Mick the Dick Ch. 11

It was almost 10:30 by the time I got into the office. When I opened the door, Carla just hesitated long enough to let me know she was timing me. "You know, I'm not paying you for this unexcused lateness."

"You don't pay for any unexcused lateness anyway."

"I'm just kidding, boss."

"I know, so am I." I walked over to Carla and gave her a quick kiss.

"Hey, no you don't. Come back here." Carla grabbed me by my belt and yanked me back to her. She stood up, wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big kiss.

"There, that's better!"

"Yeah! That was better. Let me try this again." I walked back out into the hallway and closed the door. I reopened the door, Carla hesitated as before, but this time I didn't give her a chance. "Good morning Schweetheart." I walked over to her, picked her up from her chair, wrapped my arms around her and dipped her backwards as I kissed her, just like a romantic kiss in an old detective movie.

"Wow! Now that's more like it!"

"Any calls?"

"Oh yeah! Mrs. Armacost called, would like you to call her when you get in. Holly Armacost called a little while ago, apologized that she missed your call last night, and said to call her when you get the chance. And there were two messages from old clients, just keeping in touch. Oh yeah! David Schmidt wants you to call him after 12, and Sergeant McNally at homicide wants you to call him when you can."

And imagine, she did all of that from memory. Holly, being inexperienced at this, sure knows how to play. That was a good move on her part, just in case Carla had any ideas about her and me.

I went into my office and there were the notes just as Carla had told me. I called Sergeant McNally first. He was just checking to see if I knew anything about a body found in the city last night. He thought it may have been a missing person where their family may have contacted me. Nope, I could account for all of the missing persons cases I had recently worked. I couldn't bail him out on this one.

Then I called Teresa Armacost. She told me that Benjamin came home around 8:00 last night. "He claims he was at a sports bar."

"He was at a sports bar."

"He was?"

"Yes, he was. I saw him there. He was there with a few people from his office. He even saw me."

"Were you following him?"

"Well sort of, but in a very inconspicuous way. I was sitting at the bar a couple seats from your daughter..."

"Holly?"

"Yes, Holly. He was talking to her and recognized me. He just said hello and introduced me to your daughter. That was it. She's a very cute girl."

"What was Holly doing there?"

"I heard her say something about meeting a couple friends from school."

"She didn't come home last night. When I got worried, Ben said she was staying at Sharon's. That's a friend of hers at school. She stays there sometimes."

"Yeah, Sharon. That's the name she mentioned to Benjamin."

"Oh. I guess everything is okay then."

"Did he go out last night at all? I mean, like, to the garage?"

"Come to think of it, when he took the trash out, he took a while."

"What time was that?"

"I think it was around 9 or 9:30."

Gee, I wonder what time David Schmidt got home last night. "Okay, Teresa, I'll be watching him. Is everything still set for Friday night?"

"Friday night? Tomorrow? Why, yes, it is. How did you know about tomorrow night?"

"I didn't know it was a secret."

"It isn't. I just sort of forgot to tell you about it."

"Okay, then. As long as everything is good to go."

"Yes, but how did you find out about it?"

"That's my job Teresa. I have to know those things."

"I'm sorry, Mick. I really forgot about it. Are you going to be there?"

"Of course. But under no circumstance let on that you know me."

"How are you going to be there?"

"I'll be driving someone there. Make sure the drivers get taken care of, okay? It will give me an excuse to mix in with some of the other, more privileged folks."

"Oh, I can make sure you are taken care of."

"Just remember, Benjamin can recognize me. As far as he's concerned, I'm just playing driver Friday night."

"Okay. I don't know you."

"That's right. Just treat me like any of the other chauffeurs."

"You'll probably be the only one."

"I doubt it. Unless something happens between now and then, I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

I hung up and immediately dialed David Schmidt's office.

The secretary answered. I could tell it was the same one that greeted us yesterday.

"This is Mick Pheury, Is David in?"

"Yes, Mr. Pheury. Please hold."

A few seconds passed, "Mr. Pheury, he'll be right with you."

"Thank you." I waited a couple of minutes and then David picked up the line.

"Mick, how goes it?"

"Fine David, just a quick question. What time did you get in last night?"

"How did you know I was out?"

"Just an educated guess."

"It was about 10:30, I think. Why? This thing with Armacost?"

"Yeah. You didn't see him roaming around or anything?"

"No, I didn't. Mick, should I be worried about him?"

"I don't think so. Just keep an eye on him. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

"You don't think he's dangerous or anything, do you?"

"No. He's not dangerous."

We talked a couple more minutes, and then hung up. I sat there a few minutes staring off, wondering if I was right about Armacost and David's wife. Or was it just the quickest answer. I was still trying to think of any logical reason why Stacy Schmidt would be even remotely interested in Armacost.

Carla popped her head in the office and caught me daydreaming. "Boss!"

"Yeah! What?"

"You okay? I was calling you. Holly Armacost is on the phone."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking. Thanks." I picked up the phone.

"Hi, Holly, what's up?"

"Nothing, I was just following up on the call I made earlier. Did I do okay?"

"Oh, yeah. That was good."

"I take it Carla fell for it?"

"I think so. By the way, are you going to be at your parent's tomorrow night?"

"Not if I can help it. Why, are you asking me out?"

"No. They are having that party and I need to be there."

"Oh, and you want to go as my guest, right?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure that if you are there, you don't acknowledge that you know me."

"Oh, okay. I can do that. I'd rather you be my guest."

"No. That wouldn't be a good idea."

"Okay. Maybe we could meet somewhere afterwards for a drink?"

