Роберт Паркер - The Bridge

Allie looked to Virgil and nodded some. Then she looked back to Sebastian and smiled.

“We do have tea,” Allie said with an added refined inflection to her voice.

“Well, tea would be lovely,” Sebastian said. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Not at all,” Allie said.

“That would be superb,” Sebastian said.

“Well, then,” she said. “Superb tea it is.”

“Delightful,” he said.

Allie removed my soup bowl, bread, and milk, and set them on the table in front of me, then sashayed off to the kitchen with the tray. Sebastian watched her until she disappeared into the kitchen.

“One can never be too careful,” Sebastian said, after Allie left the room, “when one does not know who is who and what is what.”

“What’s this about the bridge?” Virgil said.

“Are you familiar with Lloyd’s of London,” he said.

Virgil nodded a little and looked to me.

“Insurance?” I said.

“Yes,” Sebastian said. “I’m an investigator for Lloyd’s. I’m relatively new to the U.S....”

“What brings you here?” Virgil said. “What do you know about the bridge?”

“To put it simply, there was a policy on the Rio Blanco Bridge project,” Sebastian said. “A rather hefty policy, I might add.”

Virgil looked at me and shook his head a little.

“Go on,” Virgil said.

“When there is a substantial payout such as this,” he said. “We investigate to make sure there is no fraud involved.”

“How much of a payout?” Virgil said.

“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” Sebastian said. “Quite substantial.”

“I take it by the fact you are here,” I said. “You believe there is fraud?”

“Perhaps.”

“This have to do with Cox?” I said. “The contractor?”

“Perhaps.”

“What’s not perhaps?” Virgil said.

“Were you aware the Rio Blanco Bridge was to be a toll bridge?” Sebastian said.

Virgil looked at me and shook his head.

“No,” I said. “We weren’t aware of that.”

Sebastian opened his satchel and pulled out a folder.

“This is a copy of the policy,” Sebastian said. “It’s not a Lloyd’s policy, per se, but it is a policy that includes some of Lloyd’s underwriters. According to this policy, there’s more than one party with insurable interest.”

“Someone besides Cox?” I said.

“Actually, I’m not sure where Mr. Cox fits in here at all. The policy itself, the first name insured on the policy is the Territory Bridge Authority, the governor himself. That’s normal.”

“What’s not normal?” I said.

“There is a business-interruption endorsement on this policy,” Sebastian said.

“You mean, future tolls?” I said.

“Precisely,” he said. “The Rio Blanco was designed for both rail and standard commerce; a licensing fee for the rail carriers and individual tolls for market fare, cattle, goods and services, individuals, et cetera. We’re talking a substantial amount of future revenues, mind you.”

“And the payout for this business interruption is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”

“Yes,” Sebastian said.

“Take a lot of years of toll to earn that,” I said.

“It would indeed,” Sebastian said. “But I need to be perfectly clear, so let me reiterate. I’m looking into possible fraud here. I need to understand the business behind the endorsement.”

“What business?” I said.

“Well,” Sebastian said. “The right of way, the property ownership comes into engagement here.”

“So the beneficiary of this business interruption on this contract is not Cox?” I said.

“It’s not,” Sebastian said. “He could perhaps have some participation in this endorsement, I don’t know. That is why I’m here.”

“But you know who’s on the contract there with the endorsement?” I said, pointing to the contract. “Who’s the beneficiary?”

“Yes,” Sebastian said. “But how all this came about I’m still unclear on.”

“Well,” I said. “If it’s not Cox, then who is it?”

“The First Baptist Church of Appaloosa,” he said.

“Tea time,” Allie said, as she came out from the kitchen carrying the tray with the tea.

Allie poured the tea for Sebastian.

“There you go,” she said.

Sebastian nodded.

“Oh,” he said. “I thank you so very much.”

“Well, you are so very welcome,” Allie said. “It’s not every day I get to prepare a splendid cup of tea for an English gentleman.”

“We got some business to finish up here with Mr. Winthrop, Allie,” Virgil said.

“You go right ahead,” Allie said, as she took her shawl from the coat rack by the door and wrapped it around her shoulders. “I’m late meeting Nell in town as it is. I’m helping her to distribute flyers for the opening of the show.”

Virgil nodded.

Allie looked to Sebastian.

“I’m sorry I’m not available to share some proper tea with you, Mr. Winthrop, but duty calls.”

“Perfectly understandable,” Sebastian said, as he got to his feet. “Perfectly understandable. Perhaps some other time.”

“Perhaps,” Allie said. “That’d be wonderful.”

“Until then, Miss French,” Sebastian said with a bow.

“Until,” Allie said.

She gave Virgil a kiss on the cheek and walked out the door.

“Lovely,” Sebastian said, as he sat back in his chair. “Simply lovely.”

“The First Baptist Church of Appaloosa?” Virgil said.

Sebastian nodded as he picked up the teacup. He took a sip and grimaced a little.

“Yes,” he said with a slight clearing of his throat. “The church. It seems there was a transaction between the landowner and the church.”

Sebastian picked up the folder and thumbed through the pages.

“The land the bridge was built on,” Virgil said. “Deeded the land over to the church?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Who’s the executor?” I said.

“The First Baptist Church’s pastor,” Sebastian said. “A Mr. Ashley Epps.”

Virgil looked to me.

“Ashley got his hand in the till?” Virgil said.

“Again,” Sebastian said. “This might all prove to be perfectly legitimate.”

“Or perfectly planned,” Virgil said.

“That, too,” Sebastian said.

“The trustee as recipient of the deed would have to file this, right?” I said.

“Yes,” Sebastian said. “The deed is filed with the county clerk at the county courthouse.”

“That’d be Curtis Whittlesey,” I said. “I was shooting pool with him the night I received word about the bridge. He never said anything about this. Fact, he was the one who first mentioned Cox’s name to me. Telling me he was the contractor that was building the bridge.”

“And Cox?” Virgil said. “Where’s he fit in to all this?”

“He would have had to know about the business-interrupting endorsement on the policy, wouldn’t he?” I said.

“Not necessarily,” Sebastian said. “The policy belongs to the Territory Bridge Authority and the church’s business-interruption endorsement is attached to that policy, you see.”

“We asked Cox if he knew of any motives and he damn sure didn’t mention this,” Virgil said. “He could be in on it.”

“Yes,” Sebastian said.

“Sounds like a bunch could be in on this,” Virgil said.

“Yes,” Sebastian said. “Precisely, and precisely why I’m here. The whole payout will go through and nothing will ever be done about it unless there is a way to link the business-interruption endorsement to the actual blowing up of the bridge. It’s that simple.”

Sebastian opened the file and put it before us on the coffee table.