Highway Robbery (8 page)

***

At the sheriff's office, they met Matt's lawyer and Mike Simone. The boys were glad to see that Mike, who'd gotten out of the hospital the day before, looked a little better. There weren't so many bandages, and some of the swelling had gone down. He hugged Tony with his good arm.

The lawyer was introduced as James Willis, a gray-haired man in a three-piece suit and gold-rimmed glasses. At Frank's request, he agreed to arrange a meeting for them with Matt while he and Mike worked to "clear up this unfortunate misunderstanding," as he put it.

Willis was true to his word. Within fifteen minutes Frank, Joe, and Tony were sitting with Matt in an unused office. Quickly they filled Matt in on the latest hijacking attempt and the narrow escape they'd had.

"You said you'd tell us what we needed to know as soon as we got back from this trip," Joe said. "Well, we're back."

"Fair enough," Matt replied. "I agreed to answer your questions. So, ask away. I won't hold anything back this time."

"Start with Lou Gerard," Frank suggested.

"I always got along fine with the union people," Matt said, "until Gerard showed up in my office. He told me he was the local's new business manager. We made some small talk, and then all of a sudden he tells me that contract negotiations and grievance procedures would go a lot easier for me if I was to slip him some cash under the table now and then.

"I lost my temper and kicked him out. But he started calling me up, demanding to meet with me and making threats about the future of my company if I didn't play ball. 'You have to go along to get along,' he said. "I said, 'No way.' "

"You have any proof of this?" asked Frank.

Matt shook his head. "He was too smart. He never talked about it unless he was sure there was nobody around, and he arranged our meetings in places where I couldn't tape our conversations."

"Why not bring in the law?" Frank demanded.

"With no proof?" Matt leaned forward. "Lombard Hauling is a small operation, Frank. We do all right, but we can't afford to shut down for long. So what happens if I blow the whistle on Gerard?"

Matt leaned forward, speaking emphatically. "First off, he tells the law that I was the one offering him bribes in exchange for special favors. His word against mine, right? Then he has the power to call everyone off the job. But I have to keep the business going, and it doesn't matter whether I was right or wrong, the result is the same - we'd be shut down. So I didn't holler for the cops or the sheriff."

"Maybe you should have," Joe suggested.

"Well, maybe. But that was my choice. And once I made that choice, I had to play it out. That's the way I saw it - and still see it."

"All right," said Joe. "Number two - what problem does Hal Brady have with you?"

Matt shrugged. "You got me. I don't know."

Frank leaned toward him. "Hey, you promised to level with us."

"I am," Matt protested. "Brady and I were never buddies, but we didn't have any beefs, either. Then all of a sudden, a few months back, he just took a dislike to me, started giving me a lot of lip and griping about this and that - generally getting on my case. Well, I admit I have a temper, and I lost it sometimes. But why it all started, I don't know. You'd better ask him."

"Did you get to see the notes that were found in Mickey's Vane's apartment?" Joe asked.

"They showed them to me, yeah."

"Did you recognize them?"

"Recognize them?" Matt shook his head. "I recognized them as being my handwriting, sure. I'm always making notes on scratch paper like that. I don't know when or how I made those particular ones. But I can tell you one thing. I never gave them to Mickey Vane."

Joe nodded, then asked, "Any explanation for how they got to be where they were found? And that Lombard company check, you signed that, too, didn't you?"

" I never gave them to him. I never saw the man after I canned him a couple years ago. It wouldn't have been hard to steal blank checks from my desk. Vane got no checks I knew about after he drew his last pay."

"Matt," said Joe, "do you think that Hal Brady could be the one responsible for passing information to the gang?"

Matt thought for a moment. "He could be," he said, "if he knows anything about computers. We store everything on computers now, so he'd have to know how to retrieve the information."

Everyone turned as James Willis entered the room and sat down. "We'll have you out of here soon," he told Matt. "That chief deputy is giving us some grief, but I've told him that if he isn't charging you, he can't hold you. And he hasn't got anything solid enough, just a lot of circumstantial nonsense."

"Great." Matt managed a tired smile. He turned to Frank and Joe. "Anything else you need to know?"

"I don't think so," Joe said. "Anything we can do for you?"

"Well, yes, if you don't mind. If Felix is still at the office, tell him everything is going to be fine and have him call up my insurance man. If he's gone home for the night, then you call him. You can get his name and number off my desk. Here, take my office keys." He handed them to Joe.

"Sure, no problem," Frank said. "Tony, want to come?"

"No, that's okay," Tony said, "I'm going to drive Mike home. See you guys later."

Joe and Frank shook hands with Matt and left. As they were driving the van back to Lombard, Frank said, "Maybe Dad has turned up something on Brady. He had the opportunity to leak information, and for whatever reason, it looks like he's mad enough at Matt to want to get at him."

"If he can operate a computer, then he had the means of doing it, too," Joe added. "Motive, means, opportunity. If Hal checks out in all three, we've got ourselves a prime suspect."

When they arrived at the Lombard office, it appeared to be dark and deserted. "Felix must have called it a night," Frank said.

"I can't blame him," Joe replied, stifling a yawn. "It's late. We're putting in some crazy hours, too."

As they got out of the van, Joe noticed someone standing in the shadows near the office door.

"Who's there?" he called.

At first the figure didn't move, and Joe wondered if they were in for another fight. As he and Frank approached, the other person moved out into the open. It was Hal Brady, and he didn't look happy to see them.

"What're you doing here?" Brady growled.

"We could ask you the same question," said Frank. "We're here to do something for Matt Simone."

Brady snorted. "Something for Simone, huh? Beautiful. Well, I'm here to do something about Matt Simone."

"What are you talking about?" Frank asked.

"We're going to show Simone up for the rotten thief and liar he is," Brady said, his voice harsh with anger.

"You're not making sense, Brady," Joe said.

"No?" Brady stepped to within a foot of Joe and snarled, "Wait till we get those papers out of his desk! You'll see what a bum he is!"

"You said 'we,' Brady. You and who else?"

"Lou Gerard," Brady replied. "He told me to meet him here. Says there are papers in Simone's desk that'll prove how he's been cheating his employees, not paying into the pension fund, not keeping up with the health and welfare payments, just squeezing the company dry until he can take the money and run."

"Lou Gerard told you this?" asked Frank.

"That's right," Brady said. "And he asked me to help him nail Simone."

A car drove up to the Lombard gate and stopped, its engine still running. A voice called out, "Brady? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Brady answered. "Lou?"

One of the car windows rolled down. Brady took a step closer.

Frank saw movement in the dark car. There was a brief glint of light as something metallic was raised to the open window.

"Brady, get down!" Frank yelled.

Shots rang out in the quiet lot!