Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition (92 page)

“
She’s
the one who killed her own father, you know. I have no sympathy
with what happened to her.”

“
YOU
happened to her,” Clint said. “As you might say, she deserved
worse. I don’t really care about her. I care about what happened
since.”

“
When
that chest was found it was a shock to me that there was so much
money. I think she was the one who caused its discovery. She didn’t
know much about it. She did know there was some money in the chest,
I think. She would claim she had rights to the contents, except for
the money. When it was found to contain millions she panicked. That
would mean explanations she couldn’t tender if she knew about the
chest in the first place.

“
Then Jul
... a certain person contacted her and me. Very powerful people in
Colombia wanted to know what was in the chest. Relatives of
mine.

“
I did
not kill her – but I was there. She didn’t know where the second
chest was. The man from the family became enraged. He killed her
when she said he could kiss her ass. She wouldn’t be intimidated
enough to tell trash such as he anything. No man would ever again
make her do anything.

“
His
sister, therefore a more distant relative of mine, is living with a
man here for the purpose of observing. That second chest must not
be discovered, then it was. John Brandon took it upon himself to
find the chest. He had no idea of what it contained or why it was
so important. He was drawn into it through his naivete. You
observed him and found the chest. When it was reported that you
found absolutely nothing in that chest to point to anyone,
everybody relaxed. Then you checked the serial numbers of those
bills and they told the whole story. It was marked money. It was
plain from that point who had received the money, thus who was the
person who sold out competing businessmen to the E.U.A. Only they
would have a hundred fifty million dollars cash with registered
serial numbers as to who received the money. They never stop
looking for such sums. None of it ever was passed.

“
You know
the rest – or the parts that could concern anyone here, except for
myself and any other close relative of Josefus Cano.”

“
Yes.
Sylvia’s half-brother,” Clint said.

“
Half-brother?” he snarled. “She doesn’t have any
HALF-brother. She had two brothers. She’s a niece. She hasn’t
hidden that from them with a bunch of phony papers. They know one
hell of a lot more about how that works than she does!”

“
Apparently, she thinks she’s safe,” Clint said.

“
No one
is safe. She’s involved in the wrong parts of it,” Avenidas
replied. “I worry that John, who is a rather decent sort, might end
up dead because of this. He doesn’t have any way to know about
what’s involved. He doesn’t know anything about the relatives or
the money or anything else the rest of the people here
know.

“
There is
the blessing that it is so difficult to reach the island right now,
but it is also most difficult to leave.”

“
Brandon
has a boat. She can leave,” Dave said. “You can come and go, it’s
just more expensive now.

“
Apparently, Julio is still here. Did you consider
that?”

“
Who ...
Okay. I made that slip. Julio is family. He’s also marked for
extinction. He’s Sylvia’s brother. We might arrange to use the
Brandon boat, but that will be watched. We would be going right to
them, no matter where we went.”

“
How much
information do you have?” Clint asked.

“
A lot. I
learned a great deal from my father and uncle and have kept abreast
of the situations and persons since I was fifteen years
old.”

“
Take the
boat to ... like you’re on your way to Cusapin. It would be logical
that you might hide there for quite a time. Get a throwaway cell
phone, leave me the number. No one else. I’ll arrange for a person
to contact you when you’re in a certain area on the way. If anyone
can make you disappear, he can. You will answer any calls to that
phone with the words, ‘It’s your dime. Habla.’ The answer will be,
‘Bloody hell! I got the wrong number!’ It’ll probably cost you.
He’s not in the charity business. He’ll make a deal with people
from here and the US who need your information. I’ll tell you
flatly that he’ll also sell them the information. He will not sell
to the highest bidder. He has that going for him. Within his ...
area of expertise, he is known as being completely
trustworthy.

“
It’s
your only chance. I think he can protect you until the people who
want the information can take over. There’s a good chance they can
protect you.”

“
We have
no choice. To refuse is suicide.”

Manny came up. Clint explained that Avenidas
wanted to make a deal with a mutual friend who was in the
Mediterranean – and who would not make deals for this kind of
thing. He explained what he was setting up. Manny, who was the
person who was supposed to be in the Mediterranean, nodded. He said
maybe it would work. He couldn’t think of a better plan.

Avenidas called Sylvia, who said their place
was being watched. They didn’t dare go outside, though they might
be a little safer because it was so hard to leave. It was an
island, so the police could find them pretty fast.

“
Get the
boat, get the two others, meet me at the ferry dock. Don’t take
much, but bring all the cash you can get together. All of you. We
have one chance. I’ll tell you about it on the boat. Be sure there
is all the fuel we can carry.

“
Sylvia.
You are not to involve John in this at all! Is that quite
clear?”

He soon rang off and said she’d meet him on
the dock in twenty minutes. He would gather what he could carry and
the cash he had and be there. He would greatly appreciate it if the
group would stay together for the twenty minutes.

He went to the internet café where Digicel
had a promotion and bought a ten dollar phone and two dollars time,
then to his rooming house to gather some things he had packed for
when he planned to hide on the island. They got to the dock about
four minutes before the Brandon boat came. Clint had noted the man
watching. He had also called Sergio to have the police boat in the
area. The Brandon boat would be followed. The police would stop the
follower for a safety check and license check. The Brandon boat
would go around like it was heading for Almirante, then would
detour behind Sheppard’s Island and behind Isla San Cristóbal,
through Dolfin Bay, and out by the Zapatillos. It would be easy to
spot any watchers. Avenidas had instructions on what to do if they
were followed.

