Falafel Jones - Max Fried 02 - Payback's a Beach (17 page)

“Yes, Your Honor.”

The old lady ducked her head down between her shoulders for a second, smiled at Ed and then placed her finger vertically on her lip.

The judge made another note, looked up, and said, “Madison Bouleveau, you are charged with one count of petit larceny punishable by a fine of up to $500 and or up to 60 days in jail. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty, Your Honor.”

The judge made another note and then said, “Madison Bouleveau, you are also charged with possession of a schedule 1 controlled substance. This is a third degree felony punishable by a fine of up to $5000 and or imprisonment of up to five years in a state penitentiary. How do you plead?”

Maddie swallowed so hard, I could hear her gulp. “Not guilty, Your Honor.”

The judge made another note and said. “Bail?”

A.D.A. Knott said, “Fifty thousand dollars, judge. The defendant is a New York State resident with no local address.”

Helmsley smoothed his tie with his palm. “Your Honor, Ms. Bouleveau is a snowbird. She has been spending her winters in Florida, here in Volusia County for over 20 years.” He turned to face the prosecutor. “Since before Mr. Knott started kindergarten.”

The judge looked up. “That wasn’t necessary, Mr. Helmsley. She has a local address?”

When Helmsley stated the address, the judge turned from him to look at the young A.D.A. When A.D.A. Knott said nothing, the judge said, “You don’t recognize the address, do you?”

Knott looked embarrassed. “No, ma’am.”

The judge smiled. “Maybe you will later in your career. That’s the Coronado Yacht Club. Mr. Helmsley, does your client have use of a boat?”

“Um, yes, Your Honor.”

The judge said, “Bail is set at $50,000. Defendant will surrender her passport and is ordered not to leave United States waters. Next case.”

Ed and I left the courtroom for the hall and I asked him, “Now what?”

“Well, a couple of things don’t make sense.” Ed noticed some people standing in earshot and motioned me over to a bench facing the courtroom door. We sat and he said, “Petit larceny is theft of an item worth less than $300. That gold rod has to be upwards of 500 thou. More importantly, they didn’t charge her with murder or even attempted murder. Hell, they didn’t even charge her with manslaughter. I don’t get it.” Ed nodded towards the courtroom door. “Let’s wait for Helmsley.”

“You know him?”

Ed gave me his “Are you kidding me?” look and I realized, of course he knew him. Ed knew everybody, especially if they had money and or influence. As I thought about it, I was surprised he bothered to spend any time at all with me.

Ed reached into his pocket for his cigarettes and fumbled in the pack to pull one loose. I pointed to his hands and said, “Ed.”

“What? Oh.” As he put the package back into his pocket, Helmsley and Bucky exited the courtroom. Bucky handed Helmsley an envelope, which quickly disappeared inside Helmsley’s expensive looking suit jacket. The two men spoke to each other, shook hands and then Bucky pulled out his cell phone.

Helmsley apparently noticed Ed on the bench because he walked over to him and reached out his hand. “Edward McCarthy. It’s been a while but then, I haven’t been down here for one of these in years. The associates handle these types of things for me.”

Ed stood and shook his hand. “So why are you here?”

Helmsley grinned. “When a big client wants a small favor, who am I to say no?” Helmsley turned to me. “You made a great choice selecting Mr. McCarthy here. If anybody can get you off, it’s him.”

I said, “I didn’t do anything.”

Helmsley smiled at me. “Of course you didn’t and Ed will find a way to prove it.”

Ed said, “As much as I’m enjoying this confusion, Max isn’t my client. He’s a PI.”

Helmsley looked at his watch and I could see the Rolex logo. “Really? How nice for him. I’ve got to get going but it was good to see you again, Ed.”

“Sure. Oh and good job in there.”

Helmsley brightened and no longer seemed in a hurry to leave. “Oh, you saw me work?”

“Yes and I’m impressed. How’d you get that charge reduced to petit larceny? That gold rod had to be worth several hundred thousand.”

Helmsley laughed. “It certainly would be if it were solid gold.”

“What do you mean?”

