The Silver Bullet part 2

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This is part two of The Silver Bullet for part one click here

Wayne Wilson’s office felt hot and stuffy, there was a stale smell of sweat in the air. Wilson was running late.  His secretary had told me to wait, so I was waiting, taking in my surroundings. 

He entered the room like a tree in a storm and then stood still, still a flurry of movement. Wilson was exactly what I expected, a walking mid-life crisis. He’d married his childhood sweetheart, and thought he was happy. But then as he grew older, he grew restless. He started questioning why he was with his insignificant other when the world was full of nubile 20 somethings. Surely they could better satisfy his ego, if not his desires? I bet it was his secretary who first turn his head. 
He obviously fancied himself as some kind of big shot financier, but you could tell he didn't quite sit at the top table, there was something a little run down, a little shabby about him. He welcomed me with a smile as fake as his Rolex and a handshake as lame as the excuses he was about to give. 

‘Tell me about the bullet, Mr Wilson?’ I said. I like to get straight to the point, it helped to catch them off guard, but Wilson was wise to me. 

‘What bullet Mr Archer?’ he said. His tone told me he had no time for games, he was a busy man. 

‘It’s Mr Stanley,’ I corrected him, I hoped my tone told him I crushed fools like him for fun. 

‘Your wife received a death threat and I thought you might know something about it.’ I said. 

‘I don’t have a wife,’ it was his turn to correct me. ‘And I don’t know anything about any death threats. I’m a reputable businessman Mr Stanley, not some kind of gangster.’ 

I found gangsters to be like racists, no one ever admitted to being one, but still there were plenty out there.  It was time to change tack. 

‘Who do you think might want your wife dead Mr Wilson?’

‘My ex-wife, Mr Stanley and I don’t know.’ 

‘Do you have any enemies, Mr Wilson, someone who might not know she’s your ex-wife?’ His ears pricked up, the ego aroused. He liked to think of himself as being worth a death threat, his chest puffed a little. This pathetic little man had sent a death threat to his own wife and then was getting an ego boost thinking it might be for him. Most people were scared of death threats; to him it was a badge of honour. 

‘Not that I can think of,’ he said but I could almost see his brain working. He realised he had to give me a lead because right now all leads led to him. He gave me two names, one I recognised and one I didn’t. I thanked him and shook his hand again. I had a feeling I’d be back sooner rather than later.

For part three click here and part 4 click here (available from Saturday 1st August)