Flight of Aquavit (52 page)

hear me over their growing moans, I managed to

reach the back door and let myself out with little

noise.

414 — F l i g h t o f A q u av i t

I should go home, I said to myself. It’s

Christmas day, I was expecting a house full of

guests in a few measly hours, Loverboy was

behind bars, what else did I want? And just as I

rounded the corner of the building to head for my

car I saw it coming.

Danger.

The green Intrepid.

I pulled back and felt my chest begin to heave.

I had only seconds to react. I dove behind Daniel’s

black BMW just as Hugh pulled up near the back

door of the building. What the hell was he doing

here? Who had sent him? Whatever the answers,

this could not be a good thing for the two men

upstairs.

I heard the door of the car open and close as

Hugh stepped out of the vehicle. I laid flat against

the frozen ground, my right cheek smarting from

the chunks of gravel and ice against it, and

watched his black-booted feet move to the rear of

his car. With as much stealth as I could muster, I

pulled myself up and dared a peek over the hood

of the BMW. I was just in time to see Hugh pull a

rifle from his trunk.

I reacted, smartly or not, brawn over brain.

I had surprise on my side when I leapt, cougar-

like, from behind Daniel’s car onto Hugh’s back. I

may have even growled a little bit. Hugh went

down like sack of potatoes, but unlike a bag of

spuds, he was ready for bear. He hunkered up

with amazing speed, throwing me back far

enough to give him a chance to turn around and

face his aggressor. Unfortunately my original

Anthony Bidulka — 415

attack had not knocked the rifle out of his hands

and, now that the shock of the unanticipated

assault was dissipating, he was coming to realize

he had a weapon of destruction in his hands and

could use it against me. I couldn’t let that happen.

I rushed him again. Rifles are okay weapons I sup-

pose, but not as agile and responsive as smaller

handguns. Before he was able to manoeuvre the

gun into a pointing-at-me position, I was on him,

the gun between us flat against both our bellies. I

used it as leverage and took hold of it at each end,

allowing me to lean back and bring the full weight

of my knee up and into his crotch. His eyes, only

inches from mine, went wide and for a second he

just stared at me in disbelief. Unfair fighting?

Below the belt? You bet, asshole! I’ll pull your hair

too if I have to.

Hugh fell away from me and down to his

knees, dropping the rifle, grasping for gonads

before they totally receded up into him. I used the

tender moment to grab onto his shoulders and,

utilizing my knee one more time, made contact

with the left side of his chin. He let out a yowl of

pain so loud I wondered if Daniel and Herb

would hear it three floors above us. I scooped up

his gun and watched as he rolled onto his back. I

ran to the trunk of his car hoping to find some-

thing to tie him up with. If not I’d have to keep

with the knee bashing until he passed out and I

wasn’t a fan of that level of brutality.

I found what I needed all too easily. Not only

was there an abundance of rope in the Intrepid’s

trunk, but also a large roll of burlap and a mid-

416 — F l i g h t o f A q u av i t

size plastic tarp. I had the sinking feeling Hugh

was planning on spending Christmas day trans-

porting bodies.

I made quick work of the rope, expertly hog-

tying Hugh where he lay moaning. I retrieved the

rifle from where I’d left it leaning against the car

and and headed inside. I had to warn Daniel and

Herb, in case more Hughs were on the way. As I

reached the door I shot a last look over my shoul-

der at the captive, lying there, shivering in the

cold. Pitiful? Not quite. But I couldn’t just leave

him there like that. I ran back and threw some

burlap and the tarp over him. That done, I entered

the DGR&R building.

By the time I made it upstairs again I’d expect-

ed the two men to be
en flagrante delicto
on the car-

pet in Daniel’s office. But when I peeked into the

atrium from the hallway, instead of having moved

inside the office, they’d moved nearer the centre

of the atrium where…

And instantly I knew.

Daniel Guest was about to fall three floors to

his death. Hugh was here to help dispose of the

body. And, if Daniel’s body was ever recovered

from wherever they planned to stash it, he’d be in

a dishevelled state with alcohol in his system. Was

it an accident or suicide? A seemingly stray but

well-timed comment from his grieving best friend

and business partner would hint at some mental

anguish over the sorry state of his marriage. No

one would think too much more about it.

I pulled back my head and thrust forward the

barrel of the rifle. In a he-man kind of voice and

Anthony Bidulka — 417

with the best Australian accent I could muster, I

called out, “I’m here.”

At first there was silence except for some furtive

rustling of clothing. Then I heard Daniel whisper-

ing, “Who the hell is that?”

A hesitation.

Then, “You asshole! I told you to stay hidden

until I called you.” Herb.

Gotya, jerk off.

I stepped forward, revealing myself to the two

men. They were standing near the atrium railing,

too close to it for my comfort, staring in my direc-

tion, bewildered at my appearance, but for very

different reasons. “Sorry,” I said. “I’ve never been

very good at following orders.”

Daniel spoke first. “Russell. Have you gone

crazy? What are you doing here?”

I had to give him that. I probably looked a lit-

tle bit nuts, standing there brandishing a rifle, my

hair dishevelled and with fresh bruises and cuts

from my scuffle with Hugh.

He tried a nervous laugh as he said, “I know

you think Loverboy could be someone I work

with, but really, man, breaking in here like this, on

Christmas day…come on!”

I looked at Herb whose eyes were whirling in

his head as he tried to figure a smooth way out of

this one. “Care to explain, Herb?”

