JONATHAN KELLERMAN. THERAPY

Ten more minutes brought two more Toyotas bearing secretarial types. Soon after, the heavy man exited, and drove off, minus his sack.

“What was that?” I said. “A literal bagman?”

Milo frowned, read the face of his Timex, didn’t answer.

Half an hour after we’d arrived, we were still sitting there. Milo seemed fine, eyes alive under half-closed, hooded lids, but I was getting itchy. I said, “Looks like Mr. K keeps tycoon’s hours.”

“Let’s pay his office a visit.”

*

The ground floor of the building was divided into three offices: Landmark Realty, SK Development, and Koppel Enterprises. Above were a travel agency, a general contractor, and a secretarial service.

Milo tried the doorknob to Koppel Enterprises and Landmark Realty, found them locked. But SK Development was open for business.

We walked into a large, bright, open area, sectioned into cubicles by waist-high partitions. All four of the young women we’d seen in the parking lot sat at computers typing briskly. Three wore headsets.

At the rear was a door marked PRIVATE. Milo strode past the secretarial pool and tried it. Also locked. The sole typist without a headset got up and walked over to him. Midtwenties, pleasantly plain, she had short dark hair, freckles, and an easy smile, wore a tan cotton-poly pantsuit.

“Can I help you?”

“We’re looking for Mr. Koppel.”

“Sonny?” she said. “You just missed him.”

“What’s he look like?”

She glanced around, moved in close, cupped her hand over her mouth. “Kind of chubby. He was wearing a brown polo.”

“Drives an old Buick?”

“That’s him. Are you guys the police or something?”

Milo showed her the badge.

“Wow.”

“Your name, ma’am?”

“Cheryl Bogard.” She looked back at the other women. They continued typing.

“They taking dictation on those headsets?” said Milo.

“Oh, no,” said Bogard. “They’re listening to music. Sonny has multiple CD tracks set up so they can listen to what they want.”

“Good boss.”

“The best.”

“So, Cheryl Bogard, what do you guys do here?”

“Help take care of Sonny’s properties. So how come you guys are here? Did one of the buildings get broken into?”

“Does that happen often?”

“You know how it is,” she said. “With as many properties as Sonny owns, something’s always happening somewhere.”

“Real estate empire,” said Milo.

“He’s got a lot of stuff.” Adding happily: “Keeps all of us busy. So where was the break-in this time?”

“Not important,” said Milo. “So that was the boss. He didn’t stay long.”

“He just picked up some papers.” She smiled. “Not what you were expecting, huh?”

Milo shook his head.

“You know what they say, Officer. Appearances can be deceiving.”

“When’s he coming back?”

“Hard to say. He’s out on the road a lot. He’s got properties in four counties, so that means lots of traveling. We kid him, say he should get himself a nice car, he can sure afford it. But he loves his Buick. Showing off isn’t Sonny’s thing.”

“Low-key.”

“He’s a real nice guy.”

“Could you call him for us?”

“Sorry,” she said. “Sonny doesn’t use a cell phone in the car. He’s kind of old-fashioned, says he doesn’t like being disturbed when he’s thinking and also, it’s not safe talking and driving.”

“Safety-conscious,” said Milo.

“He’s a pretty careful guy. Is there any message you’d like me to give him? About which building had the break-in?”

“Thanks, but it would be better if we spoke directly.”

“Okay,” said Bogard. “I’ll tell him you were here.”

“No idea at all when he’ll be back?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say late afternoon. If he comes back at all. You never know, with Sonny.”

Milo gave her a card, and said, “In case we don’t catch him today, please have him call.”

“Sure.” Cheryl Bogard returned to her cubicle, placed the card in front of her, looked up, and waved.

Milo started to leave, then changed his mind, went over to her, said something, listened to her reply.

As we stepped out into the hall, I said, “What did you ask her?”

“What was in the bag.” He rubbed the side of his nose. “Tootsie Rolls, M&Ms, Almond Joy. Ol’ Sonny brings candy for the girls. She said they were all watching their weight, ate very little of it. He finishes off what’s left.”

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