Bad Business

54

I was part of the family at Kinergy by now. I smiled at the woman at the reception desk and headed for the elevators without anyone saying may I help you. Kinergy was humming right along, just as if things were going good. Up in Gavin's old office Marty Siegel and his two assistants were deep into their computers. Adele sat close to Marty, I noticed, looking over his shoulder. Vinnie sat tilted back in a high-backed leather swivel chair near the window. He shot me with his forefinger when I stuck my head in the door.

"Progress?"

Marty didn't even look up from the computer.

"You'll be the first to know," he said.

"Attitude?" I said. "After I got you this lucrative gig?"

"Go track down a criminal," Marty said.

"Okay," I said.

A dele smiled at me, though I think Marty had replaced me in her affections, or Vinnie, or maybe both. Inconstancy, thy name is Adele.

I went on down the hallway to Bob Cooper's big corner office and past the platoon of secretaries in his outer office to the desk of the secretary in chief in her inner office. And she ushered me into the vast digs of the CEO. Cooper stood when I came in and gave me a huge smile.

Welcome wherever I went.

"Spenser," Cooper said and came around his desk, which took him a while because the desk was nearly the size of Vermont. "Good to see you. You caught any bad guys lately?"

"You should know," I said

"Ouch," Cooper said. "I really walked into that one."

I sat in one of the eight or ten red leather armchairs scattered around the office.

"Talk to me about Gavin," I said.

"Ah, Gav," he said. "Damn shame. Was it definitely decided it was suicide?"

"If it wasn't," I said, "why would someone kill him?"

"God," Cooper said, "you think someone killed him?"

"Well, if it wasn't suicide, what would be the other options?" I said.

"Of course! Jesus, I'm getting dumber by the minute," Cooper said. "Do you think it was murder?"

"Do you think he would kill himself?" I said.

"No, Gav was a stand-up guy. He'd been in the military, you know. And then he was CIA. It's hard to imagine he'd kill himself."

"So who would kill him?" I said.

"The police think it's murder?"

"Police haven't told me," I said.

There was no special reason to lie about it, but on the other hand there was no special reason not to.

"Gav would have been hard to kill."

"Depends on who's got the gun," I said.

"Yes, of course, I suppose with a gun . . ."

"So why would someone shoot him?" I said.

"Well, he was in that spy business, he might have made enemies."

"I'd buy that more if he wasn't the second Kinergy guy in a month to die of gunshot."

Cooper nodded. On the oak-paneled wall behind his desk was a huge portrait of Big Wilma, looking pretty much like Big Wilma.

"I suppose," he said.

"Any other thoughts?"

"I don't ... I can't ... everybody liked Gav."

"He was very loyal to you," I said.

"Oh God yes. I mean Gav and I go way back. Ever since Yale."

"He wasn't married," I said.

Cooper smiled. "Gav wasn't good with women," Cooper said.

"Which means?"

"He was divorced three times."

"Any current action?" I said.

Cooper grinned at me, man to man.

"There was always current action for Gav," Cooper said.

"Any current favorites?"

"Gee," Cooper said, "I don't want to be telling tales out of School."

"Neither do I."

He recognized the threat. It almost pierced the jovial CEO shield for a moment, but he righted himself.

"But I'd rather tell them than have you tell them," he said. "Gav was spending a lot of time with Trent Rowley's missus."

With all the information clutter, I had forgotten it: my first meeting with Jerry Francis, outside the Rowley home:

" So far the only person I caught her with was him."

" Her husband?"

" Yeah. Guy who hired me."

G avin had hired him.

"Gavin was seeing Marlene Rowley?" I said.

"Yep." Cooper smiled some more. "No accounting for taste, I guess."

"I guess," I said.