomorrow morning.

“
Marko’s
coming here? Why?”

“
He’s
going to buy your friend’s land.”

“
Oh,
shit! No, Vic! Not that crowd! Not here!”

“
Not like
that. You’ll get guarantees. He’ll talk to you about it. No one’s
to know he’s here and he’ll keep the land like it is except for a
small house. He wants a place his family is safe and can live a
normal life and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, New Orleans,
Chicago, Detroit ... you get it.”

“
But this
place would be the same in very little time, Vic. It’s not Marko,
it’s who would follow him.”

“
That’s
the point. Nobody will follow him here. He’ll explain,” Vic
promised. “He’ll make damned sure there’s nothing for them to come
here for.”

Clint sighed. “Let’s go to the policia
station and see if we can learn who hired Carlos to kill
Elmore.”

“
Ola,
Carlos. Que tal?” Clint greeted. “Gracias – y por que?”

“
Hello,
Clint. Thanks? For what do you wish to know for what?”

“
Thanks
for knocking off that obsequious bastard and why did you do it?
Someone paid you?”

“
Paid?
No, Clint. It is what would happen to my family if I didn’t do it
and I cannot say more. Please!”

“
Something directly Hank would have done?” Clint asked,
watching Carlos’ eyes carefully. They were darting around,
particularly toward one cop.

“
He would
... he was with some people. He ... Clint, I can’t tell you, but I
swear before God Almighty I had no choice!”

“
Okay. I
can accept that. I know which people, I think. I’ll never be able
to prove it is all. I’ll try to help you. Maybe some of my friends
will be able to get you out of this.”

“
Thank
you, Clint. It is rare to have a real friend like you.”

Clint went out to the front desk to talk with
Sergio and Osirio awhile. He managed to be a bit curious about the
cop Carlos was so afraid of, learning he had just come from Panamá
City. They didn’t know him.

“
Ah? So
check his credentials very carefully and very quietly. Maybe
there’s something very un-coplike about him. I could be wrong, so
don’t let him know. Maybe I can have Rigo check him out right there
in Panamá City, hunh?”

“
Ah!
Excellent idea – and we’ll watch him,” Osirio replied.

They chatted a bit more, Clint convincing
them that Carlos would be cleared. The charges would be reduced to
self-defense or something. They understood the kind of people
behind it and agreed it would be alright with them.

“
Clint,
Elmore was a front man for the mafia, but I didn’t say that because
I have no proof,” Sergio cautioned.

“
I know.
It’s why I want to get Carlos off.”

Clint left the station and called Rigo, a
high officer in the national police, to suggest checking on that
officer.

“
In
Bocas? I don’t think anyone from ... one minute. What was the
name?”

“
His tag
said Quintas. I think I saw that tag before and he wasn’t the one
wearing it.”

“
Hmmm.
Quintas, Vermont, Panamá ... no. Santiago. Let me contact them. A
moment ...” the line went on hold. Three minutes later Rigo came on
to say, “Clint! Quintas is in the hospital and might not survive.
He was found in a ditch. It looked like he was hit by a
car!”

“
Give me
two minutes, then contact Bocas and tell them to grab him! He’s
dangerous and there could be problems! I want to be
there!”

Rigo hung up and Clint raced back into the
station to tell Osirio and Sergio to come with him. “Quintas”
wasn’t in the interrogation room so they headed for the cell area
where he was sitting with Carlos, talking. Carlos looked
terrified.

“
Vermont
Quintas?” Clint asked as Sergio answered a call on his
walkie-talkie.

“
Quintas”
jumped up and grabbed for his sidearm, but Clint was right beside
him and chopped hard at his arm, making him drop the gun. Clint hit
him with all he could muster in the jaw, knocking him back onto the
bunk. Osirio stuck the muzzle of his own sidearm in “Quintas” ear
and said if he so much as blinked an eye he was dead meat. He
froze. Osirio cuffed him and they led him away. Sergio told Carlos
he was now free to go. “Quintas” was going to confess
responsibility for Elmore’s death – or he was going to testify
against his bosses, which meant his own very slow and very messy
death. Five years for second degree was better than death by
torture. He claimed the people he was working for didn’t know he
had a personal hard-on for Elmore – to stop any questions there. He
said he was just passing through and saw Elmore. Besides, working
for them was just a sometimes thing and that project was already
done.

“
But ...
but I killed him!” Carlos cried.

“
Ah, but
HE was responsible!” Sergio said.

They led “Quintas” out of the cell area,
Carlos and Clint following.

Clint went back to his house to find Judi
sitting with a somewhat bullish man with a face most women would
call handsome. He looked slightly familiar. Two men in suits came
from around the house.

“
Marko!
Welcome to my modest abode!” he greeted. “Judi, I suppose you’ve
already introduced yourselves to each other. I don’t know the names
of the two goons.”

“
Marko?
Marko who?” Judi asked. “This is Manny Mathews.” She grinned. “At
least, that’s what the phony passport says.”

Marko laughed. “You two! Go to town and have
a beer or something,” he ordered. The goons looked a bit nervous,
but left.

“
So! To
what do I owe the honor of your presence?” Clint asked.

