Clint Faraday Mysteries Collection B :This Job is Murder Collector's Edition (6 page)

Clint grinned and agreed. Another dead end.
Clint went back to the Costa Rica to think.

Who would have a clue? Geraldo was one side
of it. That part was solved. Now he was angling for Clint to show
him who he was up against. He probably had some ideas, but wouldn’t
give. This was someone who was nuts or very dangerously crafty.

Clint spent some time thinking. He put
everything else out of his mind and went over only what had to do
with this. He decided someone was trying to pit Geraldo against
another small-time crime boss. He would have to discover why to
learn who – unless there was a way to force the issue.

He grinned. There just might be!

The next stop was the marina at
Pedrigal. Clint did note one person at that party who worked there.
He had a large boat and was some kind of partner or something. He
had a good reputation, but was known to be into a few slightly
shady deals. Nothing that was likely to hurt anyone who couldn’t
afford it. He had a philosophy that said certain things were games.
The loser had to pay. Don’t bother to get into the game with anyone
who couldn’t be depended upon to have the funds to pay. Damned
sure, you don’t get into it if
you
don’t have the funds!

He was on the dock giving instructions to the
workers about pulling a large yacht and painting the hull. There
were some minor repairs while it was out of the water.

“
Hi, Harry. Nice job!” Clint greeted,
pointing at the boat.

“
Triple-overpriced, thus very expensive
to keep up. Holloway can afford it and ten like it. His IQ is about
his shoe size.

“
What’s up?”

“
Damned little except taxes, rainfall
and my deficit,” Clint replied. That was a joke between
them.

“
Found anymore pirate
treasure?”

“
Not looking for any. Wasn’t looking
for that.”

“
Yeah. You don’t give a damn so you
find three big damned treasure chests. I care a bunch and can’t
find more than a centavo laying in the street.”

Clint raised an eyebrow and cocked his head
to the side, looking at the boat. Harry laughed and said he didn’t
find that. It found him. “Any luck with this latest map thing?”

“
Which latest map thing? I was looking
for some guy who killed some other guy, found him and decided it
would be much better for everyone concerned if he just left Panamá.
The cops here don’t need all their time taken trying to prosecute
mobsters who’ll get away with it in the long run,
anyhow.

“
What about a map? I thought they found
all of that crap.”

Harry looked a bit startled and said, “Uh, I
heard there was some kind of map to a lost gold mine out there, uh,
somewhere. Maybe Rambala or that area.”

“
Oh. I heard something about that in
Punta Peña. They have to find a certain rock near a mountain on a
river or something as stupid. Any rock like that would have been
down the river a century ago. Hell, look at the size of those rocks
the innundation took down the river! One of them up near Fortuna
was bigger than that boat! I watched it perched on the edge for
three weeks, then it was gone. A couple of hundred meters straight
down. Who the hell would look for a gold mine over there? It’s not
that kind of place. Gold isn’t found ion sandstone and calcium
types of rock. It’s found in silica-based formations.”

“
Pretty much what I figured. I suppose
they think some old Indio will remember it and where it was. Or
something. You never know where there’s a little lode.”

A man came from the office to tell Harry that
Gordo said he would be there in an hour.

Gordo was a common name. It meant nothing
until Harry seemed to know a hell of a lot about somebody looking
for a gold mine near Punta Peña. Clint chatted for a few minutes,
then waved and left He would be where he could get a look at Gordo
when he arrived. He might have finally found a bit of a connection
– but what did it connect?

When Gordo showed up it was clear this was
one of the people in Punta Peña. Nobody else could be that close a
description.

What was a person like Harry into that would
get him tied up with a bunch of small-time gangsters? Clint could
see where they might try to move in on his marina. It was a place
that could be used in any number of ways to garner the odd crooked
dollar or thousand. He would be in the position where they would
try to move in on him, though. It could mean very big problems a
little down the line. Harry was far too smart to fall for a gold
mine scam. What was going on?

