“Yes. I…Paul…if I don’t get that glass on time…”
“You’ll have it. Don’t give up.”
By the end of the week there was still no word.
Keller came into Lara’s office. “I just talked to Tilly. Our deadline is Friday. If the glass arrives by then, we’ll be okay. Otherwise we’re dead.”
By Thursday nothing had changed.
Lara went to visit Cameron Towers. There were no workmen there. The skyscraper rose majestically into the sky, overshadowing everything around it. It was going to be a beautiful building. Her monument. I’m not going to let it fail, Lara thought fiercely.
Lara telephoned Paul Martin again.
“I’m sorry,” his secretary said. “Mr. Martin is out of the office. Is there any message?”
“Please ask him to call me,” Lara said. She turned to Keller, “I have a hunch I’d like you to check out. See if the owner of that glass factory happens to be Steve Murchison.”
Thirty minutes later Keller returned to Lara’s office. His face was pale.
“Well? Did you find out who owns the glass company?”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “It’s registered in Delaware. It’s owned by Etna Enterprises.”
“Etna Enterprises?”
“Right. They bought it a year ago. Etna Enterprises is Paul Martin.”
Chapter Thirty-three
The bad publicity about Cameron Enterprises continued. The reporters who had been so eager to praise Lara before now turned on her.
Jerry Townsend went in to see Howard Keller.
“I’m worried,” Townsend said.
“What’s the problem?”
“Have you been reading the press?”
“Yeah. They’re having a field day.”
“I’m worried about the birthday party, Howard. I’ve sent out the invitations. Since all this bad publicity, I’ve been getting nothing but turndowns. The bastards are afraid they might be contaminated. It’s a fiasco.”
“What do you suggest?”
“That we cancel the party. I’ll make up some excuse.”
“I think you’re right. I don’t want anything to embarrass her.”
“Good. I’ll go ahead and cancel it. Will you tell Lara?”
“Yes.”
Terry Hill called.
“I just received notice that you’re being subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury in Reno day after tomorrow. I’ll go with you.”
Transcript of Interrogation of Jesse Shaw by Detective Lieutenant Sal Mancini.
M: Good morning, Mr. Shaw. I’m Lieutenant Mancini. You’re aware that a stenographer is taking down our conversation?
S: Sure.
M: And you’ve waived the right to an attorney?
S: I don’t need no attorney. All I did was find a watch, for Christ’s sake, and they drug me all the way up here like I’m some kind of animal.
M: Mr. Shaw, do you know who Philip Adler is?
S: No. Should I?
M: No one paid you to attack him?
S: I told you—I never heard of him.
M: The police in Chicago found fifty thousand dollars in cash in you apartment. Where did that money come from?
S: [No response]
M: Mr. Shaw…?
S: I won it gambling.
M: Where?
S: At the track…football bets…you know.
M: You’re a lucky man, aren’t you?
S: Yeah. I guess so.
M: At present, you have a job in Chicago. Is that right?
S: Yes.
M: Did you ever work in New York?
S: Well, one time, yeah.
M: I have a police report here that says you were operating a crane at a development in Queens that killed a construction foreman named Bill Whitman. Is that correct?
S: Yeah. It was an accident.
M: How long had you been on that job?
S: I don’t remember.
M: Let me refresh your memory. You were on that job seventy-two hours. You flew in from Chicago the day before the accident with the crane, and flew back to Chicago two days later. Is that correct?
S: I guess so.
M: According to American Airlines’ records, you flew from Chicago to New York again two days before Philip Adler was attacked, and you returned to Chicago the following day. What was the purpose of such a short trip?
S: I wanted to see some plays.
M: Do you remember the names of the plays you saw?
S: No. That was awhile ago.
M: At the time of the accident with the crane, who was your employer?
S: Cameron Enterprises.
M: And who is your employer on the construction job you’re working on in Chicago?