The Love Of Money - Episode 125
28-07-25 (14:49)
"I prefer to stand, thank you," he said as he reached
down to pull a manilla envelope from a leather satchel.
"In the late 1980's, I met with a priest in Camaguey. He
was a trusted confidante of Salvador Magluta's turned
informant for me. We had a working relationship for
the past two years, and I trusted the man."
He handed the envelope to me as he continued, "He
had just poured me a finger of Dalmore. I swear, Arturo
wouldn't shut up about that bottle of scotch Magluta
had gifted him. He always sald he was saving it for a
special occasion. I should have known something was
wrong, but I ignored my instinct. Ironically, that same
scotch saved my life. I was taking my first sip when
the glass caught the knife meant for my throat. You
see, one of his altar boys had snuck up behind me."
He backed away from me and clasped his hands in
front of him, waiting for me to take a look at what he'd
given me. "Needless to say, that's the last time I've sat
down during a meeting and the last time I will ever sit
facing away from a point of egress."
Unsure of what to say, I looked from him to Chloe but
got nothing from her. I looked back at Henry. "What
happened to the priest?"
"He met his God," Psalter- said matter-of-factly
I considered asking about the altar boy, but something
in Psalter-'s vacant expression answered my unasked
question.
Since he seemed to be waiting for me to look at the
contents he handed me, I opened the envelope and
pulled out a small collection of papers and photographs.
The first was a large picture of a man wearing a
button-down shirt, eating lasagna just outside a
restaurant with another man sitting across from him.
I immediately recognized him. That scar was hard to
miss.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed as the door opened, and the
other two entered Chloe's office.
"What is it?" Erin and Chloe both said at the same time.
I held up the image and said, "This is the guy who tried
to pull a gun on me this morning!
"Are you sure?" Erin said, walking over to stand behind
me and peer over my shoulder.
"Yeah," said. "I won't forget that face anytime soon."
Chloe approached me, and I handed her the photo. "He
was in the coffee shop," I said. "Do you recognize him?"
She didn't respond immediately as she stared at the
photo. "I didn't see him in the coffee shop," she finally
said, "but I feel like I've seen him somewhere' before."
"Very likely," Henry said. "He worked for Colin Gerrard."
All four of us looked up at Henry.
"What?" I asked.
"Are you serious?" Helen asked.
"That's it," Chloe sald, as if finally recognizing the face. "I
saw him once around the VistaVision building. Roughly
two weeks before Gerrard died."
I took the photo back from Chloe. "Do you think this is
the guy responsible for my grandpa's death?"
Henry shook his head and said, "Doubtful. He was in
the Caymans at the time of your grandfather's death."
"What was he doing there?" Erin asked.
"I haven't been able to piece that together," Henry said,
"but he wasn't even in the country, it doesn't mean he
didn't have a hand in it, but it does mean that if he
played a role, he didn't act alone."
"Wait... why are you showing me this guy? He pulled a
gun on me just this morning. Did Chloe fill you in?"
"Hardly," Psalter- said, "This is the man who broke into
your apartment."
On hearing that, I stood up and began pacing the small
office. Had I been wrong about the reason for the
break-in? What if he'd been looking for me? What if
he'd been trying to get to me for the past week, and
I'd been ignorant the entire time?
But then... why trash my apartment if that wasn't his
goal? He certainly hadn't been quiet about it. It didn't
sound like the actions of someone whose only goal
was to assassinate me.
I turned to look at Henry. "Do you know why he broke
in?"
Henry shook his head and said, "Not that I've been able
to determine. Nothing has been reported missing. In
light of this new information, it's possible he was
looking for you and trashed your apartment to cover
that fact up." Henry looked doubtful at that prospect. "It
seems unlikely because he could have simply left
without you knowing he'd been there if he were
competent."
"The other theory is that he could have been searching
for something of your grandfather's that isn't easy to
locate. Perhaps it's something in a safety deposit box
that no one is aware of." He arched an eyebrow at me,
fixing me with a deadpan expression. "I don't suppose
your grandfather left you any sort of secret message or
anything. Perhaps a puzzle box you have to solve,
revealing some grand mystery?"
I glanced at Chloe again. Was this guy serious?
Looking back at Henry, I shook my head.
"Well, I'll continue to look into it," he said, gesturing to
the rest of the stack I'd left on the desk when I started
pacing. "If you please,"
I started sifting through the papers along with Erin and
Helen. There was a file on the gunman, naming him as
Charles Edgar Cartwright. According to the information,
he was fifty-four and had served time in prison for
several offenses-assault, grand theft auto, larceny, and
murder. It went on to state that Cartwright had been
sentenced to two life terms but had been released for
good behavior and 'extenuating circumstances.
"They let this guy out of prison early?" I asked.
"Yes," Henry said. "Your grandfather's doing. I believe it
engendered a certain level of loyalty from Cartwright."
"Some loyalty," I muttered. "Murdering the guy who got
you out of prison."
"It's possible that he didn't have a hand in the death of
Mr. Gerrard," Psalter- said.
I sifted through a few other papers, and an image
caught my eye.
Another photo of Cartwright lay on the desk. It looked
like a still from a CCTV camera, but there was no
mistaking the man in the picture. The first thing I
noticed was the time stamp on the upper right corner
of the image it had been taken two hours after the
break-in.
In the image, he was talking to someone. Someone I
knew very well.
I looked up at my lawyer and said, "Helen, what the
fuck is Ashlee doing talking to this guy?" Don't forget to leave a Comment 
