Chapter 17
17
I t was night. Patrick Ollonsun drove his BMW past his brother-in-law’s house and kept going until he couldn’t see the house’s front windows, parked, and waited. After about five minutes Ronald Talbert came outside and walked down the dark street to Ollonsun’s car. Talbert got in and clicked his seatbelt. He was prepared for Ollonsun to annoy him by roaring off up the road, but instead he drove off slowly.
Ollonsun said, “Did you bring the money?”
“Yes.”
“Cash?”
“Yes,” Talbert said. He held up a plastic pharmacy bag. Then he pushed it under his seat.
“Okay. I just wanted to be sure you understood. I didn’t want to be too explicit. I knew nobody was close enough to hear me, but I couldn’t tell what your situation was.”
“What happened today, anyway?” Talbert said.
“The guys I hired to keep an eye on Vesper Ellis and her lawyer followed the lawyer along Olympic Boulevard to the Great Oceana Monetary administrative office. It wasn’t the client financial services office where I work. It was the building with the unseen stuff—the head offices for the investment division, the staff for the overseas trading that goes on all night, the legal division. He had to be meeting with them.”
“You never saw him do anything, right? How do you know what—”
“The lawyer’s name is Charles Warren. He had sent a letter to the company about discrepancies in his client’s accounts. Naturally the inquiry was shunted over to my office. I figured that as long as my office—meaning me personally—was handling the complaint, things could be kept under control in the usual ways. Take a little money from other accounts to ‘correct the mistake’ and the complaint fades away. This time I played it safer. I started an account in her name with money of my own, called it an investment subaccount, and pretended to move it back into her main account. And I also took the precaution of hiring these guys to keep an eye on the client and her lawyer.”
“So what’s the problem?’
“My guys saw Warren leave his office alone around noon today. They called me and asked if I knew what he was doing, so I said, ‘What I want to do is make him more cautious—slow him down—so maybe it’s time to ask him. If that intimidates him, fine.’ They tried, he resisted, knocked one of these guys down, and drove off. The guy hit his head, lost his temper, and took a shot at Warren. They saw where he went, and it was the Great Oceana building I told you about—the legal division.”
“That’s why you dragged me out of my house on a weeknight, making Fran wonder what the hell I’m doing, and probably my kids, and the neighbors too?”
Ollonsun began to drive a little faster now that they were in the dark and anonymity of Valley Vista. People drove too fast on this street anyway because the mild curves and low hills along the north side made it kind of fun. “Yes and no. What happened today is that we learned he was going full-on into legal action. He’s essentially moved our problem out of my office into the legal division. That means he’s going to do the same at Founding Fathers Vested. I hope you’ve done what you can to make what you diverted from her accounts reappear—something like what I did, and then make all the levers and pulleys disappear.”
“I’ve done that already.”
“Good, good, good,” Ollonsun said. “That’s all you need for the moment.”
Talbert said, “I’ve been waiting for a while now to hear what the cash is for.”
“I’m sorry. Before we got into that, I wanted to be sure that you had taken the situation we’re in seriously. The money is for a couple things. We have some help keeping a strong, steady hand on this thing right now. I owe them a few days’ fees, which I plan to pay myself. One of the guys got hurt when Warren surprised him and hit his head on the concrete.”
“Are you kidding? You’re paying him extra because the guy he wanted to scare made him fall down and hurt himself?”
Ollonsun said, “Yes. And I’ll tell you why that’s a very smart move that only a guy who has been around would think to do. Guys like them, who have worn some uniform or other and seen some blood, have already been naive volunteers, and then fought their guts out and got nothing for it. The people in charge never hesitate to put guys like them in unnecessary danger. So now they work on contract. They don’t have any illusions, and they don’t hesitate to make it hurt if you don’t live up to your agreement. The trick is to get them to see that you understand, that you’re somebody who sees things the way they do. If you can do that, you own them. I figure that for an extra few thousand tonight, we’ll get a hundred thousand in loyalty.”
Talbert said, “How do you even know these guys?”
“I’ve had a client for years.” He paused. “His friends call him Binky. He’s somebody who makes a lot of money, and invests it mostly in municipal bonds to avert the tax liability. That helps keep one part of his life looking obvious and dull to make up for the secret, exciting parts. I asked him if he knew anybody who did this kind of work, and he did. I’ve hired them a couple times.”
