The Lazarus Syndrome

This is the third in my Gerry Pretty serious of detective stories and it sort of comes full circle. CM

In the back of the LJ Bar, hidden behind cases of booze, is a room that very few people know about. This is the headquarters of the thriving Pretty Detective Agency and where I spend some of my day when I'm not detecting or helping out in the bar. Today I was doing neither, the bar was yet to open and I was waiting for my next detecting job. Thriving has not been an apt description of the agency for about a month now, and I was bored at my inactivity. But this was about to change.

Lou Callaway, my cop friend and now husband of the ex Dolores Pretty, walked through the bar without stopping for a beer, he was a man on a mission. "Have you heard the news Gerry?"

"What news?"

"Benny the Bookie's lawyer has pulled a rabbit out of his hat and Benny has just been released from jail and he's looking for you. He isn't happy about spending the year and a half inside and he's blaming you for that."

"Now why would he want to blame me? I was merely doing my civic duty in providing the evidence that the police used to convict him of a crime that he'd been bragging about for weeks. If he'd kept his yap shut he wouldn't have been arrested."

"He doesn't see it that way, he's now saying that he didn't kill anyone and that you set him up. I just thought that I should warn you, that's all."

"Thanks for that Lou." I took the bottle from my top drawer and poured him a shot of rye and one for myself. "I'm not going out there looking for trouble but if comes looking for me then he deserves everything he gets. I don't think he'll try anything without Nigel to do the dirty work for him. (Nigel was the man mountain with the midget IQ that was sent up the river for beating half to death Tony Goode (my former partner in the Pretty Goode Detective Agency). Tony deserved it and so did Nigel, although to be fair, Nigel was only obeying instructions from Benny, he didn't have the brains to figure out that Tony needed to be roughed up.

Lou had only been gone some ten minutes when Paula came through on the squawk box. "Phone for you Gerry, says his name's Benny."

I thanked her and picked up the phone. "Benny, so it's true, you're back home from your vacation."

"Yes, it is true. I've been talking to your friend Lieutenant Callaway and he has advised me to desist from seeking retribution against you for your contribution to my vacation. The thought never entered my head for one minute and to show that there are no hard feelings on my part, I thought that I should invite you over to my office just to catch up on old times. Shall we say in one hour?"

I don't know what possessed me to agree to meet him, maybe it was boredom, but I did. I rang the cab dispatcher, I needed someone to cover my back and Eddie O'Halloran was perfect for the job. Before he became a hack he was a cop and had helped me out on a number of occasions as well as providing me with cheap transport.

An hour later we pulled up outside Benny's office. Standing at the door was Nigel the 2nd, the new gorilla. I walked up to him and introduced myself. While this was sinking in I told him that Benny was expecting me and walked straight past him before the light went on in his brain.

Benny was in the same huge chair that he sat in the last time I came calling, and like that time he didn't shake the hand I held out to him. "Mister Pretty, I hope that you are in perfect health. I must say that I underestimated you the last time that our paths crossed, I assure that this will not happen again."

"I understand you feelings towards me but if you look back at our previous encounter you'll remember that I didn't do anything to you. Was it me that was telling people that I was responsible for offing Andy Jones? Was it me that decided to stop my former partner Tony Goode from doing his canary impersonations to the cops? No, I did not do those things, so when Andy's body turned up as a floater in the river and the evidence pointed to Tony's involvement in his disappearance, and he fingered you as being the one who asked him to make sure that the stiff wasn't found, was that my fault?"

"I don't really care whose fault it was Mister Pretty, but if you recall, I had warned you that if you did anything that interfered with my operations I would be most displeased and I would show my displeasure in, for you, a most painful way." He pushed a button on his desk and sat back and waited, and waited. When Nigel the 2nd failed to materialize he became concerned.

There was a knock on the door. "Enter." Nigel the 2nd was propelled into the room and crashed into Benny's desk, sending stuff flying onto the floor. Eddie smiled at me as he followed the gorilla at a more sedate pace.

"They don't teach these goons manners anymore. He tried to stop me coming in."

