going to do. But right now I don’t know.”
The phone rang. Tracy picked it up, said, “Steve Winslow’s office,” listened a moment, said, “Hold on.” She covered the mouthpiece and looked up at Steve. “It’s her.”
17
“I didn’t do it.”
Steven Winslow frowned. He looked at Kelly Blaine through the wire mesh screen in the visiting room of the lockup. “They charge you yet?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the charge?”
“Murdering David Castleton.”
“That’s what you didn’t do?”
Kelly frowned. “Why are you talking like that? Like you didn’t believe me? You’re my lawyer.”
“Hang on,” Steve said. “Let’s get something clear. I’m not your lawyer. I did a job for you. That job is finished. Now you’re consulting me again. I may take the case and I may not. That’s still up in the air. I’m not your lawyer till I tell you I am.”
“But-”
“Hold on. Let me finish. You’re now consulting me as an attorney. Whether I take the case or not, anything you tell me is confidential. It can’t implicate you, and I can’t divulge it. So there’s no reason to hold anything back. You can talk as freely as if I were your attorney.”
“I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you take the case?”
“We have a slight credibility problem here. You come into my office, tell me a story. I act on it, get you a settlement. As it turns out, I have no idea how much of your story is true. All I know is, you gave me a phony name and address and then you didn’t cash your settlement check. Next thing I know you’re palling around with David Castleton and he’s dead.
“That’s in the debit column. You expect me to have any dealings with you, you better start filling in the credit side of the ledger.”
Steve took a breath. “Okay. Let’s start with your name. You told me Kelly Blaine. The cops have you down as Kelly Wilder. Which is it?”
“It’s Wilder.”
“And what’s Blaine?”
“Nothing. I made it up.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long story.”
Steve gestured at the surroundings. “Yeah, well it looks like you’re gonna have plenty of time. So start explaining.”
Kelly took a breath. “Well, I guess you could start with my name.”
Steve’s eyes narrowed. “It isn’t Wilder either?”
“No, it is. But it’s my married name.” She wrinkled her nose. “I was married two years. To an actor. A total creep. I don’t know why it took me that long to figure it out. It was just one of those things. Anyhow, I’m divorced. Almost a year now. I just haven’t gotten around to changing my name.”
“Yeah? So what?”
“My maiden name is Clay.”
Steve frowned. “Clay? Why is that name familiar?”
“My brother’s name is Herbert Clay.”
“Herbert Clay.” Steve’s eyes widened. “The bookkeeper for Castleton industries, went to jail for embezzlement?”
“That’s right.”
“Good lord. Do the cops know that?”
“I don’t know.”
“They’re sure as hell gonna find out.” Steve shook his head. “Jesus Christ.”
“What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter? That’s the motive. Indignant sister of jailed brother wages one-woman war against industry that put him away.”
“That’s not true.”
“I didn’t say it was true. I just told you how it’s gonna sound. But we’re not talkin’ true here. Which from you would be a real innovation. So far, all I’ve had from you is a bunch of bullshit. Start at the beginning and tell me what the hell happened.”
“You know about my brother?”
“I know he worked for Castleton Industries, went to jail for embezzlement. That was about two years ago, right?”
“Right. I was in California. Married to a schmuck.” Kelly shook her head. “Alan Wilder. The great Alan Wilder. Teen heartthrob, rising screen star. What a fool. There I was, working, supporting both of us. And there he was, making the rounds, going to Hollywood parties alone to further his career. Snorting cocaine and screwing starlets. And I shouldn’t stand in his way, his chance to make the big time. I don’t know why it took me so long to wise up.”
Steve shifted restlessly.
Kelly held up her hands. “All right, all right. Anyway, the point is, I was in California when it happened. The thing with my brother, I mean. I knew about it, I knew he was in trouble and all that. But I was a million miles away, and I had my own problems.
“But I knew Herb. I knew he wouldn’t do anything like that. I figured it was all a big mistake, and everything would get straightened out. Next thing I know he’s in jail.
“Well, I wanted to do something to help, but like I say, I had my own problems.
“And that’s what did it. What woke me up, I mean. Because I wanted to come here, see Herb, see if there was anything I could do to help, and Alan wouldn’t hear of it. What was I thinking of, going to New York? We didn’t have the money. He didn’t have the time. He couldn’t come with me, he didn’t want me going alone. And he didn’t want me calling attention to myself. He had his career to think of, for god’s sake. He didn’t want people associating him as the guy married to the sister of an embezzler.
“Anyway, that was the beginning of the end. We separated, we eventually divorced, and I started saving money to come out here. Which wasn’t easy. New York is not cheap. I got a one-room apartment-lucky to get it- that costs me close to a thousand a month.
“I hit town about four months ago, went to see Herb.”
Her eyes misted over and her lips trembled. “Jesus. I couldn’t believe it. What jail had done to him. Oh, nothing physical. He wasn’t beat up. He wasn’t even thin. But his eyes. They were dead. Defeated. Yeah, he was glad to see me and he was animated, but it lasted about a minute. After that there was nothing but dull resignation. Hopelessness.”
“So what?”
Kelly’s eyes widened. “So what? What do you mean, so what? This is my brother we’re talking about. He’s in jail and he didn’t do it.” Kelly’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, go on, look at me like that. I’m telling you he didn’t do it. I don’t care what you think, I know.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know.” Kelly held up her hand. She took a breath. “I know, that’s no answer. But it is for me. I know my brother. If he’d done it, he’d have told me. Look, you want the truth? My brother’s no saint. He’s been in scrapes before. But he wouldn’t try to lie out of it. Not to me. He wouldn’t say, ‘I didn’t do it, you gotta help me.’ He’d say, ‘Kelly, I did this, I’m in a mess, now what can I do?’ You understand? If he’d done this, he’d tell me everything he’d done to see if there was anything we could do about it. If he tells me he didn’t do it, I gotta believe him.”
