Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition (41 page)

Only thing now is to get on with it. There
would have to be some kind of final resolution. Billions could only
mean one thing he could think of. Radioactives that could be spread
in large cities or used to make nuclear weapons. The economy of the
USA was already in the dumps because of the abject stupidity of its
leaders. Terrorism had worked perfectly against it. The object was
to make the government waste much or most of its funds and
resources fighting against an invisible enemy – which was exactly
what it did.

Off that track. There wasn’t much to do until
Marko called with what he could find about Sally’s family, the
Davises. He’d take a few minutes to catch a few fish for the
freezer and his supper. He took his gear, got in his boat and
headed out past Bird Island to see what was running. He was out for
a little more than an hour when Marko called to say he’d gotten a
bit on the Davis family. More later, but Clint had to know a few
things.

Number one was that Edgar, the father, and
Bruce, the brother were in Panamá City demanding the body of Sally
be sent back to the states. They wanted to know exactly where Vern
was – which they wouldn’t find out until more was known about them.
Vern might be in serious danger because of what they may think he
knew.

He could work with that.

“
Manny,
let them get the word that he’s somewhere in the Bocas Town area.
He can stay on San Cristóbal until we see what they try. He’ll be
glad to be bait for a bit of a trap, I think. I’ve been thinking
about what this is about. It’s too much like a spy movie in a lot
of ways and, considering the methods, a violence flick. It’s
surreal. I’m dealing with what I thought was the Russian Mafia –
and it might even be – but even they seem more in touch with
reality than what this family is supposed to be up to.

“
Can we
trace back to find what would cause them to do this?”

“
Done, to
an extent. It seems Sally Davis was in college with some students
from Saudi Arabia. They’re back there now, but one of them went
directly to Oman, one to Iran. One is in Pakistan. The other is
back in Saudi Arabia. They could see right away that she was a
totally self-centered type and wanted money enough to compete with
the richest of the rich. She was easy to rope into a scheme where
they could get millions of dollars to finance some people in Iran
and Afghanistan in an oil deal. They ran a couple of minor scams
that did net them some hundreds of thousands, then they said they
had contacts in Russia to get weapons for next to nothing and
resell them to the highest bidder.

“
That
worked very well, thank you. She got her father and brother into
the act, then. They were moderately well-off until that time. After
that they suddenly had too much money coming in from foreign
investments – in the millions.

“
Then
they told her they could get the nuclears, but would have to
launder literally billions. They got half they would split among
the group.

“
She
married Vern Wallace, someone she knew from college, and started
traveling around the world. The two Saudis that went to Iran and
Oman are lost from the records, probably dead. An attempt was made
on the life of the one in Saudi Arabia just after she was put in
charge of the laundering. She had something over five billion
stashed somewhere. That’s the big reason the family wants to find
Vern, I suppose. They think he knows where the money is. I think he
doesn’t and doesn’t care.

“
Gimme a
sec. Something coming in on the comp ... The one in Pakistan
disappeared just two weeks ago. Went to a little town near the
border and had an accident or something vague. The little lady was
determined to guarantee the money wasn’t split with
anyone.”

“
Lovely
lady. She was reasonably goodlooking, but a bit repulsive for some
undefinable reason. You could sense something about her. Vern might
actually know where that money is hidden while not being conscious
of that little fact.”

“
Could
be. Want to come over for the afternoon? We can discuss the rain
and all that kind of stuff.”

“
Gimme an
hour or so to clean the fish and I’ll be over.”

“
She has
the whole deal stashed somewhere. She didn’t send the connection in
Russia, the half they agreed on,” Manny reported. “That’s, after
the exaggerations and war stories, something over seven and a half
billion, total. They’ve already laundered over a
billion.”

“
Lovely
people. Vern probably knows a lot more than he has the vaguest idea
he might know. I tend to trust him. He really wants to be a surf
bum.”

“
Not many
fool me. That’s why I’m still alive. I think the thing he would
know has to do with where he’s been with her and who she’s met, not
with anything more specific.”

They strolled down to the dock where Vern was
trying to teach a few of the Indios how to care for a surf board
(Which they couldn’t care less about). After a few minutes the
Indios went on and Clint and Marko sat on the dock with Vern to
discuss a lot of nothing. Clint soon said they had to fish around
with his mind to learn what he knew that he didn’t know he knew. He
grinned and said, “Go for it!” Clint said they had to know where he
had been with Sally and who she met and talked with.

“
I sort
of figured there’s something important in that. What was she
into?”

“
We’re
afraid she was working with a terrorist group. They may have gotten
their hands on some old nuclears because of her. They can do a
contamination bit with them.”

“
No shit?
That would mean you want to know about the trip to Israel to see
the religious spots – when she was a lot of things, religious not
among them.

“
We met
some dude I was suspicious about in Haifa. It wasn’t much, but we
saw him in Paris and again in London. Muhammed al Himbra or
something that sounded like that. She gave him a little money.
Maybe a couple thousand. He was supposed to introduce her to some
people. I wasn’t included in that part.”

“
Did you
know of anyone she met because of him?” Marko asked.

“
Well, in
London. A man called ‘Coyote’ was hanging around a bit too much. I
did check on him because I felt he was trying to get her to finance
something shady.”

“
And?”

“
His
name’s Johnathon Gordon. He’s a sort of second-rate con man, but he
knows people. His name’s also Jon LeGrande in France. He seems to
run back and forth between the two countries.”

“
I can
check on him,” Clint replied. “Maybe he’s the contact between her
and who set the deal up. Do you know anything at all about the
seven billion?”

