Sandra Brown - Ricochet

“It’s no myth,” DeeDee said.

“-of Coleman Greer’s machismo, but she told us that after their high school romance, which was platonic-”

“Like hell,” mumbled DeeDee.

“-he confessed to her what he’d never told another living soul. He was attracted to men.”

“ ‘As God is my witness.’ ” DeeDee dramatically placed her hand over her heart. “Á la Scarlett O ’Hara, she swore it.”

“Jeez, I can’t believe it,” Kong said. “My boys would be crushed. I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with it. Live and let live, I say. But…well, you’d rather your baseball heroes be straight.” He looked around as though polling them. “Wouldn’t you?”

“According to Esteban, Coleman Greer was straight.”

“Correction, Bill,” Duncan said. “According to Esteban, he’s straight. He couldn’t speak for Coleman Greer, and doesn’t know with absolute certainty, but Esteban seriously doubts he was gay. How could he have been gay and nobody know? How could he have kept that hidden when he lived and traveled in the company of men half the year? He doesn’t believe Coleman Greer was gay. But he knows that he ‘ain’t no fucking fag.’ ”

“Which blows a big hole in Elise Laird’s story,” DeeDee said. “I’m positive she invented that lie because it was the one her husband would grab on to with both hands. During all those trysts, she wasn’t screwing her baseball player. No, she was consoling him over his gay love affair gone awry.” She snuffled with scorn. “Priceless. Your affair is exposed by a PI your husband has hired to follow you. You need a lie, and quick. Voilà! Your lover isn’t your lover. He doesn’t even like girls.”

“PI?” Kong said. “Here’s where my missing person comes in, right? The PI was Napoli?”

Duncan said, “Anything?”

“Nothing. Not a hair off his greasy head.”

“The judge hired Napoli?” Gerard said, his dismay showing.

“He said he was desperate to know if his wife was having an affair or if it was his imagination,” Duncan explained. “He admitted to us that Napoli came through with something, but at the last minute he changed his mind, didn’t want to learn what that something was.”

“And Kong found Gary Ray Trotter’s name among papers on Meyer Napoli’s desk.”

“That’s right, Bill,” Duncan said.

“Now I see where you’re going with this,” the captain said.

“ Napoli had proof of Mrs. Laird’s affair. The judge got cold feet, didn’t want to know the truth after all, turned it down. But Napoli got greedy and took the proof to Mrs. Laird. He blackmailed her with it. Whether to protect herself, or Coleman Greer, or both of them, she agreed to a big payoff. Gary Ray Trotter was the drop man.” He paused, then added, “This is all speculative, but it fits.”

They sat in silence for a moment, pondering Duncan ’s summary. Kong was the first to speak. “But how’d she know Trotter would break in that particular night?”

“It could have been prearranged.” Duncan told Gerard and Kong about her insomnia, her habit of going downstairs for milk. “Trotter may have been about to leave the goods, as instructed-”

“But she popped him first,” DeeDee said. “Maybe he was firing his pistol in self-defense, not her.”

“Maybe,” Duncan said, tugging thoughtfully on his lip. “But if that’s the way it went down, where are the goods? Supposing he had an envelope with him, what did she do with it?”

“Lots of places to hide it in that study,” DeeDee said. “She could have stuck it between two law books before the judge got downstairs. Or in a credenza drawer. It could have looked innocuous enough. She went back for it later.”

“I guess.”

“If Trotter was coming through with the promised goods, why’d she shoot him?” Kong asked.

“To tie up a loose end. This is one cold gal,” DeeDee replied.

“Funny,” Duncan said, “Tony Esteban described her as hot.”

“I guess it depends on your point of view.”

“I guess it does,” Duncan said, matching the bite in DeeDee’s voice.

Gerard said, “The key to all this is Napoli. If he sent Trotter to the Lairds’ house, and Mrs. Laird was expecting him, we’ve got ourselves a case of premeditated murder.”

“Or,” Duncan countered, “it was a burglary gone bad and a matter of self-defense as she claimed.” Or, he thought, there was another scenario. The one in which Elise was supposed to die, not Trotter. But he had only her say-so for that, and after his conversation with Esteban, it seemed even more unbelievable than it had before.

“What about ballistics on the two weapons?” Gerard asked.

“I got the report this afternoon,” DeeDee said. “Both clean as a whistle. The judge purchased his seven years ago.”

“Long before he’d even met Elise,” Duncan remarked.

“Trotter’s has never been attached to a crime,” DeeDee said. “Dead end.”

Addressing Kong, Bill Gerard said, “ Napoli needs to be found.”

“I’ve got every cop on the force with his eyes peeled and an ear to the ground. Right now, looks like he’s pulled a Jimmy Hoffa.”

Then the captain turned to Duncan. “What’s your next move?”

He thought about it for a moment. “I suppose I go back to Mrs. Laird and tell her that Esteban categorically denied being Coleman Greer’s lover. See what she says.”

“She’ll say he’s lying.” That from DeeDee.

Gerard spat into his cup. “You’re frowning, Dunk. What’s on your mind? Something tells me you’re not convinced.”

He stood up, walked over to the window, and gazed out thoughtfully. A horse-drawn carriage loaded with tourists was clop-ping past. The tour guide was pointing out the architectural features of the Barracks, giving them its history.

“Convinced?” Duncan said. “Good word, Bill. Because I’ve been wondering if maybe Esteban was trying to convince me that he’s heterosexual. Everything he said, his posturing, it was almost overkill. His Barbie-doll fiancée with an engagement ring bigger and heavier than an anchor. Her jumbo-sized breasts, which he paid for. Eyeballs through his dick.”

“Excuse me?”

He turned back into the room and smiled at Kong. “You had to be there. The point is, he wanted there to be no doubt in my mind that he was a superstud, a man who liked women.”

“He’s that way all the time,” Gerard said. “You ever see him when he wasn’t strutting his stuff?”

“He’s cocky as hell,” Kong agreed.

“Yeah, the swagger and boasting may just be elements of his personality.” Duncan returned to his chair, but didn’t sit down. He braced his arms against the back of it. “But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Esteban and Coleman Greer were lovers. Who’s the one person in the world who might know about it and could expose it?”

Gerard supplied the answer. “Coleman’s longtime friend and confidante, Elise Laird.”

“Right. When the concierge of Esteban’s building announced me, I said I was there to talk to him about Coleman Greer’s friend Elise Laird. Maybe he panicked. Maybe he thought right then and there that the jig was up, that his homosexuality was about to be exposed. So everything he said and did was calculated to contradict anything she might have told me about his relationship with his teammate.”

“Or maybe her lie was payback for him dumping her, just like he said,” DeeDee argued.

“He’s an egomaniac. That whole story about her coming on to him could have been a lie.”

She made a snorting sound. “You just don’t want her to be guilty of murder.”

“And you do,” he fired back.

“No,” she said slowly. “But just because she’s got a doll face and a figure to match doesn’t mean she’s innocent.”