“I’ve got Alley’s briefcase.”
“Let me change phones.”
Somers heard Lewin’s voice from across the room. “Jason, hang up the phone after I pick up, will ya?”
There was heavy, moist breathing into the phone. A young hand was holding the receiver too close.
“Jason, you can hang up now. From where?”
“The waitress. Carmen.”
“Carmen.”
“You have to have the right touch, Shamus.”
“Guess she has a thing for goofy redheads. So what’s in it?”
“Thanks, partner. Mostly a lot of junk.”
“Great find.”
Somers told Lewin about Alley’s business cards, about Tió Tito’s house with the expensive toys and new furnishings, about Alley’s so-called promotion and his trips to Mexico, about the noise back from Oaxcatil, about Chuy vowing to get the cabrón who did Alley, about the Lady Upstairs and the big car.
“Huh,” Lewin said. “Drug courier.”
“Remember what the guys at the office said.”
“Wait. Jason, put the phone down! Damn kids. Go to school and thrill their friends.”
“Chloe too. Could be all the brains had to do was include Alley. Tell him he’d be one of the boys. Invite him to the frat party. Throw him some cash for pain and suffering.”
“Seems like a lot of cash.”
“Maybe Alley got greedy. Then Alley got dead. But it could be sweeter than that. Look at the obvious. Ambitious yuppies with megabucks passing through their hands every day. Avaricious, willing to sacrifice anything and anyone for the almighty greenback.”
“Get off the soap box, Professor. But it’s worth following up on. What did Ms. Thorne have to say?”
“About what?”
“Don’t be coy, Professor. You were going to interview her today.”
“Didn’t come off. We had a scheduling conflict.”
“Uh-huh.”
“C’mon. What did you bring to the party today?”
“We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. About you and Ms. Thorne.”
“Why do you say her name like that?”
“It’s her name, isn’t it?”
“What do you have against her?”
“I never said I have anything against her.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I just want to know what her angle is on this case. And I’m getting tired of you making excuses for not facing her down.” Lewin’s voice rose.
“Ease up. There’s no reason for you to get upset.”
“You’re avoiding talking to her about the case because of some prior relationship you had with her. Don’t deny it.”
“Look. If I can’t get what we need from Iris by Monday morning, she’s yours, okay? No reason to get bent. It just didn’t happen today, okay? This case is moving forward just fine. She probably can’t even add anything that we haven’t already found out.”
“It’s principle.”
“I don’t like my credibility being questioned. We’ve worked together a long time.”
“My point exactly, Professor. I want to go on that way.”
“Goes without saying. What else you got in mind?”
“I think I’ll drop by and see Teddy Kraus. See why we make him so nervous. See him without his buddies around so he can’t goof for their benefit. Wanna come?”
“No, I’ve got Chloe.”
“Here’s something for you. Jayne Perkins sought a restraining order against one Teddy Kraus.”
“Office lovers?”
“Looks like. Ms. Thorne could have told us that three days ago.”
“You already made that point. You’d think Jayne would have better taste.”
“So, big Saturday night?”
“I might call the police down in Oaxcatil, Mexico. See if they have any skinny on Alley.”
“And you’re working on Ms. Thorne’s tail. I mean, trail. Ooops, another call coming in. Damn ‘call waiting.’ Hang on.”
“I’m done.”
“Okay, Professor. Keep low and drive slow.” Lewin clicked the other call in. “This is Lewin.”
“Detective, this is Stan Raab—”
“Stan, what’s up?”
“—from McKinney Alitzer?”
“Sure, sure. Of course. What can I do for you?”
“I’m sorry to bother you at home—”
“No problema.”
“—but you said to call if I thought I had information pertinent to the case. Well, something unusual happened today after the funeral.”
“Yeah…”
“I went back to my office, downtown?”
“Yeah…”
“And I found out that Iris Thorne, one of my sales reps, had been there.”
“Is that unusual?”
“Well… no… She comes in on Saturdays sometimes. I know she was there today because she dropped a program from the funeral on the floor inside my private office.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I think she pried open my filing cabinet. There was a knife on top of the filing cabinet and the cabinet was unlocked.”
“Anything missing?”
“A file, for one of the firm’s accounts.”
“Why would Ms. Thorne be interested in this account?”
“It’s… one of our larger accounts. A big… unique account.”
“The name?”
“Sorry?”
“The account’s name?”
“Oh… Worldco.”
“Could your secretary have taken the file?”
“She could have. Yes, that’s possible. She could have taken it.”
“Could anyone else have been in the suite?”
“The cleaning crew was there when I came in.”
“So, they could have been in your office.”
“Yes… yes, they could have.”
“Stan, I’m a little confused. Does this file have something to do with Muñoz?”
“No. It was… just an account file. This sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? I’m sorry. I’m on edge. I’m seeing the bogeyman everywhere.”
“How do you know the funeral program was Ms. Thorne’s?”
“She’d written on it. I recognized her handwriting. She wrote directions and an address. Here, it says: Twelve Withered Canyon Road. And there’s a phone number. I think she was going to this place tonight. It says six o’clock.”
“Well, isn’t that damn interesting?”
“Really, why?”
“Stan, you still haven’t said why she’d want this file.”
“You know, you’re right. My secretary was in my filing cabinet on Friday. I’m making a big deal over nothing. I’m just rattled. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“No bother at all, Stan. You never know. Cases sometimes break from oddball information. Call anytime.”
Lewin hung up the phone. “Damn interesting.”