Wearing Purple

Chapter 28

Diane had gone, presumably to change out of her provocative Catalan flag dress, but Everett was waiting for me at the top of the ramp. ‘We got some business to do, Oz,’ he rumbled. I was wrong; it wasn’t quiet gentlemanly Everett who stood there, it was Daze. All the shock and uncertainty was gone from his eyes, replaced by fiercely blazing anger.

‘That bastard Leonard set this trap,’ he said. ‘We stood and we watched him. Take two security guys and arrest his ass. Then find a room where he and I can talk, once I’ve changed.’ He looked down at me. ‘You might not want to be there when we do.’

‘Wrong, mate,’ I retorted, even though I was, frankly, scared stiff by the strength of his fury. ‘I will be there. If only to stop you from killing him.’

The giant shook his head, slowly. ‘I’m not going to kill him, man. But I guarantee he’s going to tell me everything about how Tony fucking Reilly hired him to sabotage GWA and to cripple or kill its people.’

‘No, Everett,’ I told him, as firmly as I dared. ‘I’m the investigator here, not you. Leonard’s going to tell me all that stuff in a formal interview, on tape; then I’m going to have it transcribed and he’s going to sign it, with us as witnesses to that signature. In his statement I’ll ask him to specify that he was not forced by physical violence or the threat of it, to make his confession.

‘Now I’ll go and find him like you want. But in the meantime, you go and change out of your monster suit. Find a white shirt and wear that, so that after we’ve interviewed the guy, everyone can see that there are no bloodstains on you.’ I paused and looked at him. ‘You know what happens after that though, don’t you?’

‘Tell me,’ he said.

‘We have to hand him over to the police. And this.’ I gave him the burst turn-buckle pad, which I was still holding.

‘Hell, no! We deal with this in-house. Once I have Leonard’s confession I’m gonna take it to Tony Reilly and beat him to death with it. Son of a bitch is going to sell me his GWA holding at a knock-down price or I’m going to sue his ass off!’

‘Okay, but Leonard still has to be handed over. Look, Jerry’s just been admitted to hospital with what to all intents and purposes is a gunshot wound. They’re going to do just the same as they’d do in Glasgow, London or New York — tell the cops. You won’t have a choice.’

‘Maybe not. We’ll see when they come looking. But now, you go get the bastard.’ His head seemed to droop. ‘While you’re doing that, I’ll try to find out how Jerry’s doing.’

I nodded, and headed off to the main door of the Arena, where I commandeered two security guards to back me up in detaining the foreman. Inside, we found the local installation crew standing around. They were waiting for something, clearly. One of them had a different coloured uniform jacket from the rest. Guessing that this might mean that he was in charge, I called him over, in my dodgy Spanish.

‘Have you seen the GWA foreman?’ I asked him.

He told me that they had been expecting Leonard. He had told them that after the show was over, he would need them to make the changes to the set which were needed for the next day’s shooting of the matches for the Monday broadcast. They were waiting for him: but he had not appeared.

‘Let’s find him, then,’ I told him. ‘You people must know all of this building; you work here all the time. Get your men, join us, and let’s look for Senor Leonard.’

Look for him we did, outside in the trucks, and all over the arena: on the floor of the hall, in the walkway round the perimeter of the roof, in the public toilets, male and female, and in the storage and basement areas. I knew long before we were finished that we had more chance of finding the Phantom of the Opera.

‘He’s gone,’ I told Everett, who was waiting for me in the changing area, having changed into khaki slacks and a white tee-shirt. ‘Mr Leonard has done a runner.’

‘Goddammit! We should have grabbed him right then, Oz.’

‘I know. I asked the television director when he saw him last. He said that he saw him by the ring while Prim was treating Jerry, but that he can’t remember seeing him after that.’ The ‘idea’ bulb flashed in my brain. ‘What about his passport? Maybe he’s gone back to the hotel to collect it, and his gear.’

Everett shook his head. ‘He’s an American, Oz. He probably carries his passport with him all the time. As for his gear; hell, he’s a roadie. They hardly carry any.’

‘Could we have him stopped at the airport?’ I ventured.

‘Where’s he going? Not back to Scotland. The US eventually, sure, but he could get there from anywhere. My guess is that he’ll get out of Spain and take it from there. What would you do if you were in his shoes?’

It didn’t take me long to answer that one. ‘I’d phone Reilly and have him send me a plane ticket to the States, for collection at an airport of my choice: — Perpignan, Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon. . any one of those or another, either direct or routed through Paris.

‘Mind you, we could catch him wherever he tries to fly out from. . if you tell the police about him.’

‘Hah! And what would we have after that? Press stories all over Europe about GWA, and about the hits we’ve taken in recent weeks. I do not want my customer stations to know what happened to Jerry, that Dave Manson isn’t on sabbatical, and that I’m having to wrestle a guy in my next pay-per-view who’s still passing traces of blood every time he pees.

‘If that sort of stuff hits the fan, the way is open for Reilly to move in on me. CWI supplied those stations before; at a loss, sure, but I bet Tony would take some more losses to put me out of business. Unless I have Leonard’s confession that he was Reilly’s man, bought and paid for, I can’t do much to head him off.

‘So no, Oz. Even if the Spanish police do come asking questions, like you reckon they will, I will not tell them about Sonny Leonard. . and neither will you. If I have to, I’ll smash up a turn-buckle and tell them it was equipment failure caused the accident.’ He waved the red leather pad, which I had given him earlier. ‘They ain’t gonna see this.’

‘What if this turns into a murder investigation?’ I shot at him. ‘Are you still going to conceal evidence?

‘How is Jerry anyway? Did you get through to the hospital?’

Everett sighed. ‘Saturday night is not the best time to call a hospital emergency unit in any city. There wasn’t no one there could speak to me. I’m gonna have to go down there to find out for myself.’

I nodded. ‘Yes, we should. Let me change out of this bloody penguin suit, and I’ll come with you.’