Clint got a truly evil leer on his face.
Harry was too smart to fall for that kind of scam. They were the
type who would definitely try to move in on his business. They
would believe anybody who came to them for “financing” a search for
a lost gold mine that the someone had a map about.

He was smart enough to set up the scam! He
heard about the maps from the pirate treasure deal and decided he
could get the two hoods pitted against one another and could sit
aside and watch the fun.

Okay. For the tale, Harry had a couple of
opposing gangsters trying to take over his marina operation. He was
smart enough to pit them against each other. His name wouldn’t show
up. Ever. He made the slip to Clint, who he trusted. He wouldn’t
slip like that where those types were concerned. Clint wanted the
whole story. He would get it. It might be fun to get those types
fighting. The only thing was that Clint would see to it nobody else
like the Martín family were brought into it. That took the fun out
of it. Harry hadn’t even considered that. He wouldn’t start
anything that he thought would involve innocent people.

When Gordo left Clint strolled back into the
office. Harry looked a bit wary and tried to tell Clint something
with his eyes and expression and a very slight shake of his head.
He pulled at the lobe of an ear.

There was some kind of listening device in
place.

“
Just wanted to ask if you know of a
rig like that one you’re pulling for sale. Not as big and a good
deal. I’m not somebody with money for ten boats. Something cheap to
maintain.”

“
There’s no such thing as a large boat
that’s cheap to maintain,” Harry replied with a grin. Clint had let
him know he caught the hints about the listener.

“
Here. Call me if you find anything.
I’ll be in David tonight, but back in Bocas tomorrow or the next
day if things go as planned. It’s my cel so it gets me anywhere.”
He handed Harry a slip with his cell number on it. There was a name
on the slip on the other side. Hanrady.

Harry nodded. “I might go to David tonight. I
need a good meal of something other than fish. That’s better here
than anywhere else, but not ten nights in a row.”

“
Try Las Brasas,” Clint suggested.
“Best rib-eye in the area.”

“
Know something? I think I haven’t had
a good steak in the last five years. I’ll have to try the place one
day. Tonight will probably be that new Itallian place near where
Panamá Bill’s used to be.”

Clint waved and went out. He headed back to
David. Harry would be at La Tipica tonight. He would expect someone
to be watching the Itallian restaurant and Las Brasas. La Tipica
had great mariscos (seafood) that Harry said he was tired of. Clint
loved their camarones apanada (breaded shrimp). Harry did most of
his own cooking so wouldn’t have to eat seafood ten nights in a
row. He knew Clint well enough to know he got what the message was.
Clint would be at La Tipica in a disguise that Harry knew. Destin
Hanrady. A cousin who only existed at odd times. An easy disguise
because he looked a lot like Clint.

Never attack at center. Come from a close
angle at times. Nobody will detect it. The purloined letter with a
different stamp on the envelope. Clint found it effective. “Destin”
sported a neat moustache and was a little shorter and not in as
good a condition. He was ten years younger than Clint, but looked
almost like he could be a brother. Clint did most of it with
clothes and some very good make-up. The effect was what he wanted
when he left the pensión through the restaurant under construction
on the side. Very few people knew how to go directly from the
pensión into the patio and through.

He was in La Tipica about twenty minutes when
Gordo and Harry came in. Harry waved and said he saw him at the
marina earlier. He hadn’t found anything yet, but he was looking.
They went to a side table and ordered a pitcher of beer.

Clint waited. They left about three quarters
of an hour later. As they walked by Harry did a hand down flat. He
wanted Clint to wait there. He came back in about fifteen minutes,
stayed in his car and waved for Clint to come. Clint stood,
stretched and went out to the lot. He waited behind Harry’s SUV so
Harry knew he suspected he was being followed. A taxi came between
the restaurant and Harry’s SUV to let some people out. When it
pulled away Clint was gone. Harry pulled out as a man who Clint had
seen around earlier ran out to flag a passing taxi. Clint was out
of sight from him, low in the seat.

Harry drove to Las Brasas. The followers
would definitely not look for him there now. They thought he had
headed back to Pedrigal. He parked behind and he and Clint went
in.

