screen. Anyway, he grabbed me and I slapped him. When I did he let go. But then I didn’t know what to do. I was panicked. My purse and clothes were in the closet, but I couldn’t get by him to get to them. And he was coming at me. And I don’t want to answer questions, and I’m naked for Christ’s sake, and I’m scared out of my mind and I don’t know what to do.
“So I ran. I ran out of there. Just like I told you before. I found a coat, came to your office and you know the rest.”
“No, I don’t know the rest. You told me a bullshit story and I acted on it. I see now why you did it, but tell me anyway.”
“I wanted the purse, of course. That’s why I didn’t give a damn about the settlement. All I wanted was the disk in my purse.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t get it.”
“Yes, I did.”
Steve frowned. “I searched your purse. It wasn’t there.”
“Yes it was. It was in the lining. It’s the only smart thing I did. It was a big, floppy purse. I cut a slit in the lining. I had the disk hidden there. You didn’t find it and they didn’t find it. That’s why I was so damn pleased when you got me my clothes back. I looked in my purse and it was there.”
Steve thought that over. “Okay. That explains what happened then.” He spread his hands to indicate the surroundings. “How did we get to this?”
Kelly bit her lip. Shook her head. “I was stupid. I should have gotten help. I should have told you what was going on. Either that, or I should have gone to Herb’s lawyer. But he was such a numbnuts-I mean, the guy thought Herb was guilty. Anyway, I tried to do it on my own.”
“Do what?”
“Bluff them.”
“Bluff them?”
“Yeah. See, I was stupid again. I had the memo, but what did it prove? It was just that, a memo. Nothing to prove where it came from. I could have typed it myself on some other machine. If I’d been smart and I’d had time, what I should have done was downloaded the whole file. Then I’d have had copies of all these other fax that would have matched the ones in Castleton’s files. Even that wouldn’t be real proof-I could have just added this memo to it. But even so. I’d have had more credibility.
“Anyway, I had the memo. I didn’t know if they knew I had it. I mean, Danby knew I’d been screwing around with the computer, but he didn’t know what I was after. He wouldn’t know about the backup file.
“And Castleton. Well, Castleton hadn’t embezzled a hundred grand. Not him. Not from his own company. If someone had, and I could prove it to him and prove it wasn’t Herb, well, he’d have no reason not to listen.”
“Yeah? So?”
“So I called.”
“And?”
“I got Phil Danby. Of course. But he wasn’t rude and abusive and he didn’t cut me off. That was a good sign. Instead, he seemed interested to find out what was going on.
“Which was perfect for me. It meant they were still in the dark. They had a feeling they’d been had somehow, but they still didn’t know why or what it was all about. And they were interested enough to want to find out.
“Anyway, I wasn’t about to deal with Danby. I told him I wanted to talk to Milton Castleton directly. He said no way, any dealings with Castleton went through him.”
“What did you do?”
“I said, ‘Too bad,’ and hung up. I gave him a few hours to think it over and called back. That time Danby’s attitude was quite different. He said he’d talked to Castleton and Castleton was willing to talk to me, but not on the phone. But if I’d come to the apartment, Castleton would see me personally.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Told him to forget it. There was no way I was going back in that apartment. I told him I wanted to meet Castleton in a public place where I’d feel safe, and I wanted to meet him alone.
“Danby said that was impossible. Castleton was in poor health, he couldn’t go traipsing around the city and certainly not alone.
“I said, ‘Too bad,’ and hung up. I let ’em stew about it and called back the next day.
“I got Danby again. He said he’d relayed my message to Castleton and what I wanted was out of the question.
“But Castleton had a compromise. If I wanted to meet in a public place, he couldn’t meet me but he’d send his grandson in his place.”
Steve’s eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“The meeting was for last night?”
“That’s right.”
Steve thought that over. “Why his grandson? Why not his son?”
“I don’t know. Only, the way I hear it, the son is not too swift. Just a yes man for dad. But David Castleton is pretty sharp.” She bit her lip. “Was.”
“Yeah. So you agreed to this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I figured it was true what Danby said, that I’d never get to Castleton himself. And there was another thing.”
“What was that?”
“David was the one I wanted.”
“What do you mean?”
“David Castleton was Herb’s boss. David Castleton had a reputation of being a playboy. Of being a little wild. There were rumors grandpa had him on a short leash.”
“You mean …?”
“Absolutely. He was the one Herb suspected of the embezzlement. The way Herb saw it, he certainly was the most likely. Particularly in light of what happened. Because if Castleton’s own grandson was involved, what would happen then? You’d get a whitewash, a cover-up and a convenient scapegoat. Which is exactly what happened.”
“Your brother have any proof?”
“Of course not. No more than they had proof against him. My brother liked to gamble, live above his means and had access to the books. So did David Castleton. My brother wasn’t anybody’s grandson, he was just a little guy without connections, and he took the rap.”
“All right,” Steve said. “So you figured you’d confront him with this?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know what I would do. But this was a guy I wanted access to, and here he was. I didn’t know how much I would tell him, I didn’t know how much I would let on. I figured I’d play it by ear. The key thing I had going for me was David Castleton didn’t know who I was. Didn’t know I was Herb’s sister, I mean. So I figured I’d talk to him, sound him out, try to see what made him tick. I’d never met the guy, you know. Anyway, I figured it was a step in the right direction.”
“So what happened?”
“So I met him last night. Seven o’clock. Singles bar on Third Avenue. His suggestion. Well, it was noisy, crowded. I couldn’t talk there. I told him so. He said, no problem, we’d go somewhere quiet, have dinner, talk it over. We went out, hopped in a cab, went uptown to a small Italian place. Not fancy, but nice. Quiet, unpretentious. We sat there and had dinner.”
“And?”
“I took it real slow. During dinner I didn’t bring up why I was there. And neither did he. We just made small talk. Which was kind of one-sided, ’cause I wouldn’t tell him anything about myself. So we talked about him. His grandfather. The company. Which was great, ’cause that was what I wanted to know.”
She stopped. Took a breath.
