Corridor Man (27 page)
Authors: Mick James
Chapter Five
Bobby caught sight of
Bennett Hinz strolling back to his office a little after three. He waited thirty minutes then walked over. Bennett’s office was located in the corner opposite Noah Denton.
As he approached Bobby could see Bennett sitting behind his clean desk top staring out the window at the building across the street. His hands were clasped behind his head and he looked to be day dreaming. He waited for a long moment to see if Bennett would move, but he didn’t. Apparently there was nothing that urgent on his agenda today.
Bobby knocked on his office door, and Bennett called out, “Just a moment.” Bobby waited until Bennett called, “Enter.”
When Bobby opened the door there was an open file on the desk and Bennett held a phone up to his ear. He nodded at Bobby and signaled him to take a seat in one of the leather client chairs opposite his desk.
“Fine, fine, very fine indeed,” Bennett said smiling and nodding in Bobby’s direction. “I’ll look forward to your offer and I’ll expect it on my desk no later than end of day tomorrow. Agreed? Very well, thank you, I’ll inform my client,” he said into the dead phone then hung up and smiled.
“Bobby, how nice to see you. How are things working out?”
“Very well, thank you. I just wanted to take a moment and offer to buy you a drink at the end of the day. I’d like to thank you for all the help and advice you’ve given me.”
Bennett smiled, raised his eyebrows then stared at the ceiling as he spoke. “I might have been able to put in a good word or two with Noah on your behalf. After all, everyone deserves a second chance…no matter how heinous the crime.”
Right now I’d like to throw you right out of your office window, Bobby thought. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help and support, sir. I’m sure without it I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Bennett nodded like Bobby’s comment was just an everyday occurrence. “I tell you what, I’ve a meeting tonight, but I’m about to head over to the club, if you’d care to join me I’ll take you up on your offer.”
Typical. “I’d like that very much, sir just give me a few minutes to return some files and I’ll meet you over there.”
“Oh, God, the file room,” Bennett said and shook his head.
“Problem, sir?”
“There was, or at least the potential for one. It sorted itself out, had to crack the whip and demand some accountability, but in the end … Well, let me just lock up and I’ll see you over there. You do know the way?”
“I used to be a member,” Bobby said.
“Of course, of course. Well, if there’s a problem getting in you just mention my name, let them know you’ll be meeting with me.”
“Thank you,” Bobby said. A problem? He made it sound like it was still some sort of exclusive organization. The truth was the world had moved on and the few remaining private downtown organizations like the Capitol City Club were on the verge of going under, screaming for new members and offering absolutely nothing to anyone under fifty-five.
Bobby phoned Angie to tell her he was coming back with the Montcreff files.
“Here you go, Angie,” he said a few minutes later after dropping the stack of files on one of the reading tables. “Did you talk with Bennett?”
“Yeah, thanks. Kind of funny, as soon as I told him I had the file that was the end of it, almost like he couldn’t be bothered. I felt like asking him what the big deal was, I mean the bastard threatened to fire me for God’s sake. Now he just shrugs and says okay. Between you and me he’s a jerk and let me tell you, at least from what I can see he’s not bringing much in the way of business to the table.”
“No real surprise, there. Actually I have to go join him at the Capitol City Club for a drink.”
“Really, when?”
“Now.”
“God that relic of days gone by … just make sure you get a clean glass and check for mold,” she laughed.
“I will.”
“Thank you, again, for your help,” she said as he headed out the door. “I meant what I said, before, anything, absolutely anything, you just name it.”
Chapter Six
It had been a
little over five years since Bobby had been inside the Capitol City Club. Not much had changed in that time except the average age had climbed another half a decade, the air was maybe a little more stale and there were even fewer people in the place.
Bennett was waiting up on the third floor in the member’s lounge. He was one of three customers and with the exception of the bartender the youngest in the place. His glass was almost empty.
“Bobby,” Bennett smiled and waved him forward. “Perfect timing,” he said, draining what was left in his glass then pushing the empty across for a refill as he nodded at the bartender.
The bartender grabbed Bennett’s glass and smiled at Bobby. “What will it be, sir?”
“Makers Mark, on ice.”
He nodded, filled two fresh glasses with ice then turned round to the mirrored display of bottles. Bobby noticed that he reached up to the top shelf for Bennett’s scotch, Highland Park, an eighteen year old single malt from the Orkney Islands which, the last time Bobby checked, was running right around a hundred bucks a bottle. He figured Bennett’s glass would run at least twenty bucks.
The bartender smiled, pushed the fresh drinks across the bar then departed once Bennett nodded a perfunctory thanks.
“Thank you, Bobby here’s to your fresh start,” Bennett said and raised his glass toward Bobby in a toast.
“Thank you, Bennett I so appreciate your help and advice.” Bobby smiled back and clinked glasses thinking you egotistical, pompous, trust fund baby.
“So, you’re settling in, getting back in the old groove as they say.”
“Yes sir, between your support and Noah Denton giving me the opportunity it’s starting to feel a little bit like old times. I’m just reviewing some files for Noah at the moment.”
“Don’t make it sound so understated. Morris Montcreff is an extremely important client for the firm. Noah mentioned Montcreff requested you specifically and in no uncertain terms.”
