High Profile

42

“I thought I’d ask Sam to sit in with us,” Tom Nolan said.

“If you think you need a lawyer,” Jesse said.

“I’m an entertainment lawyer,” Sam Gates said. “If we were concerned about criminal matters, I wouldn’t be the one.”

“It’s just that I know Walton’s business from one side,” Nolan said. “And Sam from the other.”

“Sure,” Jesse said. “What’s the future for Walton’s business now?”

“We plan to carry forward with Alan,” Nolan said.

“Hendricks?” Jesse said.

“Yes. The enterprise will still be called Walton Weeks, but now it will be Walton Weeks, with Alan Hendricks.”

“The market will bear that?” Jesse said.

“Yes. Alan has sat in for Walton in the past. People like him. We’ll market it as the legacy renewed.”

“So the beat goes on,” Jesse said.

“Of course there’s only one Walton Weeks,” Nolan said. “But yes, the enterprise will continue.”

“And this was predictable?”

Nolan looked at Gates.

“Predictable?” Gates said.

“If I told you last winter that Weeks would die, would you have known that the, ah, enterprise would survive?”

“Well, of course, no one was thinking about that last winter,” Gates said. “Walton was not an old man. He was in good health.”

“But if you had thought about it?” Jesse said.

“I assume we would have concluded that the franchise was still viable,” Gates said.

“That would, of course, have been up to Mrs. Weeks,” Jesse said.

“Of course,” Gates answered. “She being the sole heir.”

“And she’s in Hendricks’s corner,” I said.

“She thinks Alan would be a suitable replacement,” Gates said.

“Would it have been apparent that she thought so six months ago?” Jesse said.

“What are you getting at?” Nolan said.

Jesse smiled and shrugged.

“I’m just floundering,” Jesse said. “You know, small-town cop in over my head.”

“I’m sure you’re doing your best,” Gates said.

Jesse looked grateful.

“So did Lorrie and Alan get along okay?”

“Yes,” Nolan said. “Of course.”

“How well?” Jesse said.

Nolan looked away.

Gates said, “Are you implying something?”

“To imply something,” Jesse said, “you have to know something. I’m just trying to learn.”

“I doubt that either Tom or I could speak to their private lives,” Gates said.

“And the question of how well did they get along,” Jesse said, “is about their private lives?”

“I didn’t say that,” Gates said.

“How about Lorrie and Walton?” Jesse said.

Nolan looked at Gates again. Gates was silent.

Then he said, “You’re a pretty good small-town cop.”

Jesse smiled.

“Well,” he said. “I am the chief.”

Gates nodded.

“How were Mr. and Mrs. Weeks getting on?” Jesse said.

“May we be off the record here?”

“No,” Jesse said. “I won’t talk about anything to the press. But if I have evidence, I will share it with the DA.”

“But no press.”

“Not from me,” Jesse said.

Gates nodded again. Jesse waited.

“Walton asked me to refer him to a divorce lawyer,” Gates said.

“He did?” Nolan said.

No one paid him any attention.

“When?” Jesse said.

“Three months ago.”

“And did you?”

“Yes,” Gates said.

“Who?”

“I believe that would be covered by privilege,” Gates said.

“No doubt,” Jesse said. “Of course, the client is murdered and I’m trying to find who did it.”

Gates nodded. “That would be a consideration,” he said.

Jesse waited.

“Esther Bergman,” Gates said.

“She here in the city?”

“Yes. Hoffman, Dalton, and Berks,” Gates said. “Downtown.”

“Did he consult her?” Jesse said.

“I don’t know.”

“Was Mrs. Weeks aware?”

“I don’t know.”

The three men were quiet for a time in Nolan’s penthouse office.

“What effect would a divorce have had on the enterprise?” Jesse said finally.

Nolan looked at Gates. Gates nodded.

“None, would be my guess,” Nolan said. “Walton was a name brand. He’d been divorced before. I don’t think it would have had any effect.”

“And on the former Mrs. Weeks?” Jesse said.

“Lorrie?” Nolan said. “I suppose that would have depended on the settlement.”

“But she would be unlikely to remain an heir.”

“Unlikely,” Gates said.