"It would seem that Benny is not as good a judge of muscle as he is of horse flesh." I looked at Benny, he wasn't as cocky as he had been. "Now you were just telling me what you had planned for me, so it's only proper that I should tell you what I have planned for you. Nothing, I have nothing planned for you because I'm not going to waste any energy on you and, as long as you keep away from me, I'll keep it that way. Do I make myself clear?" Benny just glared at my back as Eddie and I left.

"I don't trust him not to do anything." Eddie said as we climbed into his cab.

"Neither do I, neither do I. Let's just hope that he's as successful this time as he was the last time, in the mean time we should watch our backs and unfortunately, after that little show of strength, you're included."

"Don't worry about me Gerry, I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, just making you aware of what might happen."

He dropped me off at the end of the lane as usual and headed off to earn some money. I walked into the bar to be met by a puzzled expression from Paula our barmaid. "Where's Laura Lee, isn't she with you?"

"No, why should she be?"

"She got a call not long after you left and told me that she was going to meet you."

"Did she say where this was supposed to happen?"

"No." I couldn't think of anywhere else she could have gone or anyone else she would be meeting. Benny's words rang one of those huge Japanese gongs in my head and all sorts of horrible things went through my head. Where to start? That was the question and I had no answer for that. I went back to my office out back and sat down, willing myself to think. When that failed I rang Lou. "Hi Lou, you haven't seen Laura Lee in your travels have you?"

"Why are you asking me? I've been stuck here all day trying to get on top of my paperwork. Don't tell me that you've mislaid her somewhere."

"I hope not, it's just that not long after I went off to visit Benny she got a call and took off. All she said to Paula was that she was going out to meet me. I didn't call her and I also hadn't made any arrangements to meet her. I don't know what to do or where to start."

"Why don't you take a seat and try to relax. You never know she might waltz in through the door all smiles with a present for you."

"I won't be able to relax until she comes back."

"Just try. I'll put feelers out and if I hear of anything I'll call you."

"Thanks Lou." I hung up but relaxation didn't come easy, in fact it didn't come at all. Paula came in to ask if I could give her a hand behind the bar, so I followed her out and began pouring drinks, but my heart wasn't in it.

An hour later the phone rang and this voice said. "Mr. Pretty, I want to hire you to find Andy Jones."

"But he's dead and buried."

"I think not. Your fee for this job will be the return of Laura Lee Jones. Don't worry, we will keep her in good health, although she may not be very comfortable. The sooner you find the elusive Mr. Jones the sooner your lady will be released."

"How do I contact you when I find Lazarus, I mean the dead Andy Jones?"

"You will call this number." He recited a number that I wrote in my little Private Detective's note book. "You will call this number at the same time every day and tell me that you've found him or at least are very close to finding him."

"I don't know how successful I'll be, after all the police said that the body that they fished out of the river was that of Andy Jones and the Coroner said that the body was that of Andy Jones and Laura Lee said that it was Andy and the insurance companies are convinced that it was him, and you now tell me that it wasn't and that he's still alive. Can I speak to Laura Lee?"

"Gerry, listen to me, don't do what they say, it's best to let sleeping dogs . . . . ." There was the sound of a slap and a sob and the line went dead.

I rang Lou straight away. "Lou, I've just had a call from someone who has Laura Lee, and he says that he'll release her if I find Andy Jones for him. He's seems convinced that the body that you fished out of the river wasn't the late lamented Andy."

"We have no doubts as to the identity of the deceased and we're not going to dig it up just because someone thinks otherwise. This person that you spoke to, did you recognize the voice?"

"No, he disguised his voice with a handkerchief."

"The best that I can do is to go and have a chat with our mutual friend Benny. In the mean time you just sit tight and don't run off half-cocked."

I rang the cab company and Eddie was around in five minutes. "Someone has taken Laura Lee and the only thing that I can think of is to try and trace her movements after she left here. Can you speak to your dispatcher and see if she called for a cab a couple of hours ago."

"Sure thing Gerry, I'll give you a call if I find out anything."

