Whistler's Angel (69 page)

“Glad I saw this. Donald’s right. A throw like that can’t be done. No wonder people say she didn’t do it.”

Whistler took a breath. He said, “Speaking of shooters, let’s talk about you. You were shot yourself. Everyone seems to know that but me. Is it true, and why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why would I?”

“You’re going to make me say it? Because I’m your son.”

“Adam, you were in basic training at the time. You were much better off where you were.”

“Because whoever shot you was also looking for me?”

He said, “Adam, let’s stop dancing. The man who shot me was hired; I think you know by whom. The twins settled up, but it took them two months. By that time, I was pretty much back on my feet. The story’s old news. It’s done with. Forget it.”

“Those Hollywood people? Alicia?”

“It’s done with.”

“Except they left you with a souvenir. Am I right?”

“One fragment,” said his father. He pointed. “Down here. Never gave me a problem for a good ten years afterward. Then it moved. And it lodged. It’s now in a bad place. I’m going to need some repair work.”

Whistler looked into his eyes. “It could cripple you, correct?”

“I’m not winning many dance contests anyway.”

“Is paralysis possible?”

“Worst case, yeah,” said Harry, “but let’s be optimistic. Either way, Adam, I’ll be down for a while. I’m going to need you to come home.”

“I’ll be there.”

“That’s it?”

Whistler said, “I’m your son. I’ll be there.”

“Well, I might need you to take care of things. I might need you to help run the business.”

“I will do whatever needs doing.”

“No, Adam, I mean run it. First learn it, then run it. A lot of people count on me, Adam. They trust me; they’ll learn to trust you.”

“I said I’ll be there.” Adam leaned closer. “I’ll be there as long as you try to remember that I’m not a kid anymore.”

A grimace. “I know that. So does everyone else. I’ll try harder to show it
, I promise.”

“I’ll remind you.”

“Will you give me two years? You and Claudia both?”

Whistler said, “I don’t know about Claudia.”

“You’re a package, Adam. You’re a hell of a package. And don’t say you’ll have to ask her. She’s with you; you’re with her. I’ll try to get Kate to come, too.”

“I’m…sure she’ll be thrilled to push your wheelchair around.”

“If I have to, I’ll ask her to marry me.”

“You’re a shit.”

His father winced. He said, “I didn’t mean to say it like that. The last time we spoke, the woman wanted no part of me. This episode of yours on this island did nothing to enhance her already slim interest in becoming part of the family. She just watched a guy turn into charcoal with socks.”

“Well…” said Whistler. “She’s here. Go mend your fences.”

“Yeah, I will. You and I can talk details later. For tonight, I have a number of people to see. Oh, and by the way, I brought Aubrey’s ledger with me. Do you care if I give it to Olivia?”

“I wish we’d known to do that a year ago. Sure.”

“All those names in the ledger…let the Raglands bring them down. But not Poole and Aubrey. I’ll deal with them myself. I assume you understand why.”

Whistler nodded. He did understand. It had nothing to do with personal vengeance. His father had made an agreement with them. A deal had been struck and they broke it. For the sake of his father’s reputation, credibility, he could not allow that to go unpunished. Having those two sent to prison was never an option. His response would be swift and very final.

His father added, “I’ll tell you, though, Adam. There are parts of this I still don’t understand. I assume you’ve figured out what Recon-JC means. That notation that appears in Aubrey’s ledger?”

“It…only hit me a few hours ago. Reconstructionists…Crow. I finally got it.”

“Well, I understand Poole and why he’d tie in with those people. I understand Poole siccing Crow on Philip Ragland. What I don’t understand, not me, not Molly, is why Felix Aubrey would go near the damned thing. Or why he’d break the deal by coming down here after you. Or why he’d come down here at all, for that matter.”

“I had the same problem with that,” Whistler answered.

“If Aubrey thought that you had tied in with Ragland, what’s the first thing that he should have done?”

“Call you. Remind you that you have an agreement.”

“Would he have tried to kill you before calling me?”

“That would have been much too direct for Felix Aubrey. That man has more twists than a snake.”

His father smiled. “Yeah, he does.”

“Why’s that funny?”

A shrug. “I guess I kind of enjoy the little bastard. He might have the single most devious mind that I’ve run across in my lifetime.”

“Are you thinking of giving him a pass?”

“No, I’m not.”

This conversation, although basically finished, was interrupted by Jump.

