1 comments/ 11447 views/ 3 favorites The Tattooed Man By: Cromagnonman This is the fourth in the Gerry Pretty detective series. The story so far: Gerry Pretty, the working half of the now defunct Pretty Goode Detective Agency (Discretion guaranteed) is hired by Laura Lee Jones to find her missing husband, Andy. ( see 'Better off Dead') It was alleged that Andy owed several bookies a large amount of money and that one of them could have eliminated him. The prime suspect was Benny the Bookie. Gerry has some help from Laura Lee's beautiful daughter Lucy. A floater is pulled from the river and identified as the missing Andy Jones. However Gerry believes that Andy is still alive and working with Lucy on a scheme to take the bookies for a large amount of money. He tracks Lucy and Andy down and advises them that the best course of action would be for them to disappear. In the second story ('A Message from Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson') Gerry takes up the case of a bank employee jailed for embezzling a lot of money from his employer. He finds that the employer had taken the money himself to finance a nightclub venture that involved prostitution and gambling and, that when his partner refuses to repay the loan, leaving a hole in his balance sheets, he frames his employee for the theft. The third story ('The Lazarus Syndrome') sees the apparent return of Andy Jones. Benny the Bookie is out of jail and angry because he believes Gerry fitted him up for the murder of Andy Jones, who he claims is still alive. Gerry investigates because he also believes that Andy is indeed still alive. All is not as it seems. Lucy did not go overseas with Andy, who it transpires really is dead, killed by Laura lee and kept on ice until the right moment for him to be found. There is a gunfight between Laura Lee, her former boss and Benny the Bookie. Laura Lee and her partner escape but are arrested trying to reach Canada. Gerry and Lucy are reunited and Gerry learns that he is the father of a son, Mike. * I have long dreamed of a normal life, this was as normal as I could get. I still worked in the bar and still worked at being a detective whenever something came up. There are legal problems about ownership of the bar that we've (Lucy and me) been trying to sort our way though. Laura Lee, along with her former partner, is still the owner of the bar. Both of them are due to swing for the murder of Andy Jones, Benny the Bookie and a couple of other guys. When they are no longer a part of this living, breathing world, we don't have a legal claim to the bar because Laura Lee and her partner both had wills leaving it to each other. We are trying to convince Laura Lee to make out a new will leaving it to us. So far this hasn't been successful because she's blaming us for her predicament. Life in the bar has taken on a different vibe now that Mike is on his feet. He is universally loved by all and has been adopted by the regulars, and they spoil him rotten, especially Paula our regular bartender. He has a miniature jail (play pen) set up in the store room, right next to my office, and she is often to be found there playing with him when we're not busy. But he spends more time running around getting into mischief, like grabbing someone's leg and looking pleadingly up at him until he gets a pretzel or something to eat from the bar. Lucy, what can I say about Lucy, she is the most beautiful woman that I've ever met, and funny, and smart, and of course very sexy. Her beauty has taken on a new dimension with the imminent arrival of the newest member of the family. Her breasts that have always been a favorite of mine are now bigger, full of milk that she squirted me in the eye with last night . . . I was fondling her when she squeezed her nipple and a drop of milk appeared on its tip. I licked it off, it tasted sweet so I sucked her breast and more came out. "I can understand why babies love this stuff so much." "Maybe you should suck some more so the supply builds up and he can get a full feed right away." She has assured me that the new arrival will also be a boy. She squeezed it again and it spirted in my eye. She only has a few weeks to go and her breasts are permanently engorged. I spend quite a bit of my time when we're in bed, when I'm not kissing her, admiring them and caressing them. This led, as usual, to us making love. Our love making these days, in deference to her condition, didn't have the frenetic athleticism of past encounters, it was gentler, but in some ways more sensual than before, and always ended up in a satisfactory climax, The quiet life changed in dramatic fashion tonight. It had been a typical Friday night, the regular band was playing the final set for the night and the bar was still packed with die-hard and well oiled fans. I had just gone to the store room to fetch another couple of bottles of bourbon when I heard the sound of two men having an argument. "Tell me where the fuck it is or I'll blow your useless brains out!" "Do that and you'll never find out." "Don't get smart with me wise guy, I know that you know where it is and you're gunna tell me." "Or you'll what? Crawl back to your boss and have to tell him that you failed to get me to tell you something I don't know." The sound of the gunshot told me that this thing had gotten way out of control. I dived for the back door, but by the time I'd got out into the back alley the shooter had gone. I ran to his victim, he was alive but only just. He was muttering something so I bent my ear to his face. "Read my back. . . . ." He was gone. I went back inside to the office and called Lou Callaway, my friend in Homicide and now husband of Dolores the former Mrs. Gerry Pretty. "Lou, are you busy right now?" "No, why? Don't tell me that you've shot someone who complained about you short-changing him on your measures?" "Nothing like