Facts and Suspicions

Clint and Harry talked for the hour and a
half they took to enjoy the excellent food. He was pretty much on
track with what he suspected. Harry was a bit worried because of
the Martín family. He never thought anyone would be that stupid.
Clint said that was the way great grandpa did it so it’s the way I
do it. Geraldo, at least, wouldn’t do a that kind of thing again.
Clint had hinted that it was a scam.

“
Oh, he thoroughly expects it to be a
scam. He just thinks someone else is working it. The someone else
thinks he’s working ... that’s what has me worried in this. The
gold mine was something Geraldo wasn’t supposed to know about.
Yet.”

“
Who is the someone else?” Clint
asked.

“
Ramos. He’s the other two-bit who
thinks he can crowd me into letting him buy a partnership in the
marina.”

“
I’m not familiar with him.”

“
Same type. From the Panamá area. Runs
women and some dope. Into protection. Murder for hire –
cheap.”

Clint nodded. He didn’t doubt the type. He
just didn’t know who. Now he did.

“
Clint, it’s going on too long and it’s
gone too far. How can we end it?

“
I’m assuming you’re with me on
this.”

“
For a bit of a, shall we say,
partnership, I’ll have my guys handle it for you.”

That got Clint the bird. He laughed.

“
Maybe we can ... I do have an in. I’d
like to get that kind of cruds out of the equation. Be deaf, mute,
blind and stupid about me and anything concerned you might hear. I
assume Gordo is working for this Ramos character, but you’re not
supposed to suspect anything?”

Harry nodded and grinned.

“
They suspect a scam. Geraldo suspects
a scam. They’re both waiting for confirmation of a name. You give
Ramos Geraldo and I’ll give Geraldo Ramos. Just make damned sure
the slimeball doesn’t involve anyone else in his little vendetta
that started in a couple of hours or three.

“
Give Gordo the name as a sort of ‘I
wonder if he...’ or ‘I wonder why...’ kind of slip of the
tongue.

“
I can assume the only things Gordo
knows is because you sometimes say things before you think where he
can hear?”

“
Now, why would I do that?”

This time Harry got the bird.

Clint finished the meal and got a taxi while
Harry headed on out toward Pedrigal. When he got to the pension he
went in the way he’d come out, got rid of the disguise and went to
Peter’s. He talked with several people there at random where the
watcher could note them. He spoke with some tourists from Nicaragua
for a few minutes. They would be going home early in the morning.
Geraldo wouldn’t have time to check them out if that was what he
was doing when Clint talked with anyone. He talked with a couple
from Colombia, several Panameños and some gringos. He went
downstairs and stood just outside the stairway to call Geraldo. He
said he didn’t really have anything to report. All he heard was
that someone named Ramos was into something that may or may not
have anything to do with it – though a gold mine and treasure maps
came up as part of what the guy was into or asking about or
something. Did Geraldo find any type of possible connection with
anyone with that name or something like it?

There was a pause, then a few rather vulgar
epithets, then Geraldo said he was one that he’d suspected was into
it, but that he’d never thought would have the guts to try any such
thing.

Clint went back to the pensión and to bed.
Tomorrow might be an interesting day.

“
...tions just coming in. Several known
malditos were involved in a shootout in Los Abanicos that ... one
moment.”

The screen changed into the noticias of a
news event in progress. A scene with police cars and people hiding
as best they could behind them was on the screen. There was a very
nice house with a strong steel grate fence to one side. Shots were
fired at the police cars from the house. The police answered with
automatic weapons.

“
The police report that the persons
inside are known criminals who seem, at this time, to be involved
in a gang war with others who broke down the gate just in the
background of our picture by driving a large truck through it.
Little is known except that there are several bodies on the lawn.
We cannot get close enough to see them here. No police have been
injured. The bodies are those of members of both of the gangs,
according to reports. We will stay here with our cameras and this
reporter will report any and all things that transpire as they
happen.”