... And Then Murder: Clint Faraday Mysteries, #5

By C. D. Moulton

5 Clint Faraday mysteries

Dead Man Talking
An old pirate. A murder. The old pirate was a fake. There's a ship. Billions of dollars. Could this be real?

Killer Deal
A killer deal. A deep sea fishing boat. People went out on the boat, but didn't come back. Some kind of deal to get rid of gangsters? By other gangsters? This isn't adding up!

Dead Serious
They were going to stop the corruption, by any means possible. They were dead serious about it.
Then some people were merely dead.

Death from Natural Causes
"Yes. Torture execution, when those people are involved, was natural causes."

A Vacation to Die For
It was a vacation to die for!
Well, she certainly died!

• Language: English
• Publisher: C. D. Moulton
• Release date: Aug 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201585310

Book preview

Clint Faraday Mysteries

And Then Murder

A collection

5 novellas

© 2020 by C. D. Moulton

all rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

These are works of fiction. Any resemblances to actual persons or events are purely coincidental unless otherwise stated.

Dead Man Talking

An old pirate. A murder. The old pirate was a fake. There’s a ship. Billions of dollars. Could this be real?

Killer Deal

A killer deal. A deep sea fishing boat. People went out on the boat, but didn’t come back. Some kind of deal to get rid of gangsters? By other gangsters? This isn’t adding up!

Dead Serious

They were going to stop the corruption, by any means possible. They were dead serious about it.

Then some people were merely dead.

Death from Natural Causes

Yes. Torture execution, when those people are involved, was natural causes.

A Vacation to Die For

It was a vacation to die for!

Well, she certainly died!

Contents

About the author

Dead Man Talking

Dave Calls

Strange Background

Little Side Details

River Excursion

A Plan

Home Again

Killer Deal

Bar Talk

One Way Fishing Trip

A Weird Cast of Characters

California Dreamin’

Back to Panamá

Idle Chatter

Close the Deal!

Home Sweet Home!

Dead Serious

A Nice Lunch

Phone Messages

Too Far

A Convoluted Mess

Santiago Again

Wrapping It Up

Peace

Death from Natural Causes

Phone Calls

The Trip

Connect the Dots

Philosophy

Wait and Plan

Things Start Happening

Back to Cusapín

A Vacation to Die For

Valley Girl Vacation

Calling Clint Faraday!

Computer Legwork

Where There’s a Will...

Pieces Begin to Fit

Dinner and Dessert

A Short Visit

About the author

CD was born in Lakeland, Florida, in 1938. He is educated in genetics and botany. He has traveled extensively, particularly when he was a rock rhythm guitarist with some well-known bands in the late sixties and early seventies. He has worked as a high steel worker and as a longshoreman, clerk, orchidist, bar owner, salvage yard manager, and landscaper and more.

CD began writing fiction in 1984 and has more than 300 books published in SciFi, murder, orchid culture, and various other fields.

He now resides in Gualaca, Chiriqui, Panamá, where he continues research into epiphytic plants and plays music with friends. He loves the culture of the indigenous people. He funds those he can afford through the universities, where they have all excelled. The Indios are very intelligent people, they are simply too poor (in material things and money. Culturally, they are very wealthy) to pursue higher education.

CD loves Panamá and the people, despite horrendous experiences (Free e-book; Fading Paradise). He plans to spend the rest of his life in the paradise that is Panamá

CD is involved in research of natural cancer cure at this time. It is based on a plant that has been in use for centuries, is safe, available, and cheap. Information about this cure is free on the FaceBook page: Ambrosia peruviana for cancer.

Dead Man Talking

Clint Faraday

book fifty one

© 2019 by C. D. Moulton

Dave calls Clint from Tobobé, where he has met Armitage Lincoln, a psychic investigator. Army has been taking a lot of information from an old man, Francisco Escobar, who knows hundreds of tales from times past.

Trouble was, the stories he told, like he was part of, were more from a couple of hundred years ago.

