The Cin Fin-Lathen Mysteries 1-3 (19 page)

I was about to say it wasn’t my fault, but I didn’t think I
could convince myself of that.

“Is someone watching Maurice?”

“Yes.”

“What about Bentley Hughes?”

“I don’t know.  Why, should he be watched?”

I took a deep breath.  “Because if someone killed Horace
Beaufort, Donald Williams, possibly Ivan Bendonovich and just tried to kill
Michael, then one or both of them may be in danger.  Even if Bruno was caught,
it doesn’t clean up this mess.  I know you haven’t been briefed on this whole
affair, so please excuse me if I am being rude.”

“It’s okay.  I will go in ... no, I will call in from my car
and see if I can get you some answers.” 

She walked down to her vehicle.  Angie came to the door.

“Paz, there is a Peter on the phone for you.  In the
kitchen, dear.  Come on, the day is wasting.”  She let Paz in and looked down
at us and frowned.  “What are you guys doing sitting on my front steps?  Cin,
you’re a royal mess and, Billy, you don’t have a shirt on.  Honestly, country
bumpkins the lot of you.  Get in here.”

“Yes mum,” I said and walked in.  Billy was laughing.

“What are you laughing at?  If your mother saw how I was
taking care of you she would have a fit.  A fit mind you.”

“Excuse me,” Paz said sticking her head in the living room. 
“Peter says Father Michael just got out of surgery, and he is going to be
fine.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now that is the good news.  The bad news is that the front
of the hospital is mobbed with photographers.  They want a snap of the karate
kid.  She won’t come out because her hair is a mess, she’s covered in blood and
she split her pants kicking Bruno.”

“Tell Peter to stay with Noelle.  I’ll go shopping and bring
her some clothes.  Oxford Street isn’t too far from here.  I think we can be there
in twenty to thirty minutes.”

I went to wash up.  I stripped off my clothes showered and
put everything back on.  Angie and Michael were in her room.  The Constable had
returned, and I asked her to stay with the newly reunited couple until I got
back.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going clothes shopping.  Can’t walk around London like
this can I?”

“I was surprised you could walk at all considering your left
shoe.”  She pointed at my two day old Doc Martins.

“It’s only blood, it will, oh I see what you mean.  How the
hell?”  I examined my boot.  The middle of my heel was gone.  So Bruno had one
more thing to answer for.  He shot a hole in my new boots!

Operation Clothing went smoothly.  Super heroines Paz and
Cin hit Oxford Street and in minutes reappeared dressed for the press.  I
decided on a red knit wrap dress, red-strapped sandals, and for Noelle I chose
a blue pinstriped pantsuit.  Paz dropped the leather for a cashmere sweater and
hip hugger pants.  The sweater matched the belly button ring she had on.  She
and I bought two shirts for Billy and one for Michael.  I also had purchased
four other pairs of size nine (size seven in the UK) shoes in various styles,
just in case.

Constable Davis drove us and let us out at the Casualty entrance. 
Once we located Peter and gave Noelle her clothes, I felt I could relax. 
Michael, Angie, Billy, Paz and I were starving, but it didn’t seem right to eat
when Father Michael was in so much pain.

His aunt Diane walked into the waiting area and looked us
over.  She was an impressive woman, fit figure, green eyes and expensively
manicured. 

“Don’t you dare look worried.  My little Mikey is going to
be fine.  Which one of you is Cin?”

I stood up.  “I am.”

She walked over and checked me out.  I almost felt like I
should turn out my hands and show her that I had washed them. 

“He has been asking for you. Come along.”

I made a face at the others who were trying very hard not to
laugh at me.  I expected to hear her say, ‘I saw that’ but she refrained.  I
followed her to Michael’s room.  She held out her hand and stopped me before I
could open the door.

“Your outfit is quite nice.  That necklace, surprisingly,
seems to go well with the dress.  The sandals were a good choice.  Your hair is
a bit wild but considering the day you have had, permissible.”  She kept
nodding her head as she spoke. “You are a beautiful woman, Cin Fin-Lathen.  You
are a courageous woman who has brought my brother Donald up from the bowels of
the earth.  Don’t think that I’m not grateful.  I am, but right now, my nephew
the
priest
is lying in there calling your name.  This makes me very
uncomfortable.”

I tried to get a word in, but the lady gave me no room.

“You’re divorced, I know.  But you’re a siren.  You’re going
to break his heart, and I can’t have him hurt.”