that, there's been a shooting out back in the alley. We have a body and no shooter." "I'll be right over." Lou was one of the good guy cops in this town and, along with ex-cop Eddie Halloran, the hack that helped me out from time to time and provided cheap transport when I needed it, were my two buddies that I could call on at just about any time. The police had been called and a couple of uniforms arrived about a minute ahead of Lou. "How did you get here so quick, we haven't even called it in?" The more senior of the two asked Lou. "That is why I'm a Homicide detective and you're still pounding the beat. What have we here?" "Deceased white male, single gunshot wound to the head, looks like close range and I'd say a mob hit." The less senior of the two said. "Very good. Is there any I.D. on him?" "There's a billfold with not much in it. There's no Drivers License, but there is a receipt for rent on an apartment with a name on it." "I think you'll find that he's recently been released from jail." I told them. "How do you work that out?" Lou asked. "On his hands and arms there are tattoos and they look like jail tattoos, not professional ones, and they look relatively recent." "How do you know that they're jail tattoos?" "Because of the method, they've been done with a pin dipped in black ink not a tattoo needle, if you look closely you'll see the outline isn't as crisp as professional jobs. He was having an argument with his killer just before he was shot. The killer wanted to know where something was and this guy told him that he didn't know." Lou turned to the other policemen. "Have you called for the meat wagon?" "It's on its way." "Good, I want to examine this body closely as soon as I can." "Lou, can I see you inside when you've finished out here?" "Sure thing." He obviously thought that I was offering him a drink and didn't want the others to know about it. Lucy had just come down from checking on Mike. "What's happened out there?" "Some guy got shot." "Why do I get the feeling that you're going to get involved in this?" "We'll see, but I'm not getting involved if there's any risk involved. I'm thinking about you and Mike and Junior here," I patted her belly, "Now that things are under control on the family front I won't do anything to screw it up." I kissed her, and was still kissing her when Lou came in from out back. "I'll leave if you two want to continue with what you're doing." He looked suggestively at the bulge in my pants. We stopped doing what we were doing and I went behind the bar to pour us all a drink, bourbon for Lou and me and a juice for Lucy. "There was something that I didn't mention outside and that was the victim said a few words just before he died." "Which were, come on Buddy, don't keep me in suspense." "He told me that I was to read his back. I would like to be there when he's examined." "Okay, say your good-byes and I'll see you in the alley when you're through, but don't be too long, I need my beauty sleep." I wasn't too long. "See you in a little while." I kissed Lucy and she held me for some time before letting me go. I got the feeling that she sensed trouble. The morgue is a cold place, not just because they have to keep the stiffs on ice, but it had this feeling that you get when fear is present and dead bodies have that effect on me. The dead man was on the slab, his clothes had been taken off and the examination was about to begin. "Before you start, do you mind if we have a look at his back?" Lou asked. "Sure thing." He was rolled over and we stared in amazement at the artwork that covered it. He must have been inside for some time to have all of this done. "Boy where do we start? If we knew what we were looking for we might be able to find it, talk about a needle in a haystack." Lou chuckled when he realized that he'd made and accidental pun. "Do you think that we could get a photograph of this so that we can take our time over it and so that the autopsy can be completed and the corpse removed and buried." There was a pattern in amongst the usual tattoo images that intrigued me, but I couldn't make out what it signified. I needed time to try to decipher it. Lou arranged for the police photographer to take shots of the victim's back and told me that he would deliver a print to me when it had been processed. I called Eddie from Lou's desk and was soon back at the bar. Lucy was waiting for me. "Well, do you have a case to work on?" "What I have is a puzzle. You know that the man told me something before he died, that I was to read his back, well you should have seen it, it was covered with tattoos, but there was one tattoo that intrigues me, it looks to be a code of some sort. Lou is going to let me have a photograph of the back to see if I can work it out. Any way nothing can be done tonight so I think that you and I should adjourn to bed, I want to listen to your belly." "And when you've finished listening to his heartbeat I suppose that you'll want to make love to me?" "Only if you want me to." "I want you to." She put her arm around me as we walked up the stairs, and by the time I'd taken off my clothes she was ready for me. Making love to Lucy was an ever evolving process, when we first met and made love it was as if I couldn't believe my luck, here I was, something over thirty years old and the gloss of loving had been lost with the departure of Dolores with Tony Goode, my ex-partner. I was devastated, depressed and disillusioned with the whole love and marriage thing. Then into my life came Lucy, young, gorgeous and sexually adventurous, and it shook me out of the 'D' words with a vengeance. There were several things that I wasn't aware of and only discovered later, like she had been put up to it by Laura Lee, and when I tracked her down after she'd left, the man that she was living with, and who I'd been led to believe was her father Andy, wasn't her