by Alan Cook
Chapter 15
The Mackay house was in Manhattan Beach, less
than 15 minutes away from Arrow's condo in her
car. With only the narrow Hermosa Beach in between
Redondo and Manhattan, the distance was short.
Parking was the biggest problem and Arrow had to
squeeze into a space on a narrow street up the hill
one block from Highland Avenue. She proved she was
adept at parallel parking.
The house itself was comfortable but not huge; beach
lots, even several blocks up from the beach where this
house was, tended toward postage-stamp size. Many
of the houses completely filled their lots. This one had
a modern, cube-like design, and was at least two stories
high, maybe more--it was hard to tell at first
glance--since it was built on the side of the hill that led
down to the ocean.
The house fronted on one of the numbered streets
that banned cars. We walked a short distance uphill
on this street and then up a flight of steps to the
front door of the house. Not for the mobility-challenged.
The woman who answered the door to Arrow's ring
didn't look like the wife of Ned Mackay. I guess I was
expecting someone who resembled Ned, but where
Ned had been short, Elma was tall, probably as tall as
Ned; where Ned had been stocky Elma was
slender--too slender to have borne three children;
and where Ned had been tending toward baldness
Elma had short but very red hair. She must have been
a beauty when she was younger--she was still a
beauty. She wore a blouse and a skirt; both had some
green in them. They weren't clothes of mourning.
She invited us in with a quick smile, shook my hand at
Arrow's introduction and said to me, "Don't mind the
mess. I didn't have time to pick up."
I didn't see a mess, especially compared to my place.
I said, "I'm so sorry about Ned. He was very helpful
to me."
"Yes, you were with him when he died, weren't you. I
would like to ask you some questions. But first, my
condolences on your father's illness. Richard is a very
dear friend. Dionysus can survive without Ned, but it
can't survive without both Ned and Richard."
Elma had us sit down in the living room. The large corner
windows overlooked the ocean, or at least a small slice
of ocean, between the houses in front of us.
Elma offered us coffee or tea; I chose herb tea. Arrow
took coffee. No children were in evidence. She told us
she was planning for Ned's funeral service on Tuesday.
She spoke with what must be a Scottish lilt, but it was
barely detectable. When I apologized for interrupting her
she said that the plans were pretty well set. His body
had been returned to Los Angeles so there would be a
casket.
In turn, I told her what I knew about Ned's death,
including what Pat Wong's uncle had said about him being
set up with the cocaine.
"Ned was a lot of things, but he wasn't a drug dealer,"
Elma said, vehemently. "The police searched the house
from top to bottom and found not a trace. Not a trace!"
She showed some of the fire that must have kept
the police from running wild through the house.
She appeared to be ready to handle questions
about the future of Dionysus.
I said, "Elma, you and Richard together now own a
majority of the stock of Dionysus."
Elma looked at me with her green eyes, fully alert, but
she didn't say anything.
"This means you two control the company."
"I know what it means," she said, softly.
Based on Arrow's description of her financial acumen, I
hadn't been sure. And I wasn't sure how to proceed. I
said, "Have you heard of a man named James
Buchanan?"
Again she stared at me, not saying anything. I thought
I'd drawn a blank. This was encouraging because it
meant that Buchanan hadn't contacted her. But slowly
her expression changed, from alertness to something
incomprehensible. She said, "What does James
Buchanan have to do with this?"
"He wants to gain control of Dionysus," Arrow said.
"How do you know?" Elma still spoke softly, but with
intensity.
"He is head of a company that invests in other
companies," I said. "Sometimes he is content to be a
minority stockholder; in other cases he takes control.
He has been buying the stock of Dionysus. We know
because he has to file reports with the SEC--the
Securities and Exchange Commission. And because
he told us."
"We think he wants to get control of Dionysus," Arrow
said, "so that he can replace Richard."
Elma didn't say anything for a while. She appeared to be
far away. After a full minute had gone by, she asked,
"What does James look like now?"
This question caught both Arrow and me by surprise.
We exchanged glances. Finally, Arrow said, "He has
gray hair, but he still looks youthful. He has a zest
for life."
"James always had a zest for life. Maybe too much so."
"So you know him," I said.
"I...knew him. Many years ago." Again Elma appeared
to be somewhere else, but then she snapped back
to the present. "So you think James is likely to
contact me?"
"We think so," Arrow said. "If he can convince you
to vote your stock for him, that's his best chance
for gaining control of Dionysus."
"So James needs me," Elma said with a little smile.
"That's a switch." She looked at Arrow and me.
"Arrow, since you've been so helpful to me, and
Karl, since you are Richard's son, I owe you both an
explanation of my involvement with James."
Having dropped that bombshell, Elma heightened the
tension by going to the kitchen to refresh our drinks.
My stomach did flips. I asked Arrow, "Are we in
trouble?"
"I don't know," she said, frowning. "This is the first I've
heard of anything between Elma and James."
Elma came back with a plate of cookies. I immediately
stuffed two into my mouth and was working on a
third before I realized what I was doing. I deliberately
set the partially eaten cookie down on the napkin in
front of me.
I watched the freckles on Elma's nose as she sat
back down in a large armchair, wondering what
secrets they had seen. She took off her shoes
and drew her legs up underneath her. She had
freckles on her legs, too. I like freckles.
