CHAPTER 56

Mike glanced at the stately grandfather clock in the corner of the ornate boardroom of Turner, Peterson, Greenwell, and Worthy. It was 10:05 a.m. In two ticks of the second hand, one of the double oak doors swung open and a neatly dressed, curvaceous young brunette appeared. “Good morning,” she sang, smiling warmly. “My name is Kate Daniel. I’m Mr. Turner’s private secretary.” She placed a silver tray and urn filled with hot coffee on the polished mahogany table in front of Mike and Karen. On the tray were two gold rimmed coffee cups and saucers, along with matching cream and sugar bowls. “He asked me to tell you he’ll be with you very shortly,” she said before leaving the room.

Mike had barely filled Karen’s cup when the door burst open and Dan Turner rushed in. He closed the door behind him and hurried to a chair on the opposite side of the table. “Good morning,” he said as he placed his black briefcase on the table. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s get started. We have a lot to do.”

“Dan, Karen and I have something to tell you. Before we do, I want it clearly understood that we enjoy lawyer client status,” Mike cautioned.

Turner stared at Mike over his spectacles, and then gave him a barely perceptible nod.

“Is that understood, Dan?” Mike said, demanding a verbal response.

“Of course it is. What is it?”

“Karen and I have decided to leave the country.”

Turner winced and jerked his head sideways. “Sure you have! You need to relax from the stress and pressure of it all, so you’re going to trundle off somewhere on a nice little vacation.”

“It’s not a holiday, Dan.”

Turner gave Mike his patented penetrating stare. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in? Do you have any idea how much trouble you will be in if you leave the country? In the unlikely event you make it out, you’ll immediately forfeit your bail bonds and you’ll be the subjects of international extradition agreements. When they catch you, they’ll have you back in this country before you know it. Then they’ll have you both incarcerated with no possibility of bail.”

Mike continued as though Turner had never spoken. “Dan, we’re absolutely convinced that Karen’s husband has set us up, and we don’t think there’s any way we can prove it if we stay here. We would rather risk it all than stay here and allow this travesty of justice to continue.”

“Did you tell me that Karen’s husband has gone to Venezuela?” Turner glinted steely eyes, preparing to bargain now that he realized how very serious Mike was.

Mike nodded.

“How do you know you’re going to find him there?”

Mike handed the piece of paper containing Servito’s Caracas address to Turner. “Take a look at this.” Turner examined the paper for several seconds, and then looked up at Mike. “It’s obviously an address in Caracas. What’s the significance?”

“Karen recognized the writing. It’s her husband’s.”

“Where did you get it?”

“When we found out that Servito hadn’t taken Phillip to school, we guessed that they had gone to his farm. So we decided to go there. On our way, we spotted Servito’s limousine in a service station. We chased it until it crashed into a retaining wall in North Toronto. The driver was Jerrold Allison, a bagman for Servito. We found that piece of paper inside Allison’s false passport.”

“So you’re going to Caracas on the basis of that information?”

“It’s a long shot,” Mike conceded. “But we think it’s our only chance.”

“Okay. You’re obviously still convinced that Jim Servito set the two of you up. Help me to believe you’re right.”

“Well while Servito was staring down the barrel of his gun at us and pushing Karen’s little boy onto his private airplane, he made it very clear he knew that Karen and I had been charged by the feds. That wasn’t public knowledge, Dan. He also asked how I liked the new performance improving additive in my gasoline. There was only one way he could have known… he put it in there.”

“Wait, when was this?” Turner exclaimed.

“Yesterday.”

“You really did have an exciting day.” Turner grimaced. “I have a question for you, Mike. I want you to give me an honest answer.”

Mike shrugged his shoulders. “I have nothing to gain by giving you a dishonest one.”

“Have you ever evaded the payment of taxes to any government?”

Mike replied without hesitation. “I’ve avoided but never evaded. Why?”

“During the last several days, I’ve been communicating informally with the attorneys who are acting for the feds in your cases. I was astounded when they told me they have enough evidence to charge both you and Karen with gasoline tax evasion.”

“Unbelievable!” Mike said, shaking his head in disgust.

“Well, you had better believe it. I don’t think they’re bluffing.”