father at all but someone hired to pose as him for my benefit. Now that we were parents and with a second one on the way, we were in discovery mode, looking for new ways to make love given the restrictions of Lucy's condition. I cuddled her from behind and my cock found its way between her legs to the entrance of her pussy. By moving her hips she was able to push her pussy down on him so that I could work him in and out of her until her passion took over and she upped the pace, bringing us both to a climax. "You'll have to make the most of this because when he arrives you'll be on short rations until my pussy recovers." "But it will recover, won't it." "You'd better believe it, I'll do everything within my power to speed up the process but you've got to remember that it can't recover from spitting out something the size of a watermelon overnight." "Don't worry," my fingers were in her pussy and now covered with come, "I've had years of short rations to fall back on, I'll survive." She took my hand and placed my fingers in her mouth. "Mmm, we taste good. Of course I could always suck you off, in fact I'd like that." "You are incorrigible, do you know that?" "I don't need encouraging, I love it and want to do it." To prove her point she slid around and sucked him into her mouth and demonstrated to me just how proficient she was. I'll definitely have no complaints. I caressed her clit with my tongue just to let her know that she wouldn't be missing out entirely. There was a knock on the back door just as I got to my office. Lou came in with a large envelope of photos. I stared at them for some time, even took the magnifying glass from my Dick Tracy junior detectives kit to get a closer look. There was a series of boxes with dots in them that attracted my attention. "What do you make of those?" I asked Lou. "I don't make anything of them, I thought that you may be able to shed some light on them." "They look like some sort of code, but it's nothing like I've ever seen before. I think I'll get Lucy to have a look and see what she makes of it, she's the brains in the family." "I'll leave you to it, the ballistic results should be in by now, not that I'm holding out any great hopes for them, it was a dumdum slug and it's spread out a lot." "Good luck with that, see ya." He headed for the door but I called him back. "Lou, you could check on his prison record and look at his cell mate, he's the most likely to be the artist and it's either a message that he wanted to get out or our victim gave him the design and he copied it. If we can find out which it is it'll give us another starting point." Lucy had just finished feeding and changing Mike when I went back, I couldn't help wondering how long before he could take himself to the toilet and clean himself up, saving Lucy and Me from potty duty. We sat down for breakfast and I slid the photo across to her. "What do you make of that?" "Which part am I supposed to be looking at?" "Those boxes with the dots. I think that they're some kind of code but I could be wrong." "I would have to agree with you, but it's weird, nothing like I've seen either. Let me think about it for a while." It was getting close to opening time and Paula had just come in and started setting up the bar, this involved making sure that the glasses were in their trays under the counter and making sure that all of the bottles in the spirit pourers were full. Lucy was setting up the kitchen for meals while I was putting the finishing touches on the cleaning and setting of tables. It was also getting close to time for my cooking lessons, we'd dispensed with the cook when Lucy came back and now that she was going to have time off I'd have to take over. I began by cleaning the grill ready for the steaks and cutting up what needed to be cut up for the burgers. I fired up the stove and grill ready for a trial run and while it was getting hot I got the ground beef and onions and began making the burger patties. The coffee maker was fired up and we sat around and had a cup in the few minutes that remained before we opened the doors. We had a steady flow of regular lunch time customers so we were busy for a couple of hours before it dropped off to a trickle of diehards that formed our regular afternoon bar trade. The lunch rush was over and we were busy with the dishes and glasses when two men came in. I had never seen them before and something told me that they weren't here for the booze. "Mr. Pretty, I understand that you had a little excitement here last night." He was well dressed and looked like a business type. His companion looked more like a driver or a bodyguard. "I guess you could say that." "I'm interested in finding out more about this than has appeared in the papers." "I'm afraid that I can't be of much help to you, the police kept everyone right away from the scene." "But I understand that you found the body. I want to know if he said anything before he died." "He mumbled something that I couldn't make out." "I will pay you a great deal of money if you are able to remember what he said." He took a roll of notes from his pocket just so that I knew that he had a lot of money. "If your memory should happen to return I want you to call me on this number." He snapped his finger and a card magically appeared in his lackey's hand and he gave it to me. He left with the lackey trailing a respectful distance behind. What was I to make of this? Here was what was obviously a very rich and presumably important man interested in what the recently deceased had to say. The tattoos have taken on a whole new importance. "What did he want?" Lucy asked. "I saw him waving a lot of money around." "It seems as if he has some interest in the dead guy. I think that Lou should know about this." I picked up the phone and dialed his number and invited him to call in when he was free. He arrived an hour later