Russell Andrews - Hades

"Chinese cars?"

"Get used to it. The wave of the future. Chinese cars, Chinese televisions, Chinese everything. We're steering a lot of money their way."

"Makes sense. I like their food, why wouldn't I like their cars?"

The possibility that Justin might now discuss different types of egg rolls finally seemed to exhaust Daniel French's goodwill. Justin could see the helpful light go out of his eyes.

"What are the chances of my talking to Lincoln Berdon?" Justin asked.

"I doubt he's going to be of much help. He also may be the busiest man on the planet, so good luck getting in there."

"He's not around now, by any chance, is he?"

"He's in London today."

"How about Ellis? He in London, too?"

"No, Ellis is domestic only."

"Then where do I find him?"

There was a moment of silence from Daniel French. He looked down at his shoes, uncomfortable, before twisting his neck a bit to the side and saying, "He's not in today."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know."

"Sick?"

"I don't know," French said quietly. "He didn't come in today."

"Is that standard operating salesman procedure? To not come in on Fridays?"

"Sometimes," French said. "During the summer."

"And he doesn't need to tell anyone?"

"He told his secretary that he wouldn't be reachable today."

"Dan," Justin said slowly, "the guy is the key contact in your company for someone who was murdered last night, and you didn't think it was worth mentioning until now that he's missing?"

"He's not exactly missing. He's probably at a meeting somewhere."

"How about his assistant? Would she know what meeting he's at?"

"I checked with her before you got here. I assumed you'd want to speak to Ellis."

"And?"

French sighed quietly. "And she doesn't know where he is, either."

"Can I ask you a question, Dan?"

French was looking down at his shoes again. "Yes."

"Did you Google me before we met? Or have your people check me out?"

"Yes."

"Find some pretty interesting stuff, did you?"

"Yes, we did."

"Found some fairly violent episodes in my past?"

"Yes."

"I hope you don't think this is out of line," Justin said quietly, "because you've been very nice and very helpful and I appreciate it. But you should have paid more attention to your research, because I'm not someone to fuck with and you just fucked with me. I'm not sure why and it doesn't really matter. But my advice is don't do it again." He smiled brightly. "Was that out of line?"

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Daniel French said.

"You can tell me who Ellis St. John's assistant is and you can take me to her. And then get the fuck out of my way."

They were given a small room down the hall from the big conference room. Ellis St. John's assistant was an attractive if somewhat husky young woman named Belinda Lambert. She had large, round, brown eyes that seemed to be pleading for someone to take her away from all this. Anywhere. Although preferably anywhere that included a bedroom. Justin didn't take the plea personally. He had a feeling that request had been made many times before.

Belinda wasn't overly helpful once Justin made it clear he wasn't taking her anywhere, although she was polite and her concern about her boss seemed genuine. When Justin had ascertained that she really didn't have any idea where Ellis St. John might be-she'd tried calling his cell phone several times as well as his apartment and had e-mailed his BlackBerry, all to no avail-he tried to get her talking about St. John in general terms. She was evasive about delving into his personal habits. She did say that she was sure he wouldn't stay away too long because of his two cats.

"He loves those cats," she told him. "Binky and Esther, that's their names. I mean, you wouldn't believe the way he treats them. Buys them presents and cooks for them. It's kind of crazy. But sweet, too, don't you think?" He agreed it was very sweet, and when he asked who fed them when he was away, she said, "I do. They don't like me as much, though. I'm more of a people person than an animal person. But I'll feed them tonight and for the weekend. Well, I guess I'll feed 'em as long as he's away."

"You know he won't be home this weekend?"

"That's what he said. That I wouldn't be able to reach him today and he'd be gone all weekend."

"When he told you this, did he sound upset?"

She thought for a moment. She had on a strange reddish-purple lipstick and her thought process involved licking the lipstick with her tongue and then leaving smudges of it on her white, white teeth. "No," she said. "I'd say he sounded kind of happy. You know, excited. I got the feeling it was a hot date or something."

"Does Ellis have a car?"

"No," she said. "You know, I told him he should, I mean he goes away all the time on weekends. Fire Island, the Hamptons, Bucks County. He says he'd rather rent."

"Do you make his reservation for him when he rents?"

"I don't have to," she explained. "At least during the summer. He has a standing reservation at Hertz on Thursdays. The one that's just a couple of blocks from here. If he doesn't want a car, then I cancel the day before."

"Did you cancel on Wednesday?"

"No. So I guess he picked it up."

"You have his cell phone number, Belinda?"

She nodded and rattled off the number. He picked up an office phone and dialed it. After several rings, a recorded message came on, a man's voice saying, "You've reached Ellis St. John. I'm not available, but if you leave a message I'll call you back as soon as possible." When Justin heard the tone, he said, "Ellis, this is Justin Westwood, I'm chief of police for East End Harbor in Long Island. Please call me as soon as you get this message. It's very important." He gave his home number and his cell number, and hung up. And he made a note of St. John's cell number.

"I'm sure he'll call you back soon," Belinda Lambert said. "He's very good about calling back."

Justin nodded. Then he asked about Ellis's relationship with Evan Harmon. There was a noticeable hesitation and a slight off-center smile on her lips, so when all she said was, "It was fine," Justin couldn't let it just stop there.

"Can you elaborate?"

"On what?"

"On their relationship." He knew that even assistants on Wall Street made six-figure salaries. Justin decided that Belinda was overpaid.

"What is it you want me to say?" she asked.

"I want you to tell me the truth. Did Ellis and Evan get along?"

"Sure."

"How do you know?"

"Because they spoke on the phone constantly. And they got together all the time. And…"

"And what?"

"Look, Mr. Westwood-"

"Chief Westwood. I'm a police officer, Belinda, and this is a homicide investigation-do you understand?"

"Yes, it's just that Ellis can be… well… he won't like it if I tell you certain things."

"Such as?"

She gave him an I-may-be-dumb-but-I'm-not-dumb-enough-to-fall-for-that look. Justin didn't change his expression, just waited.

"Look," she said, "I could get fired."

Again, Justin stayed quiet. Apparently silence was the one thing Belinda couldn't bear.

"I think Ellis is in love with Mr. Harmon." She shook her head as if she couldn't believe she said it out loud. But now that she had, it made it easier for her to keep going. "I mean, he never said that or anything, but you can just tell that kind of thing."

"How could you tell?"

"He would get so excited when Mr. Harmon called. You know, he'd, like, spruce up, fix his hair or something, like Mr. Harmon could see him, even though he was just on the phone. And Mr. Harmon could ask him to do anything. I mean, like anything. You know, run an errand for him or take someone to dinner, and Ellis would just get so excited."