Flesh And Blood by Jonathan Kellerman

“No more,” said LeMoyne. “You’ve had enough.”

Salander’s hand jerked back. He hugged himself. “Oh!” he said. “This is … so restrictive.”

LeMoyne shook his head. “I’m leaving.” But he didn’t move.

“What should I do?” Salander repeated.

Milo said, “How about telling the truth?”

Arms still wrapped around his torso, Salander began to rock. His smooth forehead creased. Thinking hard.

LeMoyne said, “For this I give up a lunch at Le Dome.”

33

SALANDER’S DECISION CAME moments later, heralded by a long, breathy sigh.

“Yes, I am scared,” he said, shivering. “First Lo, then her mother.”

No mention of Michelle and Lance. He had more to fear than he knew.

Milo said, “Jane Abbot’s death confirmed your suspicion.”

Salander nodded.

Milo leaned over him. “I need to tell you, Andy. There may be others as well.”

“Oh my God—”

“Terror tactics,” muttered LeMoyne.

Milo stepped over to the desk and shadowed the older man. “A little fear wouldn’t be a bad idea for you either, sir.”

LeMoyne’s face lost color, but he smiled. “I’ve swum with the sharks, my friend.”

Milo smiled back. “You’ve swum with trout, my friend. We’re talking Great White.”

“Ah,” said LeMoyne. “I shudder.”

“What others?” said Salander.

“Associates of Lauren,” said Milo. “Now tell me what scares you, Andy.”

“I think I may know why Lo was murdered—I mean, I can’t be sure— but right from the beginning I wondered about it.”

“Wondered about what, Andy?”

“The money. It’s always about money, right?”

“More often than not.”

Salander rocked some more.

Milo said, “Tell me about the money.”

“She—Lo— I always wondered how she supported herself. ‘Cause she never worked much except for that part-time research job, and that couldn’t pay for Moschino and Prada and Jimmy Choo, right? Also, her attitude—she had that relaxed thing about money that you only get if you have it, know what I mean? In fact, when I first met her I thought she was a rich kid—inherited wealth. But she said she’d been on her own for years, so— I mean, I wasn’t nosy, but it made me wonder. She was a full-time student. Where was it all coming from? Then—after I moved in, maybe a month after—she happened to leave some mail out on the kitchen counter. On top was investment stuff, her portfolio, from some broker up in Seattle. I’m no snoop, but she left it right out there on the table, so how could I help but see the zeros?”

“Lots of zeros.”

“Lots,” Salander agreed. “I never asked her about it, we never talked about it. And she was supergenerous—when we went out for a meal together, she always insisted on paying. When we antiqued, she’d buy me things—cufflinks, vintage shirts.”

“Must be your boyish charm,” muttered LeMoyne.

Salander’s hand balled. “Once upon a time you thought so! Stop picking at me!”

LeMoyne brought the script closer to his eyeglasses.

Salander said, “You’re a grump, but I still love you, Justin.”

LeMoyne whispered something.

“What?” said Andy.

“Love you, too.”

Salander smiled. “Thank you.”

Low grumble. “Welcome.”

Milo said, “So the source of Lauren’s money puzzled you. Did she ever talk about any other jobs she’d held? Before the research thing?”

“Modeling,” said Salander. “She said she’d modeled—I told you that, didn’t I.”

“Anything besides modeling?”

Salander stared down at the bedspread. “No. Like what?”

“The girl was a hooker” said LeMoyne. “I keep telling you that.”

“You don’t know that, Justin!”

“Oh, Jesus, Andrew, I met her. She had hooker written all over her.”

Milo said, “How many times did you meet her, Mr. LeMoyne?”

“Two or three times—in passing. But that was enough to know what she was. She was high-priced—no doubt about that. But she had the moves—the look, the walk, the whole phony-class thing going on. For all I know, she was trained by Gretchen Stengel.”

“You know Gretchen Stengel?”

“I know of her,” said LeMoyne. “Everyone in the industry does. We’ve never lunched, but I’ve certainly seen her around. And run into many of her little vixens. Back when Gretchen was plying her trade, you couldn’t go anywhere that was anywhere without tripping over them.”

“Easy to spot,” said Milo.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *