Storymania - Another Senseless Killing by B J Bloch

Another Senseless Killing (11)
B J Bloch

   “Are you going to put handcuffs on me?” She was fuming. “Are you going to fingerprint me? Are you --- “
   “Relax, Margo.” I said soothingly.
   “Let’s skip the formalities and get it on and over with, okay?”
    Three young policemen walked by and waved.
   “Why don’t we all go into my office?” Nick asked politely.
   “Is that a request or an order?”
   “Well, if you put it that way, I suppose it would be an order.”
   She paused a moment and looked back and forth between the two of us, then reluctantly followed us inside.
   “Please.” Nick pointed to two chairs in front of his desk. We sat down. He took off his jacket and loosened his tie. “Coffee?”
   Margo shook her head.” No.”
   I could see the outline of her panties through her tight slacks. I was dying to put my hand on her ass. My second wife had an ass like that. I loved to caress it. But so did every other jerk in the city.
   “Margo, this is serious business.” Nick waited for Margo to respond. When she didn’t, he proceeded. “I know you’re Manny’s client. You hired him to find your sister. But your sister is --- “ He took a deep breath. “--- deceased.”
   I put my hand on her shoulder. It felt like a piece of steel.
   “The probe Manny was conducting --- “ He threw me a quick glance. “ --- is over. Now it’s a murder investigation.” Nick spoke softly but firmly. “Your sister was brutally murdered. A guy named Curt Warner was brutally murdered. We need some answers.”
   Margo looked to me for help. I could only nod my head. Nick was right and we all knew it.
   No one spoke for several minutes.
   Margo suddenly put her face in her hands and began to cry. “I --- I promised Kate --- “
   We both gave her time to regain her composure.
   “Kate is gone, Margo.” I said as I put my chair closer to hers. “Nothing you can say or do will bring her back.”
   “Please. Help us.” Nick pleaded
   She nodded and took a tissue from her purse. Nick took a pencil and pad from the top drawer.
   It seemed like an eternity before she finally spoke. “I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Carver’s School For Models is a --- a ---”
   I knew this was painful for her. I finished her sentence. “Whorehouse!”
   “Yes.” Her voice was barely audible. “That’s as good a word as any.”
   “I suspected as much.” Nick said without batting an eye.
   “There haven’t been any classes for close to two years.” She blew her nose gently, then threw the tissue in the wastebasket. “It’s just a big front.”
   “How long have you known?” Nick asked.
   She closed her eyes. Another long painful moment passed. When she finally spoke, it was with great difficulty. “About a year --- or so. Kate used to tell me about these --- these --- strangers.”
   “Did she mention any names?” I asked.
   Margo shook her head. “No.”
   “But you knew about Herb Rowland.” Nick said.
   “Oh yes. She did mention him --- not by name though. I just happen to have seen them together.” She took a deep breath and put her head back. “Kate got one-thousand dollars. She kept half and gave half to Carver. It was all so stupid. She didn’t need his filthy money. She had plenty. And if she hadn’t, I would gladly have given her whatever she needed.”
   “I’m sure you would have.” Nick added.
   “She could have had any man in the world. She had looks. She had money --- a lot of money.” Margo took out a fresh tissue. “It’s all so stupid --- stupid --- stupid!” She blew her nose again.
Then she threw the tissue in after the other one. “She had this --- this sick desire to sleep around with scum like Rowland and Carver. Life was a vast and reckless adventure. She found her excitement in the dregs of society. The lower she sank, the more satisfied she seemed to be.” Now she raised her voice as the tears began to flow more freely. “You were at her apartment.” She looked at me then at Nick. “You saw her bedroom with the phallic lamp and the erotic blue light.”
   And the condoms stashed away in the wall.
   “Can there be any doubt at all that my sister was sick?”
   Nick and I just stared at each other. There followed a long silence.
   “What about the other girls at the agency?” Nick asked.
   “I only know what Kate told me.” She folded her hands on her lap around her purse. “Yes, they were involved. But, no I don’t know all their names.”
   Nick brought his chair closer to the desk. I knew he was going to change course. He wrote and talked at the same time. “Tell me how you knew Curt Warner?”
   “I saw him and Kate together once --- at her home.” Margo licked her lips repeatedly. “Warner didn’t know I was there. I saw him force her into the bedroom with the --- blue light. I --- “
   “Go on.” Nick said compassionately.
   “I heard loud voices --- mostly his.” She began to cry. “Then I heard sobbing. I know it was Kate.”
   “Did you ever confront her with this?” Nick asked.