“Hold on lady, Michael,
the priest
, and I have a
great regard for each other, are friends, not friendly friends just...you get
the idea.  I bought this dress for the press.  If my ex-husband was going to
have to see my exploits on the front page of some paper, well, hell I wanted to
look nice.  Give us some credit.  We may be children to you, sister, but I am a
newly divorced empty-nester going through the pains of a broken future.  I have
a lot to deal with, and it doesn’t include men at this time.”

“So nothing is going on?”

I wanted to say just murder and mayhem, but I held my tongue
and just shook my head.  I could see the concern in her eye tinged with the
hard edge of a lioness.  I didn’t want anything I would say out of nervousness
to be misconstrued.

She looked me over once more and stepped away from the door. 
“Go in.”

I opened the door into a well lit room. I saw him laying
there vulnerable and still.  A young male nurse sat monitoring the machines
that helped him breathe and pump the fluid he desperately needed into his
veins.  Father Michael was pale and waxy.  The nurse must have noticed my
expression, because he walked over and explained that the priest had lost a lot
of blood.  It would take a while before his color returned.  I thanked him and
I walked closer to the bed.  I was afraid if I touched the bed, Aunt Diane
would come bursting through the door screaming “harlot.”  So I kept my
distance.

“Cin?” he whispered.

“I’m here.”  To hell with the old bag I reached over and
stroked his forehead.

“What happened?”

“You saved Michael by using your body as a Kevlar vest.”  I
continued to brief him on all that had happened while he was down.  He listened
intently.  I finished up with, “Noelle and I tried to keep your blood inside
you, but you wouldn’t cooperate and coagulate.  Damn selfish of you.  She went
with you to the hospital.  I took Michael over to Angie, and then I went shoe
shopping.”

He smiled at that. 

“In case you’re keeping records, that’s four pair of shoes
ruined in six days.”

“Cin, I saw him.”

“Who?”  I leaned in because his voice was very weak.

“Uncle Donald.”

“Really?  I’m so jealous.  Where did you see him?”

“I’m telling you this because with all the drugs I may
forget this later, and I don’t want it forgotten.”

“I’ll remember for you.  Tell me.”

“He was walking in the Two-way River.  I walked over to him
and he frowned.  He said I didn’t belong there.  To go back, take care of the
family and bring him home to Savannah.  I asked him why he wasn’t in heaven. 
He looked at me wryly and said that it wasn’t time yet.  I asked if he was in
purgatory.  He didn’t answer me, but he did tell me something that may have
been an answer.  He said, ‘All is not what it seems,’ and that’s all I can
remember.”

“All is not what it seems,” I repeated as I looked down on
this man who I had once suspected of not being all that he seemed and felt a
bit guilty.  I stayed with him until he fell asleep and risked damnation by
kissing him on the forehead before leaving the room.

~

I met Noelle on the way back to the waiting room.  She
looked fabulous in the new pantsuit, and she had makeup on. Noelle doesn’t usually
wear makeup.

“There is something different about you.”

“Makeup.  Aunt Diane loaned me some and helped me with my
hair.”

“Wait a minute.  Aunt Diane?”

“She insisted. She likes me.”

“Well, she doesn’t like me.  She thinks I am the whore of
Babylon.”

“I know.  How can you give such a bad impression so
quickly?”

“Talent.  Speaking of talent, how’s the penniless musician?”

“Peter’s fine, Mother,” she said whining out the last syllable. 
“He has been a godsend.”

“He’s cute too.”

“Come on, whore of Babylon, leave some men for us mortals,”
she snickered.

“You’re a big help.  Looky, looky.  Do you see Chief
Superintendent Browning over there by Angie?”

“Yes, I do.  Why?”

“I was hoping he was a figment.”

“A figment?”

“Of my imagination.  Come on, don’t let me face the music
alone.”  I linked my arm with hers and walked over to the group.

“How is Father Michael?”  Angie asked.

“He looks a bit waxy, but he was conscious and talking.”

“Good, good.”

“I’m hungry let’s go.”  I picked up my bags and tried to
slide by the CSP

He caught my arm.  “Why don’t you just wait for a moment,”
he said to the group.  “I’ll bring Ms. Fin-Lathen back in a minute.”  He walked
me down the hall and backed me into the wall.

“Don’t you ever put yourself in danger like that again,” he
growled sternly.

“I wasn’t in any danger. It was Father Michael.  I’m fine,
no mortal wound.  Wanna check?”  I raised my arm saucily.

“Do you call running at a man with a gun playing it safe? 
You were damn lucky this time.  You almost got your foot shot off.  I don’t
know what those Florida police let you get away with, but in the UK you stay
out of trouble.”  He reached into his coat pocket and handed me my passport. 
He turned me around so that my body hid him from view.  “Now, that was for
them.  I personally think you did a good piece of work finding Michael and
bringing him and Angie together.  Not to mention capturing Bruno.”