"Once upon a time," Elma said, "I was a girl living
in northern Scotland, in the village of Wick. There
were two boys--friends of each other--also living
in Wick. They were a few years older than I was.
Their names were James Buchanan and Ned Mackay."
Elma paused and took a bite of a cookie, while Arrow
and I surreptitiously glanced at each other. Elma
appeared to be collecting her thoughts. "When I
was old enough to notice boys I set my cap for
James. James was...how shall I say it? I think
flamboyant is the best description for him. He was
popular and he liked to take risks. He bet on things.
But he managed to get the odds in his favor and he
won most of his bets.
"Girls were attracted to him and at first I didn't
think I had a chance. But when other boys
started noticing me I realized that I was not
without my charms. On Saturday evenings there
would be singing and dancing at Mackays Hotel,
which was owned by a distant cousin of Ned. I
had a good voice and I would sing songs about
Loch Lomond and the Highlands."
The lilt in Elma's voice became more definite now
as she became engrossed in her tale.
"I was 15 when I caught James' eye. He began
squiring me. Ned was sweet on me too and when
James wasn't there--he played the bagpipes in a
band and sometimes traveled to other cities to
perform--I would dance with Ned or go to the
movies with him. But I liked James better.
"As long as James had me to himself when he
was around he didn't mind me going with Ned
when he wasn't because they were friends
and Ned didn't infringe on James' territory. He
was content to be in James' shadow--then. We
were a loose triangle. This went on for a
couple of years. I felt like a queen with my
two beaus."
Elma smiled to herself as she relived the memory.
I could understand why James and Ned had liked
her.
"It sounds ideal to me," Arrow said. "I can't even
hold onto one beau."
"It didn't last, of course. "One day they went away.
Took the train to Glasgow and flew to America."
"Together?" I asked.
"Together. In those days they did everything
together. Shared everything--including me."
Elma's faced clouded. "They left me at the same
time. My heart broke into little pieces. In
retrospect, I should have seen it coming. Wick
wasn't big enough for James. He was always so
restless, so full of grand ideas. That's one reason
I liked him. Ultimately, the same thing proved to
be true for Ned."
Elma stopped talking, still lost in her memories.
"But that's not the end of the story," Arrow said.
"No, it isn't." Elma said. She was smiling again.
"After my heart mended itself I tried to adjust to
life without James and Ned. Wick wasn't the
same without them. I began to see the warts--the
provinciality. The narrowness of thinking in a small
town where, if you get out of step you are a pariah.
"My mother was glad James and Ned were gone
because she felt that as long as I had two
boyfriends, I would never get married. However,
my father sensed the reasons for my rebellion,
even though it mostly manifested itself in
moodiness, and offered to send me to university.
I wanted to go to a university all right, but not in
the UK--in the US. I saved my money and got some
help from my father and an uncle.
"The day I boarded the train for Glasgow to fly to the
US my mother was so upset I almost didn't go. I
thought she might die of grief. I was her only child.
But I was too selfish to stay; so I went."
"Alone?" Arrow asked. "Did you go alone?"
"Yes, I went alone. There was nobody left in Wick
who had the wanderlust--nobody to go with me."
"So you had more balls than James and Ned."
Elma laughed. "I didn't see them again for five
years. I graduated from college and moved to Los
Angeles, where I got a job teaching at a private
school. And then one night I ran into James at a
party--and his wife. He and Ned were in partnership
together and they had just taken over a printing
company.
"I'll summarize the rest so I don't bore you to tears.
James put me in touch with Ned. We dated; we got
married. Their company grew but Ned was still
second fiddle. He chafed under the arrangement.
I urged him to break with James. Finally, James bought
him out and moved to San Francisco. They went their
separate ways and both prospered."
Perhaps James had prospered more than Ned. I
wondered whether Elma ever wished she had married
James. There was another thing. Before giving it any
thought I said, "Did you know that when Ned went to
San Francisco on business he visited James?"
Elma shook her head slowly, her green eyes
boring into me. "No, he never told me that.
Are you sure?"
"I was supposed to meet him at James' house the
night he was killed. James and one of his assistants
told us--told me--that Ned was a frequent visitor
there. James has set up a mock gambling casino and
lots of people go there."
"I can't say that I'm shocked, or even surprised. Ned
kept things to himself."
"Just one more question, Elma. Did Ned gamble?"
"Gamble? He might bet a dollar on a football game
once in a while. But he didn't play the horses, if
that's what you mean. He didn't even buy lottery
tickets. Why?"
"He didn't like casino gambling? Dice? Blackjack?"
"No. I don't think he's been to Las Vegas more than
three times since we've been married. He helped to
get financing for a casino once, but that was strictly
a business deal. Of course, I don't know what he did
at this casino you said James has."
"That isn't a real casino. No money changes hands."
"I have a question," Arrow said. "James may make an
offer to buy your stock--and everybody else's. Would
you sell?"
Elma smiled at her audacity. "I haven't spoken to James
in over five years."
"He seems to prefer boys to girls now."
"There were shades of that even when he was a
teenager back in Wick. I was young and naive, it's true,
but I always thought his roughhousing with his friends
went beyond the bounds of camaraderie."
Aces and Knaves copyright ©2002 Alan L. Cook
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