Nine Man's Murder

NINE

MAN’S

MURDER

Eric Keith

Copyright © 2011 by Eric Keith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be e-mailed to [email protected].

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Book design: Emily Marlowe

Cover design: Pamela Gelbert

Ransom Note Press, LLC

P.O. Box 419

Ridgewood, NJ 07451

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Keith, Eric, 1951-

Nine man’s murder / by Eric Keith. — 1st U.S. ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-9773787-7-7 (pbk.)

1. Private investigators—Crimes against—Fiction 2. Vacation homes—Fiction. I. Title. II. Title: 9 man’s murder.

PS3611.E368N56 2011

813’.6—dc22

2010034858

I dedicate this book to my wife Marcia,

without whom I would not be possible.

THE PLAYERS

Carter Anderson

Employee in his brother Damien’s detective agency. Has lived his life in his brother’s shadow. But he is about to step out.

Reeve Argyle

Son of poor Italian-American parents, he is a bodyguard hunted by a crime lord for a betrayal he did not commit. But is he the hunted or the hunter?

Hatter Cates

Best-selling author of violent supernatural thrillers and spokesman for the occult. Hatter believes the dead return to avenge their deaths. The question is: Do they have help?

Jill Constable

A home health-care nurse. Romantically involved with Bryan West fifteen years ago. The secret she shares with Amanda Farrell is one she is willing to die for. But is it one she is willing to kill for?

Jonas Cruz

Formerly a business partner of Bryan West. Son of migrant farm workers. Has a secret to hide. To keep it buried, will others have to be buried with it?

Amanda Farrell

Prosecutor for the district attorney, building a case against the employer of her former lover, Reeve Argyle. To what lengths will she go to get a conviction? And to what lengths will she go to cover it up?

Gideon Lane

A wheelchair-bound priest defrocked after a “misunderstanding,” Gideon is searching for the culprit responsible for his condition. Do his religious beliefs include “an eye for an eye”?

Bennett Nash

A freelance smuggler on the run from the law. How far will he go to stay one step ahead?

Bryan West

Owner of a detective agency. Former business partner of Jonas Cruz. Romantically involved with Jill Constable fifteen years ago. On a crusade to avenge a family tragedy, and willing to bend the rules. But how far?

MOON’S END FLOOR PLANS

FIRST FLOOR

SECOND FLOOR

TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO

Los Angeles Times

September 1

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—The four-year-old daughter of District Attorney Nathaniel West disappeared yesterday from her Santa Monica home. Police are treating the disappearance as a kidnapping, though as of this time no ransom demand has been received. West, a candidate in the upcoming mayoral election, has declined comment. A spokesman for Mr. West says that the district attorney will be suspending all campaign activities as the search for his daughter continues. There is yet no word as to whether Mr. West will drop out of the race.

Los Angeles Times

September 5

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Four-year-old Priscilla West, daughter of District Attorney and mayoral candidate Nathaniel West, was found yesterday in an abandoned tobacco shop in the Crenshaw district. The girl was kidnapped from her Santa Monica home five days ago. Doctors have no comment concerning Priscilla’s physical condition, citing the need for further examination. No arrests have been made. Police say they are continuing to investigate the kidnapping but will release no details, except to speculate that the kidnapping appears to have been a professional job.

Los Angeles Times

September 5

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—Four-year-old Priscilla West, daughter of District Attorney and mayoral candidate Nathaniel West, was found yesterday in an abandoned tobacco shop in the Crenshaw district. The girl was kidnapped from her Santa Monica home four days ago. Doctors have no comment concerning Priscilla’s physical condition, citing the need for further examination. No arrests have been made. Police say they are continuing to investigate the kidnapping but will release no details, except to speculate that the kidnapping appears to have been a professional job.

Part One

✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗

INVITATION TO THE GAME

THE PRESENT

1

December 12

The railroad station was deserted. Not a soul in sight. Bryan West had arrived before the others, it seemed.

What if no one else showed up? No, the invitation had been too intriguing to pass up. Still, it was over three hundred miles from Los Angeles. The sun had beckoned after him when Bryan had left the hub of southern California this morning; here glowering thunderheads were strung across the sky like No Trespassing signs. Best to wait inside.

It would be a well-earned vacation. Bryan had been working too hard, pushing himself to build an empire out of the bankrupt carcasses of his competitors. A ruthless game, but it had to be played.

Absently he fingered the knotted cord dangling from his neck, the necklace Prissy had made for him. If it were not something that could be damaged in the shower, it would never leave his body at all. Was it only yesterday he had last seen her? Thursday … yes. Twice a week he saw his sister, regular as clockwork.

We were all victims of the kidnapping, Bryan thought. Mom. Dad. Priscilla. Me.

Bryan glanced around the large, ghostly station. He was alone. He slipped the note from his jacket pocket and read it once again with a frown. Typed. No clues as to the author. All his adult life he had been investigating threats like this to other people; but now that it was personal, he understood why his clients had always been so unnerved.

The unexpected sound left him little time to thrust the note back into his pocket. A creaking of metal and slow muffled footsteps echoed behind him.

“Move and you’re dead.” The footsteps drew nearer. “Now raise your hands and turn around. Slowly.”

With arms raised, Bryan turned, green eyes faintly aglow, to confront the muzzle of a small silver handgun.

Bryan studied his assailant. Taller than Bryan, with a wiry frame. Sleek black hair swept carelessly across a tawny forehead, wrinkled with care and browned as much by the sun as by his Latin heritage. Cool brown eyes with a hunted look, like a man running from something.

“Well, if it isn’t the late great Bryan West,” said the newcomer.

Bryan glanced at his wristwatch.

“Actually, I’m a bit early.”

“Still the same old wise guy. Just like when we were partners. Cool-headed, always one step ahead of your adversary. Fiercely competitive, to the point of stealing clients from rivals.”

“Funny, you never complained when my tactics failed. Only when they worked.” Bryan stared at the gun. “Do you really need to point that thing at me?”

“I do if I want to shoot you.”

The explosion muffled Bryan’s protest before he could utter it.

2

Bryan West’s twisted form lay lifelessly on the railroad station floor. Beside him, a shadow shook its head.

“You’re still an unconvincing actor.”

Bryan lifted his head. “You’re still a lousy shot, Jonas.”

Jonas Cruz emptied the cartridge from his weapon.

“Oh, I didn’t miss.” He held the bullets in his outstretched hand. “Blanks.”

Bryan took them from Jonas, studying them briefly before depositing them absently in his jacket pocket.

“Remember the last time we used that trick?” Jonas asked. “It saved both our lives.”

One of their many escapades during their partnership.

“So,” Jonas continued, “is this reunion going to be business or pleasure?”

“Business?”

Jonas glanced around the empty station. “Carter and Damien will both be here.” He waited in vain for a reaction. “Have you said anything yet? To either of them?”

“Not yet.”

“Do you plan to … at the reunion?”

“I haven’t decided.”

“I see.” Jonas lowered his voice instinctively. “Jill will be here, too, you know. I suppose you know about Lakeview.”

“Yes, I know.”

Bryan began pacing in front of the broad train station windows. “Do you think anyone else will show up?” he asked.

“If training counts for anything. The invitation I received was too enticing for any trained detective to pass up. What do you make of it?”

“Well, it wasn’t so much the invitation that intrigued me, as the envelope. That L.A. postmark—”

Something outside the window stopped Bryan’s tongue. “Well,” he said, “I think we’re about to get some answers.”

3

Carter Anderson watched the two men emerge from the train station.

“At last,” Jonas said. “Someone who can tell us what this is all about.”

Carter’s frown formed before he could suppress it. “Sorry, but Damien never mentioned a word about this—to me, anyway. I’m as much in the dark as you.”

“Isn’t this rather unlike Damien?” Bryan asked. “He comes to Moon’s End to be alone.”

“Every year at this time, for two weeks,” Carter confirmed. “That’s why he bought Moon’s End—to get away from everyone.” Carter held up his invitation. “Which is what makes this invitation so odd. I’ve never known my brother to do anything like this.”

“Damien sent you an invitation?” Jonas regarded Carter through narrowed eyes. “He didn’t just tell you about the reunion?”

“Not even a hint. I got my invitation in the mail.”

“You’d think he would have said something to you,” Bryan said, as puzzled as Jonas. “You work with him every day.”

But it wasn’t just the idea of Damien sending Carter an invitation that was odd. It was the invitation’s tone, as well. It didn’t sound like Damien. It was too … theatrical? Melodramatic? Formal?

“I tried calling Damien at Moon’s End,” Bryan said, “but all I got was static.”

“Probably a downed phone line. Must have taken out the Internet, as well. I tried sending him an email, but it didn’t go through. If the phone is out, the Internet won’t work, either.” Carter shook his head. “Not that Damien would have bothered to turn on his computer.”

But Carter and Bryan had not been the only ones trying to reach Damien. Someone had called for him at the office three days ago. Anna had taken the call. Didn’t leave his name, Anna had told Carter. Asking when Damien had left on his vacation.

And that wasn’t the only strange call the Anderson Detective Agency had received recently. Two months ago someone had called, asking Anna questions about Damien’s graduates fifteen years ago. Carter’s graduating class.

Why would anyone want to know about them?

4

S
he was not
the first to arrive. Three others were already there, loitering outside. The tall, gaunt one with the careworn face and short, conservatively cut hair, starting to thin: That had to be Carter. With him were Jonas and Bryan. It was not as if she hadn’t known this was going to happen.

“Jill,” Jonas called out. “It’s good to see you.”

He took her hand in both of his. Quickly she withdrew it and stepped backward.

“Jill Constable?” Carter said. “Wow, Jill, you look great.”

Jill risked a sidelong glance at Bryan. He stood staring at the ground. The silence was painfully awkward.