with Dolores. Lucy and she went upstairs taking Mike with them. I'd never seen Dolores as interested in children as she had been of late. When we were married she told me that there was no way that she would consider bringing one of those detestable little monsters into the world. Now it looked as if she was rethinking that decision. "I had a visit a while ago from one Frederick Mortimer, formerly Freddie the Fink before he came into a large sum of money courtesy of a very dubious method, now he swans around as if his shit don't stink. Anyway, he wants to donate a sizable amount of that money to the Gerry Pretty Retirement Fund if I have a sudden reversal of my memory loss regarding the tattooed man. What, I said to myself, is his interest in him?" "It could be connected with the man himself. He was doing time for burglary, it seems as if he entered with intent the mansion of one Patrick Van Gilder the Third while Patrick and family were holidaying in the Caribbean. He not only cleaned out the safe of all of the Van Gilder's considerable jewelry collection but stole some important papers. Patrick wasn't so concerned about the jewels, the insurance company offered a considerable reward but they haven't been seen so we have to assume that they have been broken up and sold separately, but the papers were irreplaceable and he has offered an even greater reward for their return, a hundred thousand dollars in fact." "If he's offered that much they really must be worth a huge amount. Where does our man fit in?" "It seems as if the robbery was an inside job and our man was the one on the inside. He was convicted and did five years of a five to ten stretch and was released a week ago. He has been followed around ever since and it appears as if he came here looking to involve you in some way." "Let me guess, he has always maintained his innocence and was looking to me to prove it?" "A good guess as it turns out. He mentioned as much to his lady friend just before he left home and came down here. It seems that he became friendly with your ex-partner Tony Goode and Tony told him how you were successful in getting David Monroe off the embezzlement charge." The Tattooed Man "Next thing you know Tony will be asking for spotter's fees. Does his lady friend know any more about this?" "If you were to ask me I'd say that she does, but she denies any knowledge of his involvement. One thing that does intrigue me and that is that she's a Van Gilder, Patrick's youngest sister in fact. The family didn't take too kindly to her liaison with the hired help and when the old man died she found that she had been cut out of the will. Things have been difficult for her financially and she has had to seek employment to make ends meet, something that no Van Gilder has had to do since the Depression." "I suppose that, while she won't tell you anything, you think that she might open up to me, is that it?" "Yes. Here is her address, I think that you should call on her." Lucy and Dolores came down the stairs, Dolores was carrying Mike. "Dolores has volunteered to look after Mike when I go into hospital." Lou and I exchanged glances. This was a side of Dolores that neither of us had seen, not that I was complaining, it saved me from that particular chore. Much as I loved being with him, it was tiring just trying to keep up with him. "Thank you for that. Don't tell me that you're contemplating having a family at this time in your life." "I'm not too old and I know that Lou would like a child." I looked at Lou and his look confirmed that statement to be true. Wonders will never cease. I rang the bell of a modest apartment in a modest complex. The door was opened as far as the security chain would allow. "Yes?" "Good afternoon, my name is Gerry Pretty, may I come in?" The door closed, the chain was taken out of the slide and it opened again. Kristina Van Gilder was a still handsome woman in her thirties, once one glossed of the worry lines on her face. "How can I help your Mr. Pretty?" "I understand that you were acquainted with James Peterson?' "Yes." "And he was with you just before he met his end yesterday evening?" "Yes." "Before he left did he happen to mention that he was going to see me to seek my assistance with the matter that saw him do time?" "Yes." She was about to stop there but thought better of it. "I told him that I'd go to you because he'd been followed every time he left the apartment, but he said that it was too dangerous and he wouldn't let me go. I begged him to call you and get you to come here but he said that it had to be done his way and now he's gone. I don't know what to do now, I'm afraid to leave this place for fear that the men that killed him will do the same to me. I don't know anything but they won't believe that." "Did he say anything to you that seemed unusual?" "I don't think so. . . "She stopped to think. "Wait a minute, when we were in bed the night before he said that if anything happened to him I should remember what he did and where he went the day that I went shopping in Paris." "Where did he go, do you remember?" "Yes, he went to Zurich, something to do with his job with Patrick." "That didn't seem odd to you at the time?" "Well yes it did, but he said that he couldn't tell me more than that." She looked at me. "Am I in danger?" "I don't know, but I think it might be a good idea if you could disappear for a while, maybe a trip overseas perhaps. I don't suppose you'd like to take a shopping trip to Paris would you?" "What with, I have no money, I was left nothing in my father's will and Patrick has cut me out of the family because of my relationship with James. Our getting married while he was in jail was the final straw, I'm no longer welcome in the family." "I have some things to follow up on and I may need to speak to you again, if I do I'll call you first. In the mean time keep this door