“And?” Steve prompted.
She frowned. Shook her head. “And he was nice. Not at all what I expected. It could have been an act, considering the circumstances. But I was looking for that. I was expecting that. But I didn’t think so. The guy was basically nice.”
“So?”
“So, it was a slow, leisurely dinner. Then we had coffee. We still hadn’t brought anything up. Finally, he smiles and says, ‘Why are you here?’”
“And?”
“And I got into it. Not directly. I still didn’t tell him who I was, what I was after. But he’d been talking about the company, so I picked up on that, and then I brought up the embezzlement.”
“What happened then?”
She shook her head again. “It didn’t seem to bother him. I was watching closely, trying to judge his reaction. And there wasn’t any. He knew all about the embezzlement, of course. But my bringing it up didn’t seem to faze him. He was very matter-of-fact about it. Yeah, there’d been an embezzlement, and it was sort of an embarrassment to him because it had been in his branch of the company, but they got the guy who did it and he was in jail and it really hadn’t hurt him much.”
“Did you believe him?”
“That’s the problem. I did. I didn’t want to, but I did. I kept telling myself, the guy’s shrewd, he’s acting, he’s conning you. But I couldn’t make myself believe it. The guy just came across as sincere.”
“So what’d you do?”
“I still didn’t let on who I was. But I admitted what I was after. I had reason to believe that he had been conned and Herbert Clay had been framed and the embezzlement had actually been the work of someone else.”
“How did he take that?”
“He was very skeptical. And his attitude changed. He was still nice, but very condescending, you know what I mean? It was obvious I was sincere, but I was misguided and misinformed. He felt sorry for me, and he just wished there was something he could do to convince me I was wrong and I was wasting my time.”
“What happened then?”
“We went to his apartment.”
“Why?”
“Because he had a computer.”
“What?”
“I had the floppy disk in my purse. The way things were going, I decided to show it to him.”
“You tell him what you had?”
“No, I just asked him if he had a computer. When he said yes, I said, fine, I want to show you something. We took a cab to his apartment.”
“What time did you get there?”
“Ten-thirty.”
“Go on. What happened?”
“We went up there and he turned on the machine. I stuck the floppy disk in and called up the memo.”
“And?”
“It floored him. At least that’s how he acted. He’d never seen the memo before, he had no idea it existed, he couldn’t believe I’d pulled it out of the files.”
“You believed him?”
“Yeah, I did. Because he was angry, you know? He was outraged this could have happened. He promised me he’d get to the bottom of it.”
“Is that when you told him who you were?”
“No. I never did.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. I mean, I trusted him but only so far.”
“Then how’d the police get to you so fast?”
“I don’t know.”
“They didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“They talk to you?”
“Yeah.”
“Ask you questions?”
“They tried.”
“You tell ’em anything?”
“Absolutely not. I said, I’m not talking and I want to call my lawyer.”
“Good for you. Just keep telling ’em that.”
“You gonna represent me?”
“Let’s hear the rest of your story first.”
“That’s it.”
“No, that isn’t it. You’re in jail under suspicion of murder. Let’s find out how you got here. The last you told me, you were up in David Castleton’s apartment and he seems real sincere and he wants to help you.”
Kelly drew back from the screen. “What’s the matter? You sound sarcastic.”
“Do I? Well, that’s the problem with your story. When you hear it repeated back, it doesn’t sound that good.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I didn’t say that. But I’d like a few more details. Right now I got you and David Castleton up in his apartment looking at a computer disk. Suddenly, he’s real compassionate and wants to help you?”
“So?”
“You go to bed with him?”
Kelly set her jaw. “What the hell kind of question is that?”
“It’s a question you’re gonna be asked. It would help to have the answer.”
“The answer is no, goddamn it. And I resent that. You’re only asking me that because I typed nude. You’re saying a girl who would do that’s a loose woman, you could expect her to hop into bed with every man she meets. Well, I’m not like that. I told you why I took that job, and that’s not fair.”
Steve shrugged. “Yes, but it’s a two-edged sword.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’d be asked that question anyway. The only reason you’re so pissed off and defensive is
“Yeah, but-”
“Look,” Steve said. “There’s some hard realities here. Hard reality number one is you’re charged with murder. Hard reality number two is whatever reason you may have had, you
Kelly’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah,” Steve said. “So you better get used to it, and you better figure out how you’re gonna handle it. Let me tell you something-righteous indignation is not an act that’s gonna play.”
Steve paused and took a breath. “Okay. Now hold all that for a moment. How did you leave things with David Castleton?”
“That’s just it. I left him the disk.”
“The floppy disk?”
“Yeah.”
“You trusted him with that?”
“It was a copy. I had the original. I wasn’t bringing that with me. I duped a copy to bring to show.”
“And you left him that?”
“Yeah.”
