Courage Stolen by R. Scott Mackey

Author:R. Scott Mackey [Mackey, R. Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Big Hound Publishing
Published: 2015-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

twenty-two

No one answered the phone at Chan International. I punched in the number for Benzer’s cell phone Langford had given me earlier. Langford. Though a gasbag, he deserved an apology. Looking back on the past week, things had moved so fast and the Monarch team had been steadfast about keeping a lid on the extortion. Still, Langford had hired me and asked to be kept in the loop. I’d call him once he cooled off in a day or two to explain and apologize.

Benzer’s phone rang seven times before going to voicemail. I wondered if he recognized my number and was avoiding my call. I had called him before on his cell, so even if caller ID didn’t pop my name, he might recognize the number.

With the Granderson job completed, and with no other paying gigs, I had time on my hands. I should have let go of Chan, SCS, and everything else related to Granderson. I just couldn’t. A dead young man. A twenty-million-dollar ransom. An angry client in Langford. More questions than answers. Nothing about where things stood satisfied me.

First, I tried Benzer’s apartment without success. During the ten-minute drive to Chan International, my mind kept returning to my lunch with Jolene. I tried to rationalize my returning her kiss, knowing full well I was kidding myself. She had kissed me first, I told myself. No, I could have stopped it, making it a peck on the mouth instead of a romantic lip lock. She was planning on breaking up with Danny. So what? She was still dating my friend, and I owed it to him to keep my lips off his girlfriend. I liked her. That was irrelevant. Even though I liked her, Danny had hired me to investigate her, not kiss her. I shook my head and sighed a dozen times as I drove and, somehow, I sensed the whole Danny-Jolene business would not turn out well for any of us.

Four cars were parked on the street near the entrance to Chan International, though I didn’t know if any of them belonged to Benzer. The front door to the office wasn’t locked. I entered a small lobby with an empty reception desk, behind which stood an entryway to the offices. I walked around the desk and through the entry into an open office space with two desks on opposite walls. Benzer was kneeling down on the far side of one desk. I knocked on the top of a nearby bookshelf to avoid startling him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” He stood and took two steps towards me as if not wanting me to see what he’d been doing. He was wearing a dark gray business suit, with a sharp-looking maroon tie.

“Why did you lie to me?” I asked.

“What the are you talking about?”

“About the money for the payoffs.” I moved farther into the room, next to the desk on the opposite wall from Benzer’s. “You said your parents loaned you the money. Your parents don’t have that kind of money to lend you.

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