“And that’s how you know all about their lives and their psychology and everything?”
Ollonsun looked at him, irritated. “Do you really think that question deserves an answer?”
“Look,” Talbert said. “I’m out. I don’t think it makes sense to get involved with people like that in the first place, and paying them money just to maintain good relations seems crazy. Whatever money we’ve got should be going to good lawyers.”
They drove in silence for a hundred yards, each of them staring straight ahead. Then Ollonsun made a left turn onto Madelia Avenue, and Talbert assumed he was going to turn around and take him home. He didn’t seem to find a wide enough part to turn around, and then he made a right onto Lacota Place.
As they passed a parked car, it pulled out and followed. “Too late,” Ollonsun said. “That’s them.”
Talbert said, “I thought I was just bringing you some money because you were short. You didn’t say we were meeting them here. I don’t want to meet people like that. I don’t want to know them, and I certainly don’t want them to know me.”
Ollonsun turned to him with his teeth clenched, then looked in the rearview mirror to be sure they were following. “Well, it seems you’re going to. They had to know you were involved, because they had to know there was enough cash to pay them, and they had to know everyone who knew about them. You think they’re going to be the muscle for an anonymous employer?”
“You hid this from me,” Talbert said. “I would never have—”
“Look, Ron. Since you were married, I’ve been propping up your incompetence, teaching you things you should have known how to do, and trying to help you grow into the life you lucked into by marrying my wife’s sister. At this moment I’m getting sick of the complaints. You’ve got about thirty seconds to pull yourself together. Do not let these guys see that you’re weak. After that, you can make whatever decision you want.”
He turned left onto Round Valley Drive and kept going until he reached a lot that had been cleared of a house that had been on it for an unknown number of decades. It was evident that someone had leveled the lot’s surface with a bulldozer, and there was some chain-link fence in a cylindrical shape that hadn’t yet been unrolled to define the construction site.
Ollonsun pulled off the road onto the remains of the narrow driveway and turned off the engine and lights. The car that had been following pulled in behind it and went dark. The doors opened and two men got out and walked up on opposite sides of Ollonsun’s car.
They were both big, both in their late thirties or early forties, with dark hair and short facial hair of the sort that Talbert didn’t quite think of as a beard. The one who leaned into Ollonsun’s window had a mustache, and he was wearing a knitted cap. He said, “What’s the matter? Get out of the car.”
Ollonsun got out. There was a sharp rap on the window beside Talbert’s head that made him jump. The man on that side beckoned impatiently, so Talbert got out too, but he was reluctant to let go of the door handle, as though he could pull himself back into the passenger seat—or maybe back through time—and be safe. He shut the door without slamming it, because he knew that there were houses in this neighborhood, even though he couldn’t see any of them from here.
The man with the whiskers said, “You’re Ron Talbert, huh? Got to check for surprises. Lift your arms up.”
Hearing that the man knew his name made Talbert feel sick. He lifted his arms up so they were just below shoulder height, not sure what was necessary. The man grabbed his elbows and shoved them upward. He ran his hands along Talbert’s sides to his ankles, spun him around and yanked his shirt up to his chest, spun him forward and then yanked the shirt back down. “He’s clean.”
The man with the mustache and knitted cap said, “Him too.”
Talbert turned to see Ollonsun tucking his shirt back in.
The man with the mustache said, “Come on.” They walked farther from the streetlights into deeper darkness across the center of the vacant lot. They were in two pairs with the brothers-in-law on one side and Ollonsun’s two hired men facing them. The man with the mustache spent a few seconds staring back down the road they had traveled. Talbert saw that just visible under the rear edge of the knitted cap he had a patch of white gauze.
The man with the cap and mustache said, “Sorry about that, but once in a while if things get to this stage, other things start happening, and a client gets told that he’ll get off if he cooperates and wears a recording device or a wire. So what have you decided?”
Ollonsun said, “We need to stop the clock. I think what Charles Warren did today was put our problem in the hands of the legal division. He was probably threatening a lawsuit. We need to get to him and his client and scare them enough get them to stop, at least for a few days. During that time, they’ll realize that the missing money is already back in her accounts, so there’s no point in causing themselves more trouble. Does that make sense?”
