Steve Martini - Double Tap

“What else could I do?”

“You think she might have been afraid of Satz?” I ask. “You said they had a falling-out.”

“I don’t know. It’s possible. One thing she did tell me and it’s all I know. She said she’d promised something to someone and then she was unable to deliver. They were angry. Whoever it was was threatening her. Nothing in writing, ‘cuz I asked her about it. I figured if there was some evidence, she could take it to the cops. She said there wasn’t any evidence, but even if there was, she couldn’t go to the police. One thing is sure: whoever it was had her on the spot.”

“If she couldn’t tell her board and couldn’t tell the cops,” says Harry, “could be that whatever she was involved in was illegal.”

Ruiz shrugs, shakes his head. He doesn’t know. “There was one other thing.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

“I thought she mentioned a name. . No, it can’t be.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” he says. “I think I must have misunderstood her.”

I give him a look, a stern question mark.

“It’s just she was talking so fast, and I wasn’t taking notes. She was excited, said she didn’t have much time, had to get back to the office. I thought she said something about Walt Eagan. But that can’t be right.”

“Who’s Walt Eagan?” says Harry.

“He was one of her assistants. Eagan headed up R amp; D for Isotenics. He’d been with Madelyn from the beginning. Sort of her man Friday. Her first hire when she started out. From what I gather, the guy was a software wizard. Real heavyset, wore jeans to work, didn’t quite fit into the corporate culture at the place. But Chapman kept him on ‘cuz she trusted him. Any important jobs got handed off to Walt. And he reported directly to her. But I think I must have just gotten confused, heard something that I didn’t.”

“Why is that?”

“Because by the time of the conversation with Madelyn at the restaurant in San Diego, Eagan was already dead.”

I look at Harry. “How did he die?” I ask.

“Nothing sinister,” says Ruiz. “He died of cancer, a little over a year after I went to work there. I remember because Madelyn took it hard. She was also up to her ass trying to handle everything on his desk and find a replacement. I don’t think she ever did. But whatever it was that scared her, I don’t see how it could have had anything to do with Eagan. Like I say, the man was dead at least six months by the time she called me to meet her at the restaurant.”

“You said Madelyn had a bad temper,” says Harry. “Did she ever get angry with you?”

Ruiz looks at him. “What is this about?”

“The cops are operating on the theory that you killed her following a lover’s quarrel,” says Harry. “Would be good to test out their theory before we get to trial.”

“We weren’t lovers-not in the way you’re suggesting. And I didn’t kill her. And no, she never displayed any anger toward me.”

“But according to you, she had a temper and she could get physical.”

“Yeah. At times.”

We probe his employment with Karr, Rufus. Ruiz said he had worked for the security firm just a shade under two years. The executive protection assignment at Isotenics was one of his first jobs. He’d been on board with Chapman for about sixteen months when she pulled the plug and told her board she didn’t need security any longer.

“And during this period you would be what, twenty-four hours on, twenty-four off?”

“Usually. Sometimes more. Sometimes less, depending on whether we were traveling or at home. I made arrangements for all travel to and from, screened her calendar for any threats or risks. I’d escort her to and from vehicles, travel with her on the corporate jets whenever she went off on business. If we were away for any length of time, there would usually be two or three of us assigned. And of course at the house I always tried to have another guy there. For reasons that sometimes had less to do with security.”

“But you would be in charge of the detail?”

“I was the lead on the assignment, yeah.”

“And when Ms. Chapman was at home, where would you be?”

“If I was on duty I would be there, at her house.”

“You had a room there?”

“Yeah.”

“Where was it?”

“Upstairs, second floor.”

“Where was her room?”

“Same floor. Just down the hall.”

“Anybody else live there with her on a regular basis?”

“No. Except for my backup, as I said. She had a maid, a live-in, but it didn’t last. Woman quit. Walked out one day and never came back.”

“The security contract. What else did it call for besides executive protection?” I ask.

“Oh, everything: training for drivers, corporate espionage, uniformed armed security for the corporate headquarters. I suppose you’ve seen their facilities out by the university.”

“You mean Software City?”

Ruiz nods. “Most of the property out there belongs to Chapman’s company.”

“So it was a sizable contract. How did Karr, Rufus land it?”

“You’d have to ask them that.”

“What about Karr, Rufus? Tell us a little bit about the firm.”

“What’s to say? They’re an employer of opportunity for retired military like myself. They have contracts all over the world, some with our own government, some with other governments, private corporations. That sort of thing. Company’s headquarters are here in San Diego. Offices in five other cities, but this is where they do most of their hiring. They draw from Pendleton, the Marine base, and the naval base out on Coronado, North Island. Mostly retired military personnel. Once in a while a law-enforcement type, but not often.”

“But you were in the Army,” says Harry.

“Yeah, I heard they were looking for new hires so I came out and applied. They offered me a job. It pays well, or did until they canned me.”

“I take it you had a boss, a supervisor you reported to.”

“Jerry Comers. Nice guy. Easy to get on with. He was former Navy. Better than some of the sups they had there. A couple of former Marine staff sergeants. You know the type: tight-ass jarheads. Humorless. So I guess I lucked out.”

“Was it Comers who interviewed you for the job? Assigned you to provide security for Madelyn Chapman?”

“He gave me the assignment. But I suspect it came from higher up. As for hiring, only one man does that: Max Rufus, managing partner. You go through a series of screening interviews, panels, like a promotion board in the military for officers. But everybody has to pass muster with Rufus, sit for an interview with the man and pass it before you’re hired. Blow that and you can forget it. He personally passes on all the company’s employees, has as long as the company’s been around.”

“I take it Isotenics, Chapman’s company, was one of their larger clients?”

“As private companies go, it would have been a big contract. I’m not sure if it was the largest. You’d have to ask them.”

“Before your job with the firm, what did you do?”

“I was active duty Army.”

“Where?”

“Lotta places. Mostly Georgia. Fort Benning. Fort Bragg in the Carolinas. That was my last duty station.”

“What did you do there?”

“What is this, twenty questions?”

“What was your MOS?” I ask.

“Ground pounder. Infantry. Did some training assignments.”

“What, like a drill sergeant?”

“Not exactly. Training in special weapons, tactics, that sort of thing.”

“You weren’t by any chance in one of the Army’s elite units?”

“I did some time in the Rangers.”

“How many years?”

“I don’t know. Twelve. Maybe a little more.”