Monahan 01 Options (41 page)

Alfredo looked at his watch and said, “About an hour ago.”

Jay’s machine kicked in when I tried it again on the cellular. The message said, “Kate, if that’s you, leave me a message and the time. Jesus Christ, I’m worried.” I hadn’t thought to listen to the message on the machine when I called before.

“I’m at Alfredo’s. I mean Tony’s Pizzeria. It’s about ten-fifteen. I’ll wait here until eleven. Jay, I lost my keys to my apartment.” I paused for a moment and when nothing else came to mind I pushed the power off button on the cell phone.

While I waited I thought about the events of the evening. Philip Winston, or Robert Weinstein to those blood-related to him, was definitely a wacko, and I decided to avoid him at all costs. He was definitely bad for my health.

He was bad for my career as well, but I was resigned to the fact that I was quitting tomorrow. Enough of the funny farm for me. I wondered what Harold’s reaction would be when I handed in my notice. The thought, though, of going into the office, turned my blood cold. Maybe I could get Harold to meet me somewhere outside the office, where I could break the news to him. Of all the executives I was working with, Harold was about the only one I trusted.

I picked up the cell in one hand and tried dialling with the thumb of the same hand. I’d seen Vee do this several times and was impressed with her dialling prowess. The phone on the other end rang only twice before someone answered.

“Hello.”

“Harold. It’s Kate.”

“Yes, Kate,” he said slowly. “How are you?” He actually sounded concerned, even interested.

“Uh. I’m fine.”

“Where are you?” Now that was a little
too
interested for me. On a good day, Harold wouldn’t ask me how I was, let alone where I was. I started to feel uneasy.

“Oh. Out and about. Listen, can I meet with you first thing tomorrow morning?”

“Sure,” he said like he was talking to a three year old. “If it’s important, we could meet tonight,” he offered without demanding to know why. When I placed the call I had the hope in the back of my mind that he’d force me to tell him why and then I could resign over the phone. I thought I knew Harold, but this solicitous side of him was something new to me.

“It’s important. But tomorrow morning would be fine. How about Shopsy’s Deli at Yonge and Front?”

“Fine, fine. Where are you now Kathleen?” The fact that he’d now asked me twice where I was made my knees start to shake.

“None of your damn business Harold. Why are you so interested all of a sudden?”

“Listen Kate. I talked to Philip tonight. He told me what happened and he knows he made a terrible mistake. We want to meet with you to make sure you’re all right.”

I jammed my index finger into the power off button on the cell phone and dropped it on the table like a hot potato.
Jesus Christ
. Now who could I trust?

I gave Alfredo the number of Vanessa’s cell phone and made him promise to give it only to Jay. I couldn’t stay at the pizzeria because I felt like a sitting duck so I got in the car and drove aimlessly around. When the phone on the seat beside me finally rang, I quickly pulled over to the curb and answered it.

“Yes,” was all I said.

“Kate, it’s Jay. Where are you?”

“I’m not exactly sure right now. Where are you?”

“At Tony’s Pizzeria. I called there but Alfredo said he didn’t recognize my voice but if I showed up in person, he had a message for me. I feel like James Bond.”

“Wrong Jay. This is turning out to be more like Mission Impossible. Can you meet me?”

“Sure. At your apartment?”

“No,” I said quickly. “Not my apartment. Or yours. How about the bench were I sat the other day while you went jogging?”

“You mean down at the park? Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?”

“I’ll tell you later. How soon can you meet me there?”

“Kate, it’s too dangerous to be alone in the park at night. Meet me at the pub where we danced. You remember?”

“That’s a better idea.” I looked out the window of the car to get my bearings and it took a moment for me to remember where I was. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

chapter fifty-five

It turned out that Jay had a very protective side to him and as much as I’d dreamed of having a knight in shining armour to fight my battles for me, I had a helluva time holding him back.