“That rod isn’t worth more than $250. It’s made from lead and only thinly plated with gold. Cheap gold at that.”

Helmsley took off leaving Ed and me in the hall. I didn’t get it so I asked Ed, “Why would someone hide a fake gold rod on Fisher’s boat?”

He shrugged. I wanted to shrug it off too, but I couldn’t. I just can’t leave things alone when they don’t make sense. I speculated. “Maybe someone wanted to smoke out a thief?”

Ed said, “If that’s the case, it would be likely that Fisher planted it there.”

“Yeah, or maybe somebody stole Fisher’s gold rod and wanted to delay discovery of the theft.”

“Or maybe it’s a red herring.”

“Red herring?”

“Yes, maybe there never was any real gold rod. Maybe Fisher put Bucky’s money elsewhere and used the gold plated rod as misdirection.”

“Gee, I guess we’ll never know.”

Ed looked past me down the hall. “Bucky doesn’t look upset.”

I turned to see Bucky putting his cell phone back in his pocket. “Why’s he still here?”

“Probably waiting for Maddie. I saw him give Helmsley an envelope. My guess is that Bucky paid for her legal fees and posted her bail.”

“Let’s talk to him. See if he says anything that might explain the rod.”

Bucky must have seen us looking his way because he waved as we walked over. We shook hands all around and he looked like he was actually happy to see us. I’m not used to that and I certainly didn’t expect it from Bucky. I was the one who led the police to Maddie.

Bucky shook Ed’s hand and without letting go said, “I’m glad to see you, Ed.” Bucky pulled Ed closer, lowered his voice, and said, “I’ve got some business for you. Can’t discuss it here.”

Ed said, “Sure. I’m happy to help.”

Bucky released Ed’s hand. “Still have that office off of Flagler Avenue?”

“Yes.”

“How ‘bout we meet after lunch today?”

“That would be fine.”

As Bucky walked away, I wondered what business he might have for Ed. Disappointed Bucky said nothing about the gold plated rod, I turned towards the building lobby so we could leave but Ed grabbed my arm. “Wait.”

I stopped and Ed pointed at the door to the courtroom where we watched Maddie’s arraignment. “Knott. Let’s ask him about the charges.”

As A.D.A. Knott walked past us, Ed stepped in front of him. “Mr. Knott?”

Knott looked up at Ed and said, “Excuse me. I’ve got to go.”

“Just one question.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.”

“I’m Attorney Edward McCarthy and —”

“Yes, I know who you are but I’ve still got to go. The judge has granted a ten minute recess so everyone can um, use the facilities. I’ve had three cups of coffee already and I’ve really got to go. I don’t get back in time, I can be fined.” Knott stepped around Ed and entered the men’s room. Ed and I looked at each, shrugged, and followed Knott inside. We entered just in time to see Knott enter a stall. Ed stationed himself at the door and said, “Mr. Knott, how come you didn’t charge Madison Bouleveau for Drew Fisher’s murder?”

A voice came from inside the stall. “I can’t talk to you.”

“Sure you can. I can hear you just fine.”

“No, it’s private attorney work product. I can’t discuss it. Damn, there’s no paper in here. Hand me some, will you?”

Ed said, “Sorry, I can’t discuss that with you and I’ve got to go.” We left Knott with his dilemma and headed for the parking lot.

Ed dropped me off at home and we agreed to meet for lunch. There was nothing more I could do at the time for Brenda’s case so Mariel and I finally got to take our usual beach walk to Bobbi and Jack’s. I had missed it and was happy to be back in my swim trunks. We walked north on the beach, ankle deep in the surf, and my mood brightened considerably. When we arrived at the bar, a couple we often saw there was on their way out. They lived at the Malibu Condo and since I didn’t know their names, I called them the Maliboozers. We all smiled and waved. Ed, Sheila, and Brenda occupied a table on the deck so Mariel and I joined them.

Ed insisted on taking our lunch order and struggled to bring it to our table. I offered to help but he wouldn’t hear of it. Ed, Sheila, Brenda, Mariel, and I were all pleased that the police arrested Maddie. I didn’t like the idea of feeling good about Maddie’s misfortune so I told myself I was celebrating a small improvement in Brenda’s case. After he distributed our food and drinks, Ed sat and asked, “So, do you think Maddie really killed Drew Fisher?”

