Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition (48 page)

Clint added that bit to see who reacted and
to distract attention from the computers remark. All of them seemed
more than a little perturbed by that information. Maybe they would
think he learned that from them if they even considered it.

“
The
IRS!?” Amanda exclaimed. “I heard from Frieda about it. She called
us to tell us the records are gone. She said it was a masked man
you saw running from her place. She seemed to think it was ...
something else. She wouldn’t say what. I never considered that ...
I doubt.... Why?”

“
There’s
some talk among the locals that there were fixed races where he
made a bundle that wasn’t reported. A known local hood was seen
meeting with him at times (he remembered one of those pictures!)
and some person called Frank Something. Lindley or Lenders or
something. That’s being looked into by the IRS very closely at the
moment if my source can be believed.”

Trudy was suddenly very pale and a bit dizzy.
She said she was still reacting to Donald’s death and was confused
about everything that was happening. The IRS? Fixed races? With
Frank Lindsay? Preposterous!

“
My own
theory is that someone was blackmailing Lawrence because of that.
Maybe Donald found out about it and faced him with it. The
blackmailer came into the room while that was happening and put an
end to Donald, which meant Lawrence had to go. That would mean that
Donald had proof of some sort. He would be laughed away if he
didn’t.

“
Of
course, that theory could be one eighty from the reality. That’s
the trouble with theories. That’s why I’ll keep looking into every
other possibility I can think of.

“
Do any
of you have anything that would point to....”

“
Dr.
Orison! He’s here in Panamá! That police officer was asking all of
us if we knew why he would be here! And Rasmussen is here! Oh, my
god!” Amanda cried.

“
Orison
is here,” Wanda said. “I knew that. Pops called him from Costa Rica
just when we flew in. He said he needed some kind of treatment
because he was hurting a lot lately. I didn’t know about the
lawyer. That’s very strange.”

“
Pops did
a lot of strange things,” Trudy said. “I think maybe.... Why here?
Why not Costa Rica or Mexico or Peru or even Colombia where we were
supposed to be by now?”

THAT was a very good question! Clint would
have to look at certain laws that were different in Panamá than in
those places. It might explain why Rasmussen was there. That had
never made any sense – like everything else about the case.

It was slowly coming together, but by
incidental pieces like that question.

“
You’re
one of the best lawyers in Panamá,” Clint said to Angel Guerra.
“You specialize in estates and large business concerns, but have
the reputation of knowing the law as well as anyone here. What I
need to know is about death and inheritance laws in Panamá that are
different than those in Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia. I have to
learn why a dual murder was committed here and not some other
place.”

“
Hm-um.
That’s much too broad a question for an answer,” Angel replied. “I
need some specific area. The laws are much different in all the
places you mentioned.”

“
I’ll
tell you what I think this is about. It began about seven years
ago.

“
A doctor
discovered that a very wealthy man had a small beginning cancer in
a kidney. There must have been some kind of deal that I can only
speculate about. Maybe the doctor would receive a very large
bequest when the man died in return for treatment.

“
The
treatment was not given then – or ever. A simple enough operation
to remove the kidney at that time would have resulted in the man
living, but the doctor gave the man painkillers and minor treatment
until the cancer had spread to the lungs and bones ... ... someone
in the family is and has been involved. The lawyer and doctor are
here. He planned to suicide in a way that would look like murder,
but the family would all be suspected.

“
I have
to know what laws caused him to come here. What laws are enough
different that it wasn’t done in any other place than
Panamá.”

“
That
doctor couldn’t have killed them himself?” Angel asked.

“
No. He
and the lawyer are and were in San Blas.”

“
Offshore.”

“
What?”

“
Panamá
has offshore accounts that no other country is allowed to monitor.
Even Switzerland has caved in to the demands of other countries to
allow information about accounts to be known. Panamá has
not.”

“
I’ll be
damned! That simple!”

“
You’ll
have to watch all of them,” Angel warned. “I imagine the doctor and
lawyer are here for that and have the information and powers of
attorney to claim those funds. That explains why they are here and
at this time. They knew he was planning to suicide.”

“
Even a
power of attorney won’t get them into the funds, will
it?”

“
No. It
will have to be attested by an heir. The only way around that would
be if there was no heir. They are in no position to eliminate
heirs, so one or more is working with them – which you already
suspected.”

“
Sick!
And very sad.” Angel nodded.

They chatted a few minutes. Angel said there
was no charge for the session. He just wanted to be a large part of
prosecution for that sordid bunch. If any of them lived to be
prosecuted. Such sordid people sometimes had truly horrible
accidents where they were pinned in a slowly burning vehicle or
such.

“
You’re
number four who thinks that would be the best resolution to the
case.”

“
Are you
number one or two?”

“
Two. A
cop is number one to actually state it.”

Angel nodded again.

“
Manny,
can you find out a thing or two about offshore banking accounts
here?” Clint asked.

“
Ha!
That’s why the lawyer’s here! So simple and obvious,” Dave
exclaimed. “The lawyer has the account numbers or such. Probably
set it up himself. That doesn’t explain the doctor ... yes it does.
The doctor to monitor the suicide ... which is why he wanted
suspicion on everyone in the family. Heirs under suspicion of
murder don’t inherit. The first one who can come up with solid
proof he or she wasn’t the killer will be the killer.”

“
They
still would only inherit their part in the will,” Marko pointed
out.

“
That’s
one fourth of seven million Euros,” Judi said.

“
Plus the
offshore account they are probably the only one who knows about?”
Sergio suggested. “How much was embezzled or was sent out here from
funds supposedly embezzled?”