“Let me ask you a question. Are you aware of a large explosion that occurred in Fort Erie four days ago?” Mike asked.

Turner nodded. “I read about it in the newspaper.”

“There were three people killed in that explosion. Let me tell you who those three people were—then you can draw your own conclusions.”

“Okay,” Turner said. He leaned back in his chair and lowered his spectacles to the end of his nose.

“One of them was Dave Lasker, the president of Amerada Tank Lines. Amerada’s the company that hauled most of my gasoline. Another one was Bob Bushing, the president of Empire State Oil. Bushing was the broker who introduced me to Reserve Oil and sold gasoline to me through that company. The third was Earle Langston, director of Customs and Immigration on the U.S. side of the Peace Bridge.”

Turner leaned forward. “That is very suggestive, but not conclusive. You need something more, something linking Karen’s husband to the explosion. If you don’t have that, you’re just blowing smoke. One might just as well say that you killed those men.”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me the feds want Karen and I for arson now, too!” Mike roared.

“No, I’m not going to tell you that.”

“Then for God’s sake, Dan! Who else could have done it?”

“That’s not my point. I merely said that you have to prove it was Servito. You need tangible evidence.”

“How about two hundred and sixteen thousand dollars, cash. Is that real?”

“I’m sure it is, but I don’t have the slightest idea what it proves.”

“We found two large canvas bags in the front seat of Servito’s limousine. Those bags were packed with cash, Dan. Two hundred and sixteen thousand dollars that we can link directly to Servito.”

“How do you propose to do that?”

“It’s obvious. Allison works for Servito and he was found carrying a ton of cash in Servito’s limousine.”

“Did you leave the cash in the limousine?”

“No, we took it. We still have it.”

“So there is still no conclusive link to Servito—there’s no chain of custody for the evidence. If you showed up in court with that money, the feds would immediately link it to you. Besides, two hundred and sixteen thousand is nickels and dimes to the government. They’re looking for hundreds of millions.”

Exasperated by Turner’s contrariness, Mike raised his hands above his head, as if in surrender. “That’s it, Dan. With no disrespect to your considerable professional talents, we think we’re screwed. Servito holds all the cards. He decided he had enough money to retire and live happily ever after, so he sanitized his trail and left the country.”

Turner’s lips tightened, his dark eyebrows furrowed. “Privately, I agree with you, but my job as your attorney is to advise you, in the strongest possible terms, to stay here and fight this thing.”

“Not going to happen, Dan. It’s an exercise in futility to try to prove it here. The only way to do it is to find the man, and we think he’s in Venezuela.”

Turner pressed his fingers against his temples. “If you two really want to go, I can’t stop you. The best I can do is stall the feds for a while. But eventually…”

“Do what you can,” Mike said.

“How are you going to get there? Have you made any plans?” Turner glanced up over his spectacles.

“Not yet,” Mike replied.

“The best advice I could give you both is to be extremely careful. Avoid using public transportation.”

“Isn’t it rather difficult to make it all the way to Venezuela without using some form of public transportation?” Karen asked.

Turner smiled. “I have a friend who owns an airplane. His specialty is covert transportation. He’s very private, very good and very expensive. He likes cash.”

“Maybe he’d like some of Servito’s cash,” Mike said, surprised and delighted with Turner’s revelation.

Turner scribbled on a small piece of paper. “Here’s his name and telephone number. He’s in Toronto at the moment. He likes his money up front and I’m sure he isn’t the slightest bit interested in where it came from. I’m going to leave this paper here while I go to the washroom. I don’t expect it will be here when I get back.” He turned to Karen. “Promise me you’ll make sure Mike doesn’t do anything crazy. I don’t want to lose a client.”

“I will. I don’t want to lose him, either.”

He turned to Mike. “Mike, I suspect Marc Peterson’s going to need a power of attorney before you go.”

“He already has it.”

“Then this meeting is over,” Turner said. He stood and headed for the door. After opening it, he turned to face Mike and Karen. “Is there any way I can convince you to change your minds?” he asked.

“Only if you can convince the feds they’re making a gigantic mistake,” Karen replied.

Turner grinned. “No guarantees.”

“Then we’ll send you a postcard from Caracas.”