21

“She didn’t do it.”

Steve Winslow frowned. He looked through the plexiglass at Herbert Clay, who was sitting opposite him, holding the other telephone. He remembered what Kelly said-dead, defeated. Yeah, that was Herbert Clay all right. But in Steve’s mind it wasn’t just prison. There was something about Herbert Clay that wasn’t quite right. Steve couldn’t put his finger on it. He wasn’t handsome, but he wasn’t ugly. He didn’t look bright, but he didn’t look dull either. He just looked a little off. An inept con man. A sharpie not quite sharp enough to make it.

A loser.

That’s what it was.

Your basic loser.

“Oh yeah?” Steve said. He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know what it is with your family, but that’s what they all say.”

“Huh?”

“She says you’re innocent. You say she’s innocent. Big deal.”

“But she is. Kelly wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Well that’s reassuring. Great. You’ve made my day.”

Clay frowned. “Hey. What’s with the sarcasm?”

“This may surprise you, but I don’t exactly need you as a character witness.”

“Character witness?”

“Yeah.” Steve gestured around an imaginary courtroom. “And now, Your Honor, I’d like to call Herbert Clay, a convicted embezzler, to testify that in his opinion the defendant, his sister, did not commit the crime.” Steve widened his eyes in mock surprise. “You have that, Mr. Winslow? Why didn’t you say so? Case dismissed.” Steve looked back at Herbert Clay. “See what I mean?”

Clay scowled. “Hey, what the fuck you doin’, man. Whose side you on?”

“I’m on your sister’s side. I’m trying to help her. If you want to help her, you’ll come down to earth and answer my questions. I’ve been talking to you five minutes now, all I hear is what a great girl she is and how she wouldn’t do it. Big deal. Tell me something I want to know.”

Clay’s eyes hardened. “Son of a bitch.” He held up his finger. “Look. I want to help Kelly, but I don’t have to take this shit. A convicted embezzler. Just for your information, I didn’t do it. Maybe that’s what they all say, but in my case it happens to be true. I didn’t do it.”

“Maybe not, but if you weren’t dipping into the till and playing the ponies you wouldn’t have taken the fall. Now I’m not your lawyer. I’m Kelly’s. You want to help her or not?”

Clay glared at him a few moments, then dropped his eyes. “Yeah. Go on.”

“Tell me about the gun.”

Clay shook his head. “I can’t understand that.”

“That makes two of us. Tell me, how did David Castleton get killed with your gun?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well the cops have. Your sister took it and killed him with it. How’s that sound to you?”

“That’s ridiculous. Kelly-”

“-wouldn’t do such a thing,” Steve finished for him. “Right. So who would?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, let’s figure it out. Tell me about the gun.”

“What about it?”

“What do you think? Why did you have a gun, what were you doing with it, where did you keep it, who had access to it, who could have taken it?”

Clay took a breath. “I had it for my job.”

“Why?”

“Occasionally I had to make deposits, withdrawals, carry large sums of money. Mostly during the day, but sometimes at night after work I’d make deposits. I didn’t feel safe walking around with the money on me, so I got a gun.”

“Who knew you had it?”

“I don’t know. David Castleton, of course. He was my boss. Aside from him I wouldn’t know. It wasn’t any secret or anything.”

“How about his father?”

“Whose father?”

“David’s father. Wasn’t he in charge of that division?”

“Yeah. But he wasn’t really hands-on, you know what I mean? He was a cream puff. Only had his job because he was the old man’s son.”

“Yeah, but did he know about the gun?”

Clay frowned. “You think he killed his son?”

“We’re running possibilities here. You tell me Kelly didn’t do it. You want to tell me Stanley Castleton didn’t either?”

“This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe not. Tell me something. Are you innocent?”

Clay stared at him. “I told you that.”

“You didn’t steal over a hundred grand from Castleton Industries?”

“Hell no.”

“Well, someone did. If it wasn’t you, who was it?”

“I thought it was David.”

“Well, he’s dead. Who’s next on your list?”

“I don’t know.”

“How about Stanley Castleton?”

“I can’t see that. I mean, the guy’s such a wimp.”

“How well did you know him?”

“Hardly at all. But-”

“Then let’s not cross him off the list. Did he have access to the gun?”

“I suppose so. But I still can’t see it. I mean, Stanley Castleton, for Christ’s sake.”

Steve sighed. “Let’s forget the parties involved and talk about the gun. Where did you keep the gun?”

“On my belt. I had a clip-on holster. My jacket covered it.”

“You walked around all day long with a gun clipped to your belt?”

“No. Just when I had to carry cash.”

“Fine. That’s what I mean. When you weren’t wearing the gun, where did you keep it?”

“In my desk.”

“You kept the gun in your desk?”

“Yeah.”

“Anyone know you kept the gun in your desk?”

“I don’t know.”

“Anyone ever see you put the gun in your desk?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Or take it out and clip it on?”

“Maybe. I don’t remember.”

“Ever show off with the gun? You’re talking to someone you wanted to impress, you say, ‘I gotta make a deposit,’ you’d open the drawer and take out the gun and clip it on your belt?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Any secretary there you were sweet on, you might want to impress?”

Clay flushed. “No.”

