By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
Charlie’s cell phone rang. “This is Tommy. I need to see you.”
“Sure, Tommy, come on over.”
“I need to see you in private.”
“I’m meeting Margot later for dinner, but there isn’t anyone here now but me.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
It was only ten in the morning but Charlie opened a beer anyway and walked out onto the front porch. The two dogs ran to the fence that enclosed them. Charlie kept a bag of treats on the porch and he pulled two out and walked over to the dogs. He tossed them the treats and away they ran. Because he rented the dogs, he didn’t take care of them; the security company came by each day to water and feed them and collect their poop. And they traded the dogs every three weeks, so neither he nor the dogs would get attached, and the dogs wouldn’t get used to the same people showing up at the house.
Charlie was lost in watching the dogs play when Tommy’s horn made him jump. He waved and walked into the house to open the gate.
Tommy parked and Charlie closed the gate. “Come on in, Tommy. Can I get you a beer or anything else?”
“No, no, I’m good.”
That answer concerned Charlie. Tommy was the most kicked-back one of them all, but today he was acting as though he was at the point of having a heart attack. They walked into the living room. “Have a seat, Tommy, while I close these curtains.”
The morning sun was blazing in through the sliding doors at that time of the morning, and it was blinding. With the sunlight cut off, the room became darker and cooler. “What has got you so upset, Tommy?”
Tommy laid sheets of paper out on the coffee table and picked one up and handed it to Charlie. “Remember how Howard said the Environmental Ministry was clean? They’re not clean at all!”
“I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
“American Airlines and U.P.S. had refused to fly shark fins out of Costa Rica. That is, until the Ministry convinced them it would give them cover if there was ever a problem. That promise came from Victor Rodrigez, Howard’s friend.”
“Are you saying Howard knew this?”
“I don’t know, maybe. I would think he had to know! It wasn’t that hard for me to come across it, and I wasn’t looking.”
Charlie leaned back and thought for a moment. Howard didn’t look the type, but then again what did the type look like? “Tommy, I need you to dig into Howard’s past. It’s hard for me to believe but it sounds like he may be working for the other side.”
“I thought you might want that, so I did it already.” Tommy picked up a couple of sheets of paper to refresh his memory. “I didn’t find anything that seemed strange until 2008, when Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast.”
Charlie got up and headed toward the kitchen. “I’m getting another beer. Do you want one?”
“Yes, I think I can use one now.”
Charlie returned with the beers and they both took a drink. Charlie settled in for what looked like a long story.
“As I was saying, I found nothing before the hurricane. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything. Howard may not have been taking bribes but he was good at covering his tracks. In fact, if not for the hurricane, I’m not sure this would ever have come to light.”
“Tommy, please get to the point. I don’t need a lot of background right now.”
“Okay! The Lapar Chemical Company, a group out of Canada, owned a plant outside of Port Arthur and was cited for having two tanks with non-compatible chemicals side by side. If the two mixed there would be an explosion that could spread to the other plants close by. In order to move one of the chemicals, a new tank needed to be built, then it would take weeks of slowly moving one of the chemicals across the property to the new tank.”
Tommy took a drink of beer and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “The move was going to cost the Lapar Company 20 to 30 million dollars. That is, until Howard showed up. Howard approved the plant ‘as is’. I couldn’t find where any money changed hands but there had to be a reason for Howard to do that. The hurricane pushed a wall of water ahead of it and the flooding started, the tanks broke and the chemicals mixed and exploded. It would have been worse than it was but for all the water that contained and diluted the chemicals close to the source. It burned for three days. Howard was recalled to D.C. for a closed-door hearing. If there was a record of that hearing I couldn’t find it. Howard was given a desk job in D.C. until he retired two years later. His wife divorced him and took everything, including their life savings. Which goes along with his story that all he has is his retirement.”
Charlie was shaking his head. “My God, Howard is the last person in the world I would believe could do something like this.”
Tommy leaned back on the couch and sipped at his beer. “Howard and I have been friends for years. We have both done some things we’re not real proud of, but the sharks we agreed on. We worked on project after project with Margot; I have always trusted him with my life. When I first found that Rodrigez had been the government go-between for Mr. Tai and the transport service to the States, I thought I’d made a mistake. I was determined to prove Howard knew nothing about it, but that’s not the case.”
Charlie took a deep breath and exhaled. “How did he keep a secret like that for so many years?”
Tommy eased his empty bottle onto the coffee table. “We took him at face value and never questioned his past. He was retired from the government…how boring can that be?”
Charlie got up and took the two empty bottles back to the kitchen. When he returned, he asked, “What else do you have?”
“Unfortunately, there is more, and it’s just as bad. Do you remember the gold mine lawsuit in the world court?”
“No, I can’t say I do.”
“I guess it wasn’t much of a story in the States, but gold was found in northern Costa Rica, and a contract was given to Dellay International, who would mine the gold. Environmentalists went nuts over the proposed site of the mine. A river that supplied water to half of Guanacaste would be polluted if that plant was allowed to operate. Even knowing this, Rodrigez signed off on the project. The parent company of Dellay is Lapar Chemical, and Howard had made his first trip to Costa Rica a month before Rodrigez gave his approval. Six months later, Howard bought the house where he lives today for a third of its value and, as of today, he has transferred over three hundred thousand dollars to his bank account here in Costa Rica. Upon moving here he got fast-tracked to citizenship and bought an airplane with a Costa Rican permit and pilot license. Not bad for someone living off of his government retirement.”
Charlie had his head in his hands. “My God, what a mess!” Charlie got up and walked around trying to clear his mind. “Tommy, this must stay between the two of us for now. I don’t know what to do about it yet; I need some time to digest this nightmare.”
“I understand. I couldn’t believe it at first, and I still don’t want to believe it, but the facts don’t lie.”
“You did good work here, Tommy. Can you leave me the printouts?”
Tommy handed Charlie the papers. “We’re not going to kill Howard, are we? He’s still my closest friend and this doesn’t mean he turned on us.”
“Hell no, we’re not going to kill anyone!” It hadn’t crossed Charlie’s mind to do something like that.
Charlie watched Tommy’s car head down the road. Out loud he said, “God, I hope we don’t have to kill Howard.”
It dawned on Charlie at that moment that he knew nothing about either Howard or Tommy. Or Margot. He had taken them all at face value.
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
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