What happened in Chapter 21
Mac finally brings out the Maltese Cube for all to see. Bell freaks out because it wasn’t what he expected and runs sobbing from the room. Gassly comes to after Mac’s knuckle sandwich. Pindler says that Gassly is going to take the fall for Newton’s murder…or is he?
Chapter 22
The murderer revealed
Lisa, Pindler, and Gassly stared across the office at me. If ever a moment was there for holding your breath, this was it.
‘It looks like he did, doesn’t it. He had the time and the lack of morals. I have no doubt that he was capable of it. But there’s one thing missing.’
I paused before speaking again.
‘Motivation. Why would he kill Newton? I still didn’t have the Maltese Cube and at that point, Newton hadn’t told me where it was. Shooting Newton would have been counterproductive to your goal. That act almost assured that no one outside of Apple would ever have seen the Cube before its general release to the public. No, only one person had that incentive. Isn’t that right Lisa?’
Lisa’s eyes were as big as dinner plates.
‘Mac’¦I’¦’
‘There’s one other thing you didn’t know about Gassly Mr. Pindler. About 10 years ago he got married to a woman that was famous at the time. It didn’t last. Gassly doesn’t look like the type to stay in one place with one woman for long and it ended in divorce. Apparently they kept in touch though. My guess is that when you were contracted by Bell to get the Cube, Gassly recruited Lisa to help find it. Probably after your men botched getting it in California. Newton by this time was scared. He was moving from place to place. Never staying for long. Always on the go. Lisa was fortunate enough to find him first.’
I looked over at Lisa and spoke to her directly.
‘You lied to me when you said you had been staying at Newt’s place. You had probably just met him. Tried to gain his trust. While he never confided in you about the location of the Maltese Cube, he did trust you enough to send you to me. Before looking me up, you had a phone call to make didn’t you? You called Gassly and told him that Newton wanted to reveal it to me. To tell me where he had hidden the Cube.’
Lisa refused to answer. Tears were streaming down her face. I turned back to Pindler.
‘Why did you decide to hire me Pindler? You didn’t know me or my former dealings with Newton.’
Pindler looked from Lisa to Gassly. These disclosures were unsettling to him I could tell.
‘It was suggested to me by Gassly. He told me you had a good reputation for finding lost items. He said nothing about Newton and the first time I heard his name was at your apartment.’
I didn’t altogether believe that, but it truly no longer mattered. This whole affair had me heartsick and the sooner it was over the better.
‘Not that it’s any of my concern Pindler, but I think Gassly and Lisa were going to try and get the Cube and shut you out of the payoff. Maybe you better rethink your partnership with him.’
I began to walk towards Lisa.
‘Once I found out about your relationship with Gassly, it all fell into place. You followed me to his new digs and waited in the shadows. I was looking out for Pindler or Gassly, not you. You saw me go in and out of his fire escape and shadowed me to the park. Somehow you got close enough to listen in to the conversation between Newton and me. You were in a panic because eventually, your name was going to come up and you would be exposed for the liar that you are. You chose your moment, and shot him. You took quite a chance in that. Newton may not have had the chance to tell me where the Cube was and I might have been able to catch you.’
Lisa spoke up finally. Her eyes showed the first sign of panic, but no remorse.
‘I knew you wouldn’t leave Newton behind. Gassly taught me how to shoot during our short marriage. I aimed carefully.’
‘Why did Bell come to me? He didn’t pull my name out of a hat.’
Lisa refused to look at me as she answered. ‘Gassly contacted him after Newton got away from Pindler’s men at his apartment. He had called some of his old intelligence sources and found out that Newton used to work for you. It was Gassly that actually found Newton a few days ago. He sent me to him. He knew you could catch flies easier with honey than vinegar. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get him to tell me where it was. Gassly figured he might tell you though. He went behind Pindler’s back and suggested to Bell that he hire you. He also had Pindler go to you thinking that one way or another, the Maltese Cube would be found.’
Pindler had said nothing during this exchange. By the way he was gripping the sides of the chair he was sitting in he was obviously enraged.
Gassly had not only gone behind his back to M. Bell, he had also used Pindler’s men to stake out Newton. I don’t believe that Pindler would have done anything differently that Gassly, but the point was that Gassly had not told him what he was doing.
‘How did Gassly know that Newton had the Cube?’
‘He’s known since Newton was in California.’ Lisa said, ‘He was easy to track with that speech impediment. A few bribes here and there told him what flights Newton was taking and what his final destination was. He brought me into it since I actually live nearby. He promised that we would be together again, but I knew that was a lie.’
‘But then why? Why did you get involved with this?’ I asked.
Lisa smiled and a shiver ran down my back.
‘You don’t know what it’s like to be distinguished. To have everyone know your name and to speak of you. To be in magazines and to have your picture taken. And then to have it all gone. To be a footnote, a where are they now. I just wanted to be part of something! Not just another useless piece of flotsam, floating about for the rest of my life!’
I had heard enough. I walked to the inner office door and rapped on the frosted glass. Barry came in looking at our motley crew.