“I’ll kill him,” was all he said through clenched teeth when I finished my story.

“Very nice, Mr. Harmon, but I don’t think your mother’d be impressed. Besides, when we turn him over to the police and I charge him with kidnapping and assault, he’ll go to jail.”

I grinned at Jay but he didn’t get it.

“He’s so pretty Jay, so perfect. They’ll love him in the Kingston penitentiary. I’m sure those convicts have had a long, cold winter and they’ll welcome him with open arms.”

This at least got a laugh out of Jay, but he quickly turned serious again.

“Let’s go then,” he said as he stood up.

“Where?”

“To the police.”

“Hang on,” I told him as I pulled his arm and made him sit down again.

“There’s more to it. There has to be.
Why
did he kidnap me? What’s he trying to hide? Think about it Jay. So his mother told him we were at the house and maybe he knows we figured out he’s using another name. That’s not a major crime. He’s hiding something else. I’m sure, in fact I’m convinced, that this is all tied in to Ev’s death and Rick’s death. And now Harold’s involved. What the hell is Harold doing messed up with all of this?”

“Maybe Harold doesn’t understand what he’s involved with. You didn’t let him explain what he wanted to talk to you about. Maybe Philip gave him some cock and bull story.”

I snorted at this. “You didn’t hear his voice Jay. He was very concerned, very solicitous. Does this sound like the short lawyer with a big attitude who we’ve all held so near and dear to our hearts these last few years?”

“Okay,” he sighed. “I’ll take your word for it. I just have trouble believing Harold’s involved. I’m feeling like the last virgin at a pool party at Hugh Hefner’s mansion.”

I started to chuckle but he interrupted, “You know. You’re determined to hang on to your innocence and virginity, but in the back of your mind you
know
it’s all about to end. You’re thinking, do I just give in and enjoy it or do I fight to keep it? That’s how I feel about finding out Harold’s just another snake. Disgusted.”

“You’re turning into a cynic Jay.”

“It comes from associating with you,” he joked.

“Stick with me Harmon, and you’ll become more than just a cynic.”

“In the meantime, we have to do something.”

“After I return Vanessa’s car.”

When Vee answered the doorbell her cordless phone was tucked between her ear and shoulder. She silently motioned us in and Jay and I followed her in to the kitchen where we both sat at the counter on the barstools. The clock on the wall told me it was eleven-forty and because of the hour, I knew she could only be talking to one person - Chris Oakes.

Vee covered the mouthpiece of the phone and told us, “He’s rambling.” She rolled her eyes at the ceiling and mumbled something into the phone.

“This could take a while,” I whispered to Jay and placed Vee’s car keys, cell phone and money on the kitchen counter. “She’s talking to Oakes.”

I slid off the stool and waved good-bye but Vee once again covered the mouthpiece and said, “Hang on. I’ll get rid of him.”

“Chris,” she said patiently into the phone. “Chris,” she repeated in a singsong voice. “Goodbye.” She pushed a button on the phone and put it on the counter.

“It’ll take him a few minutes to realize I’ve hung up and then he’ll call back,” she told us.

“I thought you didn’t answer the phone at home, just in case it was him,” I teased her.

“Normally I don’t, but I thought it might be you, so I’m holding you personally responsible for the crap I’ve just listened to.”

“In one of his abusive modes?” I asked knowingly.

She shook her head. “No. In his morose mode. Drunk and rambling. When he’s sober I have trouble following him but when he’s drunk, it’s worse.”

“Why do you put up with that garbage?” Jay interrupted.

“Because I have two mouths to feed,” she quickly retorted. “And it’ll be something I can tell my grandchildren one day. How the big executive, with all the money and power in the world, goes home at night and has nothing better to do than drink, and watch Star Trek re-runs. He has no friends because he abuses anyone who gets remotely close to him. No one.”

“I thought I read somewhere that he was married,” Jay said.

