Flying Too Close to the Sun by George Jehn (novels for beginners .txt) 📕

friends avoided me like I had the plague. Overnight I was like shit on their shoes and all they wanted was to wipe me away, write me off like a bad check. I got physically sick from all the pressure and finally resigned. The whole thing was hushed up and no charges were ever filed. I didn’t take the dough, but knew who did, but couldn’t rat the guy out. The WASP asshole who stole it is still workin’ there and probably still stealin’. The old expression, justice is blind is accurate. Overnight, I stepped from one universe into another. I was forced to deal with what appeared to be failure or worse to everyone except me and my wife; the only ones who knew what really happened. But silence cost me my job and long-term security. How do you think I felt reverting into the fuckin’ fake I hated so much? I thought that person had been left behind, forever. I didn’t want to do this job but stepped back into the darkness only for what it would mean for my family. So I wouldn’t have to borrow from some new Peter to pay Paul. And just like the pricks at the bank you think I stole it.” A number of diners turned and looked at them as Juni again wiped his eyes with his fingertips.

“Lower your voice,” Erik demanded.

“My word is my bond,” Juni softly growled, making blood vessels surface in his temples. “Maybe you two can’t grasp the meaning of that, but we shook hands, ate and drank together. If doing that makes me old-fashioned in your young minds then I’m guilty as charged. Friendship is about trust and I’m no rat. The only reason I took a chance on meeting like this was to try to figure out who did it. I’ve always been well served by using hard logic and believe if we put our heads together and use these tools, we might be able to begin to get to the bottom of who it was. I jeopardized a lot just by comin’ here. Think about it. Why would I risk meeting with two prime suspects? Instead, I’d be putting as much distance as possible between you and me. The cops don’t even know I exist. I’m even gonna drive back to Boston hoping to spot the prick.”

“All right,” Christina sighed, as she peered into mahogany eyes seemingly mirroring a warm heart, but her mind was still on David. “You asked us, but maybe you mentioned something to someone?”

Juni recalled the mere fragment he revealed to Martino. There was probably no way Joey could have figured out what he was up to. But if he did, prying anything out of him would be hard. “You take me for an idiot?”

“It’s just that we came so close,” she whispered, constantly wringing her hands to force feeling into them, at the same time trying to force feeling for Juni into her heart. They spoke in hushed tones while logically going over the smallest details until nearly closing time, but couldn’t come up with anything. Juni sensed they were missing an important piece of this puzzle, but didn’t know what. He finally offered, “Whoever it was either had to know every detail or was the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.”

“Maybe this guy was after your wallet and only discovered the money afterwards,” Erik offered.

“C’mon. No one would wait with a baseball bat on a deserted dock just to roll someone, not knowing if the guy had a dime.”

“For now it’s the only plausible explanation.”

“I’m returning to Boston for a couple of days. Maybe Mister cement-face will do something really dumb, like driving to the ball field in a flashy new Jag or bedecked with jewelry? It’s a long shot, but might pay off.”

“Does anyone know how much we had?” a dejected Christina asked. She wanted to forgive, but found it difficult to do.

“The cops will keep it hushed up,” Juni added. “But it had to be at least a couple of million.”

“I asked them that question. Their only reply was it was a substantial amount,” Erik added. He was out of fuel and running on fumes. “Can either of you help me?” he pleaded. “My deadline’s almost here.”

Christina wondered about her future and how she could pay the next term’s tuition for Laurel and buy Jimmy’s new computer and printer. What effect would all of this have on her relationship with both? On top of everything else, she just discovered David’s tuition money never made it to the school. The bursar had called and said he still owed it. No grades would be issued until it was paid. He probably pocketed the cash. For the foreseeable future he was the only constant in her life and she didn’t want him out—not yet. Although he didn’t make her heart melt like the water in a frozen stream at spring’s first thaw, she was more terrified of being all alone, like her mother. “I’d like to,” she replied, “but I’m broke.”

Erik looked to Juni. “Sorry, but the guy even grabbed money I borrowed. I got plenty to worry about.”

Erik’s brain raced. What the hell was he going to do? He chewed on that thought during the seemingly endless drive home and again in bed, until he finally fell asleep.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Daly, Morganthaler and a sizeable cadre of FBI and Port Authority police pored over all possible angles during their systematic investigation. After securing a list of the crew and passenger names they painstakingly checked out each, looking for criminal records, mob-related activity or other connections. Daly ran a background check on all possible suspects in similar crimes nationwide, while Morganthaler, with the help of some contacts in the NYPD reached out to confidential informants, small-time hoodlums on the cops’ payroll. Per chance, someone might have attempted to dispose of old bills through the criminal world. But all these came up empty-handed.

The FBI’s forensic experts working