   Low muffled voices indicated several police officers and clerks scattered throughout the building. A car went by. A dog began to bark from somewhere far away.
   “Yes.” Her eyes were suddenly cold. “But she wouldn’t talk about it. She flat out refused. Told me it was none of my business. So I --- I never pursued it.” There was another lengthy pause. “I wondered if this was the man who was supplying my sister with drugs.”
   Nick and I looked at each other. Then he scooted forward in his chair. “So you did know that Kate was into drugs.”
   She paused then nodded, drying her face with a fresh tissue. I wouldn’t mention the Teflon. Maybe Margo knew. Maybe she didn’t.
   “We’re almost positive that Curt Warner was her supplier.” Nick continued. “That’s why you saw them together.”
   “Christ!” Margo delivered a nervous laugh. “My sister the junkie. My sister the whore. My sister --- “
   “Whoa!” I laid my hand gently on her arm. After she calmed down I added. “So you knew all of this when we first visited Carver.”
   She hesitated, the nodded slowly. “I --- I couldn’t tell you --- or anyone. It’s not something you brag about. And besides, I gave Kate this dumb vow that I would never --- “
   I gave her arm a gentle squeeze.
  “But you’re right. Kate’s gone. It doesn’t matter anymore.” She spoke tearfully. “I --- I kept telling her that she was headed for disaster. I knew it! She told me to ‘fuck off!’ Her exact words. She said it didn’t concern me. She was a big girl and could take care of herself.” Then her voice drifted off. “Yeah --- right.”
   “Margo.” Nick asked. “Do you want to continue this talk another time?”
   She looked up. Her gaze bounced back and forth between me and Nick. “Will it take much longer?”
   “No.” Nick answered quickly.
   “Then let’s get it over with. I don’t want another interrogation!”
   Nick took a picture of Reid Carlson from the top drawer and held it up. “Did you ever see this man?”
   “Hmmm --- his face looks familiar --- but I really can’t place him. Who is it?”
   “Senator Carlson from Pennsylvania.” I replied.
   Margo shrugged. “Why would I know him?”
   Nick cleared his throat. “His name was in your sister’s address book --- along with Rowland and Carver and Warner.”
   “Well, I never met this one.” Then she picked up the photo. “Meet The Press!”
   “Pardon me?” Nick asked.
   “I saw him on Meet The Press.” She threw down the picture. “Isn’t it odd that she would mix a United States Senator with her usual slime? This guy must be just as sick as she was.”
   “We intend to find that out.” Nick said.
   “Tell me, Lieutenant. How many other names were in Kate’s little book?”
   “That’s it.” Then Nick quickly added. “Although it appears that one of the pages has been torn out.”
   Margo did not respond.
   Nick continued. “You don’t happen to know anything about the missing page, do you?’
   She shrugged again. “No. Why should I?”
   “No reason.” He forced a smile. “But you never know.”
   “Well then,” Margo added, “if that’s the case, it’s something that will remain a mystery.”
   “So then,” Nick said. “these are the men your sister --- entertained. The --- regulars.” He clearly didn’t know how else to word it.
   Again there was silence and again Margo broke the spell. “Maybe if I’d been more forceful --- “
   I put my hand on her arm. “No guilt, Margo. Your sister was trapped. There is nothing you could have done.”
   Nick moved his papers to the side, folded his hands on the desk and stared directly at Margo. “Who gains the most by your sister’s death?”
   “Lieutenant. I’ve already discussed this with Detective Gold. Why --- “
   “Humor me, okay?” But there was no humor in his eyes. “I want to hear it from you.”
   Margo didn’t respond.
   “We are investigating a murder.” The testiness returned to Foley’s voice. “One of the victims just happens to be your sister.” Then he pasted on his phony smile. “So let’s go over it again.”
   The smile was effective. “I inherit three million dollars!” She sighed deeply.
   Nick whistled. “So her death makes you very rich.”
   I decided to let Nick talk. This was his show.
   “I don’t like this conversation!” Margo folded her arms and scowled. “I don’t like the tone and I don’t like the innuendoes!”
   “There are no innuendoes.” Nick said defensively. His voice still had an edge to it. “It’s merely an observation. The fact is undeniable. As a result of your sister’s death you do stand to inherit a great deal of money.”
   He was treading on dangerous ground and he knew it. After a short pause, his smile was back.
   “You alluded to the fact that Kate didn’t need Carver’s money: that she had plenty.” He leaned in closer. “So how did your sister get so friggin rich?”
   I expected to see smoke come out of Margo’s ears. Instead she forced a weak sad smile. She waited a long time before she responded.
   “When my father died two years ago, he left his entire fortune to my sister.”
   “All of it?” He asked.
   “Yes.” She answered evenly. “He said I didn’t need it, but Kate did.”
   “I see.” Nick said. I knew he didn’t.
   “I was earning --- still am, in excess of two-hundred- thousand a year.”
   Nick whistled again. “That’s a lot of clients.”
   “Let’s say it’s the right ones.” Margo countered.
   Neither of us spoke for several minutes. Then Margo said wearily, “Maybe he was right.”