A body is found in the yuca plot of the puebla. He is a young man named, of all things, Pancho Escobar!

Francisco did not come last night.

Clint handled this kind of investigation on the comarca. Could he come to try to find out what the hell was going on?

Dave Calls

Clint Faraday, retired PI from Florida, USA, now living with his people, the Ngobe, in the comarca Ngobe Bugle, Panamá, wrestled in the water with his nine year old son, Nito, and his eight year old daughter, Nicole, in the stream below his home in Quebrada Tula. His beautiful younger wife came from the house to tell him to call Dave, as soon as he could.

Clint was seventy two. His wife was twenty nine. She was Ngobe. He was honored to be declared Ngobe by the council, the second to be declared, in a legal sense.

Clint had several million dollars left in his account that he, Manny Matthews, a retired mafia don from California, who Clint had helped to disappear so he could raise his family where his children wouldn’t be embarrassed by how Pop made his, and Judi Lum, his attractive nextdoor neighbor, in Bocas Town, and enormous help, at times, with the detective thing. She had a talent for getting information that amazed Clint. The three had taken the millions Clint made, mostly by accident, in his detective work, and matching funds from Manny, to establish a fund to build schools and hospitals on the comarcas.

Manny was supposed to be on a private island, in the Mediterranean. He ran the organization, which he had made go legitimate, through the computers.

Dave was a nutty botanist, musician, author who Clint had met when he first moved to Bocas Town. He was eighty some-odd years old, now, but still wandered all over the jungle, classifying orchids and exotic plants. He was popular with the Indios, and kept Clint up to date on what was happening in strange places. They usually communicated through the computers.

Clint said it would be important, if Dave called, to ask that he call back. He would call right away.

He went to the house to get his satellite cellular, and called Dave, to ask what was going on, now.

"Clint? You know Army Lincoln? He says he worked with you on some weird voodoo case, or something, and that this would be right up your alley.

"He’s been taking information from an old man here, Francisco Escobar. He’s a retired pirate, or something, and has a lot of tales about the voodoo and magic in the Caribbean.

"Whatever, he had been talking with Army, every night, for two weeks. He didn’t show up, last night.

Oh, before you say, ‘So what?’ A body was found, an hour or so ago. In the yuca plot. Hacked up with a machete.

And you think it’s Escobar?

It’s definitely Escobar, but Pancho Escobar, from the puebla, who’s about twenty years old.

If it weren’t for the fact that Army’s a psychic investigator, I’d say I couldn’t care less. What do you want from me?

Could you come? I think this is a little weird. You investigate this kind of thing for the council. I think you’ll find it interesting.

Depends. I assume you’re on the comarca, seeing the bit about the council.

Tobobé.

Oh, yeah. Army said he was thinking of going there. A girlfriend recommended it as a place where there’s a lot of voodoo, or something.

Yajaira. His wife. He said you told him it would be alright to marry her. The age difference wouldn’t matter. Your wife’s more than forty years younger than you.

I’ll have to find a way to get there that doesn’t require two days riding a mule. I guess I can come.

Nito had come into the house, and was standing there. Clint handed him the phone, and said it was Dave. They chatted, a few minutes, then Nito handed the phone back, and asked, Can I go? Please?

It was school break, and Nito wanted to know the comarca. Clint nodded, and said he might be able to find someone close where he could take a flight or a car.

C’mon! Get a chopper!

The helicopter would cost a thousand dollars for that trip!

Okay. We can be there, early this afternoon, sometime. Clint had those millions, and did take the helicopter flights to these things. He told Nito to grab a few things, and pack them. Only a week, at most. He had to be back when school started. He told Tyna and Nicole he was going. Nicole couldn’t go, because there wasn’t room in the helicopter, and he wouldn’t know how to take care of her, in that kind of place.

Sari is from there. She says it’s dull. I don’t want to go.