“Well…”
“Well, nothing. Besides, I suspect Montcreff somehow got word that Noah’s health hasn’t exactly been the best of late.”
“Oh?”
“Well, of course you’re aware of his ongoing condition,” Bennett said, then took a long sip of scotch to let that last bit of information sink in. “Christ, he’s had two heart attacks.”
Too bad the bastard survived. “I was aware of the heart attacks, but he seems to still be every bit on top of his game.”
“Have you seen the array of pills the old boy takes? Enough to choke a horse, my God, he must take over a good dozen a day. He keeps two of those sectioned plastic containers in his desk. You know the type? A little box for each day of the week, poor bastard has two of the damn things. Just imagine, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. Don’t know how the old boy does it,” Bennett said shaking his head then followed up with another long sip.
“Really? I had some idea, but I didn’t realize his condition was that serious.”
“I don’t know, I suspect his wife or maybe more likely the daughter fills them up for him. I don’t think he and the wife have exchanged a civil word since the Nixon years. Even at his age he still thinks he’s indestructible.” Bennett drained his glass and pushed it across the bar just as the junior bartender magically appeared.
“Morris Montcreff, was Mr. Denton responsible for bringing his business in?”
“Yes and no. He had attempted to get it for some time and never had any luck. Montcreff was with the Jorgensen firm over in Minneapolis. Course his business was nothing like it is today, back then it was just a couple of clubs as we used to call them,” Bennett sort of winked at Bobby then gave a nod to the bartender as a way of saying thanks for his fresh drink.
“Clubs?”
“Oh, it was the hippie generation back then, all sorts of drugs were coming on the scene. Montcreff’s clubs were the place to be seen for the jet set in those days. Mind you, not that he was ever charged or in any way linked to something illegal, at least that I’m aware of. But you know there’ve always been the rumors. Anyway, they were successful for a good while, the clubs, and just about the time that success began to wane old Morris Montcreff got into property development. The rest, as they say, is history,” Bennett chuckled then drained a third of his glass.
“From what I’ve seen he seems quite successful,” Bobby said and took his first sip.
“Yes, very. His account was a large part of what made the firm. One of the reasons we’ve been so successful. That’s why I found it sort of strange that he called Noah and specifically requested you.”
Bobby suddenly became very guarded. “Oh, I don’t know. Like you said the day we ran into one another in the courthouse, my attributes, plus he knows I can’t practice law at the moment yet I have a lot of experience and maybe that makes me perfect for the job of reviewing all his files. You know, just a little insurance policy,” Bobby said then held Bennett’s gaze for a long moment.
“I have to tell you, Noah was rather upset, he doesn’t like to be second guessed.”
“I can maybe understand that, but then again I’m not second guessing him. I’m just another pair of eyes making sure everything is alright for Mr. Montcreff and by extension, for the firm as well.”
“That change to the LLC with Zimmerman didn’t sit very well with Noah.”
“And it certainly wasn’t originally drafted with the best of intentions for Mr. Montcreff, which is who I’m looking out for at the moment. I redrafted the document, Montcreff agreed, in the end so did Zimmerman. The firm’s client, Mr. Montcreff saw that ultimately we were looking out for his best interests. He can’t ask for more than that. And by the way, Noah Denton signed the thing, which suggests to me he gave his approval.”
“Well, like I said Noah Denton does not like to be second guessed.”
“What do you know about that car catching fire at Mr. Denton’s?”
Bennett poured down another third of his drink. “The car fire. Not much, I don’t believe it was a mechanical failure if that’s what you’re asking. Local hoodlums, probably someone associated with Noah’s daughter. She’s, how should I say it, a handful.”
“Trouble?”
“Oh, trouble may be too strong a word. They had her late in life, an only child. I think she’s somewhere in her early-to-mid-thirties. She’s probably dropped out of half a dozen colleges around the country. I think Noah spent close to forty thousand a year just for her high school education. She and her mother seem to be constantly at odds, I’m not sure she interacts with Noah at all. She’s an artist by self description.” He mockingly pronounced the word ‘ar-Tiest.’
“She seems to run with a pretty fast crowd, always has. Still lives with her parents, which might be part of the problem. The car fire was probably just some jilted one night stand, still all in all a rather frightening event for everyone.”
“Was there something spray painted on the driveway, a warning or a threat I thought I heard?”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Bennett said and drained his glass. The bartender reappeared before the empty glass hit the bar.
Bennett shook his head no, then said, “Oh goodness, look at the time, I’ve still got to choose a wine for dinner, we’ve guests coming.”
Thought you said you had a meeting you jerk.
“Bobby, can’t thank you enough for the time, and the beverages, but I had better skedaddle. Please, take your time here, but I’m running late.” Bennett grabbed Bobby’s hand, squeezed it in a vice like grip and shook a couple of his chins back and forth. “Enjoy, see you bright and early tomorrow.” Which for Bennett probably meant something around ten.
Bobby sipped his bourbon and thought about what Bennett had told him regarding Noah Denton’s heart problems, his apparently estranged wife, the rebellious daughter and he suddenly smelled opportunity.
Opportunity and a lot more…
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Corridor Man
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