Read Online Big Mango (9786167611037) by Jake Needham - Free Book Online Page A

garden-variety San Francisco lawyer go
about his daily business, realize that Eddie didn’t know anything
about the money, and give up.
    And what could the Secret Service do to him?
After all, he didn’t know anything about Operation Voltaire and he
couldn’t tell them where the money was no matter how many times
they asked him. After a while they would have to give up, too.
    Yeah, Eddie decided, Wuntz was giving him
good advice. All he had to do was keep his nose clean, go about his
business, and in a few weeks this would all turn into nothing but a
story he would someday tell some woman when he was trying to make
his life sound interesting to her. Wuntz was a pretty savvy
guy.
    Eddie kept thinking that for a long time
after they left Washington Square that night and went their
separate ways. In fact, he kept thinking that all through the rest
of the weekend and all the way up until he walked into his office
on Monday morning and saw the look on Joshua’s face.
    Joshua held Eddie’s eyes while he tilted his
head slowly in the direction of the inner office’s closed door and
pursed his lips into a long, silent whistle.
    ‘Secret Service?’ Eddie mouthed.
    Joshua replied by shaking his head and
allowing his eyebrows to begin a slow migration toward the ceiling.
All in a flash, Eddie saw something as clearly as he had ever seen
anything in his entire life.
    Kelly Wuntz was about to turn out to be one
really dumb son of a bitch after all.

 
     
     
Seven
     
    “MR. Rupert, he said his
name was,” Joshua stage whispered. “Marinus Rupert.”
    “And you believed that?”
    “No, but what do I care? How about that
Chinese guy last week who insisted we call him O.J. Simpson?”
    “Do we at least know what this Mr. Marinus
wants?” Eddie asked with a hint of irritation.
    “Mr. Rupert. Marinus is his first name.”
    “As long as he remembers. What does he
want?”
    Joshua gave Eddie a tired look and went back
to typing, so he took a deep breath and opened the door to his
office.
    The man turned out to be not at all what
Eddie had expected, although when he thought about it later, he
realized he wasn’t sure what he had expected.
    Marinus Rupert could have passed for fifty,
but Eddie guessed he was probably a lot older. He was a handsome
man, trim and well dressed with a patrician face that made Eddie
think of Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. as he had looked in the sixties.
The man certainly didn’t strike Eddie as the kind who went around
using a phony name. Maybe his name really was Marinus Rupert. Poor
bastard.
    “Thank you for seeing me without an
appointment, Mr. Dare.”
    Eddie offered his hand. “No problem.”
    The man’s voice was deep and smooth and had
authority to it. His accent tagged him as English, but he could
just as well have been a colonial of some kind.
    As they made small talk, Eddie looked Rupert
over carefully. More than anything else, he looked rich: a suit
that was obviously custom tailored; small gold links glinting
against the cuffs of his snow-white shirt; a wristwatch so
exclusive that Eddie couldn’t immediately identify the make; and
expensively barbered dark hair, graying in perfect symmetry at both
temples.
    “So what can I do for you, Mr. Rupert?” Eddie
asked when he got bored with sizing the man up.
    “I’m sure you realize Rupert isn’t my real
name, Mr. Dare, and I know you realize it or I wouldn’t be here.”
The man looked mildly amused. “Nevertheless, why don’t we just
continue to use it for a while. Just between us.”
    That was interesting, Eddie thought.
    “Okay,” he said. “And you can use the name
Eddie Dare for me since that actually is my name.”
    The man smiled broadly as if he found Eddie’s
response delightfully witty.
    “No, actually it’s not, sport. Rupert Edward
Dare is your real name. Eddie is just the charmingly American
diminutive you began using when you became a voice for the criminal
classes. I’m sure your usual clientele likes it, but then