The 16mm Caper

Chapter 40

When the police arrived after being alerted by other tenants in the building, Austin and Julia were seated side by side on another sofa away from the one containing Douglas's body. Their story was delivered with trembling voices and the appropriate pause for tears and loss of breath. Julia had taken it upon herself to smear the prints on the gun and place it in Douglas's hand then coach Austin on how to respond.

The couple fought over a silly round of sexual banter and had attacked one another before he or Julia could intervene. Vera was an accomplished martial arts practitioner and was able to deliver her deadly kick and retreat before catching the errant bullet from Douglas as he fell onto the sofa and she over the dining room table.

Austin was escorted to the emergency room of the local hospital for examination of his heart and Julia remained behind to detail as best she could the events as they happened. Forensic teams arrived and went over the apartment with the inevitable fine-toothed comb, finding nothing that contradicted Julia's account.

The detectives made arrangements for she and Austin to come to the station and sign their statements and other than that, determined things happened exactly as described. When the detectives investigating Ralston's death learned of the double homicide involving Vera, the woman they sought as their suspect, Julia gambled that she could get to Austin and brief him before the police, and denied any knowledge of Vera's actions, explaining her mental history and how her father did all in his power to help her.

The one lingering fact that made them hesitate was that both she and Austin worked for Ralston Hughes, in spite of the alibi Julia provided for both she and Austin with the building super. He confirmed that they were both in the building because Miss Peyton was moving in, and he helped her in with some of her belongings.

After a few more searching questions, the detectives gave it up and let the subject drop; they had Vera and the Ralston case could close.

Austin returned with a clean bill of health and some pills to help him sleep if the anxiety returned. Julia told him everything that had taken place with the police and then poured them both a large tumbler of scotch.

"To success, Austin."

"I lost my daughter, Julia." He took the glass and sipped.

"But you gained me - and the film." She clinked his glass and drank and Austin considered his new arrangement with concern.

******

The surf was a playground for the noisy children and the puffed studs surfboarding in front of the bikinied young things giggling in groups on the sandy beach. Peter shaded his eyes and watched as one young man attempted a somersault on the board and crashed out of sight beneath the waves. A moment later he popped up holding one arm at a weird angle. The lifeguard and several other people hurried into the surf to assist him and retrieve his board.

"Idiots."

"You were young once." Mary offered, closing her book.

"Thanks a lot. It must be a drag hanging out with an old man at a resort full of muscled young bodies."

"I can make the most of it." She teased.

"So can I," he replied, rolling over on the blanket and pinning her beneath him.

"Peter! There are other people."

"I'll get to them later," he said quieting her protest with a heavy kiss. A cheer went up from down the beach and when they looked up a group of couples were holding their drinks up in salute and laughing.

A beach waiter ploughed through the sand and stopped beside Peter, carefully setting a pair of cocktails and a magazine beside him so as not to disturb the romantic embrace.

******

Harry Feldman folded the newspaper and tucked it under his arm as he crossed the platform and entered the subway car. He was amazed how the police bought the story about Douglas and Vera. Austin must have given the performance of a lifetime.

He absently gazed at the other passengers as he let his mind wander into the realm of possibly contacting Austin for a little powwow; keeping quiet about what really occurred might be worth a tidy sum, certainly more than he received for helping to get the film, and he had lost a partner - as marginal as that was in Harry's life.

The train stopped and he got off, staring at the mural on the station wall while he refined his idea.

******

Julia finished her tea and set the cup down, drawing her robe about her as she considered Austin who was staring dejectedly at the top of the table. Harry's call had provoked a bitter argument, finishing with an anonymous threat to expose everything about the film and the killings. Austin had been issued an ultimatum and on top of the trauma of losing his daughter by his own hand; it had drained him of any means of coping.

If Austin couldn't pull himself together she would be obliged to secure her own survival. Julia realized the moment Austin pulled the trigger she would be in charge of their relationship and by extension the discrete disposal of the film and that would entail settling with Harry one way or another.

"What are you going to do, Austin?" She spoke directly.

He raised weary eyes. "Do?"

"About Harry and the film - and us?" His head shook and he returned to staring at the table. "This is not something to ignore, we have to respond somehow. Call him back."

"What am I supposed to do, Julia? If we give in it will never end."

"And if we don't, everything will end, Austin. We have the film we need a buyer and we need to neutralize Harry."

"Neutralize?"

She adjusted her robe and ran a tongue around her teeth. "Remember when you told me about extreme measures?"

His head came up again. "Not me, Julia. That's not something I do. No. We need to talk with him."

"You did it once, Austin."

Her remark stung him and he began to get a peek beneath the surface impression of tenderness he thought was the real Julia. "Harry won't negotiate and you know it; he's holding all the cards."

"He could be implicated too." He responded stubbornly.

"Austin. All you have is the phone number. No one knows where he is and if things went south for him he'd just stay hidden. Nothing ventured nothing gained is Harry's position, and if it fails, nothing lost."

"The answer is no, Julia. I'm not going down that road."

She stood and carried her cup to the sink. "Fine then, Austin, you wait at the curb and I'll take care of it."

"What do you mean? How?" He suddenly became alert.

"I have sources." She turned and faced him. "You talked me into this, Austin, with promises of a big score and a future of joint interests and freedom. Well, I'm in it now and I'm not going to walk away with nothing."

"What are you going to do?" His voice took on a note of panic.

"What you seem unable to do, eliminate our problem, sell the film and get the money we originally discussed." She held up a silencing hand and left the kitchen and a dazed Austin.