Joan Pickart - Body of Evidence

“The Gardners don’t deal like that, Detective.”

Waters didn’t even react. “The oil business is a delicate thing these days, any problems there?”

“None.” Gardner ’s voice was becoming icy.

Waters retracted the point of his pen with a click of the top, and looked at Gardner straight on. “So, nobody had any reason to kill your brother.”

“None that I’m aware of.”

So why’s he dead? Darien muttered to herself.

“Who stood to benefit from his death?” Waters asked.

Lyle Gardner ran out of patience. “You’re on the wrong track, Detective, and you’re wasting valuable time. Yours and mine. Weren’t things taken from the apartment? Doesn’t that make it clear this was a robbery, and poor Franklin interrupted it?”

“Perhaps.” Waters tapped the pen against his notepad. “What about your nephew, Mr. Gardner?”

“Stephen? What about him?”

“He’ll be quite a wealthy young man now, won’t he?”

“He already is,” Gardner snapped. “He’s a Gardner.”

“But now he’ll have his own money, won’t he?”

“He’s never lacked for whatever money he needed.”

“But now it’s his,” Waters persisted. Darien wasn’t sure what he was up to, but guessed it had been triggered by Mrs. Gardner’s fierce protectiveness of her grandson.

“He’s doing graduate work, getting ready to take his place with the corporation. The family takes care of his expenses. He doesn’t need more money now, doesn’t want the worry of it.”

“I don’t know any twenty-three-year-olds who don’t think they need more money. Of their own.”

“Look, they may have fought about the money he was going to inherit, but Stephen had nothing to do with this!”

Waters froze. And the moment the words were out, Lyle flushed.

Well, well, Darien thought.

“I wonder,” Colin mused aloud.

“What?”

“How long it would take to get to Franklin ’s apartment from that fancy college his kid goes to.”

As they walked toward the elevators, his partner glanced at her watch, as if to see if they had time to make the run themselves. “Maybe we should find out firsthand,” she said. “Before grandma has a chance to talk to him about what to say.”

“Good idea,” Colin said. “But first I want to track down those security tapes. The guy should have contacted me by now.”

“So we go back to the apartment building?”

He nodded again. But as they continued down the hall, the name on an office door slowed him. “Hold on a sec,” he said, and made a turn in that direction. He opened the first door, to find a blond, tan young man behind a desk.

“Can I help you?” the man asked quickly.

“We’d like to see Mr. Reicher.”

“And you are?”

“Detectives Wilson and Waters.”

“Oh!” The young man leapt up. “I’m sure he’ll want to see you. He’s very upset about Mr. Gardner. Just a moment.”

He opened the door behind him, and disappeared inside. Less than a minute later he emerged again, and gestured them into the inner office. Again, the room was exquisitely and expensively decorated, but they had little time to notice the decor.

“What took you so long?” the man standing behind the large desk snapped.

Well, hello to you, too, Colin thought. He studied the tall man in the very expensive-looking suit. His assessment stalled at the man’s gray eyes; he’d seen warmer eyes on a python. Score one for Mrs. Carter, he thought. Cold was definitely the word. The chief operating officer of the Gardner Corporation was clearly a man used to being the boss. And pity the underlings, Colin added to himself.

“We’re working our way down the possible suspect list,” Colin said bluntly.

“Suspect list!” The eruption came just as he’d expected.

“Of course,” Wilson put in with an icy cool that would have done Cecelia Gardner proud. “You’re merely another name on it. We’ve eliminated several, we’re hoping to eliminate you.”

Reicher looked torn, as if uncertain whether to react to her placating words, or the disdain with which she spoke them. Silently Colin congratulated his new partner; he doubted Reicher often was at such a loss.

“As Detective Wilson said, we’re here to eliminate you from the list. So if you can just tell us where you were last night?”

“I was right here. Working late, as I often do.”

“Can anyone verify that?”

He turned on Wilson as she spoke. “My word isn’t good enough for you, Ms…Detective?”

To his own surprise, Colin took offense for her. But he said nothing, knowing she had to learn how to handle such things herself. Which, with her next words, she did quite effectively.

“Absolutely good enough for me, Mr. Reicher.” Her tone was sweet now. “I wouldn’t presume to doubt you without evidence. It’s just not good enough for the D.A., a judge and a jury.”

Reicher seemed to accept her new approach, but Colin had the strangest feeling he should have taken it as a sign to be even more careful.

“John, my assistant, can verify I was here. I’m afraid I kept him quite late on a project I’ve been trying to wind up.”

She continued her questioning. “As COO, you’d be aware of any business enemies Mr. Gardner might have?”

“Enemy enough to commit murder? I would be, if he had any. You’re wasting time if that’s your angle.”

“No deals that fell through, or hostile takeovers?”

“No. I told you you’re wasting your time. You should be looking for a dope-crazed burglar. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do. Franklin ’s death has caused a bit of chaos.”

Colin said nothing until they were back in the elevator and the doors had closed behind them.

“A dope-crazed burglar,” he repeated.

“Oh, please,” Wilson groaned.

“You don’t buy it?”

“I don’t buy that any doper would leave all that portable wealth behind. He’d take everything he could stuff in his pockets and then start filling the pillowcases.”

Okay, she does have it, he thought.

“What do you think of misters Gardner and Reicher?”

“One’s an arrogant bully and the other’s a cold, pompous snake. You pick which is which.”

Interesting that she’d thought snake just as he had. “With those eyes? No question, Reicher’s the reptile.”

They headed to the car for the trip back to the penthouse building to check on the videotapes. When they arrived, he parked in the loading zone in front, slapped an identifying placard on the dash, and they headed for the door.

“Where’s the equipment?” she asked.

“The basement.”

She nodded, and they took the stairs down.

The basement was as utilitarian as the rest of the building was elegant. Cool and a bit dim, it took up barely a third of the building’s footprint. The rest, he guessed, was given over to the parking garage that housed what was likely a fleet of vehicles as elite as their owners.

They stepped into a wide hallway. Off to the left were two doors labeled Maintenance and Utilities. To the right was a single, unmarked door. Without a word, they both turned that direction. As they got closer Colin saw light coming from under the door. He tried the knob, but it was, as he expected, locked. He rapped twice on the metal door.

For a moment there was only silence, but finally the sound of footsteps came from the other side of the door. After another moment, it opened. The man who handled the security cameras stood there, and Colin didn’t like the expression on his face.

“Something wrong, Mr. Bergen?”

“I…it’s impossible. It’s never happened before. I don’t know how… The equipment was fine when I got here, but…”