locked and don't let anyone in. If someone tries to break the door down this is the number of Lou Callahan, he's a straight cop and he'll get around here as quick as he can." "Thank you Mr. Pretty, thank you for taking an interest in me and my problems. Most people I know would have just left me to the wolves." "It's not over yet by any means, but I live in hope that we can get to the bottom of this before there is any further unpleasantness." It was time for another conference with Lou, and because I didn't want to upset Lucy I decided to go to the precinct house and see him on his turf for a change. "Can you check on Patrick Van Gilder and see if you've got anything on him. I think that he's in to this up to his neck, and wouldn't be at all surprised if there's not a connection between him and Freddie the Fink." "I'll see what I can find out, in the mean time go home and put Lucy's mind at ease, she's rung here five times in the last hour to see if I've heard from you." I went and the look of relief that came across Lucy's face told me that, for the time being at least, she didn't want me to get involved in this business, and I would have to say that I agree with her. Paula and Bill worked the bar while I waited on tables until the rush had died down. Lucy did the best she could given her condition, and we somehow managed to get through the night. "Look, I know that you think that you can still do the work down here, but I don't want you exerting yourself un-necessarily, so I'm going to make a couple of calls and see if we can get a cook for the time being." "I can manage." "It's only a couple of days, a week at most before you'll be in hospital, it will be better if we can get someone in before you go in, and not bring someone in at the last minute." "I know you're right, but I don't want to be sitting around doing nothing." "You won't be doing nothing, you just won't be doing everything, that's all." I took her in my arms and kissed her. We went back into the bar and sat with Paula and Bill and chatted about the changes that will have to take place. "I know a good cook that would jump at the chance to pick up a little extra money." "Who is this person and what qualifications does he or she have?" I asked him, I knew who he had in mind and I knew of her experience, she would be perfect, it was just that I wanted him to sell me on her and not just take her on because she was his wife. "She's had plenty of experience at the type of meals we serve here, she knows bar catering, she can do the ordering and food selection. She had almost qualified as a chef before a workplace accident put her in hospital for a long time. She has been doing some casual work in the industry to build up her confidence and I think that she's just about ready to face the world." "Bring her in tomorrow and Lucy and I will have a chat to her to see what we think. There are no guarantees mind you, if we take her on it'll be because we think that she can do the job, okay?" "Sure thing Gerry, and thanks for this." We had a drink as we chatted and eventually they left and Lucy and I climbed the stairs to bed. "I'm scared Gerry, really scared. There are some very important people involved I this aren't there?" "What makes you say that?" "Because I know you, and you're hiding something from me and the only time that you do that is if something big is happening. On top of that there are the little private conversations between you and Lou, you've never had those before." "You're right, I'm scared but not for me, I'm scared for you. Not that I think that there's a direct threat to you, it's just that I don't want anything to place any extra pressure on you at this time. I love you and I want us all to be happy and together so I'm running scared, I don't want anything to go wrong." "I love you too. By the way, that picture of the tattooed man's back, that section that you thought might be a code isn't actually a code after all. Those squares and dots form letters and numbers, but the tricky part is that you have to read them in a mirror. For him to read it he'd have to stand in front of a mirror and read it over his shoulder. Using a mirror I came up with; 'Banque Internationale de Zurich' and a series of numbers that I assume are account numbers or a safety deposit box number." "We'd better hope that it's an account number because we'd have to have a key to open a box. Wait a minute, his wife might have a key." It was around then that I lost interest in what I was thinking about, Lucy had disappeared under the bed covers and was ensuring that my cock was getting as much attention as he needed. Not wanting for her to miss out I maneuvered around until I was able to return the favor to her pussy. It was much later that my mind began to return to the matter at hand. Whatever it was that was in that bank in Switzerland had already cost one life and, until it was retrieved, there was a distinct possibility that further lives would be lost. My first job in the morning was to find a way to get to that account of safety deposit box before the bad guys. I rang Kristina and arranged to call on her at 9:00. I rang Eddie and arranged a pickup in good time to keep that appointment. Lucy and I had a pleasant breakfast together before I told her what I was going to do. She was quiet for a while and then. "Darling, I have a bad feeling about this, please be careful, I don't want to lose the most important thing in my life. Without you and your love and support I don't know what I will do or how I'll survive." "Don't worry, I'm just going to talk with her to see what she knows and whether James left her a key. What could go wrong?" "Going on your past record, anything." She kissed me in such a way that I had second thoughts about keeping my appointment. I went with my first thoughts. "Katrina, did James leave a key with you?" "Yes, well actually