De Jersey woke at five and, refreshed, checked out at six fifteen. He was on the site at six thirty and used a crowbar to open Donnelly’s Portakabin. He was confident no workers would show up now that Donnelly knew Moreno’s money had run dry. At seven on the dot the Lexus turned into the drive, and the immaculate Alex Moreno stepped out. He walked toward the cabin, stepping gingerly over the debris, afraid for his Gucci loafers. He entered, surprised to see de Jersey.
“Donnelly’s not here. Sit down, Alex, we need to talk.”
“Excuse me, do I know you?”
“No, you don’t, but I know you.”
Something about de Jersey’s manner, his strangely soft voice and steely eyes, made Moreno hesitate about leaving. “What’s this all about?” he asked.
“How many people did you take down when the company liquidated?” de Jersey asked.
Moreno shrugged. “Oh, this is about leadingleisurewear. I don’t know. Investors are investors. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose.”
“Not everyone is a good loser, Alex,” de Jersey said quietly.
“If this is some kind of scam, then screw you! I don’t know you, and whatever you lost is not my problem.”
De Jersey reached out and gripped the collar of Moreno’s cashmere coat. “It is your problem, and I won’t go away until you solve it.”
“I dunno what you’re talking about,” Moreno stammered.
“I work for someone who invested millions in your company, and he is not a happy man. He wants compensation.”
Moreno pushed away de Jersey’s hands. “I’m cleaned out. We went into liquidation and there’s nothing to be done.”
“Wrong. My friend wants this house, plus the lease on the Central Park apartment.”
“What?” Moreno asked.
“You heard. I have some agreements that will transfer your rights in those properties. Just sign here.”
“Fuck you,” Moreno said.
De Jersey walked to the door, blocking Moreno’s exit. “It’s you that will be fucked if you don’t agree. Sign the papers and you walk out of here intact.”
Moreno hesitated. He glanced at them. “My, my, you’ve done your homework,” he said.
De Jersey picked up a pen and handed it to Moreno. “Just sign and no one will get hurt.”
Moreno’s hand was shaking. “I don’t understand all this,” he said.
“It merely instructs funds to go into the necessary numbered accounts.”
“You work for the guy with these accounts?”
“Yeah.”
Moreno bit his lip. “Why don’t you and me do some private business? I can cut you in. When this place is finished, I’m gonna ask fifteen million. You’d get a nice bonus and walk away from”-he glanced at the document-“this guy, whoever he is. Screw him and you’ll be a rich man. You could just say you never found me.”
“Sign the papers,” de Jersey said.
“He pays you that well, huh?” Smirking, Moreno tapped the desktop with the pen.
“Sign the papers.”
Moreno took a deep breath but still toyed with the pen.
“Sign the papers,” de Jersey snapped. “Now.”
Moreno dropped the pen. “This is fraud,” he said.
“It’s called paying off your debts.”
“I don’t have to pay a fucking dime. There were a lot of investors. It was a new business. The investors knew the risks. It wasn’t my fault they plowed in more funds.”
De Jersey pushed Moreno’s face roughly into the desk. “Sign the papers!” he thundered.
“No need to get nasty. I’ll do it, okay? I’ll do it,” Moreno said. When de Jersey released his grip, Moreno put up his hands in a gesture of defeat. “You’ve won, okay? You get this place and the apartment.”
Moreno signed each document de Jersey placed in front of him, flicking glances at him. “All signed. Okay? You wanna try on my suit for size?” he asked sarcastically.
De Jersey inspected each signature calmly, then placed the documents in an envelope.
Finding his way clear to the door, Moreno crossed the room. He yanked the door open, turned, laughing. “Listen, you son of a bitch, if you think those papers would stand up in any court of law, you’re wrong. My attorney will have them laughed out of court, and I’ll have you fucked over for kidnap and extortion.”
In his eagerness to make a quick exit, he caught his sleeve on the door handle. He tripped and fell down the iron steps, cracking his head against the side of the railing. After he rolled onto the ground, his body jerked for a few seconds; then he lay ominously still.
Coming rapidly behind him, de Jersey felt for a pulse but without success. His mind raced. This wasn’t the outcome he had intended.
He dragged Moreno back into the cabin, where he unbuttoned his coat and rolled up his shirtsleeves. He walked outside, picking up a spade on his way, and jumped into the half-finished swimming pool. He dug feverishly in the deep end until he had a hole big enough for the body. Then he returned to the Portakabin and emptied Moreno’s pockets. In one he found a wad of cash in an envelope addressed to Donnelly. De Jersey quickly counted the money and discovered that it would cover the outstanding invoice. He removed Moreno’s personal effects, dragged him from the cabin, and rolled him into the pool. Jumping down, he pushed the body into the newly dug grave and was filling it in when his watch alarm sounded. He climbed out of the pool. Next he drove Moreno’s Lexus into a nearby lane out of sight, then returned to the pool. To be extra sure no one discovered the body, he used the compressor machine to level off the ground. He finished cleaning himself up and was double-checking that the gauze of the wig was in place when Donnelly drove up.
De Jersey immediately crossed to his car, smiling. “I want to take you to breakfast,” he said. “There have been some new developments. Moreno isn’t coming. Where do you suggest?”
At Marty’s Diner, Donnelly had eggs over easy and a side of pancakes, while, opposite him, de Jersey sipped black coffee. He handed over the envelope. “That should cover your last invoice. You will see that it includes a bonus for the problems you’ve had to deal with.”
Donnelly’s face showed his relief.
“As of now,” de Jersey went on, “I am monitoring the project and controlling the payments. I have here postdated checks to cover work for the next two months, and I assure you that I have funds to cover them. You are to complete the house, and I want the gardens landscaped. You know a good company?”
“Yes, I do. I’ve worked with them before.”
“Good. So I can leave that with you to arrange?”
“Sure.”
“We want the estate finished, if possible, by early summer.”
“We were scheduled for completion by June.”
“Good. I’ll have someone, if not myself, come to the site at various times, but I’ve also hired a solicitor to take care of all payments due. It’s a local firm called Edward and Maybury. They will deal directly with you and liaise with me. I require photographs and reports of work in progress to be sent to the solicitor, who will subsequently pass them on to me.”
“So what’s happened to Moreno? Will he be coming around?”
“He’s gone to South America-keep that to yourself-and he’s turned over the day-to-day running of his finances to me. I will be handling the sale of the property. As I mentioned, Mr. Moreno owes me a substantial amount, and this way neither of us suffers an adverse loss.”
“He’s not going to live here?”
“He can’t afford it, and I will arrange a real estate agent to view the property when it is near completion.”
Donnelly drained his coffee, then put out his hand to shake de Jersey’s. “Thank God. I didn’t sleep last night with worry. I’ll get the men back working today.”
De Jersey signaled for the bill, then opened his wallet. “I saw they had begun work on the pool. When do they pour in the cement?”