Lies And Consequences Collection

Chapter 15-2

“That sounds very intriguing and also a touch disconcerting. Has that name any relevance to the street where my apartment is, Leeba?”

“Oh yes, a great deal of relevance. He owns the freehold of that whole street and almost all of the freeholds in half a mile radius of it, including this building. With that comes the franchise on construction work in this whole area. It"s a very lucrative business, building in New York. He inherited his father"s property portfolio when his older brother died in a car accident sixteen months ago. There was a degree of speculation at the time as to what could have caused that accident on a clear road that he knew so well. The FBI conducted the investigation as he was running for the Democratic nomination for congress. Stood a good chance of winning. Haynes knows Karl Weilham extremely well and through him a Marty Killick, the leader of the Nazi party here in America. You looked shocked, Mr Redden. We don"t have the monopoly of fringe lunatics in this country, but we do have enough of them in New York. They met three months before Earl Baxter-Clifford died. But that"s not the only thing that connects him to our family, Shaun. Haynes and Penina are friends in an intimate sense.”

She stood to refill our coffee cups just I nearly ruined everything.

“I thought Penina was a—” I caught myself just in time before repeating what Fianna had implied her sexuality to be.

“A what, Shaun?” Leeba asked.

“Oh, I"m sorry. I thought she was married.”

“I don"t know where you got that from, but would it matter? What monastery have you been hiding in?” The smile that replaced the frown now widened considerably. “I thought three Hail Marys was the going rate for infidelity in Catholic Ireland as it is over here. If she was married, which neither she nor I am, would it make her unredeemable if she had committed adulatory?” laughingly she asked, adding. “My brother Richard has been divorced twice for having affairs with married women. I believe he"s involved with another now. Shall we construct some gallows for him?” Her eyes narrowed into an inquisitive stare, and her grin bordered on the promiscuous.

“I noticed that you"re not wearing a ring, Leeba. Are you divorced as well?”

“That"s beyond your remit, Shaun. Some things are best not looked at too closely. You"re not wearing a ring either, does that mean you"re gay?” That question caught me off guard and I had no way in which to adequately answer it. She eased my frustration by supplying an answer herself.

“Don"t worry, I"m only joking with you. I have no doubts on that issue.”

Was my preoccupation with her getting the better of me or was the seductiveness in her voice and on her face sincere? I decided to bide my time before testing that sincerity just about the same time as she changed direction.

“Haynes is twenty-three years older than Penina, but the reality of the situation has been clouded by what she calls love. He is an evil man who never would have come to prominence without his brother"s death. Penina has a fixation that I"ve never seen in her before. I have substantive suspicions that link him to some of the radical far right parties that cloak themselves in respectability by making financial donations to the down trodden and under-privileged. Penina won"t take my suspicions seriously. In fact, she won"t listen to anything said about Baxter-Clifford that"s not complimentary. She can be very stubborn in certain matters. Personally I suspect him to have been involved in his brother"s death, but that"s for another day. I have tried to protect her over the years, but now I"m worried. She has no first-hand knowledge of what the Nazis did to the Jews in the war.”

For thirty-five years her true Jewish heritage had been denied from her. I wondered why the resurrected memories of such atrocities would be needed now.

“I"m not at all qualified in these matters, Leeba, Surely you need a mediator of some description. Perhaps a therapist, or a historian if the h*******t needs to be explained?”

I had no idea how to respond and was wondering why I was being told of her sister"s crush on an older man. Was agism her reason for scolding me before I developed a similar crush on her? A discrimination carved on Leeba"s heart?

sister"s

There was an obvious connection in what she disclosed to Jack"s main target Karl Weilham, but all the rest was superfluous and mere supposition, as had been Fianna"s when she labelled Penina a lesbian. I thought that could have been because Fianna was aware of the unmarried status, perhaps due to being sexually unattractive to men, but I was soon to change that opinion.

“This is my sister.” Leeba turned one of the three wooden-framed photographs that were placed on her desk around to face me. She was everyman"s fantasy! I was stunned into almost complete silence. One word was sufficient to disclose my interest. “Wow,” I exclaimed.

“Is that a "wow" in recognition of Penina"s beauty, Shaun, or in admiration of the plane she"s standing next to? One of her many achievements is to hold a pilot"s licence for both a fixed winged aeroplane and a helicopter. That photo was taken at Bradley airport, on one of her visits to Baxter-Clifford. It was her birthday and the plane a gift from Haynes. I think it was two years ago, but let me check that as it could have been three.” She reversed the photograph then spoke again.

“Yes, I was right; two years ago. I want you to work for me as well as my brother but without Richard"s direct involvement and knowledge. If he knew he would object. I want you to expand my knowledge on Haynes Baxter-Clifford and I want you to meet with Penina in order to do that. Then I want you to ease her away from that man.”

“Wow again, Leeba! Ease her away. I"m no Casanova. That"s some ask! Look at me, I"m not exactly dressed to meet a rich beautiful woman who"s used to the better things in life like aeroplanes, now am I? And while we"re at it, how do you suggest I get an invitation?”

“All that"s in hand, Shaun. You have the looks and ways of a man who could do the job. Just turn up at his home around lunchtime tomorrow suitably dressed in the very best attire this can buy you. Do you play golf, by the way?” she said, as she gave me an opened envelope stuff full of dollar bills.

“I don"t,” I answered, staring wildly at the contents whilst my head was somersaulting down a runway.

“That"s okay as Haynes does and will be playing when you arrive. You"ll have Penina all to yourself for hours. It"s the seventies, Shaun. Women no longer have to wait to be included in men"s fantasies. They are free to play out their own when and how they wish.”

“Do you include yourself in that freedom for fantasies, Leeba?”

“Yes, Shaun! Very much I do. What"s the point of being an advocate for s****l liberation if one can"t enjoy all the freedom that"s available?” She smiled lasciviously, and I wasn"t imagining it.

“There"s a performance of Puccini"s La Bohème at the Met next week. I have a box there. Get yourself a white tuxedo and who knows, I might just let you take me. Oh, and on the way out ask at the reception desk for the key to this building and the one to your office. They have them ready for you.”

La Bohème“I have no idea how long I"ll be in this country, Leeba. I could be gone before that opera.”

“No matter. It"s only money, Shaun, it"s not life or death.”

I had found money, culture and a seductive woman. What more could America offer me? As far as I was concerned now was not the time to ask about 1937. Now was the time to have fun.