Steve held up his hand. “Hey. I’m not attacking your personal life here. I’m trying to get a handle on what’s happening. I need to establish that someone else had access to the gun. And more than just access, I’d like to establish that they would have known about it.”

“You want me to say I showed someone the gun?”

Steve took a breath, rubbed his head. “I don’t want you to say anything. I’m not asking for perjured testimony here. Frankly, it wouldn’t be worth a shit anyway. What I want are the facts. So stop trying to figure out what you want to say and what I want to hear, and just concentrate on the basic problem. Someone knew you had that gun and took it. Now, who could have done that?”

“Well, David.”

“Right,” Steve said. “But the suicide theory is out. So unless David took it and someone found it in his apartment and killed him with it, that doesn’t help us. In fact, it hurts us, ’cause the most likely person would still be Kelly. Now who else?”

Clay’s brow furrowed. He shook his head. “I don’t know. Anyone could have known, could have done it, but I simply don’t know.”

“Great,” Steve said. “Now when was the last time you saw the gun?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t remember. It’s been a long time. I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Well, think about it now.”

“I don’t know. I used it for cash transactions. They all sort of blend into each other. I can’t remember the last time. I had my own problems. I was distracted.”

“Right. With the embezzlement. Go on, think about the embezzlement.”

“What about it?”

“You got wind something was up, and you sent a memo to Milton Castleton.”

“Yeah.”

“And you faxed it.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Fine. Now from that point on, did you have reason to use your gun?”

He frowned. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?”

“As a matter of fact, no, I’m pretty sure not.”

“Why is that?”

“Because that was one of the things. That was worrying me, I mean. One of the reasons I wrote the memo. There seemed to be something funny with the figures and no one had asked me to make a deposit for a while. Which had me paranoid. I was afraid they might peg me.”

“You weren’t paranoid. They did.”

“Yeah.”

“But from the time you sent the memo, you don’t recall ever seeing the gun?”

“When you ask me like that, no, I guess I didn’t.”

“Okay. Good. Now let me ask you something else. When you weren’t using the gun, did you always leave it in your desk-”

“Yes.”

“Let me finish. Or did you ever leave it at home?”

“Oh.”

“Well, did you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, think about it. After you made a deposit-at night, after work-did you go back to the office to put the gun away or would you go straight home?”

“I’d go home.”

“So you’d take the gun home.”

“Yeah.”

“You bring it back the next morning?”

“Sure.”

“When you took off the gun at home, where would you leave it?”

“On my dresser.”

“On your dresser?”

“Or in the drawer.”

“Which was it?”

“Either. Both. It was no big deal, you know. I never thought about it.”

“You ever forget and leave the gun at home?”

“Not that I remember.”

“But you could have?”

“I could have, sure.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? Your sister cleaned out your room, packed your stuff for storage. If you left the gun home, that’s when she would have got it.”

“Then I’ll say I didn’t.”

“What?”

“If they ask me, if they put me on the stand, I’ll say I didn’t. I’ll say I never kept the gun at home.”

Steve frowned. “I told you, I’m not asking for perjury.”

“I know. You’re not asking nothing. I’m just telling you what I’m gonna say.”

Steve held up his hand. There was an edge in his voice. “Let me tell you again. I’m not interested in what you’re gonna say. I’m interested in the facts. Just between you and me, is it possible you left the gun at home?”

“Yeah, it’s possible. But I’ll never say that. I promise.”

“Thanks for your support,” Steve said dryly. “Okay. Now we got the gun. It could be at the office, it could be home, you’re not sure which. Am I right?”

“Yeah.”

“All right. Never mind now who you think you’re helping. Where do you think the gun was?”

“At the office.”

“That’s your best guess?”

“Yeah. It’s possible it was home, but I don’t think so. If you ask me, I think I left it at the office. If they ask me, I’ll swear I left it at the office.”

“Okay. Fine. But say you left it at home. Your roommate- what’s his name?”

“Jeff Bowers.”

“Okay. This Jeff Bowers-what about him?”

“What about him?”

“Could he have taken the gun?”

“Sure, but why the hell would he?”

“You tell me. What’s his connection with Castleton Industries?”

“None. He didn’t have any. He’s an actor.”

“Yeah, but they do job-jobs. Drive taxis. Wait tables. In between work.”

“Yeah. So?”

“Any of his job-jobs have anything to do with Castleton Industries?”

Clay’s eyes widened. “You trying to prove Jeff did it?”

“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Steve said. “I’m trying to raise an inference. If the prosecution raises the inference the gun was at home, I want to raise the inference that Jeff could have taken it. You know what that means, to raise an inference?”

Clay frowned. “Hey, I’m not stupid.”

Steve let that pass. “Good,” he said dryly. “Then you see what I’m trying to do. Did your roommate ever work any job remotely connected to Castleton Industries?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Ever date one of the secretaries?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You ever introduce him to anyone you knew from work?”

“No. We had separate lives. We shared the apartment, and that was it.”

Steve sighed. “Yeah, that’s it. Okay. Thanks for your help.”

“Listen,” Clay said. “I’d do anything for Kelly. Anything. You put me on the stand, I promise I won’t hurt you one bit. If you need me, just put me on the stand.”

“Yeah, sure,” Steve said. He hung up the phone, pushed back his chair and stood up.

Under his breath he said, “Like hell.”

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