he didn't leave it with me, he left it in a safety deposit box at his bank with instructions that I should only retrieve it on his death. I guess that time is now." I went with her to his bank and retrieved the key along with a note explaining that it was the key to a safety deposit box at the International Bank of Zurich. "Will you come with me to Switzerland?" Katrina asked me. "I don't think that I can, you see my partner is due to go into hospital to have a baby and I don't want to miss that." "I will make it well worth your while, and cover all of your expenses as well as paying your usual fee. Will you do it?" "Can you give me a little time to consider this before I answer?" "A Little time, yes, but I'll expect an answer by this evening, If you can't come I'll just have to find someone else and you'll miss out on all of that money." "Money isn't everything." "Keep thinking that way and you'll never get anywhere, in this world money is everything." I left her and went back to Lucy. "Whatever it is, he's stashed it in a safety deposit box in Switzerland and Katrina wants me to go to retrieve it. I don't want to go and leave you here so close to the birth." "But it is a lot of money she's offering isn't it?" "Yes, I don't know exactly how much but she's covering all expenses and paying my usual fee, so I'm not losing out financially." "You go, I'll be alright here and I have Dolores to look after Mike and the relief here is covered. I'll be fine." She kissed me. "Believe me, nothing will go wrong." Two days later I was in Zurich at the Banque Internationale. I didn't think it safe for Katrina to travel, too many opportunities for bad men to do something bad to her. "I would like to access a safety deposit box please." I told the clerk at the main desk. "Do you have some identification that will establish you rights to access the box?" I presented him with the note that was with the key along with the key itself and Katrina's notarized authority for me to take possession of the contents of the box. "That seems to be in order. Now do you have the box number?" "Yes I have the number." I wrote the number on a piece of paper and the clerk compared it to the number on his records, it matched. He led me down to the vault where all of the boxes were and to the box itself. Inserting his key he stood back as I inserted mine and pulled the box out. He then left me to open the box. What I found inside was not what I had expected. There were several velvet covered boxes, each containing diamond jewelry of a brilliance that I could only have imagined. I couldn't even begin to place a value on them. There were also several documents and one caught my attention. It was the last Will and Testament of Patrick Van Gilder the Second. I read it and was surprised to find that in it he had cut his son Patrick the Third out it entirely, in fact his words were: 'To my useless son Patrick I leave nothing, he has wasted every dime that I've ever given him and is getting what he deserves, not one cent more.' There was another typewritten document signed by James Peterson, outlining a conversation that he had overheard between Patrick Van Gilder the Third and Freddie the Fink Mortimer, it was a plot to get their hands on a considerable amount of the Van Gilder family fortune. That Freddie the Fink was included in this scheme was, in part, due to his expertise in such matters, and due to the fact that it was necessary for Patrick to acquire this to pay off the money that he owed Freddie and others. Of what was to be gained in this scheme, little was going to end up in Patrick the Third's hands. Could the Will that was produced for probate have been a forgery? I read on and James had outlined his plan to thwart their schemes, it involved the removal from the Van Gilder safe several items and placing them somewhere out of harm's way. This included a large wrapped package that turned out to be several bundles of large denomination bank notes. A quick calculation revealed somewhat more than a million dollars. Whoever was entitled to this was going to be a very wealthy person. I decided that I was not about to fly back to the States carrying this, you never know who could be waiting to relieve you of it, so I bought the strongest cardboard box I could find, packed the jewels and money into it, along with the documents, wrapped it tightly and addressed it to Lou at the precinct house. I then went to the Post Office and sent it by registered mail to ensure that it reached its destination and into the right hands. With notarized copies of the documents in my bag I headed home. I rang Eddie from the airport and waited inside the terminal building until I saw him pulling up outside before leaving, and climbing into the cab. "Where to Gerry?" "Home first, I'll get you to stand by for a while, I have to go and see Lou." "Sure thing. I should tell you that Lou's had plain clothed cops keeping an eye on the bar. It seems as if Freddie the Fink has been calling by wanting to know where you were and making not very veiled threats to Lucy." "Is she alright?" "Yeah, what with Paula and Bill there all the time and Dolores sleeping over, she's been well protected, and Lou's been spending the nights there as well." As we turned into the alley a cop lazing with intent looked into the cab before waving us through. Someone must have been looking for me to arrive because I hadn't even reached the door before Lucy was in my arms, sobbing with relief. "Oh Darling, it has been horrible. That man with all the money has been calling in and he has stopped waving his cash and instead he has been threatening all of us because we wouldn't tell him where you were." "It's okay now, I'm home and everything's under control." "Not everything." "What do you mean?" "I'll get my bag and Eddie can drive us to the hospital. As soon as you rang for Eddie he