Baptist DISTINCTIVE: An Adam Mykonos Mystery (The Adam Myknonos Mystries) (19 page)

A man younger than me but with age in his
eyes approached. He wore a pair of black jeans and a long sleeve black shirt
despite the day’s heat. His sun glasses hid his eyes.

“Drake Prihor” He said holding out his
hand.

I took it. I didn’t bother to tell him my
name I figured with the semi-kidnapping and all, he knew who I was. “I am sorry
for your loss.” I did say.

He nodded. “I am sorry for the abrupt way
my father choose to reach out to you. Please follow me.”

As I took a step my cell phone rang. “Sorry.”
I said.

I felt it was wise to wait for permission
to answer but I did give some information. “It’s Sheriff Welter.”

Drake looked puzzled but waved his hand.

“Yes Jake.” I said sounding light.

On the other end Jake Welter coughed and
then coughed again. “Err, Mykonos, we just got to Lafayette’s house.
 
You didn’t zip over here did you?”

“No.”

Welter coughed again “Figured that. We came
here right away, knocked a bunch of times than when we got no answer went and
got a warrant. We found Lafayette in his office. Shot. He’s dead.”

Okay this was getting silly the bodies were
just piling up.

“Suicide” I asked hopefully.

“No. Point blank .22.”

A woman’s gun the cop in my head said.

“Is the wife there?”

“From the looks of it she left weeks ago.”

I wondered why Longstreet had not mentioned
that to me.

“Anything I can do” I asked.

I could see Drake getting anxious.

“No. Just informational.” Said Welter

“Got it Sheriff thanks.”

I hung up and smiled at Drake.

“That was Sheriff Welter; Tim Lafayette was
shot in his home….well in his head in his home.”

Prihor cocked an eyebrow “He’s dead?”

I nodded.

Prihor twisted his lip. “Did he have
something to do with my brother’s death?”

“I think so.”

He let out a deep breath “Oh Boy, come on
we need to tell my father.”

We walked across the lawn and into the
house. While the outside was modest the inside was decorated in modern European,
all whites and glass and angels. We passed through a Kitchen with an attached sun
room. Half a dozen women sat around an older woman with steel gray hair, they
were all crying. I wanted to stop and be polite but Drake took my elbow and led
me down a hall.

We stopped in front of a non-descript oak
door. Drake told me to wait outside one moment and entered, a half a minute
later he came out.

“Come in.”

The office was done in dark earth tones
from the paneled walls to the dark brown carpet.
 
Inside the Prihor men awaited me.

There was no mistaking the patriarch as he
sat behind a cherry wood desk. Dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and
black tie, his hair was salt and pepper, combed back tightly. He wore thick
coke frame glasses. He stood as I entered reaching out his hand.

He spoke in Albanian, though slowly as if
checking his words. “Mister Mykonos, forgive me for dragging you here, it is a
pleasure to meet you.”

I smiled reached out my hand and answered
him in halting Romanian “I am sorry for your loss Sir, and the pleasure of
meeting is mine.”

He laughed and switched to English “Well
now that we have both sufficiently impressed each other with our language
skills shall we return to English before we develop headaches?”

“I could not agree more.”

He pointed around the room to the other
three men, all dressed remarkably alike and all possessing the same familiarly
look. “My remaining sons, Drake, Daniel and Darren.”

I shook hands with each of the men, marking
the second time I had shaken Drake’s hand.

Mr. Prihor motioned for me to sit. I did so
in a very comfortable leather chair near the front of his desk.

Mr. Mykonos, may I call you Adam?” He
pronounced it correctly so I nodded in agreement

“Adam, as I said I am sorry for dragging
you here, but my sources in the sheriff’s office inform me that you may have
information regarding my son’s death. I would like for you to tell me what you
know.”

I hunched my shoulders “I am not sure what
I can say.”

He sat back “Adam, I can respect your
reluctance especially considering the way you were brought here, but.” He
stopped and turned to his youngest son. “Darren can you lend me your cell
phone.”

The youngest man in the room handed his
father his cell. Prihor fiddle with it for a moment, then frustrated handed it
back to Darren “Here you know the number I am looking for.”

It took Darren half a second to find what
his father wanted and hand him back the phone. Prihor looked at it than turn
the screen toward me.

“Is this number meaningful to you?”

I smiled tightly and nodded “Yes it is
meaningful.”

“Shall, we call the man, whose phone number
this is, he is a kind Uncle of to you correct?” He paused then added "In a
broad use of the word Uncle."

I nodded again

“He thought that perhaps you could be
helpful to me for his sake.”

“Of course.” I rubbed my hand down my
goatee and said “Indulge me if I start at the beginning?”

Fifteen minute slater I had brought the
Prihor men up to date on what my week had been like since Josh’s death.

“So you believed that this sad dog Lafayette
killed my Dennis, over the radio station?”

“Over his debt to you and his desire to pay
off that debt by handing over the station to you.”

He looked puzzled. “Adam, why would I want
the radio station?”

“Well Drake just purchased a newspaper, so
the radio would add to his holdings.”

Drake laughed “So would a French poodle.”

“Huh?” I was puzzled.

Prihor gave Darren a small look and the
young man walked over to a small fridge, did everyone have a fridge in their
office but me, and passed cokes around to us all.

