The Pastor’s Daughter: Episode XXIV

When he say that, I felt as if the bottom of my world had fallen out.   I have completely forgotten about the note I had left for    Brittany the vacation house in Atlantic City.

“I’ve got it right here,” Councilman McCutchen  went on, tapping his hip pocket. “The note is perfect. That and the watch could nail you Harry. You wouldn’t stand a chance.

He was right. If Lieutenant Ludlum ever got hold of that note, I would be finished. In my mind, I could see the note now as clearly as if it lay before me. 

        Brittany (I had written), I guess we missed each other. So I am going back to the train station to wait for you there. Meet me there. Love from, Harry.

What made my situation worse was that I had written the note on the vacation house’s headed paper, and I had even put the time and date on it. The shock of finding Brittany dead at the vacation house had completely driven the note out of my head until now.

“As you can see Harry, I’ve got you sewn up tight,” Councilman McCutchen   continued. “When the police find your bags in the left luggage office at the train station, they will also find Brittany’s camera and some of the films. Not only that, they will find a letter from Brittany to you that will  close this case. She wrote it before felling off that window.”

I made an effort and pulled myself together. I am definitely in the worst jam of my life, and that made me very scared and angry. I told myself that if I really want to get out of the situation, the first thing to do would be to get the note and destroy it. And, since he said he had it on him, all I had to do was surprise him, knock him cold and get the note.

“Brittany never wrote to me,” I said.

“Sure, she did,” he retorted. “I made her do it, and it was quite a letter. In it she told you how she hired the vacation house and how beautiful it is; and how you two are going to have a wonderful time there as Mr. and Mrs. Graham Reed. I tell you this, Harry: That letter is a complete give away.”

For some reason the  expression on his face told me he wasn’t saying the truth about Brittany’s letter to me. I’m quite sure he was bluffing on that one. There was no letter; but then I wasn’t worried about it at that point. The not I had written to Brittany would be enough to nail me.

“Okay, so you have me by my balls,” I said. “What are you going to do about it?”

He got to his feet and began to wonder around the room, making sure to avoid coming near me while he wandered. 

“In have been looking for a guy like you for years,” he said. “When Brittany told me she was making a pass at you and who you were, I knew I’ve found my guy. I have a job for you: I have a business interest in Canada. So your job would be to take a parcel across the Canadian border for me. You are more than suited for the job, and you’ll basically sail through without any hassle.  With your background and job, the Canadian customs officials  won’t even bother to look in your bags, let alone search your car. I have been hoarding the stuff up for months, waiting for a chance like this.”

“What stuff? It is some type of drug, isn’t it?” I asked, watching him.

He grinned.

“You needn’t worry about that,” he said. “All you have to do is drive from here to Cornwall, Ontario. You will spend the night at a hotel in that city, leaving your car in the hotel garage. I will tell you which hotel as soon as we finalize the deal. I will have planted the parcel containing the stuff in your car before you leave. I will alert my contact in Cornwall and he will collect it during the night. It is as simple as that.”

“I’m so surprised a councilman like you is involved in drug business,” I said. “I mean you have a good, well-respected and well-paid job. Why do you need to deal on drug? You are more rotten than I thought, Councilman McCutchen.”

His eyes hardened.

“Now listen very carefully,” he said. “The last thing I need from a ‘moral judge’ like you to pass sentence to what I do. Why should you care, anyway? If you must know, the council job pays peanuts. Do you know I can’t even touch my campaign fund without spending countless hours filling mountains of forms to justify the withdrawal? On the contrary, there’s a lot of dough in this white powder. If I put in five grand, I can make fifty grand distributing. Not only that, the money is tax free…”

“So, why then why go into politics?”

“I thought I’ve already told you,” he replied. “I went into politics because my father want to build his political connections in Baltimore. With lots of political friends, police officers and judges covering us, we can do business without stress.”

“So, if I don’t do what you said, Lieutenant Ludlum will get my note to Brittany. Is that the idea?”

“You are catching up fast,” he said. “You are smart after all.”

“And if I do do it, what happens then?”

He shrugged.

“You will have a nice vacation and come back to your work as a newspaperman. But then, you’ll have to make another trip to Cornwall, say, in about six months. A newspaper man is expected to travel, right? So you can see that you are custom-made for this job. You can also see how smart I am in picking you.”

“I’m just curious: did Brittany have anything to do with the picking?” I asked.

“Of course she does,” he said. “I know you see her as the innocent daughter of a church minister. But you are wrong. I’m sure by now you know she was not what you think. She was very rotten. She was a garbage pail. Anyway, she was involved, but she was strictly small time. Actually, she wanted to put the bite on you for a thousand dollars. I, however, talked her out of that. I convinced her you would be far more useful as a carrier.”

It suddenly downed on me what this was all about.

“Brittany was a drug addict, wasn’t she?” I said. “And that’s why she always need money. And she never cared how she got it, so long as she got it. And it’s probably a parcel of heroin you want me to take to Cornwall, isn’t it?”

“Well, what do you think? You don’t think I will be putting a face powder in the car, do you?” he returned, grinning.

“That’s it Harry. So long as she’s got dough to spend, I was always willing to help her. It was strictly business, not personal.”

“Was it your idea or hers we should go to Atlantic City?”

“Why should you care?”

“It was your idea then, wasn’t it? You probably chose the vacation house, and there was a convenient window to fall off. You knew that as a newspaper man, I wouldn’t play unless you really got a stranglehold on me, right? You laid the trap, threw her off the window and I walked into it. Tell me if I’m wrong.”

He laughed.

