Bright Lights, Big Christmas(62)

“Cool.” Austin took a gulp of milk, then turned to Patrick. “Since it’s morning now, can we start putting up posters and knocking on doors? We gotta find Mr. Heinz.”

Murphy raised an eyebrow. “Posters?”

“Austin wants to have posters made of the sketch Kerry made of Heinz,” Patrick explained. “Since we don’t know where he lives, he’d also like us to do a door-to-door canvass. I’ve tried to explain why that’s not practical…”

The boy pulled a sheet of folded paper from his pocket and smoothed it out on the tabletop. Kerry stared, as she hadn’t realized he had the sketch.

“Can I borrow a pen?” he asked their hostess.

“Yes, of course.” Claudia turned to a small hutch behind her, opened a drawer, and brought out a pen.

Austin gave her a nod of thanks, then looked at Kerry. “How do you spell Heinz?”

“H-E-I-N-Z,” Kerry said. The child laboriously penned the name in large block letters.

“I forget what you said his last name is,” Austin said.

“I’m not really sure of the spelling, but I think it’s S-C-H-O-E-N-B-A-U-M,” Kerry said.

“Schoenbaum?” Claudia said, tilting her head. “How did you figure that out?”

“The short version is, his optometrist recognized him from my description, and he told me Heinz’s last name,” Kerry answered.

Claudia stood up abruptly and left the room. When she came back, she had a file folder in hand. She extracted a piece of paper and handed it to Kerry. “This is our lease for the restaurant. And this apartment.”

Kerry skimmed the document and looked up. “Schoenbaum Holdings. You think Heinz maybe owns this building?”

She shrugged. “It’s not a common name. My granddad signed the original lease. I’ve never known who Schoenbaum is. If we have issues, we deal with Rex, the building manager, or Carlos, the superintendent.”

“Does the lease have a mailing address?” Patrick asked, peering over Kerry’s shoulder.

She shook her head. “Just a post office box. The optometrist did tell me the address he had for Heinz is a PO box.”

Austin looked from his father to Kerry to Claudia. “Does this mean you know where Mr. Heinz lives?”

“Not necessarily,” Patrick said.

Kerry was still looking at the lease. “Claudia, do you think the building manager could tell us where Schoenbaum Holdings is located?”

Claudia snorted. “Rex won’t give us the time of day. He’s a paper shuffler. But Carlos might know something.”

“Can you ask him if he knows Mr. Heinz?” Austin asked. “Please?”

“Carlos isn’t big on chitchat, but I’ll call down and see if he’ll come check on my kitchen sink, which is draining really slow,” Claudia said. “And I’ll bribe him with food. His wife doesn’t really cook.”



* * *



The building superintendent wore zip-front coveralls and a wary expression. Claudia showed him the sink, he poured drain cleaner in, and the problem was fixed. “Anything else?”

“Let me fix you a plate of food, since you’re here,” Claudia said, heaping eggs and bacon and toast onto a plate. “Coffee?”

Carlos looked at the group seated around the table. “I’m supposed to be on the clock.”

“Understood,” Claudia said, pouring him a mug and handing it to him. She pointed to her vacant chair. “Here, take a seat while you eat.”

“Just for a minute,” he said. He sat down, grabbed a shaker, and liberally coated the food with pepper before starting to enthusiastically shovel it into his face.

“Say, Carlos,” Claudia said with a deliberately casual tone. “Do you know anyone from Schoenbaum Holdings?”

“The company that signs my paychecks? No. I just know they clear every week.”

“Do you know if the owner’s name is Heinz?”

Carlos speared a piece of bacon and chewed. “Like the ketchup?”

“Like this guy,” Austin said, waving Kerry’s drawing at the superintendent. “Mr. Heinz.”

“Him?” Carlos took the sketch and studied it. “Yeah, sure, him I know.”

“How do you know him?” Kerry asked eagerly.

“Old guy lives here. According to Rex, he’s got a sweet apartment on the top floor, but he don’t stay there. He stays in the basement. So, no way that guy owns this whole building.”

“Can you take us to see him?” Austin asked. “Right now? Can you take us to see Mr. Heinz?”

“I don’t know…” Carlos picked up his toast and dunked it in the mug of coffee. “He’s a pretty private old guy. Never seen anybody coming or going from his place. Don’t think he’d appreciate some strangers showing up at his door.”

“We’re not strangers. We’re his friends,” Austin said indignantly.

“We’re worried he might be really sick,” Kerry explained. “Up until this past week, he came around our Christmas tree stand every day. And the last time we saw him he had a terrible cough and didn’t seem himself.”

“I don’t know…” Carlos looked over at Claudia. “I could get in big trouble with Rex … It’s kind of an invasion of privacy, isn’t it?”