“Sure,” the man with no mustache said. “Lots of people who’ve gotten their first beatdown learn a whole new way of looking at the world.”
The man with the mustache said, “This isn’t an exact science. What if they die? Are you prepared for that?”
Ollonsun said, “We just don’t have the luxury of worrying about things like that. We stand to lose everything—life savings, jobs, careers, families—and going to federal prison. If we don’t do what we can now, it’ll be too late.”
“I get that. So tonight is the time to decide. Do you have the money with you?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, wait,” said Talbert. “I don’t think I’m ready to take the chance that somebody dies. This is too much, too fast. I need to think.”
The man with the mustache said, “Fair enough. Good luck with your problem.” He turned to his companion. “Let’s stop for a drink on the way back.” The two men turned and started back across the lot toward their car.
Ollonsun watched them for a couple seconds, then pivoted to glare at Talbert. “Are you crazy?”
“I didn’t expect to have something like this sprung on me.”
“I didn’t spring it on you. Life sprung it on both of us.” He suddenly pushed off and sprinted across the rough ground, paying no attention to the darkness, no concern that he might fall on something, no sign that he was even thinking. He caught up to the two men just as they were reaching the parked cars. He produced his keys, popped the passenger door of his car open, snatched the pharmacy bag out from under Talbert’s seat, and pushed it into the hands of the man with the mustache.
Talbert stood still, not sure what to do. The man with the mustache pawed around inside the bag and then held his phone in it and pawed some more. Talbert watched from where he was. It was awkward and humiliating. He had done some stupid things, selfish things. He had robbed a widow who had trusted his company. He hadn’t agreed to pay a couple thugs to beat her up and maybe kill her. At least he hadn’t wanted to do that.
Another minute passed, and then the man with no mustache went and sat behind the wheel in their car. It would be over in another minute. Talbert looked at the summer sky, the stars like bright needle holes in a blanket. He looked back down at the cars, and his paralysis went away.
He began to walk toward the cars, then saw that the men’s car was moving. The lights weren’t on, but it was backing down the broken concrete surface of the old driveway.
Talbert’s steps turned into a run. He could still stop them, if he was fast enough. He went faster, tripped on something and fell, scrambled up, and dashed down toward the driveway. As he did, the car swung around and headed away toward the end of the street. Its lights came on, it made the first turn, and disappeared.
Ollonsun opened the driver’s door of his car as Talbert approached. He called, “I think it would be best if you called an Uber or something.”
Talbert didn’t answer, just kept running. Ollonsun stepped to the side to put the door between them, but Talbert got his arm over the top of the window and used his momentum to drag Ollonsun out onto the cracked and buckled concrete. They landed painfully side by side on the rock-hard, jagged surface, rose, and began furiously swinging punches at each other. It was too dark to see each blow coming, so many connected. They went for each other’s eyes and noses—any place on the face or head. They fought to punish each other, until their arms were tired and carried so little force that the damage to their upper bodies had already been done. They pulled back from each other because they were out of breath. Ollonsun was bent over, leaning against the car as though he was about to collapse, but then he reached into the well in his still-open door and pulled out a gun.
“See this, you fucking idiot? Now stop it.”
“A gun? You brought a gun?” Talbert said. “Why am I surprised?”
“We’re just hurting each other and now we’ll draw attention to ourselves. Stop fighting. There’s nothing left to fight about. It’s too late to change anything. We’re both committed.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“I’m going home. You can either get in the car and let me drop you off, or you can call for a ride looking like that.” He got in the driver’s seat and closed the door.
Talbert walked stiffly to the passenger door. As he sat in the seat, he wondered how he could possibly explain the bruises and swelling to Fran. He pulled the sun flap down and looked in the small lighted mirror. A black eye that was swelling shut, bloody nose, maybe broken, a split lip. He knew he wasn’t going to sleep tonight even if he could get in without waking her.
His brother-in-law had just bullied him into bringing fifteen thousand dollars in cash to a meeting with criminals. No, it was worse than that. Pat had manipulated him into paying thugs to physically harm innocent people—to kill them, if that was the way it worked out.