When they were on their way and the police
boats had stopped two boats for ID and license checks Clint et al
headed for the new restaurant nearby that was supposed to be good.
Clint called Manolo and told him what he’d told Avenidas. He had
the number of the phone and was to call when they had enough time
to be near Chiriqui Grande and to say, “Bloody hell! I got the
wrong number!” when Avenidas answered with “It’s your dime. Habla.”
That would identify him. It was up to him after that point. Charge
them whatever they could let go of and let them see him make a deal
with the DEA and whatever where he also got some cash for
delivering them. In case there was ever any communication between
them and the cartels, he was simply doing what everyone thought he
was doing. His cover would be safe. Then they had a great night.
Gina went home with Clint.

“
We’ve
gotten a few things done and a bit accomplished for the DEA and
that kind of crap,” Clint complained. “There shouldn’t be much
danger from that bunch now. Why do I get the feeling something’s
been missed?”

“
You got
me there,” Dave answered. “I can’t see where anything’s left out of
what you set out to do.

“
I’m
taking Selma to David, then over to see some friends in Chitre.
We’ll spend a night in Santiago on the way back to David, then she
wants to see Puerto Armuelles and Rio Sereno. She knows a couple of
people in Boquete.

“
What I’m
saying is that I don’t have the foggiest when I’ll get
back.

“
What’s
Gina gonna do now that Avenidas is obviously not going to be
running any business?”

“
She’s
going back to Colombia and then back here. She has some friends –
well, I do – who can get her a residence visa.”

“
She
gonna live with you?”

“
We don’t
know. We get along well enough and she’s the kind I can stay
with.”

He nodded, then went to pick Selma up and go
to the Refugio to use their dock to have an Indio friend take them
to Almirante. Clint went to the Golden Grill to talk with the
locals. A private jet had landed just before noon. It wasn’t Jimmy
Buffet, so they didn’t know who it was. Probably a big union
boss.

“
I
wouldn’t be at all surprised,” Clint replied. “Nobody will note
that the union boss has a private jet. That won’t be enough to show
what that bunch is. The only ones who get anything out of this kind
of crap are the union bosses. No sense in worrying about
it.”

They talked a bit about Wild Bill and the
treasure and such. Clint went to take Gina to the airport, then
decided to go fishing the rest of the afternoon. Ben had a friend
at his place who would like to go out for the afternoon, so he
invited them along. They had a good time diving around the reef
just inside of Solarte, then Clint let Ben and Earl out at The Reef
Restaurant dock and went home. He went inside to find a large man
about fifty five years of age and a younger one who looked like him
sitting in his sala. He didn’t show any surprise. He just told them
that they should have called and he would have been back
sooner.

“
Mr.
Faraday, I have heard much about you the past few days. I am in
need of your services. I apologize for this intrusion, but didn’t
wish to wait in the town. My enemies will know I am here and that I
am speaking with you, so you will be in some small danger from
that, but I assure you, they dare not act against you in a violent
way. It would introduce far more excessive violence that would be
directed at them.

“
I’m
sorry! It is a breach of good manners I am seldom prone to commit.
I am Jaime Serrano. I hope I have avoided being particularly noted
by you, as of yet. This is my son, Renaldo.

“
I will
shut up and allow you to speak, another breach on my
part.”

Clint shrugged and said he didn’t have a clue
as to what he wanted to talk about.

“
That is,
I find, good. I will approach this by telling you some history –
and what finding that treasure means. It is not what you think and
I am not speaking of the money chest. I am speaking of the other
two. The money was expected to be found, eventually. It was a most
inconvenient find at this time, but that is relegated to
history.”

“
I was
wondering what I missed. Would you like a beer?”

“
That
would be most kind of you.”

Family Day

“
I will
tell you of my family for the past five generations, then you will
see how much of this came about.

“
My
grandfather four times removed was called El Tiburón. He was a
slightly successful pirate in the Caribbean. He is important in
that he fathered my grandfather four times removed, who was known
as Fire Eyes, who you may have heard of. He was a more successful
pirate. He is the one who actually enriched the family greatly with
his ill-earned wealth.

“
Fire
Eyes was known locally – by which I mean in every port from
southern Mexico to Brazil – as a man who garnered his fortune by
the worst kind of means, but who spread his wealth to the people in
the ports. His worst feature was that he was an extreme racist. He
despised the Negroes and Indios a little more than he despised
anyone not Spanish.

“
My great
great grandfather was a politician who tried to make up for his
father’s policies by favoring the Negroes and Indios, though his
methods resulted in even more resentment. He was killed when the
results of one of his policies, actually introduced to help the
Indios, resulted in thousands of them being slaughtered for their
land. He went to try to find a way to change what happened to what
he had planned would happen. The Indios were, quite understandably,
not too willing to listen to anything more from him. I know that
his motives were good and that what happened horrified him. I have
his writings of the time.

“
My great
grandfather inherited some maps and details of where booty was
hidden along the coast. In seven locations, one of which was here
on what is now Isla Carenero. The chest found on Isla Colón was not
his. It was left by a pirate named Cutter. Cutter founded a branch
of the family now known as Cano in Colombia.

“
Our
family has never been involved WITH the Canos. We have always been
involved in halting the activities of that family. Many Canos are
very good people. Most of them are not of the branch of the family
that now disgraces the name.

“
My
grandfather and father merely used some of the treasure, converted
into cash or melted down for the precious metals, to continue the
family and to found and invest in businesses. I, as a result, own a
number of companies in a variety of fields. I am what is called
vastly wealthy because of the garnerings of my antecedents. I know
where all the treasures are hidden. I have mostly left them there
because I had hope the Indios would find them. Their cultural
imperative of sharing would, until quite recently, have made them
spread the wealth. Now government gets the whole thing and gives
the finders a pittance, thus I decided to leave the loot where it
is. I know of no government deserving of it.