Clint called the helicopter pilot, in David. He was in Changuinola, so would stop for Clint and Nito in forty minutes. Tobobé would be an hour and a half. They would be there by noon.

Clint called Dave, but got Army. Dave was teaching four locals how to classify orchids. He had already found twenty thousand or so that weren’t supposed to be in the country, or that were entirely new species. At least, it sounded that way, to him. Clint laughed, and said Dave was enthusiastic about the science.

He packed a few things, made sure Tyna had everything she would need that she couldn’t get in the puebla, and went to the meadow where the chopper always landed. It came, and they were off to Tobobé!

Strange Background

Army came to meet the chopper. Dave was out, somewhere, in the jungle, which was all there was out there. The body was in a shed, waiting to be buried. There wasn’t much to see, where it was concerned. Escobar was a Ngobe who, had been chopped up, with a machete. The people wanted to know who did it, and why.

And you?

"I mainly want to know what the hell´s going on. I want to know why a young man with the same name as an old man I was talking with is dead, and what happened to the old man.

"Clint, I’ve asked about Francisco. They all say the only Francisco Escobar here is Pancho.

"Dave sort of took charge, in a way. He said to bring the body here, to the shed. He took a lot of pictures of everything. He said we could bury him as soon as you said it was alright.

"He said no one was to go to Escobar’s house until you had looked it over. You would know what to look for. He doesn’t, and they don’t.

He’s quite the character.

I don’t need to see the body. I would like to look over the house. Maybe there’s something there that would tend to give us an answer or two. You’ll have some questions of your own.

Nito went to talk with some kids his age. Clint told the pilot he would call, when he was ready to go.

Call? It’s three hundred kilometers from a signal, here!

Satellite.

Edwin Cano, the present head honcho of the puebla, was introduced, by Army, who said he was fascinated by the names in that place, way out in the middle of a jungle. The names came from a hundred years or more ago, when a group of Caribbean pirates came there with their Ngobe wives to escape the patrolling navy and other stronger pirates.

He was introduced to Maribel Trotman and Wilber Smith. Maribel had found the body. Smith came out, a few minutes later, and she sent him to Dave, who went to the yuca patch with Army and his camera. Army had appeared shocked when Maribel said it was Pancho Escobar.

"I thought it must be the grandson of the Pancho I had been talking to. Everyone says his grandfather was Julio Escobar, and Julio’s father was Stuart Escobar, and on back. The great great great grandfather was Franscisco. No one called him Pancho. He always insisted his name was Francisco. Seeing he was a famous violent pirate, no one argued the point. He was the one who established the puebla, and named it Tobobé.

"There was a strong physical resemblance to Pancho, in the old man. I didn’t know his name was Escobar, this one. I always get introduced with the first name. This was Pancho Two, to me.

We can talk about the assorted stories, later. I’ve downloaded the pictures, so you can look them over.

Clint nodded. He went to a house, where the computer was that Dave had put there for the whole village to use. He looked over the pictures, but didn’t expect to find anything, and didn’t.

This was an odd one. The Indios weren’t often a violent people, but he had to take the fact these were descended from a pirate crew, who were violent people.

So. He had to find who had reason to kill Pancho.

He made sure his camera battery was charged, and went to Pancho’s house. It didn’t take long to find that Pancho had been Francisco. There was the false beard, false scars, color lightener, and a very good painting of a man who looked very much like the corpse in the shed, but was lighter, and had the beard and scars. It was signed by Francoise DeMont, Port au Prince, 1838.

There were a lot of what would very valuable antiques, in the house. Swords, with gold designs on the handle and haft, and some jewels, large wide-bladed knives, curved daggers, a couple of muskets, costumery, lots of leather clothes items, leather boots and belts, bright satin shirts and pants. It was a museum keeper’s dream!

There was a large chest, with some very good, very old fine jewelry, chalices, candle holders.

There were treasure maps, but none were near Panama’. The landmarks would be long gone, and most were in places that were occupied within the last sixty to eighty years.

