“Have you ever been in Dan’s apartment?”
“Sure,” Theo said with yet another shrug. I was beginning to think it was a nervous tic. “We all hang out together a lot outside of work. We put in long hours most days and that doesn’t leave much time or energy for a social life. Dan and I are both gamers. We get together a lot to play, sometimes at his place and sometimes at mine. Why? Does it matter?”
“It does,” Duncan said, “because then we have a reasonable explanation for finding your fingerprints inside his apartment.”
“Oh . . . right. Yeah, I’ve been there a lot.” He was clearly nervous, but I wasn’t sure if it was the situation in general or guilt that was causing it.
“Tell me what you do at Stratford and Weber.”
As Theo began a lengthy, detailed explanation of his usual workday, the mundane nature of the topic allowed him to relax some. I wondered if Duncan had asked about work for just this reason. Theo’s voice as I heard it through the wall speaker tasted like sweetened cream, but Duncan’s next question made the taste change. “How long have you known that Dan Thornton was stealing his clients’ money?”
Theo leaned back against his seat as if to distance himself from the question. “I . . . he . . . Dan . . .” Theo paused, sucked in a deep breath, and blew it out slowly before trying again. “I didn’t know Dan was doing anything illegal,” he said finally. “He always seemed like a straight-up guy to me. I can’t believe he would do something like that.”
Theo’s taste had turned bad, like soured milk. “He’s very unsettled right now,” I said into the microphone Duncan had given me. “I can’t tell if it’s because he’s lying, or if he’s just extremely nervous.”
Duncan gave a very slight nod of his head to let me know he’d heard me. But before he could ask another question, Theo moved himself up the suspect ladder with his next comment.