Day 176 - Upside Down- Chapter 24 - (1869 words)

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UPSIDE DOWN, BACK TO FRONT

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 24

After

“Tell me about this argument you had?”
“What argument?”
“The one you had with Ivan.”
James looked at him quizzically, he didn’t quite understand what he was referring to. He would be very careful what he said here, after all the bulk of the conversations he had with Ivan were private. And as Ivan was dead, what was left was not much that people would know about. Was this Sherry guy being vague to try and catch him out.
“I’m not sure what you are talking about?”
“Come on now, you had a loud argument with him.”
“When?” He was careful to sound confused not challenging, of course he had no proof of anything but why indicate that proof was obtainable in any way.
“Come now, are you telling me that you don’t remember arguing with Ivan a day or so before you put a bullet in his head in… self defence?”
Of course he did, he remembered plenty of arguments with Ivan in those days after the van and before the…
Before.
Again he had no intention of offering any information to the detective that would provide any more of a picture than he already had.
“You don’t remember Ivan threatening to kill you over something, something you had of his?”
That made his blood run cold.
How did he know about that? Had Sam said something? No if Sam had said something, then there would be more than a fishing expedition, it’d be backed by a trap of facts. So did someone overhear at his house? At the warehouse? At Ivan’s house? At…
Oh wait. The driveway. The neighbours, they must have heard Ivan that day. That day he held the knife, the day he went to hide in the hotel.
That was so very loud.
James said nothing and looked at the table left and right, as if scanning his memory.
“I … well…”
“Come on son, you’ll feel better once you let it out.”
That was not true at all, James would be imprisoned for all sorts of crimes if he let it out, but that was not his intention at all. It was to frame Ivan for what he was.
Scary.
“No, you don’t understand.” The best lies contain the truth, they conceal it inside of itself.
“Well explain it to me.”
“It’s not that, you think there’s a big conspiracy here, but there isn’t. Ivan was a damaged guy and he had a bit of a temper. I didn’t take that too seriously until … well until he had the gun and he hit Sams sister. That’s when it all fell in place. You see?”
Detective Sherry could smell the truth, wafting through the explanation, traces of it in the air.
“Tell me about the argument.”
“He wanted money. He thought I owed him money.”
“How much, and why?”
James shrugged. “He was just that way, he needed money and he thought he could bully it out of me.” He knows this won’t be believed, but they are haggling for the truth. The real truth was not for sale, but the man had to feel like he had bargained to find the real truth. Otherwise if it was too easy, then it was not.
“Really? He just randomly picked on you to take money?”
“Yes, I mean no. I mean he was like that, you know that he had money problems right? There was a thing, a machine he owed money on and it was a problem for him. He wasn’t getting the work.”
“And so like some schoolyard bully he decided to steal your lunch money, is that it?”
“Yeah.” Unconvincing and unconvinced.
“So why did you say that he thought you owed him money?”
“I just told you, he..”
Sherry held up a finger and looked at the notes he had in front of himself.
“No. You said that he thought you OWED him money. Owed it to him, you OWED it.”
“I… don’t follow?” James let himself be led, this was not unexpected, but then again you expect to lead a lamb to the slaughter, it’s unsettling to see one volunteer.
“Owed implies that he had a reason for believing that you had a debt with him. That you and he had some business, whether real or percieved that implies he is in receipt of some kind of marker from you. Something that is worth money, which you obviously disagreed with.”
“Yes.”
“So he thought he could cash that in and then demanded the money from you, yes?”
“Yes.”
“You refused for whatever reason, that’s not really relevant, so he turned up the heat on you?”
“Yes.”
“So the threat was more a bargaining tool?”
“Yes, that’s right yes a bargaining tool. Negotiation.” James sounded relieved. From here he was home free. If Sherry accepted this then it ends here, if he doesn’t then the premise has been set.
Sherry, did not accept instead he was looking to spring a trap.
“So what was the debt?”
“Oh it was nothing. He just wanted the money, the why is not really important.”
BANG! A loud slap interrupted James casual dismissal as Sheery palmed the surface of the interrogation table.