Francisco had kept careful records of where they made their catches, and where they went. He wrote terse notes that indicated he didn’t like or trust blacks, and he hated the French, with a passion. Some of the Dutch were okay. The English were snobbish and effete. The Irish were okay, unless they were drunk, but no one is good company when he’s drunk. The Indians were usually good people, but they would steal things. It was part of their culture. They weren’t good pirates. They didn’t want to actually hurt anyone. They liked to fight, but only as a competition thing, not a true fight. The Indian women were off limits, unless they wanted a little dalliance. He had no problems, in that area. He was fortunate that women liked him.

There were short descriptions of their catches and encounters, that numbered in the dozens. The loot from each was carefully listed. He was known as a fair captain, and he always made sure the men got their fair share. He had seen what happened to a captain who wasn’t fair with the men, when he was an apprentice cabin boy. A fierce encounter with a Dutch ship, which they took, but in which Captain Ironhead got his head almost severed with a broadaxe. He had been on the deck, behind some barrels, when Big Eddy, his own mate, solved the problem of a cheating captain for all of them. Big Eddy was a good captain. He actually lived to retire, which wasn’t the case, with a lot of captains.

Clint sat back, and grinned at the log. Pancho was probably telling Army these tales as though he was the captain.

Army came in with Nito, who said the kids his age were having fun with Pancho dressing up and acting like an old dead pirate so Army would think it was a ghost he was talking to. It was all in fun, not to hurt anyone.

Army said it really was fun, and that Pancho told a very good, very convincing story. He wouldn’t be upset, if it was taken from real life.

But it means the reason he was killed has to be somewhere in these logs, Clint said. I tend to doubt I’d recognize it, if I saw it.

He was arguing with Tomas Dorado, Nito said.

About what? Clint asked.

I promised not to tell.

That was it. Clint would never pressure Nito to break a promise. It did give him a tenuous lead.

Army would have the clue that would tell him what was going on, but wouldn’t know it. The motive would be a little different – or maybe a lot different – than with the societies he knew.

Army, did Pancho, as Francisco, ever mention anything about pirate treasure?

A great number of times. He said there were lists of where the treasures were, and what they contained. He said, often, that it was sad that they were all found and stolen, many years ago.

Was he interested in getting rid of any things he had?

"No. He was strongly against any further raping of the old memories, as he called them. He said what was needed, at the time, was converted into food, or clothing, or whatever, and was the kinds of things that had no attachment, except that they were gold or jewels, or whatever, and he had always had much more of those things than was reasonably needed by any one man. They were trophies. They were memories of great excitement and great danger, which was what made a man. When he faced danger, with disdain, when he faced death, with a laugh.

"He said he started out wanting riches and treasures, which would make him powerful and respected. He had, long ago, learned that it did give power, but not respect. Being feared and being respected were two very different things, though fear is often disguised as respect.

He had no fear. Perhaps it was a defect. It was most certainly not normal!

That gives me a mixed feeling, about him. If he had no fear, why did he bring his crew here?

"The fear of him, not by him. The way he explained, which is what Pancho was probably trying to get through to me, was that the pirate thing had grown stale. He got little resistance, when he found a ship with treasure.  It was known on the seas that fighting the crew of Captain Francisco, and most particularly Captain Francisco, himself, was always fatal. If the Ghost of the Coast stopped you, you could fight, and die, or you could let them take what they wanted.

"Francisco gained the reputation of, if you would cooperate, he would board, and would only take what he wanted. The ship could then go on. He wanted gold and jewels, of course. Trophies, not for the wealth. He liked good art. He liked fine cloth.

"The choice was to lose the treasure or to lose the treasure, the ship, and your life. Prudence said to reduce the loss. Give him the treasure, and go on your way.

"This left him without a challenge. His crew were getting soft and bored. They had more and more things, and nowhere to put them, and no use for them.

"Captain Francisco stayed in a little deep lagoon, near what is now Boca de Rio Caña. There