He entered the bar grinning. He said, “Leslie’s outside and there are two men with her. Is it okay with you if they come in?”

Whistler matched Jump’s smile. He said, “Absolutely.” He’d be pleased to introduce Leslie to his father. The two men, he assumed, must be the twins, although they seldom showed up anywhere together. More then likely, one of them would come in while the other one watched from outside.

Leslie Stewart entered through the plywood-covered door. At her elbow was Donald. He was half right so far. But behind them, hanging back, looking very ill at ease, was the man in the ugly striped jacket, Arnold Kaplan.

Donald said to Kaplan, “Go and sit in the corner. Me and Leslie need to talk to our friends here.”

Kaplan spread his hands in a supplicating gesture. He said, “Mr. Whistler…”

“These are
both
Mr. Whistler. Now sit down and shut up.”

“I just want them to know…”

“Wait your turn.”

Whistler introduced Leslie. They chatted for a few minutes. His father, as usual, turned on the charm in the presence of a young woman. In response to his performance, Leslie smiled and told his father, “Well, now I can see where Adam gets it.”

“Gets what?” asked his father.

“His looks. His twinkle.”

His father made a show of being confused. He said, “Adam…has a twinkle? This Adam? Right here?”

Donald cleared his thoat, Whistler thought, to defend him. He said, “I agree. He’s as cute as a button. But could we get some business off the table here first?”

Donald said to Leslie, “Give us maybe ten minutes. We got just a couple of things to discuss. Then I’ll call you and we’ll talk about Kaplan. That okay?”

“Okay,” she answered. “Can I bring him a drink?”

“Bring him the whole bottle. He could need it.”

Donald waited for Leslie to get out of earshot. He huddled between the two men. He said to Harry, “We were right about Aubrey. He had nothing to do with the hit on Ragland. He had nothing to do with those two meatballs who did it. He did send Lockwood down here to keep an eye on Adam after Kaplan told Lockwood…are you following this?…about what happened last night in this bar here.”

“Which Kaplan saw,” said Whistler. “He’d been watching us for days.”

“For a whole lot of days, but we’ll get to that later. This morning, Aubrey
hears who the two loonies were. He knows that Poole was funding this weird church they belong to and also some murders these guys did. Long story about that. It’ll keep. Aubrey sees a chance to squeeze some money out of Poole, but for that he needs to make Crow disappear. He sends Lockwood down here to deep-six him. Lockwood, however, has ideas of his own and decides he’ll use Crow to kill Adam. Net-net is that Aubrey is more or less innocent. He came down here to stop both Lockwood and Crow because he knows how this was gonna look to you guys. It was Kaplan who blew the whistle on Lockwood when Lockwood decided that he’d do his own thing. He was ready to pop Crow and Lockwood himself, but he had to go along and try to keep them both busy until Aubrey could show up with some heat.”

He added, “Oh, and by the way, Kaplan doctored Crow’s bombs. He couldn’t get to the one Lockwood put on the boat, but he wet the other two down with some Snapple.”

“Snapple?”

“Iced tea,” said Donald. “Which is why they mostly fizzed. Not that they were that good in the first place.”

“Uh-huh,” said Harry. “And Kaplan’s role in snatching Leslie?”

“Which reminds me,” said Donald, “Aubrey thought she was Claudia. This made him crazy. It’s the last thing he wanted. He really did try to contain this.”

“Get back to Kaplan. His role in the snatch.”

“Couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop it. He looked out for her, though. Lockwood intended to kill her.”

“And Leslie knows that? Now she wants to help Kaplan?”

“That would be the bottom line. It’s not that syndrome thing either. She says he doesn’t deserve to get hurt.”

Harry shrugged. “Then she’s called it. Tell him he can walk. Adam? You have any objections?”

“Not so fast,” said Donald. “This guy’s full of information. This guy knows of at least two attempts to kill Adam, both set up by Lockwood and without Aubrey’s knowledge.”

“Did he try to stop them?”

“Who, Kaplan? Why should he? Anyway, he didn’t know until later. You want to know who queered those two tries on Adam’s life?”

“I’m breathless,” said Harry.

“Well, you should be. It was Claudia.”

Whistler listened as Donald detailed the two attempts. The yacht that needed ice. That restaurant on Grand Cayman. Claudia, he realized, had been right in both cases.

Donald went on. He said, “Then there’s the tracker. It was Kaplan here who arranged for that and again it was Claudia who…I don’t know…sensed it
somehow and almost crowned the kid who installed it.”