“Russell,” from Daniel again. “Herb is not

Loverboy. Okay, he and I had an affair earlier this

year; I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about that. But you

didn’t need to know. It had nothing to do with

why I hired you. As a city councillor, in order to

418 — F l i g h t o f A q u av i t

survive politically in this town, Herb can’t afford

to have something like that get out. You couldn’t

know. No one can know. You’ve got to understand

that. He is not Loverboy.”

“I know he’s not. Loverboy was arrested this

morning.”

“Thank God,” Herb uttered, giving Daniel an

empathetic nod. Yeah right.

“Wh…what? Who? Who was he?” Daniel

asked.

“Yes, tell us,” Herb said.

It was just what Herb wanted, a discussion

about Loverboy to divert attention away from

himself.

“Why don’t you first explain to us about

Hugh,” I said, ticking my head towards Hugh’s

rifle in case he’d forgotten.

“Who’s Hugh?” Daniel asked.

“I have no idea,” Herb said. His hands were

down by his thighs clenched into fists. Preparing

to fight? Ah, I got a firearm here!

“He’s not coming,” I said to Herb. “He’s tied up

downstairs waiting for the cops.” Actually I hadn’t

called the police yet, but he didn’t need to know

that.

Daniel turned on his partner and said, “What’s

going on, Herb? Who were you expecting?”

Herb obviously wasn’t quick on his feet when

it came to thinking his way out of an unexpected

confrontation. Not a good feature in a future

mayor. So I helped him out a bit. “Herb was the

first person you told about being blackmailed,

wasn’t he, Daniel?”

Anthony Bidulka — 419

“Yes,” he said. “The only person aside from

you and Beverly.”

“But you told him before you even hired me.

Was he for or against the idea?”

Daniel didn’t have to think long. “He hated the

idea. I couldn’t quite understand why, but he tried

to convince me not to do it. He wanted me to just

pay and be done with it.”

“I’m thinking…and by the way, Herb, just hop

in and stop me if I’m wrong about any of this,” I

said with a sideways glance at Dufour. “I’m

thinking he was worried that a PI snooping

around in your private matters would uncover

your affair. An affair that ended when Herb decid-

ed to take a run at the mayor’s chair.”

Daniel looked at me and then at Herb, back at

me, then Herb. “I promised you I’d keep your

name out of it. And I did that. I didn’t tell Russell

about us.”

But I bet he did tell Beverly. That’s what she

thought I needed to know.

“I know how much your political career means

to you, Herb,” Daniel said. “I’d never do anything

to jeopardize that, you know that.”

“I know, Danny, I know,” Herb said in a low

voice, as if he didn’t want me to hear. “But I could-

n’t take the risk. You couldn’t promise that, you

couldn’t control everything this joker did.”

Hey!

“So he came after me,” I said. “He couldn’t con-

vince you not to hire me, but maybe he could con-

vince me not to be hired. So he rounded up a local

thug, Hugh, and together they tried some scare

420 — F l i g h t o f A q u av i t

tactics on me. Remember the chase on the landfill

road I told you about?”

Daniel simply nodded. The two men were now

avoiding each other’s gazes, standing before me

emanating guilt, fear, anger, resentment, fury, so

heavy it filled the air like bad cologne.

“But I took the case any way. Which I’m sure

pissed him off. So all he could do was act the sup-

portive business partner and keep as much in the

loop about what was going on in the investigation

as he could. He’d failed to dissuade you or me, the

only way to make it all go away, was to stop the

blackmailer himself.”

“But we all wanted that!” Daniel said.

“Not exactly,” Herb shot back. “You started

crowing about not paying him or negotiating a

better deal! And your detective I’m sure would

have gotten the police involved somehow. I need-

ed the blackmailer gone! For good! Your way he

would just keep on coming back to haunt us. And

if the cops got called in there’d be no saying what

they’d dig up about you…about us. How could

you expect me to run this city, have any respect, if

they discovered my involvement? There’s no way.”

Daniel’s face began to crumble as the horrid

truth began to dawn on him. “I…I told you about

James Kraft. I told you he was, without any doubt,

the blackmailer. I told you about Russell going to

New York to find him. I…you…”

“It would have been perfect, Danny,” Herb said,

almost pleadingly. His fist making had stopped

and he was holding out a tentative hand to his ex-

lover, a hand that was being soundly rebuffed. “If it

Anthony Bidulka — 421

had turned out right, if James Kraft was

Loverboy—like you swore he was—you would

have thanked me for getting rid of him. It’s only

because it got all fucked up—because you were

wrong about the kid—that you’re pissed off!”

“Don’t blame me for any of this!” Daniel railed

at the other man. “I sent Russell to find out for

sure if James was Loverboy and find some way to

convince him to stop. I didn’t send him—or any-

one else—to kill him!” Daniel grabbed onto his

forehead as if struck with a migraine. “Oh shit, the

poor kid! Oh shit!” Tears were forming in Daniel’s

eyes. “Herb, you son of a bitch! You bastard! You

killed him!”

Herb did not deny the charge.

I kept on, “Then, you got back home, thinking

you’d put an end to both the blackmail and my

investigation, only to find out Loverboy was still

alive and well and actively pursuing Daniel.”

Herb sniffed loudly, glared at me and again

began with the fist-making.

“You couldn’t convince Daniel not to hire me,

you couldn’t stop me from taking the case, you’d

killed the wrong Loverboy, there was only one

thing left to do to stop the whole thing,” I said.