Mick the Dick Ch. 03

©2005 All Rights Reserved

Ahh, my luck is holding out. As I drove up the street towards my office, I saw a car pulling out from one of the spaces in front of my office. Being the perfect gentleman I am, I let the car pull out in front of me so I could "jump in their grave", so to speak.

I walked up the steps to my office. "Hi Mick," Carla said as I opened the door, "Nothing new."

Nothing new. Oh well. "Did you have lunch yet?"

"No. I was waiting for you to get back."

"Well, I'm back. Here," I tossed her a 10 dollar bill, "lunch is on me."

Carla picked up the ten, "Mick... well thanks. Can I bring anything back for you?"

"Nope. I had my lunch. I'll tell you about it when you get back."

"Oh oh. That means I'm gonna be busy," she threw at me.

"Not necessarily," I threw back at her.

Carla stood up from her chair, picked up her purse, and headed out the door. "Thanks boss. I'll see you in about an hour." Carla kissed me on her way past.

"It better not be more than an hour," I yelled as she closed the door on her way out.

I picked up the Yellow Pages from Carla's desk as I walked past on the way to mine. I made a sudden detour past the refrigerator and pulled out a can of Diet Coke.

As I sat behind my desk, I opened the can and took a big mouthful. I looked out my window and noticed a good looking girl walking across the street towards the front of my building. "Funny. For a moment the walk looked like Mrs. Armacost's... I mean, Teresa's," I thought to myself.

I wanted to find Benjamin Armacost's office address. I checked under shark, it wasn't there. I looked under snake, nope, not there. Oh yes, lawyers. There it was, 101 South Main Street, room 1200. Right in the middle of down town.

The knock on my door startled me. I looked up and saw the same good looking young lady I saw crossing the street a few moments ago. "Mr. Pheury?"

"Yes. I'm Mick Pheury."

"I'm Holly Armacost."

Oh, oh. "Yes Miss Armacost, won't you come in?" Wow. What a cute girl. Obviously gets her looks from her mother, except for the blonde hair. No wonder the walk looked familiar. But, now what does she want?

I stood up as she entered the office. I walked around and shut the door behind her. As I turned towards her, I extended my right hand to shake hers. She responded.

"I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Pheury. I know of your reputation."

"So, Miss Armacost, what can I do for you?"

"I know you met my mother this morning. I was just wondering what you talked about."

"Your mother?" I tried to act coy. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. Who is your mother?"

"Teresa Armacost. The woman you had lunch with at Murphy's."

Oh, boy. How am I going to get out of this one? "The woman I had lunch with at Murphy's name was Jones." How did I miss this?

"Jones? Mr. Pheury. That was Teresa Armacost. My mother. The wife of Benjamin Armacost, the attorney."

"It was???" I don't know what she's up to, but I better be careful. "She said her name was Jones."

"Jones, Armacost, whatever. Can I ask what you talked about?"

"Sure. We really didn't talk about anything in particular. I didn't even know she was married. Are you sure the women we're talking about are the same?"

"Yes, Mr. Pheury, they're the same."

"I simply went there for lunch, walked in at the same time as her, and asked her to join me. I hate eating alone."

Holly just looked into my eyes trying to psychoanalyze me and my answers. "I don't believe you. My mother doesn't come into this part of town and go to some seedy bar just to have lunch."

"Honey, I don't care if you believe me or not. And Murphy's is not a seedy bar, and there is nothing wrong with this part of town." What a snob. Grows up with the proverbial silver spoon in the mouth and thinks everything is beneath her. Maybe she needs is something more than the silver spoon in her mouth or something even bigger beneath her.

"Well, if you're telling me the truth, I apologize. I'd like to hire you."

Oh oh, this may not be as much fun as I thought it was going to be. "Of course. But what do you want me to investigate?"

"I think my mother thinks my father is having an affair."

"Do you mean Mrs. Jones or Mrs. Armacost?"

"Mrs. Armacost is Mrs. Jones. They are one in the same."

"The lady I had lunch with is your mother?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. Her name is Armacost, not Jones."

"Oh! And who is your father?"

"Benjamin Armacost," she replied to me very sharply.

"The lawyer."

"Yes. The lawyer."

"What makes you think he's having an affair?", I asked trying to throw her off.

"He's not having an affair. That's what I'm trying to tell you. She, my mother, thinks, thinks he is having an affair. It's wrecking their marriage."

This might be working. "Okay. This might be a little unusual. Most of the time people hire me to find out IF someone is having an affair. You want to hire me to prove that someone IS NOT having an affair. Is that right?"

"Yes. I mean... I think so." Holly stared at me for a moment. "Mr. Pheury, I'm confused."

"Actually, so am I," I said with a little laughter in my voice. "I don't mean to laugh. This isn't funny, but the expression on your face is sort of ... well..."

"Yeah, I know, I'm funny looking," Holly said in a depressed tone.

"Funny looking? You're not funny looking. You're actually very pretty."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Pheury. But don't stop trying." This time she laughed.

Ahh! The ice was breaking. "Look, Holly. Do you mind if I call you Holly?"

"No, so long as I can call you Mick."

"I prefer that. Look, Holly. I could do a little better if I knew what exactly is going on. If your mother thinks your father, her husband, is fooling around, and you don't think so, what can you tell me that may help me prove it?"

