Thanksgiving and wasn’t expected back until the spring. So the
Kramers weren’t real close, by all accounts. No kids, no shared
interests.’
‘Which might explain the hooker,’ I said. ‘If they lived
separate lives.’
‘I guess,’ Garber said. ‘I get the feeling it was a marriage,
you know, but it was more window-dressing than anything
real.’
‘What was her name?’ Summer asked.
Garber turned to look at her.
‘Mrs Kramer,’ he said. ‘That’s all the name we need to know.’
Summer looked away.
‘Who was Kramer travelling to Irwin with?’ I asked.
‘Two of his guys,’ Garber said. ‘A one-star general and a
colonel, Vassell and Coomer. They were a real triumvirate.
Kramer, Vassell, and Coomer. The corporate face of Armor.’
He stood up and stretched.
‘Start at midnight,’ I said to him. ‘Tell me everything you did.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t like coincidences. And neither do you.’
‘I didn’t do anything.’
‘Everybody did something,’ I said. ‘Except Kramer.’
He looked straight at me.
‘I watched the ball drop,’ he said. ‘Then I had another drink.
I kissed my daughter. I kissed a whole bunch of people, as I
recall. Then I sang “Auld Lang Syne”.’
‘And then?’
‘My office got me on the phone. Told me they’d found out by
circnitous means that we had a dead two-star down in North
Carolina. Told me the Fort Bird MP duty officer had palmed it
off. So I called there, and I got you.’
‘And then?’
‘You set out to do your thing and I called the town cops and
got Kramer’s name. Looked him up and found he was a XII
49
Corps guy. So I called Germany and reported the death, but I
kept the details to myself. I told you this already.’
‘And then?’
‘Then nothing. I waited for your report.’
‘OK,’ I said.
‘OK what?’
‘OK, sir?’
‘Bullshit,’ he said. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘The briefcase,’ I said. ‘I still want to find it.’
‘So keep looking for it,’ he said. ‘Until I find Vassell and
Coomer. They can tell us whether there was anything in it
worth worrying about.’
‘You can’t find them?’
He shook his head.
‘No,’ he said. ‘They checked out of their hotel, but they didn’t
fly to California. Nobody seems to know where the hell they
,
are.
Garber left to drive himself back to town and Summer and I
climbed into the car and headed south again. It was cold, and it
was getting dark. I offered to take the wheel, but Summer
wouldn’t let me. Driving seemed to be her main hobby.
‘Colonel Garber seemed tense,’ she said. She sounded dis
appointed, like an actress who had failed an audition.
‘He was feeling guilty,’ I said.
‘Why?’
‘Because he killed Mrs Kramer.’
She just stared at me. She was doing about ninety, looking at
me, sideways.
‘In a manner of speaking,’ I said.
‘How?’
‘This was no coincidence.’
‘That’s not what the doctor told us.’
‘Kramer died of natural causes. That’s what the doctor told
us. But something about that event led directly to Mrs Kramer
becoming a homicide victim. And Garber set all that in motion.
By notifying XII Corps. He put the word out, and within about
two hours the widow was dead, too.’
‘So what’s going on?’
50
‘I have absolutely no idea,’ I said.
‘And what about Vassell and Coomer?’ she said. ‘They were a
threesome. Kramer’s dead, his wife is dead, and the other two
are missing?’
‘You heard the man. It’s out of our hands.’
‘You’re not going to do anything?’
‘I’m going to look for a hooker.’
We set off on the most direct route we could find, straight back
to the motel and the lounge bar. There was no real choice. First
the Beltway, and then 1-95. Traffic was light. It was still New
Year’s Day. The world outside our windows looked dark and
quiet, cold and sleepy. Lights were coming on everywhere.
Summer drove as fast as she dared, which was plenty fast. What
might have taken Kramer six hours was going to take us
less than five. We stopped for gas early, and we bought stale
sandwiches that had been made in the previous calendar year.