Least Wanted (Sam McRae Mystery 2)

“You’re kidding.”

“Do I sound like I’m kidding?”

“Tell me this has no connection to the embezzlement and our client.”

Walt was silent.

“Walt, you’re not telling me what I want to hear.”

“And I’m not hearing what you want to hear. Robbery wasn’t the motive. Her purse was there, money and credit cards in her wallet. To make matters worse ... I don’t want to talk about this on the phone. We need to meet. How soon can you be at my office?”

“Give me twenty minutes.”

* * * * *

When I got to Walt’s, I gave him a quick rundown on the weekend before we turned our attention to Jones’s death.

“The good news is,” Walt said, “our client hasn’t been implicated in this. Not yet.”

“Thank God. The way you were talking—”

“Hold on, I haven’t given you the bad news. Brad found the body before the cleaning crew.”

“He found it? And didn’t report it?”

“He said he was scared. He was supposed to meet Jones to discuss his employment status and the audit. It was after business hours and no one else was there. When he saw the body, he freaked and ran. He didn’t want to get involved.”

“Great. Now what? As far as Brad and the audit and all.”

“I don’t know. We should touch base with Hirschbeck on that.”

“If he’s as informative as he was last time, it’ll be a short conversation. Anything else you need right now? Just so you know, I have another murder to defend.” I filled him in briefly on Tina’s case.

“If they do arrest Brad, I can be there for the questioning,” Walt said. “I could use your help with fact-finding, identifying witnesses and so forth. Finding out who else was there that night and why anyone might have a motive to kill Jones.”

“How about the real embezzler?” I asked. “Jones was an outsider. Her push for an audit might have threatened the actual embezzler. Since Brad knew he was under suspicion, I don’t think he would have done it. He’d have to know he’d be a logical murder suspect.”

“Sure,” Walt grumbled. “If he was thinking logically at the time.”

“Good point,” I said. “Still, it’s all the more reason to push Hirschbeck on getting this audit done.” I paused before adding, “Assuming, of course, the audit clears him.”

Walt raised his eyebrows, then said, “Yeah.” I was trying to think of something reassuring to say, when the phone rang. Walt picked it up. “Yeah . . . . Yes . . . . Okay, where are you?” There was a long pause, during which Walt nodded and grunted repeatedly. “Okay, okay. I’ll be right there. Don’t say anything more ’til I get there.”

He hung up. “That was Brad. Scratch what I just said about our client not being implicated.” He pawed around on his desk and scooped up a legal pad and a pen.

“He’s been arrested?”

“Not arrested, but held for questioning at CID. You know what that means.”

“It means I’ve got to get to work. I guess someone must have spilled about Brad’s meeting with Jones.”

“Lobby security camera. Has him coming in the building’s front door at 6:25 P.M. Right in the window of time they think she died.”

* * * * *

I returned to the office and put in a call to Hirschbeck, leaving a message with him to call back ASAP. I checked my mail. Still no sign of the answers to interrogatories in the wretched divorce case. I had, however, received another, slightly better, offer to settle Dancer Daria’s slip-and-fall. The offer still stunk, but I stuck a copy in an envelope to mail to my client, out of obligation more than anything else. As for the interrogatories, it was time to file that motion to compel discovery. Between fighting for Tina’s release, looking for evidence to keep Brad out of the slammer and forcing Slippery Steve to provide discovery information in the Divorce from Hell, I had plenty to keep me occupied.

While I was working, Hirschbeck called back.