The 16mm Caper

Chapter 44

Peter took the call from Harv and listened to the news, wondering if they should continue playing their dangerous game. Harv and the others felt they could still do a deal with Austin's Bermuda contact in spite of what happened. The body at the villa had been discovered and identified in spite of Julia's attempts at hiding it, and the couple renting the villa was on an all points bulletin with the declaration to approach with caution.

The group felt that Austin would go to ground and if he didn't get caught, would stay hidden, happy to keep his skin and live on what he'd made. In the end, Peter agreed and after a long debate, accepted the extremely dicey role of informing Mary about what had been going on.

"I knew you'd react this way that's why I never said anything before." He paced back and forth beside the bed.

"How should I react when the man who claims to love me and all my friends go behind my back and with criminal activities for God's sake?"

"We're just doing what was done to us."

"Oh, and that makes it right."

He stopped and looked at her. "Well- yes." Mary threw down her hairbrush and stomped out of the room.

"We are all agreed, Mary," he said, following her out to the kitchen of the suite. "And considering what happened to the gang that tried to chisel us it's a good thing we are."

She turned on him, hands jammed onto her hips. "It was you that got us all into this in the first place so don't make it sound like everybody was- is--" The tears started flowing and when he moved toward her, she raised a threatening fist.

"You know what. Fine. You keep on hating me, and I'll just get on with what the others want to do. When it's time to leave I'll go. You can do whatever." He left the room and went out to the balcony and stood staring out over the ocean.

******

Eighteen days later Peter met Harv and the others and in a somewhat dampened celebration due to Mary's absence, drank to their success in reselling the original material to Hattie Vermont while remaining anonymous, no mean feat considering the agent's connections.

Harv and Dylan had worked out the plan and executed it perfectly. The safe at Harv's office now held a money draft for one point six million dollars. The next step was to deposit it somewhere where it couldn't be traced. A lot of brainstorming and sometimes angry arguing went into the problem with no solution.

"Look, I think we just open an account somewhere under a numbered company name and then start moving it into a safety deposit account. We can do any number of untraceable deposits in cash from there."

"How do we get this numbered company?" Catlin asked.

"We'll just form one - temporarily. We can do a wire transfer or something." Peter looked about the group helplessly. "Shit I don't know. Whatever we do they'll be able to trace the amount."

"You're all assuming they'll bother. Maybe they'll believe they have the real thing this time." Harv suggested.

"You want to take that chance?" Freddy asked. "Look what happened to Price."

"That's the beauty, they think the one we sold them came from Austin and the woman. If anybody is at risk it's them. We sold them the original goods."

"Harv's right. We don't have to worry about this Hattie guy, we just bank the money and split it up." Catlin offered. "Worst case scenario is that Austin finds out and comes after us again."

"Highly unlikely." Peter said. "Hattie doesn't know who we are, the draft was made out to the bearer and mailed to a post office box that is now closed. He would have no reason to suspect us."

"He might if he thinks we made a switch somehow."

"That puts me a little at risk except I had genuine papers from the express company." Dylan sighed. "Let's just do it and move on, the longer we fart around the more suspicious things get."

A show of hands won the decision to act right away, and they moved to the next order of business.

"I think this time the breakdown should be different. You guys did a lot more than me on this and you should get more." Peter looked about the room at his friends who pulled lips, made faces, and wearing silly grins, generally nodded agreement.

"You know," Catlin said giddily, "With what we already got from Ralston, this has been a most worthwhile project."

"How much do we uh- have in total?" Cheryl asked meekly.

"Gimme a sec here," Harv turned to his computer calculator. "Half million from Hughes plus the one point six from Hattie equals two point one million bazongas!"

"Don't forget the money from Cheryl and the five grand I gave each of you earlier," Peter noted. "All in all, Catlin's right - a most worthwhile project."

"I think you should reconsider, Peter, after all the film was yours originally."

"Nope. Mind's made up. Without all of you this wouldn't have been possible."

"Does, 'all of you' include Mary?" Catlin asked, and Cheryl echoed her curiosity.

"It does, but I think I'm gonna have a tough time making it all work out with her." He sat down and looked at the floor between his feet and the room stayed silent.

******

Julia crossed the room and dropped her magazine on the top of the large hassock on her way to the terrace. She leaned on the rail and stared out over the harbour far below to the icy blue of the Mediterranean Sea. A soft breeze lifted the edges of her hair cooling her scalp. And it needed cooling.

The magazine article had described the flagrant pride of the owner of a newly discovered piece of cinematic history and how it had been valued by several insurance companies and collecting societies as being worth approximately seven and one half million dollars.

The owner had demurred about possibly selling, claiming his interest being solely in the preservation and care of such a rare chapter of filmmaking. Julia nearly gagged, both over the statement and the assessed value.

She clutched the iron railing tightly and swore under her breath over how she and Austin had let it go for a measly million point four, and she immediately set her mind to determining how to uncover the source who not only scammed them out of the original but then sold it themselves to the same buyer.

"It isn't worth the stress, Julia," Austin said, joining her on the terrace. "Look what we have now." He waved an arm across the vista and looked questioningly at her. "We have more than plenty for the style we chose."

"We chose that style based on what we had, Austin." She turned and rested her back on the railing. "We could have had so much more."

"Greed has brought us enough trouble, Julia, let's just enjoy the fact that we are now comfortable and safe." He moved to her side and slipped an arm about her waist. "I think we've both paid enough of a price for what we have now, don't you?"

Julia placed a hand on his cheek and gazed into his eyes. "Frankly, Austin, I'm not sure I got my money's worth." She pushed off the rail and out of his embrace and he sagged, watching her stride back inside the villa.

Several calls later Julia sat back and tapped her pen on her teeth as she mentally connected the dots in her mind. Her conclusion drew a sardonic smile at the result. It was she who had been scammed - brilliantly. The, oh so attentive, and eager to please limousine service driver was the only piece of the mystery not explained.

But how, and why? She rummaged through her purse and found the business card for, At Your Service Limousine and the name, Dylan Brewer. A few more calls and she scribbled another name on her pad, circling it with such force she shredded the paper.

Three hours later, against Austin's pleading, Julia took a flight back to Canada with vengeance on her mind.