The 16mm Caper

Chapter 41

He wasn't sure how she found him, and he didn't know who she was but something was familiar about the voice. Efrom Bleeker listened with interest as the woman on the telephone made her offer. From her description he remembered the man she referred to as Harry Feldman as the one at the bar meeting with Austin Price.

Too bad it wasn't Harvey Ballantine, he thought. She was making a nice offer but he knew in his heart that Ralston had been murdered over the film business and that she wouldn't be looking to tidy up loose ends if she wasn't directly involved; Efrom saw a possible opportunity.

"It's going to be expensive trying to locate this man," he began. "You can't even tell me where to begin."

"I have a telephone number."

"Cell or landline?"

"I'm not sure."

Efrom laughed and shook his head. "Lady, this could take forever."

"I would think a man with your experience would have methods for tracing phone numbers and calls made. Perhaps I've chosen the wrong person."

"You know that isn't true or you wouldn't have found me in the first place." He chewed his lip for a minute when she stayed silent. "Okay, I'll give it a try but your offer is gonna need sweetening; these resources don't come cheap."

"You get the job done before next week and I'll make the pot very sweet." Julia smiled at the silence, picturing Efrom's eyebrows dancing with greedy anticipation. "Call this number when you have news." She gave him a cell number for a throwaway phone and hung up.

He hung up and immediately picked up and dialled a familiar number.

"Grady? Efrom. I need a trace on a number." He gave the number, listened for a minute and then said he agreed. "Sooner if you can. Same arrangement? Good. Talk to you later." He hung up again and rubbed his hands together. This was his meat and potatoes and the guy he remembered looked like a worthy challenge.

******

Peter handed Mary one of the glasses and sipped from the other, then picked up the magazine he'd ordered and began thumbing through to the news section. The story was as he'd seen reported on TV news and after reading it through he handed it to Mary and leaned back on his elbows.

The warm sand soaked into his body and he frowned in the blaze of the sun. Mary read the article, voicing some of the copy out loud with astonished gasps and groans.

"They say that Vera and the one called Douglas were lovers, and that they quarrelled and wound up killing one another!"

"Austin Price must have done quite a tap dance to sell that."

"It says here that she was his daughter."

Peter turned. "It does? I missed that." He looked away again. "Shit, his life with her must have been hell."

"She had uhm . . . dissociative antisocial personality disorder."

"She sure as hell had something that made her nuts."

"You realize that her father probably has the film after all?"

Peter pulled a face. "Yeah. That sucks after all the fuss we went through with them. And he got it for nothing."

Mary closed the magazine and set it aside. "Hardly nothing, Peter. He lost his daughter."

"You know what I mean. I didn't mean that." He lay back down and draped a forearm over his eyes. They had been touring the islands for nearly a month, both having requested extra vacation time on top of the trip Mary won from her company. She took a knock at work but it had been worth it.

"You know Dylan's business got in a lot of trouble for him taking so much time off too and Freddy lost his job." She broke into his daydream.

"Let's not overlook the facts here, Mary. Dylan has his own limo service and is doing quite well in spite of his absence and Freddy is a permanent item with Cheryl; between them, they have plenty to get along on. Besides, she still works for Harv."

"What about me?"

"Ah yes, the MediaTrend outcast. If you count the fact that we have a rather substantial nest egg, your having to change departments is going to mean a lot less pressure and more time for us. Your clients will let Emmanuel know if they want you back on the case or not and I'm betting that the winner of the company's, trip of success, won't be overlooked quite so readily."

"Still, I was really getting ahead there."

"At the expense of your life, Mary. Remember what Catlin told you."

He peeked at her from under his arm and was relieved to see she wasn't mad, she was actually mulling over his words. "Things are gonna be just fine for us now. We should watch the Internet and the papers for any sign of the film being offered for sale. I don't think they wanted it to keep to watch from time to time." Her response would make up his mind.

"I think we were lucky enough to get away with what we did, don't you?"

Bingo! Peter mentally clapped his hands. "Hey, now there's a thought. I could call Harv and the gang and we could--"

Mary's beach towel smothered his words and she clambered on top of him pulling handfuls of sand onto the towel and burying him. Another cheer went up from down the beach.

******

Julia closed the bedroom door and took the call on her phone, listening with only a few interruptions for details. When she was done she went to the bathroom and wrapped the phone in a bath towel, placed it on the tile floor and with a cast iron bookend from Austin's dresser, pounded the phone to dust.

"What are you doing, Julia. For heaven's sake, it sounds like construction work in here?"

More like destruction work, dear." She gathered the towel, replaced the bookend and went out to the garbage chute.

"I asked what that was?"

"Nothing to concern you, Austin. I told you I would deal with things and I have."

"What do you mean? What have you done?"

She shed her nightgown and put on fresh underwear and hose then went to the closet and took out a clean blouse and skirt, slipped on a pair of heels and went back into the bathroom to brush her hair.

"Julia, answer me. Where are you going?"

She returned to the bedroom, placing various objects in her purse and closing it and striding out to the foyer. "Open your little Internet site and start negotiations with those interested parties, I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"Julia I demand to know--"

She stopped and faced him. "No Austin, you don't demand anything. I do the demanding. I'm taking care of our problems and I do the demanding. Now you do as I say and I'll see you when I return." She softened the moment with a familiar smile. "Maybe we can get around to some of those moments we hinted at back in the beginning."

The soft kiss on his cheek was all that he could feel as the apartment door closed.