“Adam.” Said Prihor after he had taken a
sip. “Clearly over the past several days you have learned more of the workings
of this community than you have known in the past.”

“True”

“But you miss certain things. I have no
desire to add a radio station, which is a dead medium to my portfolio.”

“Newspapers are nearly dead as well.”

“I purchased it for the web site, not the
hard copy.” Said Drake.

“Further” The Old man went on. “Hmmm, I am
surprised to be honest, that as an Albanian you would think I would hurt my son
by taking that station off the air. Family does not do such things.”

He had a point in Eastern European culture
family was everything.

He went on “I did not always understand Dennis’s religion or even necessarily
approve of it, but he loved that church up there and those people. I would not
hurt him by taking the station off the air.”

“But you would need to collect the money you
loaned Lafayette?”

“That is business. But why take a radio
station when I can, and will seize the development, under the contract we
signed.”

Darren looked up from his coke can “And how
would Lafayette know that Dennis was out jogging?”

The Old Man placed his coke can slowly on
the desk “What?”

The younger man spoke slowly. “How would he
have known? What did he do sit in front of his house and wait for him to come
out? Dennis jogged about five miles a day, he was hit at nearly the half-way
point: so did this guy follow him?”

None of us had an answer.

Prihor stood up. He walked around and stood
in front of me, he rested lightly on the edge of the desk.

“Adam, a word of wisdom. Because of this situation,
you are becoming known to many people in this town who are
….er…konkurrentët….concurenți…competitors. This will lead you to trouble.”

I started to speak but he held up his hand.
“I understand that Joshua Longstreet was your friend and I would not ask a man
like you to turn his back on a friend. I would however say this, once you are
known to people. And once those people know of you.” He glanced at the cell
phone resting on his desk. “And once they are clear as to whom and what you
are, the peaceful life you have sought to create here will be lost.”

I nodded.

“I will offer you this just once Adam. Walk
away now, as a favor to your family, I will place my resources on finding out
if it was Mrs. Lexington who killed her husband and his goomah, and if she did
not I will find who did with the same vigor that I will use to find out what
happened to my child.”

“I am afraid, Sir, that I cannot do that.”

He nodded wisely. “Of course not. But I have
offered. From the story you have told me in less than a week, you have annoyed
a member of the Blood Street Gang, embarrassing him in front of his friends,
what he would term his home boys,
 
you
have caught the attention of a powerful member of the Aryan Brotherhood, you
have made the acquaintance of a media mogul from Boston and a prominent
Christian Attorney, you have had the son-in-law of the pastor/founder of the
largest church in the county arrested and made to look like a fool and you
narrowly avoided making enemies of my family, which would not have ended well
for you.”

“You make me sound busy.”

He laughed. “Busy? Old man, if you were any
busier you would be dead. If that is what you can accomplish in less than a
week, it may be to my advantage to remove you before we enter week two.”

I laughed uneasily.

He waved and gave me friendly smile. “In
truth Adam, you amuse me, for now. Be careful however, you will find that fire
always burns a hand.”

I shook my head in agreement there was no
more I could or would add to that.

He reached a hand out and I shook it. “Mirëdita”

“Good bye Sir.”

Chapter
Twenty-One

Buzz Cut and Pony tail were good to their
word and it was before noon when I was dropped off by my car. By one I was in
my bed with the alarm set for four.

At three I was awaken by a trio of sounds.
The water running in the bathroom shower, my wife, in said shower singing a
reggae version of Sinatra’s
Fly me to the Moon
and my cell phone on the
pillow case by my ear where I had left it.

“Mykonos.” I said answering without
looking. I wish I had.

“Brother Adam, it is Brother Beau.” Said Longstreet’s
sing song southern accent.

“Pastor, what can I do for you?” I said
trying to sound reasonably polite.

He hesitated a moment than. “I need a favor.”

I knew I was going to regret this. “What is
it?”

He told me and explained why. I was not
sure if I believed all of his reasons but I could not deny the logic of them.

“Think of it as a favor to Calvary if not
me if that makes it easier.” He said in closing.

“I can do this.” I said flatly.

“Thank you.”

“We will see you at 4:45 then.” I said.

Rita stepped out of the bathroom drying her
hair with one towel while trying to hold up the one wrapped around her.

“Who are we meeting?” She asked.

I held up my hand.

“I do have one question Sir. “

“Go ahead.”

“When and why did Dusty Lafayette leave Tim?”

“Is this relevant?”

“With Tim dead.” I looked at my wife he was
getting that bit of new for the first time, she raised her eyebrows.

“With Tim dead.” I repeated “Eyes are going
to fall on his wife, especially if she left him. We could be looking at dealing
with two innocent women in prison for murder.”

“I am sure that the police have already
spoken to her.” Said Longstreet.

“Yes likely but…when and why Sir?”

“About three weeks ago, as to why to be
frank I am still trying to seek that out, or I was…doesn’t seem to matter much
now.”

“It may matter to the police. Can you set
up a time for me to talk to her? I don’t want to trip over the arrangements she
will need to make or the local constables.”

He laughed “I heard you were getting along
better with them.”

“Lions and Zebras run together from a
jungle fire.” I said.

“How philosophical, is that original and
can I use it?”

“Yes and yes.”

I could see the old badger smile “Then I
will talk to Dusty and try to get you some time with her tomorrow. I will let
you know when we meet.”

“Okay. Good bye Sir.”