‘I think Miss Lisa would like to accompany you to the station Barry. She has quite the tale to tell.’
Barry nodded his head and took Lisa by the arm. She turned to me one last time.
‘Will you wait for me Mac?’
‘Lisa, by the time you get out, we’ll both be old and gray. They’re going to bury you deep in that desert prison they now have(1).
As Barry led Lisa out of the office, Pindler stood up. He took one last look at the Maltese Cube and then snapped his fingers at Gassly. Without a word, Gassly rose from the sofa and made his way out.
‘I think I’ll be going now Mr. Tosh. I do not believe I wish to be in town when Lisa finishes speaking to the police.’
‘What about the Maltese Cube Pindler?’
Pindler who was now by the door spoke without turning.
‘Keep it. It is of no use to me now.’
Pindler closed the door behind him and was gone. I looked at the Cube lying on the floor. So much trouble over such a little thing.
I picked it up and placed it on my desk. I pulled the few needed cables out of the suitcase and connected all the pieces.
After a brief inspection, I found the power button and turned it on. A deep boooong resounded from within and a picture of a monitor with a happy face and the caption ‘Welcome to Mac OS’ appeared on the LCD screen(2). After it finished its booting up process, I began to play with it to see what it could do. It was remarkably easy and intuitive to operate.
Umax chose that moment to walk into the office.
‘Everyone has left Mac.’ She looked at the Maltese Cube sitting on my desk. ‘Is that it? Is that what everyone was so intrigued with?’
‘That’s it sweetheart. That’s what Newton gave his life for.’
‘But why Mac? What was the point?’
‘Greed Umax, simply greed.’ I replied.
I looked around my office. Second rate furniture and banged up file drawers. My voice lowered and I said almost to myself, ‘It’s the stuff that dreams are made of.’
Umax shook her head, unable to fathom the kind of person that would kill another human being for something so trivial. Now that all the excitement was over, I noticed that my own hands were shaking slightly. She sat on top of my desk, took my face in her hands and looked me in the eye.
‘Mac. Newton was doomed the moment he got the Cube. There was nothing more you could have done.’
She leaned forward and kissed me on my forehead. It was a kiss that promised nothing but forgiveness. She ‘tsked’ to herself, pulled out her handkerchief, and wiped away what were undoubtedly lip prints from the top of my head.
Umax then got up from my desk and walked toward the office door. She looked back while at the entrance and said in what was certainly not a questioning tone.
‘See you tomorrow Mac.’
I gave her the best smile I could muster.
‘See you tomorrow Maxie. Life goes on. For some of us anyway’
‘Yes it does. Don’t forget it Mac.’
Once Umax had left, I took another look at my new acquisition. I sat back and admired the clean lines, the ease in which it accomplished its tasks .
‘You know Cubie? This could be the start of a beautiful friendship(3).’
THE END
Notes for Chapter 22
(1) ‘They’re going to bury you deep in that desert prison they now have.’ ‘“ After the marketing debacle of the Lisa (which cost Apple millions), rumor has it that Steve Jobs took back the remaining inventory and buried them in the Arizona (or some other southwestern state) desert.
(2) Welcome to Mac OS’ appeared on the LCD screen ‘“ This is obviously pre-OS X.
(3) ‘You know Cubie? This could be the start of a beautiful friendship’ ‘“ Yes I know that this line was not in ‘The Maltese Falcon’. But I liked it and Bogart DID say it (Casablanca).
Author’s Notes
There were times during the writing of this story that I wished I hadn’t started it (Funny, many others told me the same thing). My time to spend writing it was becoming more and more difficult to find (especially after the tragic events of 9/11). I knew generally how it was going to end (I had the last line in mind before I had even started Chapter one), but I wasn’t sure how to get there. After re-reading the first 4 to 7 chapters, I realized I had locked myself in a corner with several plot points and I had no idea to reconcile them. I hope I managed to answer any and all questions. If not, you’re welcome to send any criticism to my email address.
I would also like to thank Beth and Kathryn (Apple PI office managers extraordinaire!) for their patience and help in getting this done. I could not have done it without them. Also to the WAP Journal editors for correcting my many grammar and spelling mistakes and for allowing a frustrated bad fiction writer space in their fine publication. Lastly to Tim Robertson for giving me space to revisit this story and correct some of the things that I didn’t like when I wrote it the first time.
There is probably an additional 3-4 pages of additional material that didn’t make it to the WAP Journal when this was first published. Like anyone who enjoys writing, I’m still not completely satisfied with the flow of the story (Consider that the entire story takes place in a little more than 24 hours) and if I ever need to publish it again (GOD FORBID!), I’ll probably change it some more.
Finally, I would like to say that Michael Dell of Dell Computers is probably not the design stealing whining weasel as he has been portrayed him in this story. I’m also reasonably sure that Michael Splindler and Jean Louis Gassllee are not like 40’s era movie toughs and rarely if ever threaten people for computer designs. This is a work of fiction solely made for the enjoyment of myself and MyMac.com readers.
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