Monday, November 29
Maybe it was the surreal trip to Alistair Brisbane’s island that had given Drayco very surrealistic dreams, but they made him sleep later than he’d planned. He’d been doing that far too many times lately.
So much for some time at the piano to get ready for his upcoming audition. After a few phone calls, he barely had time to shower and put some black salted coffee in a travel mug before he dashed off for his meeting with Benny Baskin, Esquire.
Baskin had scheduled the little chat to discuss a previous case they’d worked on. But Drayco also wanted to ask Benny about a different case, an arson, that Benny was involved with not too long ago. With luck, the attorney could dig into some legal files to find something on Leon Sable’s two former businesses that burned—potential insurance fraud with either.
Sable said he was underinsured for the first fire and completely uninsured for the second, which would be “proof” he had nothing to gain from setting it—unless it was to cover up a murder. Sable had also said the police didn’t find accelerants. But there were many creative ways to hide arsons. Drayco had heard of many such ways during his FBI days, from using potato chip bags set on fire to intentionally short-circuiting an appliance.
He’d just pulled up to Baskin’s office building in his Starfire when he got a call on his cell. Looking at the number, he gritted his teeth and then answered.
The familiar amethyst-colored filament tones of Alistair Brisbane greeted him. “Iago tells me we had some uninvited visitors last night to the island.”
“Is that a fact? How very strange.”
“Iago didn’t get a good look at them, but he managed to spot part of the boat’s registration number. He traced it to a marina in Alexandria. The boat was a rental, but Iago teased out the name of the person who rented it.”
“Teased out? You mean strong-armed, don’t you?”
“Iago can be very persuasive when he wants to be. The renter’s name, by the way, was Brock Drayco.”
“Brock’s gone night-fishing before. That wouldn’t be too unusual.”
“Perhaps he was fishing this time, too, but for a different species of prey. Iago thought he saw two men in that boat. And I believe I can guess who the other man was.”
“Were you at home at the time?”
Brisbane chuckled. “I think you already know I wasn’t. But I have to compliment you and your father. First, that you made it to the island without being seen. And then to make it past the security I have in place to deter visitors. Tell me—what did you hope to find?”
Drayco thought briefly about his mother. But he also realized lying to his uncle wouldn’t accomplish anything, so he spoke the truth. “Brock hoped to uncover what the kidnapping and treasure were really about. You’re not his favorite person right now.”
“And I doubt I’m yours, either.”
“Having a relative arrange for my kidnapping is a first for me, I’ll grant you.”
Drayco wanted to deflect the conversation and attention away from Brock, so he added, “But I’m more interested in the puzzle I half-decoded. It’s driving me nuts. I don’t know what it means, and I can’t break it down further. You said you might have an idea. Since you owe me on this, care to share?”
“You do make a good case. But alas, my initial impressions on the matter were incorrect. My interpretation of the decoded message led to a dead end. I’m afraid I can’t be of any help.”
“So your mysterious treasure is still out there?”
“I haven’t seen it come up on the black market.”
Drayco had a good idea his uncle would know a lot about the black market, so he took his word. For now. “By the way, Alistair, does the tail number N234QR mean anything to you?”
Alistair chuckled. “You are pretty good. I registered it under an anonymous LLC.”
That confirmed Drayco’s suspicion his uncle had his own private jet, lucky stiff. But the information could come in handy at some point.
Drayco said, “I’m glad you called. There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. Someone claiming to be my ‘agent’ went behind my back with the UMD concert committee to change the pieces I was going to play. I only learned this morning when they phoned me. And my audition is tomorrow. You can bet I wasn’t the one who called them about this.”
“And you think that someone is me?”
“You arranged this whole scholarship concert. Why wouldn’t it be you?”
“I’ve been guilty of many things, but I assure you, this isn’t one of them. I will look into it, that I can promise. And I wish you the best of luck.”
Brisbane paused before adding, “However, I wouldn’t recommend trying that little island stunt again. We’ve made some new security additions.”
Drayco hung up with Brisbane, shaking his head. He could pretty well imagine what those additions were. Biometrics, noxious fog blasters, fiber optic sensors. Maybe even trained Dobermans or Bullmastiffs.
After a glance at the time, he hopped out of the car and took the stairs to Benny’s floor two steps at a time. He flung open the door to the hallway and crashed into a woman heading past him at that moment.
He stammered out, “Oh, excuse me, ma’am. I . . . ” Then he saw who it was.
Nelia Tyler stared at him. “You’re in a hurry this morning.”
He gave her a weak smile. “Sorry about that. I’m a little late. You know how Benny hates tardiness.” Drayco tried to tell himself his heart was racing from the stairs instead of seeing her again.
Nelia kept staring at him, but said, “I’m heading that way. Maybe I can plead your case.”
