Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition (36 page)

“
It’s a
little better than we thought yesterday,” Batty announced when Vern
gave him a copy of the account. Abel and Batty had the same amount
– 18% apiece (Uh-huh. Batty probably didn’t have a cent of actual
cash in it). Sally had 10%. Monica had 6%. Vonny had 5%. Carlos had
2% and should be paid something, as his percent was for work. The
17% for Arnold would, most certainly, not be paid!

“
Give
Denton two percent for saving us this much,” Vern suggested. They
all agreed. Clint wondered if they had a clue that he didn’t get
... maybe he did! Batty said his name was on the papers! He would
have enough to live very well here without inheriting anything
else.

“
Agreed!”
Abel and Downy both cried. Batty coughed and said, “Of
course!”

They got a little calculator and figured
those amounts according to the amount they still had.
$2,684,926.63.

“
I’ll get
four hundred eighty three thousand and change, as will Frank,”
Batty reported. “Vonny will get a hundred thirty four thou and
change. Denton will get fifty thou – not bad for two days’
work!

“
Well,
Vern can disperse the funds and we’ll decide what we want to do,
individually. I’ve already said I’m investing in real
estate.”

“
I’ll let
mine sit right there in the bank and collect interest,” Vern said.
“Let’s go get some certified checks made out. We’ve learned a bit,
I hope. We’re lucky we don’t have to beg for money to get back to
the states. I won’t go back. I love Panamá.”

They went to the bank. Vern said anyone who
had an account in the bank could just direct-deposit and save the
check part. That allowed Clint to deposit his part right then and
there without his disguise being discovered. Vern had thought of
that.

Vern asked him where to stay in Bocas. He was
getting out of there before he ended up tied into a big criminal
investigation over the scam.

“
It won’t
ever come to that. We’ve handled it ourselves and Arnold, the goat,
will be out of the country.”

“
Goat?”

“
Come on!
There’s no way he thought of this or contacted any of
you!”

“
So!
Batty? Or Monica and Yvon?”

“
Figure
the actual money in the account,” Clint smirked. “There hasn’t been
any drilling or for anything else. They’ve spent about fifty or
sixty grand with the scheme. Take out what wasn’t put in and you
know whose money was there. Yours and Abel’s and Downy’s. Batty
made his, Monica and Yvon made theirs – but we did save about half
of it. As you said, it’s a lesson. Another two weeks and it would
have all been gone. At least the other marks can afford it. You’re
the one who came out ahead.”

He looked a bit surprised, then grinned.
Clint called Judi Lum and said Vern Wallace would be staying at his
place. They chatted a bit. Vern said he would pack. He’d be glad to
pay whatever rent Clint wanted.

“
Hell!
You just paid fifty grand. The place only cost me sixty five in the
first place! I think you’ll like Bocas.”

They walked around town a bit. “Wanda” came
by and asked if their crap was cleared up yet. Vern said it was and
introduced “Denton” to him.

“
Mucho
gusto,” he said. “Vern, dear, you said you might like a little
tumble if this got cleared up? It’s cleared up!”

Vern laughed. Fred pouted and said he had
almost promised!

“
Okay,
you’re on!” Vern replied. “What the hell! When in Panamá do as the
Romans do or something on that order. You won’t be getting any
cherry.”

They had to explain what the expression
meant. Vern said he had an uncle when he was fifteen and sixteen
who did about anything you could think of.

“
And you
life isn’t RUINED?!” Clint cried,

“
Not from
that!” Vern shot back. “It was kind of fun. Parts of it. Depends
which end of the stick you’re on.”

“
We’ll
get along fine, then,” Fred said. “I like being on the end you
don’t like being on.”

They joked a bit, then Obilio came to tell
him to turn on his phone. Ten people have been trying to call him.
He checked it and saw it needed recharging so borrowed Obilio’s to
call Yvon, who had told Obilio to contact Clint.

“
Clint
Faraday here,” he greeted, when he had her on the line. “You wanted
to contact me?”

