“You should make time. The more educated you are, the better decisions you make.”
Rafael knew Auggie would get to the point eventually, so he didn’t say anything.
“Remember I told you about Chesterfield’s disappearing act? Well, Lockwood, his lawyer, thought he took off in a speedboat. The coast guard just found it floating offshore near San Diego. There was a lot of blood and a bloodstained shoe, like the one Chesterfield was wearing when he did his act.”
“They think he’s dead?” Rafael asked.
“I don’t care what anyone thinks. I know Bobby. He’s a magician, and magicians make a living by fooling people. That greasy motherfucker is playing everyone. San Diego is spitting distance from Mexico. A person who owes money can find a lot of places to hide in Mexico. Bobby is alive and well, Rafael, and I want you to find him.”
“That seems like a lot of trouble to go to over a couple of grand.”
“It’s not the money. It’s the principle. If I let Bobby walk away, every piece of shit who owes me will start getting bright ideas. So, you head south and find him, and when you do, you fuck him up good. It’s got to look horrible. I want this to be a warning to anyone who thinks about stiffing me. So, lots of blood, lots of gore, and leave the body where every jerk with an IOU can see it.”
* * *
“Where’s your client?” Joe Samuels screamed into the phone. “And don’t you dare tell me he’s in Davy Jones’s locker! I know better.”
“Then you know more than me,” Horace Dobson said. “I want to wring that bastard’s neck as badly as you do. Canceling his show at the Babylon has cost me a fortune.”
“The lawsuit I’m going to file against your crooked ass is going to cost you a hell of a lot more.”
“Calm down, Joe. I had no idea Bobby was embezzling the money you put up to finance his illusion.”
“So you say. I think you knew what that bastard was doing, and you took your cut.”
“Say that to anyone else, and I’ll be the one suing for slander.”
“Fuck you, Dobson,” Samuels said as he slammed down the phone.
Horace Dobson leaned back, closed his eyes, and muttered, “Fucking Bobby,” over and over.
* * *
“The coast guard found Bobby’s boat covered in blood, but no one’s found his body, so he could still be alive,” Claire Madison told her lawyer as soon as he took her call. “How does this affect a divorce?”
“If you want to get a divorce, you have to notify your spouse. Usually, you serve him with divorce papers. You can’t do that if he’s missing.”
“I knew it. The son of a bitch is doing this deliberately because I exposed him as Mysterioso.”
“There’s a procedure called ‘divorce by publication’ you can use if you can’t find your spouse, but it will cost you, and it takes a while.”
“What do I have to do?”
“You have to convince a judge, based on a sworn affidavit, that you’ve done everything in your power to find the missing spouse and you still can’t locate him.”
“How long is that going to take?”
“Several months. I can send you a copy of the affidavit of diligent search. It will tell you what you have to do. But let me ask you a few questions. Who has more money, you or Mr. Chesterfield?”
“Me.”
“Do you have a prenup?”
“No.”
“Do you have a serious boyfriend?”
Claire hesitated. “I am with someone.”
“Do you want to marry him once you’re divorced?”
“God no. I’m done with marriage.”
“Okay. Then a divorce is the last thing you want. If you divorce Mr. Chesterfield, there’s a possibility that you might have to share your estate with him. If he stays missing for five years, you can have him declared legally dead. Then you don’t need a divorce.”
“So missing is good?”
“Very good.”
PART FOUR
RESURRECTION
2020
CHAPTER TWENTY
This is the true story of how Jimmy O’Leary really found God.
Shortly after Jimmy was sentenced to ten years in the Oregon State Penitentiary, he decided that he didn’t like being in prison. Jimmy wasn’t afraid of being beaten up or raped in the shower, since he was bigger, stronger, and meaner than almost every other con at OSP. Jimmy’s problem was that he loved women, hunting, and fishing, and there were no females, trout, or deer where he was living.
As soon as Jimmy decided that he had to get out of prison he decided that he needed a plan, but that created another problem. Jimmy