“I admire your imagination,” he said. “Anyway, you can’t prove that Harry, but I can prove mine.”

“Let me ask you this,” I said. “Did Brittany take you on her camera when you two were up in the vacation house? Is that why you were so anxious to get rid of the film?”

“Far from that, Harry. If I were you, I shouldn’t worry about the camera. That was a ruse to make the police think it was murder.” He lit a cigarette. “Enough of these questions. Let’s get back to business. Are you going to Cornwall or do I send the note to Lieutenant Ludlum?”

“I am a newspaper man,” I said. “What made you think I would agree to carry drugs for you? How about if I decide to expose your hypocrisy in the papers? That would make a terrific headline. The last time I checked, the mandatory minimum prison term for drug trafficking is twenty year. For a politician like you, who have public trust, it could be more. Have you thought of that?”

“I knew you wouldn’t do that,” he replied. “If you expose me, you will also expose yourself since I have enough evidence to prove that you fooled around with Brittany and probably killed her. We are in this together now, Harry, see? That’s why I need your answer today, now.”

“Do I have any choice?”

As I say that, I glanced aimlessly around the room. If only I could  find a suitable weapon! I couldn’t  find anything substantial enough to hit him with. I was convinced I wasn’t going to stop  this asshole with my bare fists.

Near the door was a small metallic table with glass top, and on that table stood a large vase full of white carnations. By the vase was a large photograph in a gold frame of Grace Roselli. She was in a green swimsuit, lying on a lounging chair and sheltered by a big, Sunny Bahama type sun umbrella. She looked very beautiful, and there was something vaguely familiar about the photograph. However, I only half-glanced at it. Beside the photograph was a solid glass paper-weight. I told myself that that would be a good weapon to use.

“So, what’s your answer?” he asked, watching me. “Do we have a deal?”

“Like I said, I got no choice: I will do it.”

“It will be a pleasure doing business with you, Harry,” he grinned. “I knew you would play. Now, let’s get down to business. Here’s what you’ll do: On Thursday night I’ll be along at your neighborhood to plant the parcel in your car. Get off early Friday morning. Stay the night in Sarnia, then, on Saturday, you drive to Cornwall, Ontario. You will have to drive through the Blue Water Bridge and connect to Canadian Highway 402 via US Interstate 69. You should time it properly so that you cross the border around seven in the evening. That’s when the custom guys at the border will be thinking of their dinners and they’ll be glad to pass you through quickly. After leaving the border, you go straight to the Auberge Chesleys Inn. It’s one of the best inns in Long Sault community. Leave the car in the inn garage and forget about it. Got all that?”

I said I had got it.

“And no funny business, Harry. I have a big fortune tied up in that white powder. So, if you try to double-cross me, I will kill you. Short and simple.” His eyes hardened again as he stared at me. “I have you by the balls, so don’t forget it. I guess you have me by my balls too.”

“What happens if Lieutenant Ludlum finds out I was at the vacation house when Brittany died?”

“Let him prove it,” he replied. “In any case, I will prepare an alibi for you if he gets tough. I never have any problem making up alibis. So long as you play with me, you got nothing to worry about. You and I can work on this business for years, and there’s a lot of money to be made. There’s the Mexican run you can handle too. Harry, this is really big: if we cooperate well in this business, in the long run  we could be pulling in more dough than six large America’s industrial corporations put together.”

“Very interesting,” I said. “Looks like I’ve got myself a new career.”

“What do you think? I just showed you how big dough is made, and you ought to be grateful.” He stubbed out his cigarette. “Well, Harry, I have to take care of some business now. Start getting ready to leave on Friday, okay?”

I got slowly to my feet.

“Not a problem,” I replied.

He moved around me very cautiously, keeping his distance and watching me. Meanwhile, I stopped by the table and looked at the framed photograph of Grace Roselli.

“Is she your girlfriend?” I asked.

He moved closer, but he was still out of my reach.

“Never mind who she is Harry… keep moving. I have lots of things to do, okay?”

I lifted the frame.

“She’s really very sexy. Is she on drugs too?”

Then he made the big mistake I was expecting. He snarled, stepped up to me and yanked  the frame out of my hand. Than move put his right hand out of action. With a quick move that surprised even myself I gave the large vase of  white carnations a swipe with my left hand and grabbed the glass paper-weight with my right hand. The vase, water and carnations exploded against McCutchen’s kness. He looked down for a second, cursing.

With the paper-weight balled in my fist, I hit him on the side of the head, using all the energy in me. He went down on his knees, and I saw his eyes roll back. I still have the paper-weight in my fist so I clubbed him harder on the top of his head. He slid forward, stretching out at my feet. Then I made my own mistake: I dropped the paper-weight and knelt beside him. My God! This man was the toughest guy I had ever seen. His right hand groped upwards towards my throat and he almost had me. But I was ready for him: As he levered himself upward, I knocked his arm aside. His eyes were blank and I could see that he was practically out. Yet he was still very dangerous. I set myself, and as he lifted his head, I hit his jaw very hard with my balled fist – my punch was so hard that the impact jarred me from my fist to my elbow. His head slammed back on the floor and he went limp.

By this time I was breathing very hard. But then I couldn’t afford to lose any second. I caught hold of him and rolled him over on his face. I slid my hand into the left pocket of his trouser and my fingers closed over a leather wallet.

As I was pulling his wallet out, the door jerked open and Grace Roselli came in.

She held a 0.38 Smith & Wesson revolver in her hand and she pointed it at me.

END OF EPISODE XXIV

P.S. Episode Twenty-Five  will be published here next Monday.