She nodded. “Apparently, the robbery theory lacks support as the jewelry remained. The sugar daddy theory has support in that it is the best argument for how the jewelry came to exist in the first place, yet the police could never identify him.”
“Fidge, ah, the department never found where the jewelry had been bought. So it could have been hot, but they found no record of stolen jewelry that matched up. Ileana seems to have liked bikers. Did she have a thing for bad boys? Maybe one of them could have heisted the jewels and gave them to her?”
“She had sort of run through her bad boy thing. It ended after she met Eddie.”
“But she had a sugar daddy, so perhaps her bad boy thing just morphed into married wealthy sugar daddy bad boys, sort of.”
“Could be, but then maybe she got the jewelry from one of the bikers before she met Eddie and there was no sugar daddy.”
“No. Not likely. Two different neighbors reported seeing luxury cars in her driveway now and again. She had at least one wealthy fella; one who could get his hands on quality jewelry that couldn’t be traced.”
“I just don’t figure Ileana that way. I thought she was sold on Eddie. She loved him, and he would eventually be rich. Why blow that for a necklace or two? Ileana was smart. And she really did love Eddie.”
“Could Ileana have had a sugar mommy?”
“Not Ileana. She liked the real deal.”
“Okay, enough on that, what about you? Career or charity?”
“I won’t have enough money to do much for charity, not like Eddie will, but then his favorite charity is his ladies. As for me, I’d like to get into investment banking or something like that. But not now, I’m content being there for the general.”
“You love him, don’t you?”
“He’s a great man. A real man. When I think about how my life would have been. How my mother’s life would have been, would still be, if it weren’t for the general. Well, I figure I owe him. It won’t be long now. I mean I hope it is, but the doctors say no. He knows that. That’s why he brought you in now. We talked about it. He wants to know and he could no longer push off his doubts.”
“Could Eddie have killed Ileana?”
“He was in Buellton so it’s really impossible.”
“I’m not asking could he in a procedural sense. I meant emotionally. Could Eddie kill?”
“Millions of people in the our armed forces over hundreds of years, not to mention the armed forces of the rest of the world, have killed. Cops sometimes must kill, also executioners who work for various governments. On that level, with an aura of external justification, I guess many, even most, could kill. The dicey part is one finding the justification alone, inside, you know. On that level, I’d say no. Eddie couldn’t.”
When dinner was over I asked her to come home with me.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” She put her hand over mine, palm up, and kneaded me with her knuckles.
“You’re damn right I do.” She smiled when I said that. “I got the idea from you,” I added as if that should cinch the deal.
“When did I give you that idea?”
“That first night. When we met. You were leaning on the banister.”
“Oh. That was lust, Mr. Kile.”
“Every relationship has to start somewhere. Lust seems as good a starting point as any other.”
“You have to promise me you’re not going to get all gooey in the morning and start talking about love or something.”
“You don’t believe in love?” I asked.
“I just don’t understand it. Don’t know if I’d recognize it. And if I did, whether I could get into it.”
“I can help you along if you get stuck.”
“No. You get too serious, we’re history. I’ve never seen love work, certainly not between my mom and the general. Both good people, but it just withered and died. And not between my mom and all the men she’s tried on for size to replace the general.”
*
I woke Karen gently before setting the bed tray over her thighs. Axel had prepared mimosas, coffee, and buttered English muffins with fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate. He left a note on the kitchen counter saying he saw this in a movie. Axel was working out just fine. The talking parrot I considering getting instead would have left beak marks in the strawberries.
Karen and I had enjoyed a wonderful evening of food and drink before we came back to my place. In a lot of ways she reminded me of Clarice Talmadge, only Karen liked the idea of staying the whole night. I suppose it’s a good thing that not all women enjoyed entertaining and seducing a man as much as these two ladies. If those two were the norm, the life expectancy for us men would be shorter, but then more of us would die with a smile on our face. And that’s not all bad either. When Helen, my ex, and I got married we were quite young and during our years together I imagined that other than hookers and in the movies, there were not all that many women who were so enthusiastic about sex. Man, was I wrong. And man, am I happy I was wrong.
Karen left about an hour later. Both of us fed, watered, and satisfied. She said she had things to do and I needed some time to sift through and process what I learned from her during dinner. I was meeting Charles for lunch, so after the strawberries and mimosas, I only wanted coffee.
Chapter 11
Charles picked me up in front of my condo building at noon. He looked more relaxed away from the Whittaker house, his smile easier. I took him to Mackie’s where we chose a quiet corner booth. Axel was sitting at the end of the bar, around the curve, from where he could watch Charles. I hadn’t planned that, but apparently Axel had, which was okay. He had a good feel for people so a second opinion might be helpful.
“Thank you for meeting me, Charles. I trust you won’t be uncomfortable with my asking questions about the general and the family.”
“The general’s instruction were that I should answer your questions and that we would trust your integrity, Mr. Kile, so you may ask whatever you wish.”
I first asked a series of questions that confirmed his recollections matched what the general had told me about his trip to the bank, and the cell call he had received before tossing the bag with the two million over the side of the road. Charles also confirmed the general had walked the rest of the way to the house, and that he, Charles, had found Cliff working out in his gym over the garage and sent him back to get the general’s car out of the ditch.
“Did the general look over the edge where he had dropped the satchel with the money?”
“No, but I did. I walked back to the car with Cliff.”
“Did you see anything?”
“No. It’s really dark in that section. That spot’s about a hundred yards back from where the car had been driven into the ditch. The light from the road is shaded by the edge; erosion has torn hunks out of the sandstone cliff face all along that section of the beach. The general had to have it reinforced in a few places to secure the road. But, no, I saw no one. I couldn’t even see the satchel. By then I doubt it was still there. I’m sure whoever had called the general to drop it, had picked it up right away and left before the general got back to house, let alone before Cliff and I got back there. Later, after I got back to the house, I got a large flashlight, went down the stairs and walked back there in the sand. I saw no satchel and there were too many tracks in the sand to learn anything.”
“Why didn’t the general call for you and Cliff?”
“He said he just wanted to walk some. The ordeal had ended. The car wasn’t going anywhere. It was one of the few times I’ve ever seen the general out of sorts, if I can say so, sir. He had just been ordered to throw two million dollars over a cliff.” Charles grinned and shook his head. “I suspect that would rattle anyone.”
“Did he say the call was from a man or woman?”