Steve Hamilton - A Cold Day in Paradise

“So that’s where I come in?”

“Mrs. Fulton knew about you. Edwin was always talking about you. She wanted details, so I told her everything I knew. You being a policeman, getting shot. She was particularly interested in that part. She wanted to know how it happened. She wanted me to find the news clippings. So I did. She read them all, and she told me that you would be perfect because you knew what fear felt like. That was the one thing you can always count on, she said. She knew from her own experience. The fear never leaves you.”

“So you did have this planned out from the beginning,” I said. “Before you even hired me. Before you even asked me if I wanted to become a private investigator.”

“Yes,” he said. He must have sensed the anger in my voice. He jiggled the gun in his hand as if to remind me that it was still pointed at me. “But remember, none of this was my idea.”

“That’s right,” I said. “You were just the helpless pawn in this game. So what happens next? You get Julius to kill Tony Bing and I get to come see it? What was that for?”

“Mrs. Fulton insisted on that. She said you needed to see it. Your fear needed to be fed. She has this really strange fascination with fear, Alex. I’m sure you’ve noticed it.”

“We had a nice conversation about fear, yes.”

“I told Julius that Bing’s bookmaking operation was just a small part of the network. The Mafia, the federal government, the European Common Market, it was all tied together. And even though Tony Bing didn’t seem like much in the big picture, we had to start somewhere. You know, everyone fights their battles where they can find them, all over the country. Send a message to the network. I told him we needed to make it dramatic. Lots of blood. Something that they would never forget. Of course, that was really for you, Alex. All that blood.”

“So how did Edwin figure into all this?”

“Edwin was supposed to see Bing that night. The five grand he had, that was just the weekly juice to keep him off his back. He went to the motel and then he called you. Simple as that.”

“So he knew what was going on.”

“He knew that you were going to help him solve his problem, that’s all. And that nothing would happen to you, in the end. I don’t know if he really knew about the disappearance idea yet. I think he honestly believed that killing the two bookmakers would solve his problem. Or if he didn’t know, at least he was trying to make himself believe it.”

“And then Julius kills the other bookmaker a couple days later.”

“He did. And I gotta tell you, this guy really got into it. I was worried he’d start killing people on his own, just because he loved it so much.”

“The voice on the phone,” I said. “That was you?”

“Yes,” he said. “Nobody can recognize a whisper.” He dropped into a low raspy growl, the same sound I had heard on the phone. “Alex, do you know who this is?”

“And you wrote the notes,” I said.

“Naturally,” he said. “I used an old typewriter I found at a yard sale. Wrote the notes on them, and the diary. I had a key to Julius’s apartment. I told him it was all part of being in the underground. I needed access to his house in case he was captured.”

“So the two bookmakers are dead,” I said. “And of course that doesn’t solve your problem.”

“Of course not,” he said. “Just like I told her. There were other men ready to pick up the debt. And they were even worse. Dorney’s body wasn’t even cold yet, they were already calling Edwin. So I’m thinking this has all been a waste of time so far. But Mrs. Fulton was happy. I swear to God, that woman was reborn all of a sudden. And then I figured it out. That whole thing with the kidnapping, when she was a girl, this was like her way of working that out. The fear of bad men or just men in general, whatever. That’s why she had to be here. It wasn’t just because she’s a control freak, she had to be here so she could be close to it. She wanted to be close to you, Alex. She wanted you right in the house. Originally, we were going to have Julius come to the house so you could kill him there.”

“But then the police got in the way, right?”

“Yes. We didn’t figure on them making you stay at your cabin with a cop waiting outside. And then later, when Maven thought you might be involved in the killings, we really didn’t want that to happen. You’ve got to believe me on that one, Alex.”

“Your concern for me is downright touching.”

“No, really. It didn’t do anybody any good. I was starting to lose my mind there for a couple days. I’ve got Julius calling me up every hour, wanting to know who he can kill next. I’ve got Mrs. Fulton calling me up, wanting to know when we can get Edwin out of town and then get Julius killed. And Edwin, he wasn’t too happy about his little disappearing act. He tried to back out of it. If his mother hadn’t been here to keep him in line, I don’t think we would have pulled it off.”

“I suppose he’s very far away from here by now,” I said.

“I don’t even know where he is,” he said. “It’s like in that witness relocation program. You get a new identity. Plastic surgery, maybe. All it takes is a lot of money. Mrs. Fulton said it felt good to be able to disinherit him without even having to die.”

“So with Edwin gone and the cop not outside my door every night anymore, you finally had your chance to end it, right? What did you do, tell Julius that I was part of the conspiracy, too?”

“Yes,” he said. “Although this time, all we wanted to do was scare you. I told him to take the silencer off, make a lot of noise, really shake you up. You see, I had found out that you were actually spying on me. And on Julius, as well. We had to scare you so it would get back to Brussels.”

“Brussels?” I said. “In Belgium?”

“Yeah, that’s where the headquarters is. Didn’t you know that? Ask any gun nut. The international conspiracy all reports to the secret main office in Brussels.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said. “I just thought they made waffles.”

“Some of the stuff these guys believe, I tell ya, it’s amazing. Anyway, I told him I had a plan for how we could really scare you. All he had to do was put on a blond wig and pretend he was some guy named Rose who shot you before. Somebody who should still be in prison.”

“And how did you make him believe my gun wasn’t real?”

“That was easy. You’ve been afraid of guns ever since you got shot. You can’t even touch one anymore. Which really got him going, you being one of the people who want to take his guns away, and you’re not man enough to even touch one yourself. So you carry a fake, just in case you have to bluff somebody.”

I almost laughed. “You set him up. He didn’t have a chance.”

“I guess not,” he said. “It all worked out like I had planned. I mean, just like Mrs. Fulton had planned. It was self-defense. You’re home free. No loose ends.”

“And you were right behind him,” I said. “You probably went right to his house, planted the typewriter and the news clippings and the fake diary you wrote with that whole story about him stalking me and becoming Rose somehow. And then you followed him to my cabin. As soon as it was over, you showed up. With your gun. And if things hadn’t gone right, you would have had to use that gun, am I right?”

He looked away for an instant and then back at me. “Mrs. Fulton told me I would have to kill somebody if it didn’t work out right. If he accidentally killed you, I would have had to kill him. And if you were both alive, then I would have had to kill him and maybe you, too, depending on how it happened. I was trying to think of a way I could just kill him, Alex. You know, drive up, shoot him right away, like I thought you were in danger. I didn’t want to kill you. I know I wouldn’t have done it. You have to believe that.”