Brenda said, “I don’t care. All I care about is that the police arrested her instead of me. This whole experience has been horrible.”

Sheila leaned over and patted Brenda’s knee. “I agree. I knew you didn’t do it.” When she said that, Brenda’s eyebrows furrowed and Ed opened his mouth, paused, and then closed it without saying anything.

Mariel said, “Well, Maddie admitted drugging his alcohol. She was there on Drew’s boat around the time of death, she had the murder weapon in her possession, and Drew did jilt her. Even though she denies killing him, she looks good for it. At the very least, drugging his booze should be attempted homicide. I don’t understand why they didn’t charge her with murder.”

I nodded my head and raised my glass, “To justice and maybe soon, we can get back to our normal lives.”

Ed sipped his drink and then said, “And it looks like I’ll be able to continue to practice law.”

I said, “Yeah?”

“After he arrested Maddie with the murder weapon, Torres was so pleased, he dropped his complaint against me.”

“He’s a smart guy. He must have seen that it wasn’t in his best interest to embarrass Judge Barnes for signing that order.”

“Yes, I got lucky.”

Sheila smirked, “And you will again, later. In the meantime, I’m going to take my baby shopping on Flagler Avenue. I think a piece of jewelry or a new sundress is just the thing to cheer her up.” She held out her hand to Brenda, “Come on doll, let’s hit the boutiques.”

Brenda seemed reluctant to get up. She gave Ed a quick glance and he nodded back at her. Then she stood, leaned over, and hugged Mariel. “It was good to see you again. Bye everybody and thank you.”

We said goodbye and I reflected on how everybody hugs Mariel. Whenever the two of us encountered people, she got a hug and I got a handshake. The more I thought about it, the more widespread I realized this phenomenon was. For example, when we started at our new dentist, they assigned Mariel to the petite, sweet, and young hygienist but sent me to see Brunhilda who looked like a former NFL player. Mariel’s dental assistant offered her a choice of flavors for her cleaning toothpaste while in the next room, Brunhilda leaned her meaty palm on my eyeball as she dug for gold in between my teeth. Lost in my own world, I didn’t immediately realize Ed said something. “What’s that?” I asked.

“I said that I didn’t want to talk about murder in front of Brenda again, but since the police haven’t charged Maddie with Fisher’s death, Brenda’s still on the hook.”

I said, “Yeah” and looked out over the sand to the incoming tide.

When Ed said, “Hi,” I turned to see to him waving as Bucky entered Bobbi and Jack’s.

Bucky left the indoor portion of the restaurant for the patio and Ed gestured to an empty seat at our table.

Bucky said, “Thank you. I thought that since we’d be meeting after lunch, I’d eat in the neighborhood.”

Mariel handed Bucky a menu and he said, “I haven’t seen you since we met on the
Clementine
. I should have known a woman like you would already have someone.” Then he looked at me and said, “Though, I didn’t expect the someone would be someone like him.”

I didn’t know how to take that but I decided to tuck it away for now. I could always over analyze it later. I stood and then so did Mariel. I said, “I understand you two have business to discuss, so we’ll leave you to it.”

Bucky held his hands palm down and made a motion for us to sit back down. “Please stay, I have something to discuss with you too.”

Mariel said, “If this is confidential, I’ll wait at the bar.”

“No, no, please sit.” We sat and Bucky continued speaking. “I want to hire Ed to file papers in Florida so I can recover my money from Fisher’s Floridian assets, if there are any.”

Ed asked, “Why me? Why not Helmsley?”

Bucky looked down at the floor and then looked up without making any eye contact. “Can I be frank?”

“Be anybody you want to be, just answer my question.”

“I really don’t need a big gun for this job and well, you bill less than Helmsley.”

Ed stared at Bucky for a moment and I thought Ed was going to lambast him. Instead, Ed relaxed, smiled, and said, “That’s fine but my rate just went up. It’s twice what I normally charge but less than what Helmsley would cost you.”