The next morning Laura and Remington woke early, each heading in seperate directions. Laura went to the police station to talk with Officer Logan while Remington headed for Milo's villa to prepare for his meeting with Mr. Sutton. Remington went up to Milo's room to see if anything looked out of place or ransacked. All looked as it had a few days ago so Remington headed back downstairs to wait for his guest. While waiting he called the hospital to check on his friend. He spoke with the doctor on duty and was assured that they would notify him if there was a change in Milo's condition. Remington thanked him and hung up the telephone. He pondered whether or not to call Milo's family and tell them of the news. He knew that they would be on the first plane down but he wanted to have something positive to tell them when he called. He decided he'd check on Milo as soon as his meeting was over and then call his parents.
Remington was staring out of the window at the pool when a servant came up to tell him a Mr. Sutton and guest were here to see Milo. Remington asked the servant to show them into the study and that he would be along shortly. Remington didn't want to appear anxious about meeting them so he purposefully made them wait a few minutes before he walked into the study. He noted Mr. Sutton appeared to look like any other business man, emaculately dressed and annoyed at having been kept waiting. His "guest" looked like the typical business man's body guard, tall, big and capable of doing a great deal of damage at his boss' request.
"Hello, Mr. Sutton is it? Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mitchell Sherman, a close friend of Milo DeWinter. I understand you had a meeting with Milo, unfortunately he wasn't able to be here. I am here in his stead."
"I see. Mr. Sherman, I must say I am less than pleased to hear that. Mr. DeWinter and I had some... rather delicate business to attend to today and I'm not in the least happy about being put off.
"Well Mr. Sutton, it was quite unexpected but as I said, I am a close friend of Milo's and I am more than aware of why you are here. He was going to discuss the possibility of your acquiring a certain painting from him. Unfortunately, that is no longer possible; you see Milo, was in a very serious accident the other day and hasn't regained consciousness yet. Although I am privy to Milo's business dealings, only Milo knows the whereabouts of the painting you are interested in buying. So it would seem Mr. Sutton that there can be no business transacted at this time."
The man looked annoyed. "A serious accident you say? I hadn't heard anything about it, how unfortunate for us both. I am curious as to why Mr. DeWinter would share such sensitive information with you without divulging the location of the painting. If you are as close as you say, I would think you would know its whereabouts?"
"As I said before Mr. Sutton, I am consulted on all Milo's business dealings but only Milo knows where and when a work of art will arrive. So for now it would seem your business here is concluded," Remington stood his hands immediately straightening his suit jacket. "Now if you will excuse me Mr. Sutton, I have other pressing matters to attend to so I will show you and the gentleman out."
Eyeing Remington closely, he knew he was being dismissed and that he would get no further information about the painting. Reluctantly he rose from his chair and shook the hand Remington extended. He and his hired man followed Remington to the door and out onto the porch. Remington nodded slightly before going back into the house and shutting the door firmly.
###
"You fool! You imbecile! What the hell possessed you to damn near kill the man? I told you to rough him up a bit not put him in intensive care! Now how the hell am I supposed to get my painting you idiot!" Sutton roared at one of his thugs.
"I'm sorry boss, we didn't mean to work him over that much but when we got started we just got carried away. We tried to make it look like an accident so we put him in his car and rolled him over the edge of a hill. That was smart thinking wasn't it?" He smiled happily.
"I suppose so, you wore gloves so I guess there isn't any way the police can trace this back to you."
"Gloves, Boss?" One of the thugs asked nervously.
Mr. Sutton looked incredulous. "Yes gloves, tell me you wore gloves, that you didn't touch anything on the car. Please tell me you both aren't that stupid!"
The two men eyed each other knowing they were in trouble. "Uh, sorry Mr. Sutton, like I said, we just got carried away."
Walking around his desk their boss stood looking at the two men that had just made his life more complicated. Smiling slowly he reached into his pocket.
"Well I guess I owe you two for services rendered don't I? You'll understand if I don't use you again in the future won't you? As a matter of fact I think once I pay you two off, you should both lay low for awhile. We can't have any fingers pointing back to me now can we?"
"Sure thing Mr. Sutton, we understand. We're sorry for the mess up, it won't happen again sir," both men chimed.
"I'm sure it won't, as you said, you both just got carried away. I suppose I should reward you both for your tenacity."
Mr. Sutton pulled a gun from his pocket and shot them both at point blank range. The two thugs had enough time to looked stunned before they both hit the floor dead.
Curling his lips in distaste, Sutton pressed an intercom on the desk. "Smith, get these two out of my sight, I want don't want any traces back to me you understand?"
"Yes sir Mr. Sutton." Seconds later his assistant came in followed by four other employees. Together they carried the two bodies out of the room.
Mr. Sutton watched them leave before he chuckled softly at the irony of the situation. "It would appear the two of you just got carried away."
###
Remington was sitting in a chair by the pool when Laura came out onto the veranda. Spotting him she immediately ran towards him. When he saw her he waved a hello and stood up.
"How did it go?" She asked him as she planted a quick kiss on his lips.
"From the look of you I'd wager not as good as it went for you?" Remington pulled a chair out for Laura and sat back down.
"I finally convinced Officer Logan to let me take a look at the car Milo was in the night of his accident. It was mangled pretty bad but I was able to find these," Beaming she held up a plastic bag.
Remington took the bag and looked at Laura with a smile. "Fingerprints?"
"Yep, on the driver and passenger door, steering wheel and some other places in the front of the car. Officer Logan ran the prints for me. Milo's are evident but there are a few other clear prints that the police are checking. I know those prints could belong to servants, but it's worth taking a look.
So how did your meeting go?" Laura smiled like a proud Cheshire cat.
"As I expected, Mr. Sutton wasn't too thrilled to hear the news that there would be no sale and that only Milo knew where the painting was. I could tell he thought I was lying about it. Trust me he wasn't prepared to hear that Milo had been seriously injured and was unconscious. I could see the surprise in his eyes at that piece of news. I'll wager if he had anything to do with Milo getting hurt, he had no idea just how hurt or how Milo being almost killed would bring a screeching halt to his plans. I'm sure Mr. Sutton knows now just how important keeping Milo alive is to his plans."
A servant came down to the pool to inform Remington that he had a telephone call. Excusing himself Remington went into the house to answer it.
A few minutes later Remington came running out to the pool. "Laura, that was the hospital, Milo has regained consciousness and is asking for me."
"Oh my God, that's wonderful news! I'm going with you," Laura ran behind Remington into the house and out the front door to the car.
"Remington, do you think Milo will be able to shed some light on just what happened to him?"
He turned the engine over and roared out of the driveway. "I hope so Laura, I hope so."