Russell Andrews - Midas

A hundred thousand barrels of oil per day. Over sixty dollars per barrel.

Over six million dollars a day.

Follow the money , his father had said.

Follow the goddamn money, Justin thought. Everything else is a mirage.

But the money gets you there every time.

He was just missing a couple of pieces of the puzzle. And by the time Bruno Pecozzi showed up in the late afternoon, he was certain he would have one of them.

Gary Jenkins arrived back at Justin’s house around 3 P.M. with a sullen-looking blonde girl in tow. She was lugging a large leather case. When she took off her coat, Justin saw she was wearing the usual uniform of fifteen-year-old girls everywhere: jeans that were cut way too low on her hips, a tight shirt that didn’t cover her midriff, platform shoes that looked like refugees from the ’80s, and a lit cigarette hanging out of the corner of her lips.

“You’re my artist?” Justin asked.

“So what is this, some kind of deal where I draw you naked?”

“I’m the chief of police of East End Harbor,” Justin said. “I’m asking you to help me solve a serious crime.”

She sounded almost disappointed. “Yeah, that’s what Gary said.”

“Officer Jenkins,” Gary said sternly.

“Yeah, whatever,” the girl said.

“Will you help me?” Justin said. “It’s important.”

“I liked it better when I thought you were gonna be naked,” the girl said.

“I don’t blame you,” Justin said. “What’s your name?”

“Darla,” the girl told him.

“So you gonna help me, Darla?”

She turned to Gary. “Did you tell him what I want?”

“How could I tell him? I’ve been with you, haven’t I? Don’t worry about it.”

Darla turned back to Justin. “A year’s membership at the Museum of Modern Art. In New York.”

“That’s what you want?” Justin asked, surprised.

“For a whole year.”

“I’ll make it two years,” Justin said. “If you can draw what I need.”

“Whatever it is, I can draw it,” the girl said. “So let’s get goin’. I don’t, like, have all day.”

While Justin stayed with Darla, he sent Gary off on one more errand, handing him a credit card and giving him instructions. Gary was back in an hour with a brand-new laptop computer.

By that time Darla had gotten it right.

No, Justin thought, more than right. Perfect.

“Remember me when you’re hanging in MOMA,” he said. “I’m your first patron.”

“Whatever,” she said. “Can I go now?”

A few minutes after she’d gone, the doorbell rang. It was Bruno.

It was a strange moment for Justin. He didn’t particularly like Bruno Pecozzi. He was not immune to his charm or his easygoing, entertaining manner, but he understood that the man was a killer. Your basic sociopath. Justin had always expected that, one day, he’d have to arrest the man, and he had to admit that up until now, he would have said that would be a day he looked forward to. But there was a good chance this man had saved his life. Certainly, he’d saved his sanity. And there was one other thing: he needed Bruno now. He needed something done and he didn’t have the strength to do it himself. Arresting Bruno was the last thing on Justin’s mind now. He had something quite different he wanted to discuss with the strong-arm hood turned movie consultant. Something much more in keeping with Bruno’s particular talents. Justin was about to cross a line and he didn’t really care. He had crossed this line before. So he stuck out his hand, and when Bruno took it, Justin simply said, “Thank you.”

Bruno didn’t say a word, just shrugged. Finally, as they stood in the living room, Bruno said, “You got a beer?”

Justin brought him one and they sat down.

“How?” Justin said, sipping from his own bottle of Sam Adams. “How the hell did you do it?”

“You know, Jay, people in my profession, we’re like magicians. We don’t like to give away our secrets. Makes it look less impressive, you know?”

“Bruno,” Justin said, “it’s gonna be pretty hard for me to not be impressed. You got through maybe the most secretive government installation we have.”

“Without goin’ into too much detail, you gotta keep in mind what my business associates specialize in. Remember I told you I was good at judgin’ when people were afraid?”

“I remember.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not too bad either when it comes to pickin’ people who are. . how shall I say. . greedy.”

“Corrupt?”

“That’s another way of puttin’ it, sure.”

“I’m still not following.”

“All right. I use this lawyer, she’s good people, Shirley Greene. She’s saved my bacon a coupla times.”

“She represents the guy who contacted me down there.”

“She represents a lotta those guys. It’s what she does, you know? She’s one of those liberal do-gooders. You know, I told her, I don’t approve. I mean, all those Arab fucks, who knows what the fuck they’re doin’ to our country, but hey, she helped me out enough times, who am I to say no when she needs a favor.”

“What kind of favor did she need?”

“She couldn’t talk to her clients. It’s the way things work now. They got ’em in a place like that, there ain’t too much you can do. So she asked if I could help.”

“And you could.”

“Jay, here’s the thing. You got a basic honest point of view. You can’t help it, it’s just who you are, the way you was raised. Me, I see things a different way. And the way I see it, wherever there’s any kinda hierarchy. . good word, right?. . there’s gonna be somebody who’s gettin’ shafted. Someone’s makin’ more money than someone else, someone’s not gettin’ the promotion he thought he should get, someone’s not gettin’ the girl he thinks he deserves, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.”

“So it’s usually not too hard to find someone who’s pissed off. Who’ll do you a little favor in exchange for somethin’ he wants. And you’d be surprised how what people want is usually money.”

“But Gitmo?”

“Hey, it’s prison guards, right? If there’s one thing, I know, it’s prison guards. Don’t matter who they work for, it’s still a shitty job and they all could use a favor. So it’s just a matter of findin’ out what they want. After Shirley came to me, way before you were there, it took me a couple of months but I found somebody. In fact, I found two somebodies. So she had a pipeline, could get word to her clients, get some information down there, get some back. Shirley’s the one suspected that’s where they took you. After that, it wasn’t so hard. I already had the connection. I called your father, told him what I knew-”

“You and my father?” When Bruno nodded, Justin said, “I have to say, I’d like to have heard those conversations.”

“He’d already spoken to your girlfriend and he was pretty sharp. He’s a businessman, you know what I mean? He knows how to cut to the bottom of things. I enjoyed dealin’ with him.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him.”

“Well, you should thank him, too, ’cause once he decided I was givin’ him the legit story, he called your lady pal up in Boston and they put some serious pressure on.”

“Yeah, Wanda, I know. What kind of pressure?”

“Don’t know exactly. A congressman, a senator, between the two of them they got some access. All I know is, your Feebie friend called me and said things were lookin’ good.”

“Jesus. Now Wanda’s calling you ?”

“Makes you believe in the Big Guy upstairs, don’t it?”

Justin rubbed his fingers across his dry lips. “Wanda said things were looking good? What did that mean?”