William Bernhardt - Double Jeopardy

Travis seated himself in a comfortable upright armchair. “Give it up, Dan. I know almost everything. And I think I can deduce the rest.”

“Deduce …? I’m sorry, Travis, but you’ve absolutely lost me.”

“What do you take me for?” A trace of anger tinged Travis’s voice. “Did you think I would never figure it out? Hell, you just reminded me yourself the other day.”

“Reminded you of what?”

“Of your small family corporation. The one to which you now devote the majority of your time. The corporation founded by your parents, Elsie and Conrad. Hence the name—Elcon.”

The pleasant expression drained away from Dan’s face. “What do you know about Elcon?”

“I know you were bought out by the mob. Excuse me, I guess technically it was a merger. Forgive me if I don’t get all the legal nuances just right. I’m not a corporate lawyer.”

Dan’s eyes lowered. “You have to understand what happened, Travis. I had no idea those men were connected to the Gattuso mob. They met me in business suits, ties—they looked just like the men you and I work with every day of the week. I had no reason to be suspicious.”

“Did you check up on them? Complete a due diligence?”

Dan sighed. “Perhaps I jumped too quickly. The deal they offered me—it was everything I’d hoped for. I wanted to slow down, to get out of the grind of practicing law day in and day out. I’m almost sixty years old, and when a man reaches that age, he starts to think about retirement. And how he’s going to pay the bills during his retirement.”

“Pity you didn’t stick with Social Security.”

Dan made a snorting sound. “Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t want to live in squalor and poverty.” He gestured about the room. “Look at this place. Do you have any idea what it takes to maintain it? Do you have any idea what it takes to run it for a year? Social Security wouldn’t pay for that chair you’re sitting in.”

“So you decided to sell out to a bunch of mobsters looking for a place to launder their loot.”

Dan drew himself erect. “I told you, I had no idea they were connected with the Gattuso mob.” His voice grew quieter. “At first. After a while … well, strange things began to happen. Inexplicably large amounts of money started pouring into the corporate coffers, money that wasn’t tied to any of Elcon’s business activities. And when I asked them about it, they told me to sit back and enjoy the ride. That’s when I began to suspect that … they were something other than legitimate businessmen.”

“Why didn’t you go to the police?”

“I thought about it, Travis. I really did. But somehow … I don’t know.” He folded his hands in his lap. “Perhaps I’m just not as strong as I’d like to be. Somehow, I never made the call.”

“They bought you off,” Travis said. “And now they own you.”

Dan didn’t bother with a denial. “It would be difficult now … after all these years … to claim that I didn’t know what was going on …”

Travis looked away. His eyes were beginning to sting. “Even if you let yourself be bought off, why the hell did you drag me into it?”

Dan’s head tilted to one side. “Of course, the mob is the reason I gave you your job in the first place. I felt … responsible.”

“Responsible?” Travis brushed the dampness from his eyes. “For what?”

Dan seemed genuinely surprised. “Haven’t you guessed? That robbery you interrupted four years ago. The disturbance created by Jack Gable. That was a mob operation. They were robbing a building—I owned—for a reason. They had to create a cover story for the disappearance of some key corporate documents. To protect the integrity of the merger.

“You see, the IRS was after Elcon. They didn’t know about the mob ties—but they knew there was something suspicious about the merger, and if they plowed around in the records long enough, they would’ve figured it out. We couldn’t allow that to happen. So we created a robbery, to excuse our failure to produce the requested corporate documents. We told them they were all stolen. It worked.”

Travis stared back at him, his head trembling. “Angela died … so your goddamn corporation could duck a tax audit!”

“Believe me, Travis, I had no idea you and Angela would be there that day. It was just a simple robbery. No one was supposed to get hurt. When it all went bad, I felt awful. Don’t you see? That’s why I put you through law school. That’s why I gave you a job. I owed you.”

Travis didn’t know what to say. His heart felt as if it might pound its way out of his chest. “Did you know,” he finally managed, “that your … partners were trying to kill me?”

“I found out. After you disappeared. From Mario Catuara, the acting head of the corporate entity. He was president, I was the CEO. That’s how we set it up.”

“You could have told me!” Travis shouted. “When I called you, you could have told me what was going on! You could have told me who was trying to kill me!”

“That would have been very difficult for me, Travis. Very difficult.”

“No wonder you kept trying to get me to drop the Moroconi case. You knew all along.”

Dan looked away.

Travis’s teeth set on edge. “I’m turning you in, Dan.”

“I … don’t think you mean that, Travis.”

“I do. I’m telling the FBI everything about you and Elcon.”

“No.” Dan rose suddenly from his chair. “No, you’re not. Let me show you something.” He walked to the rear door from which he had entered.

Travis saw a light click on. He pushed himself out of the chair and slowly walked to the other room. Before he entered, he removed his gun from his shoulder.

When he entered the library, his eyes were immediately focused on two persons just to the side of a large oak desk. The first was Staci. She was tied to an armchair; a gag was taped across her mouth. The second was Dan. He was pointing a small revolver at her head.

“You couldn’t possibly fire before I put a bullet in this little girl’s head,” Dan said. “I want you to drop the gun, Travis. Now.”

Travis hesitated. Police training told him never, under any circumstances, to relinquish his weapon.

“I’m serious, Travis!” Dan’s hands were shaking. His finger was curled ominously around the trigger. “I want you to drop the gun!”

Travis bent down and placed the gun on the carpet.

“Thank you.” He wiped the perspiration from his brow. “You can’t imagine how sorry I am about this, Travis. I never wanted this poor girl to be taken. It was all that sadist Kramer’s idea.”

Travis took a careful step toward them. “Let her go, Dan. You don’t need her now. You have me.”

“I’m afraid I disagree. My life here in Dallas is shot. Just at the time when I was planning to settle down, I’m going to have to uproot myself. But I’m not going to be penniless. I—” His voice became high-pitched and strained. “I’ve worked too hard for that. I’m going to take all the money out of my personal bank accounts—and the Elcon corporate accounts—and disappear. But I can’t do that until the banks open Monday morning. That means I have to prevent you from going to the police between now and then.”

Travis bit down on his lower lip. “And how do you plan to do that?”

“This is so hard,” Dan said. “So, so hard. You do see the dilemma I’m in, don’t you, Travis? I don’t want to hurt anyone. But I can’t stand by and watch my life fall apart at the seams.”

“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you, Dan?”

“I—don’t see that I have much choice.”

Travis nodded. The two men stared at one another from opposite sides of the room. There seemed to be very little left to say.