Loitering with Intent

17

STONE WOKE UP the following morning in Annika’s bed, exhausted. They had made love until they fell asleep after midnight, and she had wakened him in the middle of the night for more. He didn’t have another round in him, so he got out of bed, slipped into his clothes and tiptoed out of the house. He was halfway back to the Marquesa when his cell phone vibrated. “Hello?”

“Where did you go?” Annika said.

“I have a breakfast meeting,” he lied.

“I want you. Let’s have dinner tonight?”

“I’m not sure what’s going on yet. Let me call you this afternoon.”

“All right, but you better.”

“I will.” He snapped the phone shut and returned it to its holster. Dino wasn’t up yet. Stone showered, shaved and dressed and walked out to their porch. Dino was sipping coffee from the pot in his room.

“I ordered breakfast for you,” Dino said.

“Good.”

“You look a little peaked.”

“You could say that,” Stone agreed.

“Is the Swede turning out to be too much for you?”

“Don’t ask.” Stone looked at his watch. Eggers would be at his desk momentarily.

“Any news on any front?” Dino asked.

“Yes, and I’m going to call Eggers in a minute. You can listen in, so I won’t have to repeat myself.”

“I’ll try and contain myself,” Dino said drily. Stone pressed the speed-dial button on his phone, and it began to ring. He pressed the speaker button so Dino could hear the conversation.

“Eggers,” the phone said.

“It’s Stone.”

“God, you’re up early; I hope it’s good news.”

“Is there such a person as Harry Keating?”

“Yes, or rather, there was.”

“Was he Warren Keating’s brother?”

“Yes, he was the man I dealt with until his death.”

“What do you know about Warren Keating?”

“That he was Harry’s brother. He wasn’t in the business until Harry died; doesn’t know anything about it, really. He’s a chemist, or at least he has a chemistry degree. I don’t think he had much of a career; he just took a monthly check from Harry.”

“I finally pinned Evan Keating down last night, and he won’t sign the papers.”

“What?”

“He says his father is a liar and a thief.”

“We’re talking twenty-one million dollars! Is the kid nuts?”

“Do you know more about the family than the kid does?”

“Well, no.”

“Who negotiated the deal for the sale of the business?”

“I initiated the talks, but the buyer had to retain another lawyer, since I represent him, too.”

“How was Evan’s share of the proceeds determined?”

“As the managing partner, Warren has the authority in the will to allocate the funds, and he has his father’s agreement.”

“Do you know the father?”

“Yes, he was still running the company when they became our clients. He retired a good ten years ago, and Harry ran the company since then. Grew it a lot.”

“Do you know the old man?”

“Sure.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“At Harry’s funeral, about three months ago.”

“Did you have an opportunity to talk with him then?”

“For a few minutes. He was crushed about Harry’s death.”

“Did he seem all right to you at the time?”

“No, I told you, he was crushed.”

“I mean mentally all right.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess.”

“Evan says his grandfather has Alzheimer’s and that he’s in a home.”

Eggers was silent.

“Are the pieces falling into place, Bill?”

“What are you suggesting?”

“How did Harry Keating die?”

“I don’t know, exactly. He fell ill and died a couple of days later. What are you getting at, Stone?”

“Me? Nothing. But Evan says his father killed Harry.”

Eggers was silent again.

“Bill, are you weighing what our ethical obligations are in this matter?”

“I’m weighing everything,” Eggers replied.

“I can’t force Evan Keating to sign the documents. You’d better tell Warren that.”

“He’s going to be livid,” Eggers said.

“Then he’ll just have to be livid. By the way, Evan says the police are looking into Harry’s death. You did say that Warren is a chemist, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, Stone. But you and I don’t have any grounds for calling the police in. Warren and his son have been estranged for years; we can’t just accept the boy’s theory of Harry’s death. If Evan has suspicions, then he should share them with the local police.”

“I’ll mention that to him, if I see him again.”

“What do you mean, if you see him again?”

“Well, I don’t have any further plans to contact him. He may be contacting me, because a friend of his here got himself murdered, and the local cops want to have a chat with Evan. I don’t think he had anything to do with it.”

“God, what a nest of snakes this is turning into.”

“Bill, why don’t you make a few phone calls and check into Warren Keating’s background. It may be that if he’s trying to screw his son on this deal, you’ll want to resign the account.”

“I’m not in the habit of resigning accounts,” Eggers said.

“If Evan should decide to sue his father over this, the law fi rm could get dragged into it as a defendant. And frankly, I don’t think Evan is going to be bought off easily. Maybe you’d better broach the subject with Warren and get him to divide the sales proceeds equally.”

“This is all very distasteful,” Eggers said.

“You want me to talk to Warren? If he goes nuts, you can always blame it all on me.”

“I’ll talk to the man,” Eggers said.

“And you’ll get back to me?”

“Give me a day or two.”

“You want me to hang here until then?”

“Yes. I want somebody near Evan Keating, if we need to negotiate with him. You won’t mind working on your tan for a little longer, will you?”

“I’ll tough it out,” Stone said, then hung up.

“I’ll tough it out, too,” Dino said.