“How about I decide what’s important to this murder inquiry then shall I?” He eyeballed James with his most iron like stare until he looked away. “Now what was the debt? What had Ivan done for you that meant you owed him money.”
“I didn’t owe…”
BANG! Another slap.
“What did he do for you?”
“He told me about a game. And I … look it’s not.”
BANG!
“Okay, okay, Jesus! Stop doing that! Please?”
“Just tell me the truth James, why did Ivan Maxwell threaten to kill you over money? How much money? Why James? Why?”
James hid his head in his hands.
“What if it’s illegal? I should … I can’t incriminate … is this off the record?” He looked at Sherry with pleading eyes.
“Son, you put a bullet in a man’s brain. No one disputes that there were extenuating circumstances, no one disputes that lives were on the line. But you are not telling me the while truth, and as long as you lie to me, to the police, to the courts to whoever sees those lies, that’s all they’re going to see. A liar. Tell me the truth.”
“I don’t want more trouble.”
“More trouble than murder? How bad can it be?”
The truth was worse than murder of course, it was much bigger than that but that was not the buried treasure that James would uncover, that was buried deeper. Below real feelings, real regret and immense shame and risk. That was not coming up easily.
“We conned some guys out of some money.”
“What do you mean?” Sherry could feel it coming up the line, jiggling reluctanly but reeling in nome the less.
“There was this game. A poker game and we had these signals. Well he had these signals. And we used them to take these guys for about 2 grand.”
“Where’s that money now?”
“It’s gone. I spent it.”
“How?”
This is the circle completing, the evidence to back it up. If Ivan’s money, his half of this scam was gone – it didn’t matter.
“I hid out that night, I … think maybe someone saw him, because he kind of stopped after he threatened me, went quiet as if someone was listening. The knife just vanished, I didn’t even see where it went. He knew how to use it.”
“What makes you say that?”
“It appeared from nowhere and cut the skin on my throat, just nicked it a little – made me know it was there.” He lifted his chin, unaware if Sherry could see the evidence or not. It didn’t matter as much as the gesture proved that he believed it to be there. “And then it was gone, invisible like it was never there.” James shook his head. “He never looked at it, he did it all by feel.”
The best lies contain all the truth, conceal it inside other truths.
“So he…”
“He wanted more, a bigger payoff than his half.”
“Why didn’t you just give it to him? Whaetever he had left?”
“I was scared, very scared. I didn’t have it on me of course, and then when I left I needed to hide out – he knew where I lived. I got home and found the door in my place had been kicked in. He’d been in my house.”
It had been kicked out, but that detail was not that relevant in the scheme of things, no one assumed James was a forensics specialist.
“So?”
“So I went to a hotel, the nicest one I could find. And I spent most of the money on the room, dinner and some drinks.” James smiled, selling the satisfied look of a man who had found a loophole perhaps. His face changed as did his tone. “When I sobered up I realised how stupid that was.”
“What happened next?”
“I called Sam and told him bits and pieces of it. Just the highlights really, and he wanted to confront Ivan and sort him out.”
“Sort him out how?” Did the brother have some role here? Not just an innocent bystander.
“Well he was going to tell his sister and shame Ivan into leaving me alone. He figured if Manisha found out Ivan’s problems would be much worse, he did love her very much after all. It just sounded…”
“Like trouble?”
James nodded. Sherry knew what happened next.
“So you went to Ivan before Sam could come in with Manisha, that was the next night?”
“No, it was a night later. We had to work. And Ivan was on a thing with Maisha, something about th baby. I had a day extra to think about it. To work up to it. To be sensible, and well just take what was going to happen like a man.”
“You were going to let him kill you?”
“I didn’t think he was going to really, he might fuck me up a … can I say that?” James looked at the microphone self consciously, thinking of the record for posterity.
“Son, this room has heard much worse.” Sherry chuckled.
“Yeah, you should have heard my old boss. He could be a right prick sometimes, the mouth on hi…” James stopped talking.
Where did that come from? Holy shit. No, no, no. Don’t look up, don’t look at the detective, don’t look guilty.
Sherry saw that look, the one James was trying not to have on his face, but could not stop.
He misread it.
“Yes, you’ve had a bit of a run this month haven’t you?”

James nodded and said nothing more.