I went back to pretending to tend the bar until the trade dropped off and then I went upstairs and had a look through Laura Lee's papers to see if there was anything there that would point me in the right direction. I picked up her address book and began to leaf through it and it wasn't until I reached the 'L's' that I came across something very interesting. The number against Lucy's name wasn't an overseas number at all, it was in Vermont. I was tempted to ring it just to hear her voice again but thought that Andy might answer. Andy answer, Andy. I was going to have to take a trip to Vermont and confront them and, if he'd agree which I doubted, Andy could rise from the dead and I could save Laura Lee.

I was just about to stretch my friendship with Eddie by asking him if he would drive me to Vermont when he called. "Gerry I found the hack that picked Laura Lee up from the bar. He told me that he drove her to a warehouse in the garment district, he said that she was acting really worried, she kept on asking him to drive faster. When he dropped her off she almost ran to the door of this building."

"Did he say which building?"

"I'll pick you up in five minutes and take you there."

He was good as his word and five minutes later we were on our way. I resisted the temptation to ask Eddie to drive faster, he was going plenty fast enough and in no time at all he pulled in to the kerb across from the building. "That's the joint." We looked at it and were not pleased at what we saw. The paint, what there was of it, was weathered to a dirty gray color and there used to be a sign that announced to the world the name of the business that once occupied the site. Now I expected little more than an infestation of rats, some of which were holding Laura Lee hostage.

"I guess we'd better check to see if there's a rear entrance, we can hardly stroll up and knock on the front door, can we?" I said.

"I don't see why not. You check out the back while I'll wait a few minutes and then knock on the door, if someone answers I'll just say that I was sent to pick up a fare."

"Okay. Give me five minutes and then knock, hopefully I'll have found another entrance and a way in."

I found a way in and crept towards where I could hear voices. There were at least two men and a woman and they sounded as if they were good friends, not a couple of kidnappers and the kidnapped. As I edged even closer I had to stop and listen because I recognized Laura Lee's voice.

"What do you think that Gerry will do?"

"He's a smart guy and I think that he knows where Andy is. Whether he brings him here is another thing, it depends on how much he loves me and my money. My guess is that we'll see Andy soon."

Wait a minute. There's something fishy here, she knows that Lucy is in Vermont and not England as I'd been led to believe, but she still thinks that Andy's dead, or does she? What if that wasn't Andy at all that I'd spoken to and who I'd encouraged to skip the country with Lucy? The 'what if's' were piling up at an alarming rate and if the pile got any higher I'd never be able to climb over them.

"I can't wait to get my hands on that miserable little neck, he's cost me thousands with that betting scam that he's cooked up. I wish that I could work out how he does it so that I can use it on my competition."

What's going on here? Laura Lee knows how Lucy and Andy had operated, if that's all it would take for her to free herself she just has to tell them.

All that separated us was a row of packing crates. I peered through the gap between two of them and what I saw came as a shock. There was Laura Lee sprawled on this sofa with her head in the lap of one of the men and her feet on the other's. The guy at her feet had his hand up her dress and was obviously feeling her between the legs while the other guy had his hand down the front of her blouse and was fondling her breasts. She was making no effort to fight them off or to escape, in fact she appeared to be enjoying herself.

There was a knock on the door. "Who the hell is that?" Man number one asked.

"You could go and find out." Man number two told him.

"Why do I have to do everything around here?" He got up and trudged to the front door. There was a muffled conversation and he trudged back. "Some hack said that he got a booking for a pick-up at this address. I told him that he was mistaken and he left"

"What did he look like?" Laura Lee asked him.

"Big guy, thick set, black hair and blue eyes, nose looks like it has taken a few hits."

"Damn! That sounds Like Eddie, Gerry's mate and that means that Gerry is around here somewhere. How did he find us so quickly?"

"What are we going to do? What if he's brought the cops with him?"

"Spread out and see if he's in here. We need to find out what he knows. One thing that I've found out over the past eighteen months that I've been friendly with him is that he's not your average dumb private dick."

"And you'd be the one to know about his private dick." There seemed to be a note of jealousy in this guy's voice.

"You've still been getting your share of me haven't you?"

"I don't like having to share you with him and if he ever found out that you're still sleeping with me he's likely to spill the beans about this whole thing. We can't let him get away or he'll spoil everything."

