THE FIRST DAY she was gone, I was miserable1, and the next one was shaping up the same way when Milo dropped by at nine A.M. and showed me Jane Abbot's correspondence with Tony Duke.
"She kept copies," he said. "In her safe-deposit box. On the bottom, under some stock certificates."
Two letters. In the first Jane reminded Duke of their time in Hawaii and informed him he had a daughter. A penciled notation2 on the bottom was dated five days later:
TD called, 3pm, no prob with $, wants to meet L. I said probs, maybe later.
In the second Jane thanked Duke for his quick response, apologized for restricting him from Lauren, describing her as "a very bright young lady, but unfortunately—through no fault of yours, dear Tony—she is currently emotionally ill and highly troubled."
TD called 3X, says be knows doctors. Put him off. Lauren gone, again, no idea where. Next time, bail3 or not?
A final page in Jane's handwriting laid out the financial agreement. Fifty thousand dollars a year placed in trust for Lauren, to be supervised by Jane, with the understanding that Jane would do everything in her power to effect a reunion and that, by the time Lauren reached twenty-six, Duke would get to meet her.
Father and daughter had fallen short by six months.
I gave him back the papers. "What's the status on Mel Abbot?"
"He should be released soon, though no one's sure where to put him. The closest relative they can find is a cousin in New Jersey4, almost as old as Mel. Meanwhile, Irving's right down the hall from Abbot, in the jail ward—you did good work on his face. The D.A. will file multiple counts of conspiracy5 and first-degree homicide with special circumstances for mass murder, cruelty, and profit motive6. Gretchen's helping7 them put the case together in order to plea down her own conspiracy rap— The feds finally came through and verified that Irving had been one of her big-time clients. All we've got on her is her pal8 Ingrid knowing I was looking for Michelle and your seeing Gretchen enter the Duke estate the next day."
"Gretchen works the system again," I said.
"What the D.A. wants is Irving on a platter, and Gretchen can fill in the blanks. She can also supply the motive for Michelle—no, there wasn't any blackmail9, no one's sure Michelle even knew anything dangerous. But Irving thought she did—to be brutally10 honest, my mentioning Michelle's name to Gretchen signed her death warrant—and no, I'm not blaming myself, I was doing my job. It's just the way things happen sometimes."
He rubbed his face. "And Gretchen's still claiming she's never heard of Shawna. I'd like to say I've been right about Shawna not being part of this, but at this point I don't know what's real and what isn't. For all I know Irving took pictures of her, boffed her, killed her."
"Gretchen set up Michelle and Lance and she walks."
"Maybe she'll get hers one day. ... I also found out that Irving's rag biz went under because of 'financial irregularities'—he left behind an army of creditors11, and that beach construction project is leveraged12 to the hilt. Plenty of claws being sharpened— He ain't gonna find too many character witnesses."
"What about Anita?"
"So far, she doesn't appear to be dirty," he said. "When I saw her she looked worse than Dugger—some kind of intestinal13 problems; she actually threw up four times during a one-hour interview. She seems genuinely shocked by what her husband and Cheryl were up to—we're talking emotionally shattered. Even my jaded14 detective ears ain't ringing. As I was leaving the mafioso doc was putting her on tranqs. . . . What else— Oh, yeah, Charming Lyle the Model Father finally showed up. Looks like he really was hunting. Rangers15 picked him up for shooting a doe out of season, caught him skinning it by the side of his truck. Big-time fine, and they sent him back home, bitching all the way. Asshole actually called me up again yesterday, wanting to know if I'd learned anything about Lauren's will."
"What'd you tell him?"
"Well," he said. "I controlled myself, didn't allow myself free expression of pent-up emotions."
He ambled16 to the fridge, stuck his head in, emerged empty-handed, walked over to the window and played with a houseplant.
"What I told him is Lauren died poor. Which is the truth, right?"
收听单词发音 |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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notation
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| n.记号法，表示法，注释；[计算机]记法 | |
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bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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leveraged
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| 促使…改变( leverage的过去式和过去分词 )； [美国英语]杠杆式投机，（使）举债经营，（使）利用贷款进行投机 | |
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intestinal
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| adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌 | |
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jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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ambled
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| v.（马）缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 )；从容地走，漫步 | |
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