"But--"
She continued before he could ask what would undoubtedly be some questions that would result in either awkward answers or outright lies. "See, Shelly didn't just do those movies. There's this guy named Arthur Tucker. He was Shelly's acting coach. Only you know what's interesting?" Her voice faded and she looked at him. "What's the matter?"
"Rune, you weren't going to do this."
"I was just interviewing people about her, for my film, and I found some funny things." She grew quiet, looking up at the gargoyles two-thirds of the way up the skyscraper. She wondered if she and Healy were about to have their first fight. That was really a bad sign--to have a fight before you'd spent some time seriously kissing someone.
Healy glanced at Adam, stalking a mangy pigeon twenty feet away, and rested his large hand tentatively on her knee.
Rune stared at the gargoyles. They were smiling, not leering, she thought. It seemed that was an important omen but she couldn't tell what it meant.
Healy didn't speak for a second. He clicked his tongue. "Okay. Funny things. Go ahead and tell me."
"Shelly was a legitimate actress and she wrote plays, okay? She and her coach, this Arthur Tucker, had a big fight when he found out about her movie career. Oh, oh--he also was a commando in the war. So he knows about bombs."
"But you need a motive to--"
"I've got one. He stole a play that Shelly wrote. He took it and put his name on it. He told me he'd never gotten anywhere with his career and I think he could've killed her and stolen that play."
"Pretty damn speculative. Who else is a suspect?"
"Michael Schmidt."
Healy was frowning. "It's familiar. Who's he?"
"The Broadway producer. The famous one."
"Him?"
"Right. He told me he didn't remember Shelly but he was lying. It turns out he'd almost offered her a role in one of his plays. Then he found out she did porn and withdrew the offer. She was going to blackmail him into getting the part."
"You don't kill someone--"
"He's a deacon in the church. She could've brought down his whole career. He's also an obnoxious son of a bitch."
"That doesn't violate the Penal Code of the State of New York, being obnoxious. Who else is on the list?"
"Another asshole. Danny Traub. He's part owner of Lame Duck. Shelly's company."
"And you heard about an insurance policy on the building?"
"No. On her."
This got Healy's attention. "Go on."
"Shelly told me that she had a terrible fight with someone she worked with. I think it might've been him. He was always flirting with her and she was rejecting him. And he's really into S and M; he gets off on beating women. So I broke into his town house--"
Healy put his face in his hands. "Rune, no, no, no. You can't do these things."
"It's okay. One of his girlfriends said it was all right. She also let me go through his safe."
Healy sighed. "At least you didn't steal anything." He looked at her. "Tell me you didn't steal anything."
"What, I look like a thief?" Rune asked. "Anyway, what I found was this insurance policy on Shelly. Almost a half-million dollars."
"No exclusion for murder?"
"Nope. His girlfriend made a copy of it for me."