Self preservation galloped to the top of my mind and I followed that old adage that says that the best defense is a strong offence. Slipping my .45 from its holster I stepped out from behind the packing crates. "Now isn't this a cozy little gathering, here is the love of my life cozying up to two men who, if the message that I got wasn't a lie, were supposed to have kidnapped her. Not only that but she's just admitted that she's not been the faithful lover that I thought she was, and it does my ego no good at all to find that I'm nothing more than a patsy in some scheme or other."

"Gerry it's not what it looks like, I was just going along with these guys waiting for my knight in shining armor to come and rescue me. Thank god you're here."

She made to come to me but I moved my roscoe to cover her. "That's far enough Laura Lee, you can stand by your lover and his friend while I figure this all out." I was confused but becoming less confused as my brain slowly began to process the information that it has recently received and compared it with that already stored. "Let me guess, your best friend here used to own the bar and probably still has an interest in it. He let you tell everyone that he'd sold it to you because, probably for reasons of his divorce and the fact his wife wanted a cut of his earnings in child support, he had to make it appear on paper at least that he wasn't earning much. So he sold it to you for a very small amount and paid her a share of that amount. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that this whole betting scam was just a dodge to cover up some other enterprise like maybe he's into a form of chemical distribution. It didn't matter whether you won or lost at the track just as long as the money you had was clean. But then you got greedy, that's why the betting scam and the insurance scam on Andy's supposed death. What's next I wonder? Could it have something to do with the fact that I recently took out an insurance policy, at your insistence, naming you as my sole beneficiary? Could it be that I was going to be the next floater pulled out of the river? How am I doing so far?"

"You can't prove any of this." Man number 1 said.

"I don't have to, I'll just tell the police and they can investigate it."

"I suppose that you think that you're going to get away from here and go tell your buddy Callaway."

"Eventually, yes, that's the plan." I was trying to sound confident of my ability to do just that and I was drawing on all of the acting skills that I had. "It might take some time for that to happen but then I'm a patient sort of guy. Why don't the three of you get cozy on that sofa and resume restraining Laura Lee, I quite enjoyed what I saw of that."

The tense silence was shattered by the front door crashing in followed by Nigel the 2nd and Benny the Bookie. "Mr. Pretty, you seem to have things under control, why don't you tell me which of these gentlemen is Andy Jones?"

Why was Benny asking me that? He must have known Andy, after all he'd had many financial dealings with him. "Benny, you know as well as I do that neither of these men is Andy. As soon as you asked me to finger one of them I knew that you were testing me to see if I'd point the finger at one to save Laura Lee, but I'm not going to do that." He looked surprised at that. "If you want to find out where he is you're going to have to let Nigel the 2nd loose on one of them, or on Laura Lee."

"I don't understand you Mr. Pretty, I was led to believe that you and the lovely Laura Lee were joined at the hip, but it appears that this is no longer the case."

"You aren't the only person who has been deceived by my relationship with her. Our conversation had just about reached the interesting part where one of them decided to boast how they'd taken me for the fool that I feel right now."

This happy gathering was interrupted by the arrival of Lou Callaway closely followed by Eddie carrying an impressive looking 'over and under' 12 bore. "At this stage this is a personal visit," Lou told them, "but if push comes to shove and someone gets hurt or even dead it will very quickly become official. Gerry, I think that it's time that you came with us and leave these business people to their meeting." Eddie covered our retreat.

"Can you explain to me what's going on?" Lou asked as we sat around his desk at the precinct house.

"It would appear . . ." I gave them a summary of what I did know and what I thought to be the case. "So you see," I concluded my story, "Laura Lee has been playing me for a patsy the whole time. I'd been led to believe that Lucy was the brains behind the betting scheme and that Andy had been the person laying the bets and the bookies were getting worried at his run of luck. So Benny decided to end that run permanently, so yours truly arranged for Lucy and Andy to skip across to England where they could upset the bookies there and make a fortune. Something smells fishy about this, but I can't put a finger on it. What if the floater really was Andy and the guy in the photo that Laura Lee showed me and that Lucy was with was someone else entirely?"