“
Yes. Mr.
Bathner has been trying to locate you. Two people involved in that
horrible scam here are dead in Panamá City! Mr. Bathner said it
doesn’t seem to him like it was an accident because Monica didn’t
drive and she was the one behind the wheel!”

“
Scam?
What scam? I’m in David. What scam are you talking about? I think I
met a Monica when I was in Puerto Armuelles. She’s dead? Who was
the other one?”

“
An
engineer. Could you come?”

“
Maybe
you can get ... I’ll call in an hour for all the details you have
and will go to Panamá City.”

“
Monnie’s
dead?” Vern asked.

“
And
Arnold. Maybe you’d better get to Bocas ... no, you’re no part of
that end.”

Vern nodded and Clint went to the hotel,
charged his phone while he packed, got the bus and went to
David.

Accident My
Ass!

He left the disguise on while he was on the
bus. Two people he had seen in El Critico were there and had booked
immediately after he got on. Probably nothing, but be careful.

He talked with Batty on the phone to learn
that Monica Standing had probably been involved in the scam with
Bill Arnold and somebody had managed to stage an auto accident
where they both ended up dead. The car supposedly was traveling at
a high rate of speed and she took the wrong exit, the one that goes
down more or less under the bridge over the canal, and ran into
that heavy concrete wall at the bottom. He didn’t believe it
because Monica didn’t drive and she was under the steering wheel
when the car hit the wall.

Clint didn’t ask why she would be on that
side of the bridge at 3:00 AM. He remembered that Batty had called
a number, then the banker. What he said was that there was a
probable scam – which information would not be given to a secretary
or answering service. It struck him as being significant at the
time. Then Monica suddenly headed straight for Panamá City without
informing her best friend, Yvon?

Then Monica ends up in Panamá City – with the
engineer. Both are dead in a staged car crash.

Monica and Arnold would have ended up with
the money. Batty wasn’t smart enough to have figured this thing
this closely. It didn’t, as the tired old saying went, compute. It
would seem Batty wasn’t the head of the deal. It wasn’t likely
Arnold could have figured it and contacted the people involved on
the money end. Monica was a runner for someone. She and possibly
Arnold would know who the real head of the deal was.

How could they stay out of so much and end up
with the gravy?

This was going to take some thinking. Maybe
the funny-money thing always was a part of it.

Wait! WHO sent the Cartworthys to Puerto
Armuelles and why kill Sally Wallace? If the Smiths had killed her
it would be that – but they didn’t kill her. Cartworthy(s) killed
her. They were definitely NOT in on the funny-money part.

None of it made much sense. Marko met the
Cartworthys in Panamá City. Arnold was in Panamá City. Was that
significant?

Probably – but how? Why? Who else was in
Panamá City at a critical time?

Carlos Vermont? He was there all the time
with his work on getting permits and concessions.

Clint called Carlos and said he would be in
Panamá City in the morning and wanted to talk with him about some
things. They agreed to meet at the Hotel California at eight in the
morning. He called the hotel and wheedled them into giving him a
room. It was full, but he knew the people and they would give him a
room that was being renovated. He could get a regular room in two
nights.

Maybe something was going to come out of this
mess now that he could get a grip on. It occurred to him that he
had been approached a number of times when he came to Panamá by
people who wanted him to use any contacts he had with anyone in the
states to buy land or finance a new business. Half of them were
scams. Carlos would be the one to make the contacts. He would be in
on the scam bigtime. Would he be running it?

That was what Clint had to discover.

When he got to David, “Denton” got in a cab
and went to the Palacio Imperial Hotel. The two from Puerto
Armuelles watched him get the cab and managed to be near enough to
hear him ask for the Palacio. He went in to find the feria had the
place full. There were no rooms. Perfect! When the two asked for
his room number they would be told the place was booked solid and
that he wasn’t there.

He went out to his author friend’s place in
Quiteño, changed, and Jose (the student being financed through
university who was living in the house) would tell anyone who asked
that he’d been there for a week. He dumped the disguise and went to
catch the Panam City bus.