   “Well, I think it’s terribly unfair.” I said. I knew it was none of my business. But the thought of a child being cut off from an inheritance, regardless of reason, infuriated me. It had to have done the same thing to Margo.
   “You have to understand.” Margo added, fatigue showing in her eyes. “As I told Manny, Kate was irresponsible. She’s been working for Carver two years now. I guess you could call it working!” The sad smile returned. “It’s the longest she’s ever worked at one stretch --- anywhere.” She raised her voice. The smile vanished. “To have to stoop this low for steady work for that son-of-a-bitch sickens me --- especially when she didn’t need it.”
   “I can see that.” Nick said sympathetically. “She didn’t need to do it. She wanted to do it.”
   “She’s been a waitress, a hostess, a salesperson --- you name it. And now --- “ Margo paused to catch her breath. “ --- she can add --- whore to her resume!”
   “Margo --- “
   “It appears my sister finally found a line of work she enjoyed --- something she was good at.”
   Margo’s compassion suddenly turned to pure bitterness. It was the first time I noticed it. But watching someone you love destroy their life could easily make anyone bitter. And then to be disinherited could only make matters worse.
   “If Dad knew what she had become --- “ Margo’s sentence floated in space.
   “So your father had no reservations about leaving Kate all that money, knowing she was irresponsible.” Nick posed it as a statement, not a question.
   “No. He didn’t!” Margo’s bitterness was coming through like a bulldozer.
   Nick cleared his throat. “Uh --- Margo. I have a --- “
   “Lieutenant Foley.” She glanced at her watch. “You said we were finished.”
   “Just two quick questions.”
   “They had better be quick!”
   “Do you own a gun?”
   “No! Next question.”
    “What kind of car do you drive?”
   “I have a nineteen-ninety-one Nissan. Is that it?”
   Margo stood. Nick and I followed suit.
   “Were you the last person to see Kate alive?”
   “That’s three questions.” She looked at her watch again. “As I told Manny, we ordered Chinese food at her home on September thirtieth. So unless she saw someone else after dinner, I was the last person to see my sister alive.”
   “She could have gone out.” Nick said as he jotted down some notes.
   “She said she was going to stay at home.”
   “You believed her?” I asked.
   “No reason not to, is there?”
   I just shrugged. Nick continued to write.
   “So, I gather I’m still a suspect.”
   “You had opportunity.” Nick looked up. “And now we’ve established motive: jealousy, anger, a major inheritance. And you were apparently the last one to see your sister alive.”
   I could see the color leave Margo’s face. “What about the other guy that was murdered? Did I have opportunity and motive there as well?” She bit her lip. “I think it stinks that you put me in the same category as Herb Rowland!”
   “Well, that’s not exactly --- “ Nick started to talk.
   Margo cut him off. “Goodbye, Lieutenant.”
   I walked Margo out of the office with a nod to my friend. Margo stopped in the doorway and turned back to Foley.
   “I --- I’m sorry, Lieutenant. I shouldn’t blame you for Kate’s death. I know your doing all you can.” Then Margo added, “But in spite of it all, I did love my father and always will. I know that sounds stupid after what he did.”
   “No it doesn’t.” Nick answered quickly. “I fully understand.”
   I wondered if he did. I sure as hell didn’t.
   “Can I go now?” Her eyelids were almost closed. I could barely make out the color of her irises.
   Foley nodded. “I’ll call you if I need you.”
   We got into the car and I drove Margo home. The ride was a silent one. I walked her to the door. The smell of her Giorgio and the outline of her panties were making me crazy.
But I stifled the urge to tear her clothes off and bang her on the spot. Instead I kissed her platonically on the cheek.
   Another cold shower would await me.
   “Maybe, after all this is over, you and I could go out sometime. Like a date --- or something.”
   She put her key in the lock, paused, then turned back to me. “Let me think about it, okay?”
   I nodded. “Sure.”
   As I drove away, I said aloud to myself. “Be careful, Manny. Be very careful.”

XIX

   The large black sign on the massive unfriendly steel gate read: SWAYMORE

ESTATES ---PRIVATE PROPERTY. Only if someone pressed the correct code

numbers on the box at the entrance, would the security system succumb, allowing the

locked gate to swing open. It reminded me of an old horror movie I had recently watched

on TV. In the movie the gate squeaked and moaned. Here it was smooth and silent.

   “Open sesame.” I said it quietly under my breath.

   “What?” Nick asked as he drove slowly along the narrow road.

   “Nothing.”

   The drive from the secluded paved road to the front of the stately mansion was about a

quarter mile. A thick forest covered both sides of the road. Everything was green and

quiet.

   “Some residence.” I was in awe of the majesty of the surroundings. Then

I added humorously, “Five hundred rooms. Not much, but it’s home!”

   “His wife has money.” Nick talked with a cigar hanging out of the corner of his

mouth.

   “Or maybe he’s a goniff.” Then I added, “That means ‘thief’ in case --- “

   Nick’s laugh interrupted me. “I know what it means. Being friends with you all these

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