“He tells everyone that. Cynthia was a woman who lived with him for a while but she’s long gone now. She told me she woke up one day and realized that all the money in the world wasn’t going to keep her there. Cynthia was nothing more than a decoration for Chris.” Vee placed her elbows on the counter and put her face in her hands. None of what she was telling Jay was news to me but he was hanging on to her every word.

“The part of that whole story that amazed me,” I interjected, “was the fact that they never once slept together.”

“Come off it girls,” Jay said. “How could you possibly know that?”

“How many times do I have to tell you, we’re invisible,” I said. “People tell secretaries anything and everything. They think we’re stupid and they say anything in front of you. Because it doesn’t get repeated, they tell you more. Before you know it, you’re a confidante. The boss thinks you’re stupid, we call it discrete. Want to know how many blow jobs Tom James’s wife gave him last year?”

“That’s disgusting. And no. I don’t want to know,” Jay said.

“None,” I told him anyway and Vanessa laughed. “And just for the record, Tom, the great Tower of Jell-O, didn’t tell me directly about his sex life, or lack thereof. He was lamenting with one of the directors one day. In front of me. Unbelievable.”

“I agree,” said Jay. “So Oakes told you Vee that he and this Cynthia never slept together?”

“Yup,” she nodded. “One night, on the phone. Told me that they had separate bedrooms and that they’d never once had sex. Cynthia went up a few notches in my books after that.” She looked at me and we both visibly shivered. “Yuk. Just the thought of getting into bed with that sorry excuse for a man, makes me sick.”

I nodded my head in wholehearted agreement.

“So what was the great one rambling on about tonight?”

“Who knows Kate? It never makes any sense. Tonight he was crying over how much he misses Rick Cox. When he started on about that I just about hung up. He’s sick,” she stated emphatically. “Sick. The whole time Rick was with us, Oakes had a vendetta against him. All he wanted to do was to get him fired. You saw those memos he had the vice-presidents write. All garbage. And then Rick goes and does something stupid and gets himself fired anyway. But then Oakes got totally incoherent. Mumbling away about how it was an accident. Just an accident. Over and over again.
She
was an accident he kept saying and I wanted to remind him that Rick was a
he
but I couldn’t bother wasting my breath.
She
was an accident. And then he put the dog on the phone. Say hi to Baby, Vanessa. That’s when you guys arrived and saved me.”

She
was an accident, he’d said.
She
might be a slip of the tongue once or twice with someone drunk, but to repeat it over and over again, meant only one thing to me.
She
was Evelyn. The son-of-a-bitch meant Evelyn.

I slowly picked up the telephone that was lying on the counter between us and punched in Oakes’ home number from memory. The phone on the other end rang three times and when it was answered I could hear a dog barking loudly in the background.

“Who’re you calling?” Jay asked me and I quieted him with an upheld hand.

“Um,” was the answer I got from the other end.

“Chris,” I said firmly into the phone. “Kate Monahan here.”

“Uh,” was the reply which I took for a hello.

“Chris,” I said again. “Is that Baby I hear in the background? How is Baby?” Baby was the only living thing that could stand to be around Chris Oakes and for that reason, he worshipped the dog. Talking about the dog always got big points.

“Baby,” he slurred into the phone. “Baby’s fine. You wanna say ‘ello?”

“No. No thanks Chris. I just had a quick question.” The man was clearly drunk and I knew I could go for the jugular and get a few quick answers. Knowing that I was never working for the company again gave me the bravado to be bold. “You were saying earlier that
she
was an accident. She was an accident,” I repeated.

“Ohm,” he mumbled.

I looked at Vee and Jay who were staring in disbelief at me.

“Chris,” I said loudly to make sure I had his attention. “When you said
she
you mean Evelyn, didn’t you?” There was silence at the other end of the phone and I wasn’t sure if he’d passed out or was just ignoring my question. “Evelyn. The lady who died. Was
she
the accident Chris?”