told the dispatcher to call me. I guess that it was the relief that you were home safely, but my waters broke. I only just managed to get cleaned up before you got here." Dolores was standing there holding Mike in her arms. "Will you two go, everything's under control." "Call Lou and tell him I'm back will you?" I said as I grabbed Lucy's bag and we dashed for the cab. "Change of plans Gerry? I take it that we're going to the hospital." "Yes and as fast as you can." I sat in the back seat with Lucy, she was hanging onto my arm and every now and then I could see on her face that she was having a contraction. "How far apart are they?" "Every two minutes. I should be able to hang on until we get there." Two hours later I was allowed briefly into her room to hold our daughter. Mother and daughter were both doing fine and the birth was quick and without complications. I had kissed the baby's head and Lucy's hungry mouth before I was ordered from the room. As I left the hospital a police car pulled up out front and Lou got out. "How did it go?" "Great, Lucy and our daughter are both doing fine." "That's good because we have a slight problem." "How slight?" "Do you have somewhere you can stay? It seems as if someone managed to get by all of our guards and throw a firebomb through your back window. Don't worry, everyone got out okay, but the bar's gone." "Have you any ideas who might be behind this?" "I thought that you might have an idea of your own." "My first guess would be Freddie the Fink." "That would be my guess and we have a way of proving it. It would appear as if his driver was just a little too enthusiastic when he drove out of the alley and scraped the wall of the building on the corner. We are going to pay a visit on Freddie and see if his car has a matching scrape. Why do you think Freddie is involved?" "Apart from offering me a great deal of money if I would reveal James' final words I know why he is gunning for me. It appears that Freddie was in cahoots with Patrick Van Gilder the Third to pull off an insurance scam. He was hired to steal the family jewels and some cash from the Van Gilder safe and, after the insurance company paid out on the claim most of the money would go, not to Van Gilder but to Freddie who had markers on a large amount of money Van gilder owed. The jewels were supposed to have been broken up and fenced a few at a time to avoid suspicion. The proceeds were to be split fifty-fifty but something went wrong. When Freddie's boys waltzed through the conveniently open door to open the safe they found it empty. Van gilder is accusing Freddie of a double-cross and Freddie is accusing Van gilder of the same thing and neither of them know where the diamonds are." "And I suppose that you do?" "Yes I do, I'd tell you now where they are but I have something I need to do before I reveal all. Katrina Van Gilder, or should I say Katrina Peterson, is going to find herself a moderately rich lady. She may even find herself even richer in the not too diistant future. By the way, I sent you a package from Switzerland, has it arrived yet?" "No." "When it does could you make sure that it is in a safe place, it's important." "If you say so. Can you tell me what's in it?" "No, but if anything happens to me I want you to open it. There are papers in it that will tell you what to do with the contents." "One day I'll get a straight answer from you." Lou drove me to his place where I was reunited with my son, he was happy to see me. Dolores had made up a bed for me on the sofa and Mike had a bed of his own in the spare room. I didn't get much sleep, there was far too much going on in my head for that to happen. Straight after breakfast I rang Katrina and told her that I was coming over, then I rang Eddie to pick me up. We'd only been moving for a couple of blocks when Eddie's voice broke the silence. "We've got a tail." "Can you lose it?" His answer was in his driving. He pulled up out front of Katrina's building, stopping long enough for me to scramble out of the car and dash for the door. I stood just inside and watched as the car that had been following us sped past, still in pursuit of us. The Tattooed Man "Well, what did you find?" Katrina asked as soon as I was inside her apartment. I handed over a copy of the Will. "This is a copy, not the original, what I need to know is this dated before or after the one that Patrick produced for probate?" She looked closely at it. "Why this is after that one. Does this mean that he has been cut out of Father's will and that I'm entitled to the house and a large monetary bequest?" "Yes. James must have known about this and removed it from the safe before Patrick could take it and destroy it." "So what do I do now?" "Find yourself a good lawyer and take this to court and get what is yours." "Thank you for what you've done for me, it bears out what James had heard about you. Can you wait for your fees? I don't have enough to pay them, yet." "You will have and I believe that I can trust you." "You are a good man Mr. Pretty." She came to me and kissed me hard on the lips, her body pressing hard against mine. My shining armor was in danger of rusting, so I pulled myself clear. "If I wasn't the good man that you say I am I would be tempted to take advantage of your vulnerability, but I have to go and see my partner and new daughter in hospital. Take care, and until this is over I would advise you to still take precautions." Eddie was waiting for me out front and dropped me off at the hospital. Lucy was nursing when I was allowed into the room. I kissed her soft lips. "Is the case finished?" "Almost, just one more thing and then it's finished." "Lou was in with Dolores and Mike, he tells me that he bar was torched." "Yes, I haven't had a close look at it but from what Lou has told me it has been totally destroyed. I don't know what we can do about it." "Actually