“
I want
to discuss something with you. I hope your recent problem with that
bunch of amateur would-be clowns in Panamá City is
resolved?”

“
For the
moment, but I have one of their operatives in the pen for killing
Hank Elmore. They’ll be upset about that because he knows too
much.”

“
CARLOS
killed Hank!” Judi cried.

“
But this
Quintas character was responsible, so he takes the fall. He’ll
confess to second to ensure he won’t be asked other questions that
would result in a messy death if he answered.”

Marko laughed. “Pops taught you a few things
I see!

“
Judi, I
am Manny. Period. You never heard the name ‘Marko’ – okay? It’s
damned important.” Judi nodded, but looked a question at
Clint.

“
He’s
alright, but the wrong, and I do mean WRONG, people would come here
if they even suspect he’s here,” Clint answered. She nodded
again.

“
Should I
have left something on the stove I simply MUST attend to?” she
asked. This time Clint nodded. She told Marko it had been a
pleasure and left.

“
So!
What’s it about?” Clint asked.

“
A couple
of things. Your deal with Pops ain’t part of this. I want you to do
me a favor, separate. I swear before God Almighty there won’t be no
mob types coming here and there won’t be no stashes or anything
like that. I’m mostly out of that, anyhow. Pops was going legit and
I want to go legit. There’s plenty to go around and just getting a
lot more money is what you call ‘hollow’ anyhow. It don’t mean
nothing past a certain point, you know? Like, ‘I got another mil
today,’ then comes ‘What you gonna do with it?’ and there ain’t no
good answer.

“
See, I’m
gonna marry Sylvia, this girl I’m really stuck on bigtime and she
don’t want no goons hanging around all the time like she’s gotta
have extra protection everywhere she goes. Won’t happen here
because I got a passport from here and one for her. I’m Manuel
Arthur Mathews and she’s Sylvia Anne D’Angelo.

“
Well,
that’s her name, but she’ll be Mrs. Sylvia Anne Mathews. Got a
legal name change nobody knows nothing about, all legal and with
papers from the government. Not here and not in the states. Nobody
can trace it, least I hope so.

“
Anyhow,
I want to buy your buddy’s land, you know? Great big – or maybe not
all that big – place on a island, nice house, but not ostentatious
and vulgar – she calls my places in LA and SanFran that – where we
can raise a normal type of family.

“
What I
want from you is only to keep an eye out for anybody – you know
what I mean – who asks too many questions about the new kids moved
in on the block kind of questions. See they get a story so they
think it ain’t me, see? They’re gonna know you know me from this
crap here yesterday so they’ll maybe figure I’m somewhere around
because I’m not in any other place they know about. More than a
couple would like to cap me, see?

“
You
always were smart. Pops always said you had more brains in your
little finger than any of the other cruds I was always around and
that I could trust you over anybody in the world.

“
See,
Pops said you could finger him for some things, but you knew nobody
innocent was even involved because you would smash him like a bug
if you heard about him doing anything to anybody didn’t deserve
worse. Said you had sense enough to know it’s better and cheaper
for the normal people if we get rid of the ones who ... you
know.”

“
Mmm?
Just point them somewhere else?” Clint asked, watching his eyes
carefully. “Don’t do anything, just see they think you’re
somewhere, but not here?”

“
Yeah.
That’s it. I got the papers and stuff like I was from a farm in
Idaho, which is somewhere I never was, so they’ll think I ain’t who
I am easy.”

“
Okay. I
can do that much. You speak Spanish if I remember, better than
English. You speak Italian, but don’t ever let anyone around here
know you know more than a few words and don’t use them quite right.
That’s good for another reason: you can listen to THEM talking when
they think you don’t understand the language.

“
You also
have to change the way you speak English a little. Less like a hood
and more like a regular Joe.”

“
Yeah. I
promised Syl I’d proper up my English. She’s teaching me. I did
pretty good when your girlfriend was here, didn’t I? I can do it,
but it’s just easier to talk like I always talk when there ain’t
nobody around.

“
Okay.
You don’t haveta say it. I’ll forget if I don’t talk good all the
time. Syl says that.

“
See?
Pops said you were real smart! You’re right about hearing what they
say when they think it’s behind my back! I speak German and Greek
some, too! Don’t let them know I can see what they’re saying in
anything but English and Spanish! They’ll run their mouth and I can
be all innocent and ‘Oh, gee!’ like I ain’t got a clue! Pops said
you were smart! You really ARE!

“
Promise
– I won’t do nothing to none of them HERE! If they say the wrong
thing and the boys happen to hear about it and they have an
accident in the states it ain’t nothing about HERE!”

“
Fair
enough! No cons. I find you didn’t keep your word and there’ll be
really tough consequences. Let’s be perfectly clear about
that!”

“
You got
it! We can maybe buddy around some, like going fishing and that. No
broads on the side. Had enough of that already and I’m like Pops in
that when you’re married you made a sworn oath before God and only
a total idiot would try that! You can’t lie to God!”

“
I think
maybe you’ll do okay here. Want a beer? Got Panamá. It’s pretty
good.”

“
Like it
says on your shirt there, por que no?” he answered with a big
grin.