But she didn’t move right away and stood there biting her lip. “Benny told me what you’d relayed to him. About your uncle’s involvement in your kidnapping. Why hasn’t he been arrested?”
“For one thing, proof. For another, well, it’s complicated. In fact, I just got off the phone with him.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re still talking to your uncle? After all of this?”
“I need to keep him on my radar. Might be a lot harder to get to the bottom of this strange business otherwise—the kidnapping, the coded puzzle, the likely murder of one of the kidnappers.”
“Brisbane could be behind that, too. Why do you trust him?”
Drayco couldn’t really answer that. Was it only because the man was the brother of Drayco’s mother? He wasn’t even sure he knew how to explain it to her. Or himself.
He replied, “My uncle’s a savvy operative. I doubt he leaves trails leading back to him for most of his shady dealings.”
“You realize that makes it more likely he killed Graham Tibbs to remove one of those trails, right?”
“But it’s not his style. And he sounded genuinely surprised by the death.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing here, Drayco.”
He nodded. “Me, too.”
She studied his face. “Did you ask Brisbane about your mother’s whereabouts? Or if she’s even still alive?”
This time, he just shook his head, marveling. She always seemed to be a mind reader. Of his mind, anyway.
She pressed him, “Are you afraid to find out?”
“Afraid isn’t the right word.” Her question made him unexpectedly angry, and he lashed out without thinking. “Just like fear isn’t the reason you stayed with your abusive husband all those years.”
Her eyes narrowed. “We’re not going to do this, are we? Be at each other’s throats from now on out? Just because we can’t be—”
“Together?”
“No one gets everything they want in life.” Her shoulders sagged and her frown faded, making her look deflated.
He glanced up at the ceiling for a few moments and then gave her a slight smile. “Right now, all I want is for Benny Baskin not to kill me. He packs a lot of wrestler-muscle in that four-feet-nine of his.” Drayco looked at his watch. “I’m now fifteen minutes late.”
She returned his half-smile. “I said I’d plead your case. I’ll tell him you got stuck in the elevator.”
He did a double-take, not sure if her offer to lie for him was genuine or if she was pulling his leg. But they headed into Baskin’s office together, where the attorney was pacing past his massive barge-sized desk as he carried on a loud conversation on his cellphone.
After a few more grunts and eye rolls, he rang off and tossed the phone on his desk. “See what you made me do? I had to take a call from that idiot, Borman.”
Berry Borman was one of the most legendary—and not in a good way—prosecutors in the District. Drayco had also butted heads with him on a few occasions. He shot Benny a sympathetic “mea culpa” glance, prompting the attorney to reply, “Don’t go using those puppy dog eyes at me, either. Although since they’re blue, guess that makes you a Siberian Husky.”
Drayco barely got out, “Sorry I’m late—” before Nelia jumped in, “He was stuck in the elevator.”
Benny looked from one to the other and rubbed his non-patched eye. “Since you’re late, I had a little extra time to look up this Leon Sable fellow you were asking about. As you know, public records don’t disclose investigations against businesses. Unless they resulted in charges. But an attorney friend of a friend told me Sable was on the Virginia Attorney General’s radar. Two business fires relatively close together . . . that’s quite unusual.”
“But they didn’t find anything?”
“Nothing they could take to court. They were mostly interested in the second one due to the body found inside. But you know more about that than I do.”
“Some, but still waiting for more reports from the Arlington PD.”
Benny frowned at Drayco. “I wish you’d let me go after Brisbane. I know I could find something, even if it’s a violation of a minor legal code.”
“Thanks, but he can afford a whole host of Bennys. Nothing would ever stick.”
Benny studied Drayco. “You doing okay, boy-o? Kidnapping’s kind of a big deal.”
Drayco rolled his eyes. “Oh, for god’s sake. I’m completely surrounded by mother hens. Or is that mothers hen? I’m not sure what you call a bunch of hens.”
“A peep. Or a brood. Groups of chicks are a clutch.”
Drayco and Benny both stared at Nelia, but it was Benny who asked, “How did you know that?”
“My uncle has a farm.”
“Is his name McDonald?”
She laughed. “You’re close. It’s McNair.”
Benny fiddled with his string bow tie. “Overalls, sheep shit, and pig slop. Sounds like fun.”
“Hate to disappoint you, but it’s a modern farm. UAVs, LED lights, automated control systems.”
Her UAV reference gave Drayco an idea he filed away for future reference. Maybe a drone would suffice instead of storming Alistair’s island next time.
Nelia was also right that Drayco shouldn’t really trust his uncle. But what had Alistair meant with that comment about his interpretation of the decoded message leading to a dead end? Alistair hadn’t exactly cautioned Drayco not to pursue the puzzle any further. Did that mean he was still waiting to see if Drayco could solve the whole puzzle business for him?
He might be waiting a long time because Drayco still hadn’t figured out what the damned thing really meant. And part of him was beginning to think he never would.