"Maybe. We'll have to see."

"Okay."

"I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, Mick. And, hey! I really did have a great time last night."

"Yeah, me too."

"Did you, really?"

"Yes I did, really. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Be careful. Bye."

I checked my email, nothing pressing. Good. I made a couple of quick replies and logged out.

I got up from my desk and went to the coffee pot and poured myself a cup. "Would you like a cup?", I asked Carla.

"No thanks, I just poured myself one."

"Carla, let me ask you a question. If you thought somebody you knew's husband or wife was having an affair, would you tell them about it before you knew for sure?"

"Hell no! I wouldn't take a chance on being wrong. Suppose you cause a fight between them and you were wrong. It would defeat the purpose of you being a friend."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"You talking about David, right?"

"Yeah. I know I'm right about his wife and Armacost."

"Yeah, but you better make sure. It's not like you'd be preventing anything if you told him. The damage is already done."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. That's why you asked me."

"So, let me ask you this, oh knowledgeable one, if a friend of yours came up and told you your husband was having an affair, would you believe them?"

"I would probably want some proof."

"That's what I was thinking too."

I walked back into my office and sat down behind my desk. What kind of proof do you present to somebody that their wife is fooling around on them, especially with somebody they don't like? Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm the private detective, I should know the answer to that. Well, actually, I do know. The real question I should be asking is what kind of proof can I get on Armacost and Stacy Schmidt?

I'd really like to know what Stacy Schmidt sees in a guy that much older. Of course, I could be asking what Carla sees in me. I guess I could ask what Holly Armacost sees in me too, right? I hate admitting this, but maybe there really is a lot of truth to women being attracted to there father. What do they call that, the Oedipus Complex? Leave it to good 'ole Sigmund Freud to haunt me about something like this. I'm not as old as Armacost, and I'm better looking. No ego, just fact. Of course Stacy isn't 22 or 23 either. Stacy was obviously attracted to David, who is significantly older. I'm not complaining or anything, but I better just watch my own "glass house" before I start looking at problems in others.

I walked back out to Carla and pulled up a chair. I waited for her to finish the sentence or paragraph of whatever she was typing. This was my normal courtesy when I wanted to talk. She knew it. When she got to that point, she stopped and looked at me. "Do you want to lay on the couch?", she asked with a chuckle.

"I might. I may need it."

"Oh, oh! Why? What's wrong?"

"I don't know if it is anything wrong, but..."

Carla looked a little worried, like maybe I was getting ready to brush her off. "This isn't really a question about us, at least not directly."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that."

"I just want to use us as an example in trying to find the answer to something."

"Okay. Fire away." Carla leaned back in her chair.

"What is it about me that you are attracted to? What I mean is, what is it about older men that attracts girls, younger women?"

Carla looked me straight in the eyes for a moment. I saw anger, confusion, sorrow, all at the same time.

"Let me explain it a little better. Mrs. Armacost, Teresa, is quite a bit younger than Benjamin. Stacy Schmidt is quite a bit younger than David. Now it appears she is attracted to Benjamin Armacost. I'm trying to figure out why."

"And you think the answer may be in me falling in love with you, right?"

"Well, yeah. That's kinda the idea. That is if I'm looking at this correctly."

"I don't really know. I think there are different reasons. How do you know it's not the man's fault?"

"Ooops! I didn't expect that." I had to think about this for a minute. "Well, I know what the man thinks, a younger woman."

"Okay. And you don't think that the man can make it more attractive to the younger woman?"

"Well sure, but the younger woman must want to be attracted to him, right? That's why I was asking about us. If you remember, I wasn't exactly chasing you around or anything. You pretty much came after me."

"Yeah, sort of. But there's a difference in love and ... whatever you call what attracts younger women. Like money."

"Money? David is doing pretty well."

"Power."

"Power could be something. But I still can't imagine giving up a happy marriage for more money and power."

"See, you don't know women as well as you think you do. Women go for love, money, and power in that order. When the one on top falls apart, one of the succeeding ones take over. If she finds a man that has more money AND power, it can cancel out the love."

"Fickle."

"Yup! That a woman. You see, Teresa has as much or more money than Benjamin. She's a threat to him because she doesn't need him for his money."

"Love?"

"Well that's probably most of it. At least she thought it was. She could buy him several times over. That's power. God help him if he scorns that woman."

"Is she that loaded?" I was interested in how much Carla found out.

"Oh yeah! Her daddy was not only a big name attorney, he was a "silent" partial owner of a professional football team, which she has kept a vested interest in."

"But doesn't Benjamin have an interest in that now that she inherited it?"

"Oh no! That's the good part. Her daddy wasn't a fool. Before she married Benjamin, remember this is years ago now, Stone made sure there was a prenuptial agreement. He can't touch anything her father left her. The way it was done, even the things her father obtained after their marriage, was included."

"That's funny. I didn't think those things counted."

"It all depends on the prenupt and how it was worded. Benjamin was stupid enough to agree to it."

"Stupid enough, or in love enough."

"Good point. Or thought he could beat it somehow."

"You figure, Carla, if they've been married for, what, 25 years? He was probably just getting started. Her father had been around the block a few times by then."

"Yeah! Good for him."

"I think I'm gonna cruise up that way tonight, just to see what's up. Wanna tag along?"

"Sure. Hoping David goes out?"

"Yeah. I don't know what he has planned, but I hope it's poker night or something."

"And of course, if Benny decides to go for a walk..."

"Exactly."

"It would be nice to see where he goes or what he does."

"Yes it would."