A Hard Day's Death by Raymond Benson

Author:Raymond Benson [Benson, Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense & Thrillers
Publisher: Crossroad Press

16

For What It’s Worth

(performed by Buffalo Springfield)

Berenger’s appointment with Carol Merryman was to take place at 11:00 in the morning, so when Berenger got up he didn’t bother going into the office. He phoned in and discovered that Suzanne had also left word that she’d be in late.

It had been an interesting evening, to say the least. After the incident at the parking garage, Berenger decided not to involve the police. That would just complicate his investigation. He took the Jimmy mask with him and delivered Suzanne to her home. They sat in his car in front of her building for nearly a half-hour talking about the case, the trouble she could get into by carrying a handgun in Manhattan without the proper permit, the street brawl, Berenger’s mother, and Suzanne’s love life. Regarding the latter, she had said it was non-existent. Berenger reciprocated, telling her that he hadn’t been on a real “date” in months. Suzanne must have sensed where the conversation was heading so she said she was tired and excused herself. Berenger let her go and watched her long legs move up the steps of her building. He drove home wondering what might have happened between them a decade ago if he hadn’t broken off their relationship. Would it have lasted? He kept telling himself it most likely wouldn’t have. Suzanne had been on the rebound. The love of her life, drummer Elvin Blake, had died of an overdose and Rockin’ Security was hired to investigate the circumstances. Berenger would never forget walking into Blake’s apartment and seeing Suzanne for the first time. She had been crying for hours, understandably distraught, and yet she was one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen. Two months later they were dating. It lasted approximately five months and Berenger felt the need to break it off. To date he still wondered why. A year passed, he and Suzanne remained friends, and eventually he asked her to work for him.

Before going to bed Berenger berated himself for playing the “what if” game. That was always a no-win situation.

A reasonable amount of sleep and the new morning cast a different light on things. He put the previous night out of his mind as he phoned Remix to ask if he’d found out anything about Carol Merryman’s troubles with the IRS.

“Yeah, she’s definitely being audited,” Remix told him. “I couldn’t find out a whole lot, but she’s got income that isn’t substantiated. Apparently she had something like $250,000 in her bank account last year that she was unable to account for.”

“Do you think she might have been stealing from Flame Productions?” Berenger asked.

“That’s certainly the easiest way she could have gotten it. But who knows?”

“Thanks, Remix.”

At the appointed time, Berenger showed up at Carol’s building. She lived in an exclusive apartment building on Madison Avenue and 82nd and could certainly afford to do so. Berenger understood her divorce settlement to be in the millions and she continued to make money working for Flame since the split-up.

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