Did Bryan know about Lakeview? Bryan seemed to know everything. Well, why should she care? After what he had done, why did it matter what he thought?

Nonetheless, she would stay away from him. And Jonas. She would stay away from both of them.

5

Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney

Update: November 25

Re: Evidence recovered from Cahuenga warehouse fire

Yesterday a fire burned to the ground a suspected counterfeiting base of operations for reputed crime lord Antonio Capaldi. Capaldi is the subject of an eight-year investigation by Deputy District Attorney Amanda Farrell. Ms. Farrell has been accumulating evidence of illegal activities by the Capaldi ring: in particular, a counterfeiting operation.

The current theory is that Capaldi got wind of rumors that investigators were closing in on his operation and torched his own warehouse in order to destroy any incriminating evidence. Fortunately, a close examination of the site uncovered a silver key. The key’s unique design made it possible, through painstaking canvassing of locksmiths in the Los Angeles area, to identify the manufacturer. The key proved to be custom made for a special lock—on a drawer in Antonio Capaldi’s office.

A warrant to search the office gave investigators the opportunity to unlock that drawer, in which they found a ledger filled with coded entries. It is hoped that when cryptographers have succeeded in deciphering the entries, the ledger will provide evidence of Capaldi’s counterfeiting activities, and possibly other crimes as well.

The ledger is currently being held in the evidence locker of the downtown headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department.

***

Excerpt from Preliminary LAPD Report

November 28

Re: Attempted theft from evidence locker

Yesterday, a coded ledger possibly linking crime lord Antonio Capaldi to dozens of crimes, including the arson at his suspected counterfeiting lab that resulted in one known death, was the object of an attempted theft from the downtown division evidence locker. The theft was attempted by two men, one of whom was captured, while the other escaped and is still at large. Circumstances suggest that the escaped thief masterminded the operation. His identity is at this time unknown.

The theft was clearly an inside job. The thieves had apparently been provided with a key to the evidence locker, as one was reported missing from the station. The missing key was later recovered after the escaped thief slipped it into the pocket of a five-year-old girl not far from the station.

The attempted theft was thwarted. Initial questioning of the captured accomplice has thus far proven unfruitful. He refuses to reveal anything, including the identity of his partner. He spends most of his time insisting he was tricked.

***

December 8

A
ll that scheming,
all that time spent—not to mention everything she had been forced to do—and it all almost went up in smoke. Literally. And then, after dealing with the problem, this attempted theft …

Amanda laid the police report and her notes side by side on the desk. If the thieves had succeeded in stealing that coded ledger from the evidence locker … she didn’t even want to think about it. Instead she focused on the report. Two perps, and only one captured, while the other got away. And Amanda could not believe the identity of the one who’d been captured.

John did not wait for a response to his knock. Amanda barely had time to stash her notes in the drawer before John, hovering over her desk, tossed a sheet of paper onto the blotter.

“Thought you might like to see this,” he said with a wink, “seeing as I’ve heard you mention the name before.”

She glanced at the note. “Thanks, John.”

He waited no longer for a dismissal than he had for an invitation to enter. Before Amanda could conjure a line of small talk, she found herself alone in the office once more.

She read over the note. Bryan West had been nosing around, asking questions about the Cahuenga arson and about Capaldi in general. Who had hired him to investigate? He could become a problem, if he got too close. He certainly had the brains to piece it together. Was Jonas on the trail, as well? That would be awkward, having to deal with Jonas.

After she had worked so hard, given up so much, she was not about to let it fall apart now. She was finally close to her goal, and she could not let them—or anyone else—ruin it. Her work on the Capaldi case—eight years of her life—was about to earn her a promotion. But if District Attorney Peyton knew what she had done to sew up the case, he would fire rather than promote her.

Of course, she could just as easily lose her job through personal indiscretion. Which is what made talking to Reeve such a gamble. But there was no choice: He was the only one who could help her. At least the conversation would take place up in the mountains, isolated from ears that mustn’t hear what she had to say. And if he reacted badly, he would have time to cool off. He couldn’t just run off and do something stupid. The reunion would give her a certain measure of control over the situation.

But she would be walking a thin wire. Bryan and Reeve were not the only threats. Who knew what Damien or Carter or Gideon—or any of the others, for that matter—had found out? The reunion would be the perfect opportunity to discover who knew what. And to find a way to make sure no one shared it with the wrong people.

6

December 8

W
hat was he
going to do? Had he been fingered? Bennett sighed. The operation had quickly gone south, placing him in a pernicious double jeopardy. Not only would the police be looking for him, but Capaldi, as well. He would have to hide out here until Friday, not daring to venture out into civilization. The cabin had no telephone, television, or radio. He would be completely cut off from the outside world. But at least he would be safe. No one knew about the cabin.

So how had the stranger found him this morning?

He must have followed Bennett. But why? Clearly the stranger was connected with neither Capaldi nor the police, or Bennett would have been captured by now. In a way, that was even more troubling.