Near Miss

Chapter 15

Trench Molder received the package from the doorman as he walked into his building. He took it upstairs and unwrapped it.

“Shit,” he said. “What is she up to?” He picked up the phone and called Matilda.

“Hello?”

“Hello, yourself. It’s Trench.”

“I wasn’t expecting your call.”

“Why did you send the gun back to me?”

“It belongs to you.”

“I gave it to you.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know where it’s been or who it has been used to kill.”

“It’s brand-new; a virgin weapon.”

“I have obtained another weapon, and a license to use it.”

“They gave you a carry license? It took months for me to get one, and cost ten thousand dollars.”

“Funny, mine didn’t cost anything.”

“How did you do that?”

“I filled out a form and got fingerprinted. I didn’t bribe anybody.”

“Is this conversation being recorded?” he demanded.

“Only if you’re recording it. And let me say this for the record: don’t call me again, because next time you do it will be recorded, if you incriminate yourself.”

“You bloody bitch!”

“I don’t know about the bloody part. But I’m happy for you to consider me to be a bitch, because that’s what I will be, if you reach out to me again.”

She hung up. “How’d I do?”

“You made your point,” Stone said. “I wish we could have learned who he paid ten thousand dollars to get the carry permit for him. I would have liked for Dino to nail that bastard.”

“How much did you pay Dino to get mine?”

“Listen to me very carefully,” Stone said. “All Dino did was to move you up in the line and write a letter swearing to your good character. You’re ungrateful to insinuate that he broke the law by doing you a favor.”

She looked away, abashed. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Just as long as you know the truth. Tell me, did you ever have occasion to sniff the barrel of the pistol Trench gave you?”

“You mean, like, take cocaine off it?”

“No, I mean to ask what it smelled like, if you smelled it.”

“I didn’t smell it. I didn’t know I should have.”

“It was not a requirement, just a precaution.”

“Against what?”

“If the gun smelled of oil, it would not have been fired recently. If it smelled of gunpowder, then it would have been fired.”

“What does gunpowder smell like?”

Stone thought about that. “Like gunpowder, I guess. I don’t know what compares.”

“Now am I safe from being accused of a crime?”

“No, but nobody can prove that you committed one — not with that pistol, anyway. Do you think that Trench is capable of using it to murder someone, then giving it to you?”

That stopped her. “I don’t know, but after his attitude in that conversation, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Give me the receipt that Fred gave you, and I’ll put it in my safe.”

She dug it out of her handbag and handed it over, and he put it into an envelope, wrote her name on it, and put it into his safe. “There,” he said, “that problem solved.”

She sat down in his lap and snuggled. “Are you going to solve all my problems?”

“That depends on what problems you have. If you want to tell all, go ahead, and I’ll do what I can.”

“Let me think about it,” she said.

“That bitch.”

Trench wanted to throw his phone against the wall but didn’t give in to the urge. That asshole attorney must have told Matilda to send the gun back.

He called Bozo.

“Hi, Trench.”

“Are you still interested in a little side work?”

“I am.”

“There’s a problem I’d like dealt with posthaste.”

“The lawyer you had me follow the other day? Barrington?”

“One and the same.”

“You want me to finish what Huff fucked up.”

“Very much. But not just Barrington. Matilda Martin, too.”

“Are we talking about a don’t-mess-with-me message?”

“No. Something more permanent, if you get my drift.”

“I do. Give me a day or two to set things up.”

“The sooner the better. And, Bozo, one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“I want to be there when it happens.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“It is if you want to get paid.”

“On second thought, I’d love to have you along.”