"I don't know. Like I said, I'm confused. I love both my parents. But, I don't think he's fooling around on her."

"Maybe she's fooling around on him?"

"No. I don't think that either," she said in a somber voice.

"Are you married? Strictly a professional question."

"No. Not yet. I'm sort of engaged to one of my father's law partners."

"Sort of engaged?"

"Well, if daddy has his way..."

"You don't sound like you want to marry this guy."

"Well, I'm not in love with him. At least not yet. Daddy keeps hoping that it comes to that."

"Okay. I think I understand. Have you been dating him long?"

"As a matter of fact, I don't even call what we've done dating. A couple of ball games. A couple of parties."

"Oh, I see. How old are you? If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm 22. Why?"

"Well, two reasons. First, my fee is determined by how much my client can afford."

"And the second?"

"I was curious."

"Oh! I guess that's okay. Mick, I can afford you. My father still gives me quite an allowance. As long as I stay in school, I really don't have to work."

She smiled at me. "So, what do I do if I find out your father is having an affair?"

"I don't know. I guess I'd have to be the one to confront him."

"What about your brother? How does he feel?" Oops! Shit, I screwed up on that.

"I don't think he cares one way or the other. He only cares about himself. He's a snob."

Maybe she didn't pick up on it. I thought for sure she was going to ask me one question, how'd I know she had a brother? "I see."

I acted as if I was writing down some notes. "And where is your father's office?"

"It's on the 12th floor of 101 South Main, downtown."

"Does he hang out anywhere? Country clubs, bars?"

"No, not really. Wait a minute. He does kind of hang out at the country club. He plays a lot of golf."

"How often does he drink? Or does he?"

Holly got a big grin. "Yeah, he drinks. I don't mean too much. But he drinks. I can't remember the last time I saw him drunk, but I've seen him drink."

"What about your mother? Does she?"

"Oh yeah. More than daddy. When they go out, dad usually drives. So mom can live it up, and usually does."

Hmm, so Teresa is a party animal. "I see."

"I don't mean she's a wild woman or anything," she added, "but mom does like getting a little... blitzed once in a while. I've heard my father make comments about her becoming a slut when she drinks. I didn't particularly like that, but I guess he'd have his reasons."

"Have you ever known of her to fool around on him or where he had reason to believe she actually was?"

"No. Frankly Mick, I've never seen my mother drunk outside the house. I don't know how much she drinks when they're out, but around the house she likes to. They are actually having a little get together this Friday night."

"What do you call a little get together?"

"Oh, about 50 people. A few of them, probably 10 or so, will usually be there for dinner and then the party will start around 8."

"Mostly friends of your father's I take it?"

"Friends, clients, other attorneys. You know."

"Okay. Well look Holly, I will look into this and let you know." I slid my pad of paper over in front of her. "Can you give me your phone numbers so I can get in touch with you?"

"Sure. I'm finishing up college this year, so I spend a lot of time there and studying, so my cell phone is the best bet."

"Okay, that's fine. Also, just in case you hear about it first, if your father goes out somewhere unexpected or suddenly, give me a call."

"Do you really think he may be fooling around on my mother. I mean, he has so much to lose if something like that went public."

"Holly, don't be so naïve. Today, it's almost fashionable to have an affair. You have to remember, in most cases, publicity is publicity. It doesn't matter whether it is good or bad."

Holly thought about what I said. "Speaking of rates... What do you charge for a case?"

"Normally, my rate on something like this is 300 dollars a day, plus expenses..."

Before I could finish, Holly interjected, "Is that all? That's very reasonable."

"Okay." I couldn't help but agree to her agreeing.

"Do I get a daily report?"

"A daily report? Of course."

"I saw that somewhere in an old movie, that's why I had to ask."

"Of course. I'll call you daily to let you know where it stands."

I stood up and held Holly's hand as she lifted out of the chair. I walked over to the door and opened it for her and let her go through the door first.

"Thank you Mr. Pheury, I mean Mick. I really appreciate you looking into this."

"It's my pleasure. By the way, what is it about your father's flunky you don't like, what's he older?"

"Oh, he's older, but that's not it. I actually like older men. The main thing, I guess, he's wimpy. I want a real man. I don't care how much, or little, he makes."

"Wimpy? All attorneys are wimps."

"Yeah, I agree. Just don't tell my father I said that."

I watched her wiggle out the door. Man! What a walk. I went back to my window and watched her walk down the street. Not necessarily to watch her walk, even though that worked too, but I was hoping to get a glimpse of the type of car she drives. I screwed up this morning by not picking up on her tailing her mother. I didn't want to do that again.

So, Friday night might give me a little insight into the way the Armacosts live. But without actually being invited, I wasn't sure how I would see what goes on.

As Holly walked down the street, I watched. She went into a parking garage just down the street. Now all I had to do is watch the exit. This garage only has one exit this time of day. Around 4, they open up the back exit to alleviate some of the rush hour departures. About 5 minutes after Holly entered, a bright red Corvette convertible pulled out from the garage. Sure enough, as it went past, Holly was driving. "So that's the Vette Teresa was talking about."

I sat down at my desk and started to figure out how I was going to handle this case. So far, I have a wife who thinks her husband is cheating on her, a daughter who thinks her mother thinks her father is having an affair, and a private detective that has to work under the covers, ahh... under cover that is, to find out if the husband is having an affair or not and if so, with who.