“Is that question pertinent to finding Gail?”
“It might help give me a clearer picture of how it was between you and Merlot.”
“Before I answer that, I really need to ask: Have you done this sort of thing before? I mean, you say you’re a biologist, so what’s a biologist know about finding missing people? I appreciate your intentions, sure. You’re an old Navy buddy of Gail’s late husband. Military buddies stick together. Very noble, I’m sure. But if this is some kind of well-intended gesture, I don’t see the point of us wasting our time.”
I said, “I couldn’t agree more, Frank. But Gail and this guy Merlot are apparently in South America. Right?”
“That’s what Amanda says.”
“And Amanda wants to find her.”
“She wants to know that her mother’s safe. Of course.”
“Well, Frank, I’ve spent a lot of time in South America. I know a lot of people. So, yeah, it’s possible that I can help. Let me ask you this: Your ex-wife, do you consider her a good person, a valuable person?”
“Of course I do. I’ve never doubted that. Gail is a good person.”
“Is her well-being worth a minor emotional risk?”
“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”
“Okay, so the question hasn’t changed: How did you react when you found out about Merlot and your ex-wife?”
I waited and waited and finally he said, “Gail and Merlot together? I didn’t like it worth a damn. It made me… it gave me a sick feeling. That’s not easy to admit, by the way. I’m trying to broaden myself as a person. My wife and I are working very hard at enlightening ourselves, becoming wiser, kinder beings. But when I heard that Merlot was seeing Gail, I felt a kind of reflexive emotional revulsion. You’ve never met the man… and I really can’t go into all the reasons why I felt the way I did. But, no, it hit me hard when I found out. Men, all of us, probably, tend to be more territorial about women than we’d like to admit. So that’s part of it, too.”
“When Merlot refused to pay off, did you two argue?”
“Years ago, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“I wasn’t very happy about it. No one likes to be cheated.”
“It got personal.”
“As in a shouting match? No. I… we had words, sure. But I’m a psychologist, remember. I don’t lose my temper easily. Don’t need to. I’m afraid I have a nasty gift for picking a person’s soft spot and saying exactly what will hurt worst. That’s something else not easy to admit, but I’m working on it.”
“What did you say to hurt Merlot? What’s his soft spot?”
“I’m not sure what I told him… and I don’t see why it’s pertinent. As I said, this was more than fifteen years ago.”
“I think it’s pertinent as hell.”
“Dr. Ford, if I can’t remember, I can’t remember.”
I said, “Look, there’s a chance I may have to go hunting for this guy, Frank. I need to learn all I can about him.”
“I appreciate that. I’m not trying to be difficult.”
“Then tell me what you said to really piss him off.”
There was a silence. “You know what we need to do? Maybe get together for a late lunch, you come up to Boca Grande. You asked if I believe we should be in a hurry to find Gail. The answer’s maybe. I’m in a tough ethical spot. You can understand that. So what I did was hire a private investigator to put together a dossier on Merlot. If someone else generates data, then I’m not responsible for how that data was assembled, right? Not ethically, not legally.”
“That’s an interesting finesse, Frank. Very smart. You told the guy you hired where to look but not why.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But that would be the smart thing to do.”
“Yes, I suppose it would. The guy’s retired FBI; got an office off A1A in Delray Beach. Castillo, that’s his name. He was very thorough, very competent. For what it cost me, he should have been. Yeah, I read the report, some of the stuff I already knew from a long time ago. Jackie Merlot has some problems. I knew that, too.”
“How do you think he found out that you and Gail were divorced?”
“I don’t have a clue. I hadn’t thought about him for years. As you’ll see when you read the report, he apparently spends most of his time outside the country.”
“In Colombia?”
“Colombia and Panama City. Over the last ten years, according to the financial stuff Castillo dug up, Merlot has done a number of money transfers between Lauderdale and some of their offshore banks. And he does real estate down there. Sells little bits of paradise to gringos who want to live like kings and queens.”
“Panama City, Panama.”
“Central America, yeah. But to begin with, he was mostly in Costa Rica. That’s what Castillo’s report says. I guess he left Florida after getting out of jail. Costa Rica is a favorite of Americans who want to retire outside the country. No taxes and the dollar’s worth three, maybe four, times what it’s worth here. But he apparently had to leave Costa Rica, too. Castillo wasn’t sure why.”
“And he’s got a place in Lauderdale, too.”
“Just a rental. He paid month to month. It’s in Coral Ridge. Not far from where Gail lived; the house where we all lived when Amanda was growing up. At least Merlot used to live there. He skipped without paying the last month’s rent when he and Gail left. Something that’s more interesting is, he started renting the place just a few weeks before he and Gail started seeing each other.” Calloway paused. “That was a little less than a year ago.”
“You think starting a relationship with Gail was a way for him to get back at you.”
“That’s exactly what I think. I think he realized that she was available and he targeted her. There’s no way to prove it, but I would bet on it. People like Merlot-he’s an example of a specific pathology, understand-people like Merlot can hold a grudge for decades.”
“Gail met Merlot through you.”
“No. He met her before she became my patient. Before I even knew she existed.”
I was surprised to hear that. “How?”
“Somehow Merlot was associated with a group that was organized to help family members traumatized by unexpected death or injury. This was way back, right after Vietnam, when the country needed something like that. He didn’t get paid for it, it was volunteer work. I think it was through some church. Scientologists? No, but it was a similar kind of thing. She was the newly aggrieved widow, he was the kindly social worker. It sounds like a noble calling, but… well, you learn a little more about him, you’ll see how he might tap into an organization like that as a way of picking out… picking out people to take advantage of. People like him, they’ve got a real gift for knowing how to manipulate the emotionally damaged. A genius for it, actually.”
“He’s a con artist.”
“Maybe. I don’t know that he’s capable of making ethical distinctions. I’m speaking as someone who’s dealt with him in business, understand. Healthy normal children progress from a completely selfish quick-gratification view of life to a more mature understanding that it’s necessary to give and take. I don’t think Merlot ever made it through that developmental stage. At least he hadn’t when I knew him.”
“Do you think he’s dangerous?”
“In a socially destructive sense? Yes. In a criminal sense, I doubt it. But it’s possible. He had very good people skills-not unusual for his… particular type. And physically, he’s huge. I mean massive. But he also struck me as being very tentative and sneaky and cowardly. A mama’s boy. That’s what we used to call people like him.”
“He served time in prison, you said.”
“That’s right.”
“How would a stint in prison affect someone like Merlot?”
Judging from Calloway’s reaction, I got the impression he hadn’t factored in that component. “Well… he was only in for a couple of months. At least, that’s what I heard. I can’t see it affecting him one way or another. But… maybe. Depends on how he was treated, what happened while he was there. I think there was something missing in him before he ever went to jail. Something very basic.”