it is good news." "What do you mean?" "Well, when we took over running the place after Mother good arrested, I transferred the insurance over to my name. That means that we get the payout not Mother." I would have given her a huge hug but I didn't want to crush my daughter. That brought me to another matter. "When we were looking at baby names we were working on the assumption that she was going to be a boy. Do you have any girls' names in mind?" "I had thought of Olivia, Olivia Lucille Pretty, it has a certain ring to it. What do you think?" "Hello there, Olivia." I kissed my fingertip and placed it on her cheek. She didn't stop her suckling for a second. "I've got to run, I'll see you later. How long are you going to be in here?" "They want me to stay for another couple of days, why?" "I have to look for another place for us to live, I could open up my old apartment but there's not really enough room." "We could always go to the cabin in Vermont until Olivia is settled and then consider our future. It could be the right time to make a change from owning the bar to something else." "That sounds good to me. We'll discuss it later." I left with a lot on my mind. Lou had some good news. The car used by the fire bombers was owned by Freddie the Fink. He was at present in the holding cells waiting for his lawyer." "How long can you hold him?" "Long enough, what have you in mind?" "I'm going to pay a visit to one Patrick Van Gilder the Third to discuss such lightweight topics as wills and diamonds. Has that package arrived yet?" "Yes, I've got it in a safe place." "If you open it up you'll find a couple of documents, one is Patrick Van Gilder the Second's will that cuts the Third Patrick off without a penny. The other is a letter written by James Peterson in which he outlines the scheme that Patrick and Freddie hatched to steal the diamonds that had been left to Katrina along with a large amount of cash. The cash was to go to Freddie while the diamonds were supposed to have been salted away for future sale. James, took the diamonds and money and, on a trip to Europe with Katrina, placed them in a safety deposit box in a bank in Zurich. That was what those funny boxes tattooed on his back was all about, it was the bank name and box number. The contents are in that package." "What are you going to see Patrick for?" "To tell him that the gig's up and that you're right behind me. I want him to call off the attack dogs before you nab him and also let him know that he is not to remove any valuables from the house in the short time that he has available to him. In the mean time you can inform Freddie that you've arrested Patrick and he's singing like a canary and implicating him as the mastermind of the whole scheme. I will inform Patrick that Freddie has been arrested and has implicated him. I figure that Patrick does not want to go down alone and will try to blame it all on Freddie. Somewhere in the blame game you'll probably find the truth." The Van Gilder butler returned to inform me that Mr. Van Gilder had no wish to see me. I took my card back from him and wrote on the back; 'Freddie's singing to the cops'. A minute later I was being ushered into the library. Patrick Van Gilder the Third looked exactly like I expected that he'd look, supercilious, as if he was lowering his standards in seeing me. "What does this cryptic message mean?" "It means that it's over for you. You will be arrested and charged with aiding and abetting the theft of a large quantity of diamonds and money from the family safe. You will also be charged with fraud in that the will that you presented for Probate was not the Last Will and Testament of your father, his final will stripped you of your inheritance. I came here before the police to ask a favor of you." "You don't honestly think that I'd grant you any favors, do you?" "No, but if you don't there will be a further charge of attempted murder laid against you, the choice is yours." He made the call. "Satisfied?" "Yes. Oh by the way if you attempt to remove from this house any valuable art works or similar items you will be charged with theft, so leave everything where it is, you won't need any money where you're going." I passed Lou coming up the driveway as Eddie and I drove out. "He's all yours." "Thanks Gerry, will I see you later?" "Yes, I have one more stop to make and then I'm finished with this." Katrina kissed me even harder when I told her that I'd retrieved the diamonds, but that she couldn't have them yet, they were being held as evidence against her brother and Freddie. "You will have them soon, I promise." "Actually I have them now. What you brought back from Zurich were fakes. Father had them made when he feared that Patrick might take them to pay off his debts. The real diamonds are safely stored where no-one else knows. I couldn't access them without Patrick finding out about it because if I tried to sell them the auctioneer would contact him to confirm their authenticity. I had to hold on until I could get my hands on the will and James' letter so that the plot could be revealed. Not even James knew that they were fakes but he, like you, was honest enough not to attempt to fence them. You will be well rewarded for your honesty and, although it pains me to have to concede this, your love for your partner, a lesser man would have taken advantage of my situation." Lucy and Olivia came out of hospital two days later and we all moved to Vermont. Mike loves the place and Lucy's cousin who comes over often to play with him. Laura Lee signed over ownership of the wreckage of the bar to Lucy and the insurance payout and my bonus from Katrina was more than enough for us to buy a small inn in Vermont that provides meals and accommodation for travelers and sufficient income for us that would mean that I didn't need to be a PI anymore. Until the next case that is.