“
About a
million and a half dollars. The lawyer and doctor will probably get
that,” Marko replied.

“
Uh-uh.
It’s one hell of a lot more than just that,” Clint argued.
“Remember the fixed-races money.

“
Manny,
could you find anything about that? How much and when?”

“
The
report should be ready now. I’ll call Tony. Gimme a min.” He took
out his cellular and called. There was no answer, but he waited.
Judi looked a question at him.

“
It’s
four in the morning in California.”

They had another coffee and the call came.
Marko took it inside. They were on the deck. He came back out in
ten minutes or so and said, “Half a mil bet at fourteen to one on
April six four years ago. Half a mil at twelve to one on May eight
three years ago. There will be more, probably once a year he had a
long shot come in. Your Frank Lindsay had fifty grand on the first
and twenty grand on the second run. Carlo Gambanese seems to have
bet a lot on all of them through other bookies than his own – and
if that doesn’t tell you something you’re a total idiot who should
be institutionalized.

“
The
other bookies figured that the second time.”

“
Who was
the crud in those pictures?” Judi asked.

“
His
name’s just ‘Buster’ and he hung around Candlestick and Arena. Odd
coincidence that’s where the races were run. He suddenly had a
grand to bet on each of those races. He’s deceased two years. Had
an accident when it got clear enough he was the fixer. There won’t
have been any other longshot bets since then.”

“
Know who
had him hit?” Clint asked.

“
No one
seems to know – so no one knows.”

“
Yeah!
Maybe he knew too much for good old Lawrence’s piece of mind,” Dave
suggested. “Maybe the doctor and/or lawyer. Maybe that Frieda broad
or Lindsay. Maybe one or two of the gaggle here.”

“
I’d say
Lindsay,” Clint said. “He would be the goat if it’s ever found out.
He’ll be the one who made the original contact and deal. He hired
it done. Probably has the smarts to get a druggie to do it for a
hundred bucks or something.”

“
God,
they’re a nasty bunch!” Judi exclaimed. No one argued the
point.

“
Well, I
can’t get into the banking bit. We’ll just wait a while until
someone makes a move. They won’t think us schmuck hicks will tumble
to it, so won’t wait too long I’d guess. We could discuss this kind
of crap while we’re fishing down around Zapatilla? Only Serg won’t
be able to join us, more’s the pity.”

Sergio gave him the finger. “You might wonder
if maybe they’ll be a bit more cautious since we schmucks were able
to show the murders were murders so quickly.”

“
You have
a point,” Dave agreed. “I can’t go. I’ve got to get together with
Bill and Paul to work out some numbers for the gig Thursday. I hate
doing that kind of thing. I might get sick or
something.”

“
BS! You
love to play!” Sergio snapped back.

“
Not
practiced stuff,” Judi argued. “He never does a song twice the same
way. He’s spontie.”

“
Among
other things,” Marko added. He got the finger for that.

“
When
will you get with the Lesleys again?” Judi asked when they were
having dinner at The Pirate.

“
I’ll let
them stew and wonder what I know,” Clint replied. “They’re already
a little antsy. I think the IRS crap is what has them all
scared.”

“
Won’t
Trudy be the most scared of that?” she asked.

“
Trudy?
Why?”

“
Well,
she had the proof of the fixing ... but never used it. Donald was
doing that.”

“
So
Frieda, Lindsay and whoever else is in on it there will be scared,
plus the killer. They’ll be scared because there has to be
something that’ll tie them into it besides the stuff Manny got for
us. The doctor and lawyer will have covered their asses and
couldn’t care less about the IRS. They’re from ...
Norway.

“
Damn!
This thing is getting ridiculous! It’s a complicated mess ... that
started in Norway or Switzerland?”

“
Probably
the original idea is from California. That’s where the crooked
races and stuff got started. It’s where your records were
kept.

“
Clint,
where was the wife from? Where did she die?”

Clint called Sergio, who looked up the
records and called back a few minutes later. She was from France,
carried a Swiss passport and had become a naturalized USA citizen
with a passport from the United States. She died in California. She
was institutionalized twenty years ago with what was called a
nervous breakdown at the time. 3 months. She died of massive
cardiac failure, unspecified.

“
Institutionalized? Where?” Clint asked. There was a pause,
then, “Bourne.”

“
Doctor?”

“
You
guessed it. Orison.”

“
Now it’s
gone beyond ridiculous so far you can’t see back to it,” Clint
muttered. “Any other complicating facts I should know?”

“
Hmm.
Rasmussen was born in Belgium of Norwegian parents if that means
anything.”

“
Probably
not, but everything ends up meaning something that I thought didn’t
and everything I thought did didn’t.”

“
You
don’t make any sense!” Sergio replied.

“
Neither
does any of this crap!”

“
I have a
thought,” Sergio said seriously. “How many of them had dual
passports? Where might they have gone on the one while we checked
only the other?”

“
It was
never for our benefit, but that is one hell of a point. Can you
check on which ones, if any, came here before on the second
passport? Maybe more than once?”

“
I can
get in touch with the embassies and find out. Would that complicate
it further ?”

“
Of
course it wi...! NO! Check on the doctor and lawyer, too! They’ll
both have dual passports as sure as I’m sitting here! Which one or
ones will be behind the whole scheme?

“
Sergio,
I have to know the starting point in all this. If I know that I’ll
know who’s behind everything.”

“
Ah! The
ones who were here are the ones who opened the offshore account!
That’s what’s really behind it. The money. It’s almost always that
way.