“I didn’t, Noelle and Billy did.  I had no clue when we went
to the park that we were going to get shot at.  I am no fan of guns.”

“I know.  You’re a knife fancier.”  He smiled briefly and
returned to his CSP mode.  “You’re all going to have to be interviewed.  They
do things different here.  I do have some friends here, but they still have to
answer to someone else.”

“I’m not expecting a free pass.”

“Good, then I’m glad we are in accordance,” he said studying
my guilty face a bit too long.  He walked me back to the group.  “Everyone, we
are going to make a grand exit.  There are several representatives from the
local rags out there.  I don’t want you to say anything.  Let Sergeant Moore do
the talking.”  Before he opened the door he turned and said, “Suck in your gut
and smile.”

That is what I did.  I also tried to suck in my thighs.  I
think it might have worked, but maybe it was just my imagination.

The press surged forward and Sergeant Moore repeated the
phrase.  “You will have all the answers to your questions by calling the Met
tomorrow.”  It took five minutes to get through the crowd, ten minutes to lose
the photographers and several hours of statement taking at the local borough
police station.  I thought it was Marylebone, but I was more concerned about
being in a Met station than where in London we were.

I expected to be bundled off to the airport and put on a
plane home, and if it wasn’t for the bone I had to pick with one Maurice
Sherborn I would have welcomed it.  What surprised me was that we were released
with no more than a “don’t leave the country,” from Browning.

We had agreed ahead of time to meet back at Angie’s house,
but when I emerged from the station I was not surprise to see our motley crew
waiting for me.

“Thought for sure they were going to deport you this time,”
Paz said shaking her head with amazement.

“What did I do…wait, don’t say anything more till after I
have eaten.  Most criminals deserve a last meal.  I wonder if that includes
dessert?”

“A pudding!  You get shot at, Noelle almost gets arrested
for assault and all you can think of is pudding?” Paz said aghast.

“Something chocolate…” I mused as I nodded to Peter who
proceeded to summon a few cabs.

~

Constable Davis went outside to have a cigarette while
waiting for her replacement.  I thought this would be a good time to figure out
what we were going to do next.  I had Billy stand watch as we assembled around
the dining table.

“We are in an unusual situation here.  Sergeant Moore and
his Commander aren’t too pleased  with us at the moment and Browning wants us
to stay out of both investigations.  I overheard that  Bruno Vanchencho gave up
no one.  They have him in Canada at the time of Horace Beaufort’s hit and run
murder.  They have an eye witness statement that he pushed Bobby Bathgate to
his near death at in Florida.  And they have evidence that puts him at the
scene of Angie Bathgate’s shooting and my eye witness account for the attempted
kidnapping of Angie on a later occasion.”

“They, also, have a witness to the attempted murder of you,
Ms. Fin-Lathen.  And we caught him red-handed, as you yanks like to say,
shooting Father Michael Donald Williams.” Billy said from the doorway.

“We can’t, however, place him at the murder of Donald G.
Williams.  He would have been a small child in Russia at the time.  Someone
else killed Donald, and I think I can speak for all of us that we are of the
opinion that the same person that hired Bruno in all likelihood killed Donald. 
More importantly, the person was a comrade and student in the same music class
as Donald, Horace and Michael.  That leaves Bentley Hughes, Maurice Sherborn
and Ivan Bendonovich, if he’s still alive.”

“Ivan?” Michael spoke out.  “Ivan’s not missing.”

“Intelligence says he disappeared from the east block in the
sixties,” Peter read off his notes.

“Ivan came here.  Lived with me until his operation.  Now
she lives in Brighton.”

“Hold the phone.  Michael, you said she?” I asked.

“Ivan Bendonovich disappeared, but Ivana Penny lives in
Brighton.  I have her picture in my wallet.  He took out his wallet and pulled
out the picture.  I have it to keep the widow ladies away.  I tell them this is
my lady friend.”

I reached for the picture and looked at it appreciably.
Ivana had a beautiful complexion with a small pert nose.  She did have pretty
big shoulders for a woman though.

“She had her nose and jewels bobbed.”  He looked in his
wallet and pulled out a card.  “Here’s her address and phone number.”  He
handed the card to the Peter.

Angie broke out laughing.

“What’s so funny Angela?” Michael asked.

“Remember, how Bobby used to call Ivan, ‘I’ve been down the
road a bit?’

“Yes I do, made Ivan pretty upset at the time.”

“Come on, Michael, think,” she continued laughing.

Michael caught on and roared.  “I never thought about it
before.  I’ve been down a road a bit has turned into I wanna a penny!”

~