There was a pause. “Seven BILLION?”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
You have
GOT to be kidding!”

“
Huh-uh.”

“
I knew
she was doing something with those people, but I swear I didn’t
have a clue as to billions! Christ! I don’t need this shit! I just
want to live a simple life of dissipation! Christ!

“
Okay. I
didn’t think it was really important and had just about put it into
a sort of ‘who cares’ file in my mind.

“
She met
with a man in Sydney. Carl Marks. I think he was the only person in
the world she was scared of. I never knew why. I knew the name was
phony. He was a very scary person. He could look at you in a way
that made your blood run cold, as trite as that seems.”

“
With
reason,” Marko said. “I know who you’re talking about. He’s a
sociopath with so much money no one can touch him.”

“
We’ll
have to touch him,” Clint suggested.

Early in the morning the phone buzzed. Clint
picked it up and noted it was from Marko. He reported that Marks
was in Panamá City meeting with the Davises.

“
And?”
Clint asked.

“
They’re
stupid. He’ll ask about the money and they can’t give him answers.
They don’t HAVE any answer because they don’t have a clue as to
what’s going down.”

“
Manny,
what did she do with that much money? Is it in cash? Where is
it?”

“
We may
never know or we may be able to work backward with Vern. It’s our
only chance.”

“
I’ll go
to Panamá City to offer my sympathies to the bereaved
family.”

“
Do NOT
turn your back on Marks!”

“
Not even
maybe!”

Clint sighed, got up, swam for ten minutes,
fixed breakfast and packed. Another trip. He could get the direct
bus in Almirante and would be in Panamá City in nine hours. It
wouldn’t do to take a flight that would be checked if anyone was
interested. Someone would rather definitely be interested.

Clint didn’t waste a lot of time. He knew
where to find the Davis family. That would lead him to the Carl
Marks character. This had to be over – and fast. They were are The
Europa. Suite 309.

He didn’t care much for Edgar when he opened
the door. He was a wheedler. Bernice, the wife, was a schemer.
Greed was dripping off both of them. Bruce, who he met when they
invited him into the room, reminded him very much of Sally.

“
We thank
you for your concern about our daughter,” Bernice said. ”She was
always the rock who held the family together. We owe most of what
we have to her.

“
Did you
know her well? You are a friend of her husband? We can’t understand
why he isn’t here.”

“
He wants
to stay alive and knows perfectly well he was a toy-boy to make her
sorority friends jealous. He doesn’t have a clue as to the crap she
was into. I doubt you do, either.”

“
WHAT?!”
Bruce cried. “Crap she was into?! She didn’t say what it was to ...
I resent that! I resent it very much!”

“
Yeah,
yeah. You resent it almost to the point you would toss me out if
you didn’t suspect I knew where the money is.

“
Marks
won’t allow any of you to live once you find it. You’re out of your
league. Sally was a lot more savvy than the bunch of you combined –
and she’s dead. You might want to consider that little
factor.

“
I don’t
care about you. I want to get Marks. You can go back to the states
with the certain knowledge the FBI or CIA or whatever will be
watching you every minute for the rest of your lives. If any of
those nuclears are ever used you’ll be eliminated in
seconds.”

They were showing shock a hell of a lot
better than the Cartworthys ever did. This was very real. Bruce was
dead white and looked like he would keel over.

Clint sighed, shook his head and asked where
he could find Marks. They said he would call them to set up a
meeting. They didn’t like Clint, but were undecided as to whether
or not to trust him.

“
Fine. As
a very powerful man told me just this morning, ‘When you’re in the
same city as Marks, watch your back.’ I pass that on to you.” He
walked out and went to the lobby to wait. They got out of the
elevator twenty five minutes later and hailed a cab. Clint got
another one and followed at a short distance. They went directly to
a very expensive section of town, to the golf and country club and
into the bar-restaurant. They asked the waitress something and she
pointed to door “B” of the private dining rooms.

Clint sat at the bar and ordered coffee and a
heated pecan Danish. This was the one place you could get that that
Clint knew of.

Twelve minutes later the Davises left. Clint
sat for another three minutes until an intense little man came out
carrying a briefcase. There was no one else in the room. Clint
followed the little man, who went directly down the street to a
Mercedes and a climbed in. Clint waved for a cab and followed it to
a large condominium complex near the causeway. The man got out and
went inside. Clint was there in time to watch the little man go to
the elevator to the Penthouse Suites.

That one was a lawyer or bookkeeper. Marks
was in the penthouse ... except that the elevator stopped four
floors below, according to the number lights. It started back down
immediately.

Clint turned to see a thin man in an
expensive suit watching him.

“
Looking
for me, Mr. Faraday?”

“
Yes.
Carl Marks – and I found you. They don’t have a tiny clue as to
where she stashed the money.”

“
As I
have learned from the meeting – or they may know exactly where it
is. One of them reacts in the strangest places. The case Harold
carries has a video/audio transmitter of most exceptional quality
inside. I didn’t really believe for ... well! It seems you have me
figured for the locating part. I should have left immediately as
you came in. Following my representative did find me.

“
C’est la
vie. I was somewhat interested in meeting you, in any case. You may
have information I can use. It is for me to be more clever than you
in extracting it.”

“
We’re
looking for the same thing. If I knew anything I’d already have the
money and be gone.”

“
We want
the money for different reasons. I don’t care about it for money. I
care about where it leads.”

“
That I
know. Terrorists and nuclear materials.”

“
They
were sold to establish power generation, not for what they have now
become. Even such as I would not be a part of that.”