He got into Panamá City at 3:00 AM and went
directly to the Hotel California. He managed to get four hours
sleep and be in the restaurant when Carlos came in. They discussed
the scam.

“
Carlos,
I’ve known you for a couple of years. You had to know it was a
scam. I think you either set it up yourself or helped someone else
set it up. I don’t care about that. Most of the people involved can
afford it and were on the shady side as it was. Vern is a good
person and came out ahead, Batty and Yvon got enough of a rake-off
to live on. Abel and Downy got a lot back and will manage to build
it up again fairly fast. Even that Denton character made fifty
grand on the deal. Arnold won’t be collecting his part. Monica
Standing was a runner and not much more.

“
It’s a
personal project. Denton couldn’t believe they were doing anything
so easy to see through, but Abel and Downy were naive enough to
where it would work IF you’d made it clear that they were to
contact no other investors or mention it in any way. You always ran
the risk of it falling apart the way it did if you didn’t keep
absolute control of that part. You should have told them all the
percentages were sold. You got too greedy, wanting a few more
thousand bucks – with the result you lost about half of what was
already in it.

“
They met
Denton and decided to get him in on it because he obviously has a
lot of money and they could trust him. He’s able to project that.
I’ve met him a few times. We don’t tell people we know each other,
Okay?”

He nodded. Clint could see he didn’t know how
to react to this little speech. “What do you want? I can’t tell you
who else is in it. I don’t know. I meet with his representative. A
Monica Standing.

“
Met. I
didn’t have anything to do with killing her or the engineer,
Arnold. The police won’t investigate. They say she was drunk and
ran off the road. It happens.”

“
Which
means whoever’s behind it has a lot of money and power. I really
can’t believe it was Lariez.”

“
That, I
know. It was NOT Lariez. Lariez was told to stay out of
it.”

“
So he
told me. Want to show me a permit or concession
document?”

“
I
thought you would ask. I brought a couple.” He put them on the
table.

“
Oh-ho!
Very good job! You do it or are they supplied?”

Carlos laughed. “They’re the real forms. I
just have them filled out and take them to a notary for the stamp.
Only thing wrong with them is that they’re the originals so no
agency has a copy on file. There’s no finca number so they’re not
even legal yet. When they’re refused it’s no fault of mine. It’s
this damned government with all their delays and fees and
obstructionism! It’s getting impossible for a man to get an honest
job anymore! Oh, woe is me!”

“
Bummer!”
Clint shook his head. “Lariez isn’t going to give me a name, hunh?”
Carlos said it wasn’t likely. That said a lot.

Clint went to the police station after lunch
at the chicken place a block from the Hotel California and met with
Vito Williams, an investigator he’d worked with for a short time
several months past. He said he’d only seen the reports. It seemed
to be clear enough. What was the problem?

“
They
were running a seeded mine scam in Puerto Armuelles. She didn’t
drive. The scam’s being run from here.”

Vito raised an eyebrow and called an officer
over to tell her to get the autopsy reports to him right away. She
went out while Clint and Vito chatted about whatever came up. She
returned in fifteen minutes with a note that said the autopsy
wasn’t completed yet. Vito picked up his hat and said for Clint to
come along to the morgue.

Monica’s body was still in a cooler. Nothing
had been touched. The report was in a slot in the drawer door –
that said her blood alcohol level was 2.4. It didn’t mention
injuries. There was a cremation certificate in the slot, signed by
her aunt. Maria Sanchez. The cedula copy (required on legal
documents) was so smeared it couldn’t be read.

“
She has
an aunt here?” Clint said, disgustedly. “Maria Sanchez? That’s like
Mary Smith in the states.”

“
Come
on!” Vito snarled. “This one they don’t shove aside where no one
looks.”

He marched to the coroner, who was working on
the body of a fat older woman, to demand to see the sample of blood
taken from Monica Beatrice Standing in number fourteen. The doctor
looked a bit shocked and uncertain, then went to the refrigerator
to rummage around and not find it. He called a kid over and asked
about it, was told it was right there earlier.