“Big difference. One way I’m making a perfectly legitimate legal argument. The other way I’m suborning perjury on the one hand and laying my client wide open to be ripped apart and caught in a lie on cross-examination on the other.”
Kelly frowned. “I see.”
“But that’s not your concern,” Steve said. “Never mind the legal ramifications. That’s my job. We’re not in court now, it’s just between you and me and we wanna know what the hell happened. Now, you say the idea he got a peek in your purse is out. Fine. But I still want you to think about it, see if there’s any way that could have happened. But for the time being, say it didn’t. All right then, what about the phone calls?”
“Phone calls?”
“Yeah. When you called him, set this meeting up-any chance those calls could have been traced?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. I called from pay phones.”
“Oh?”
“I was
“And how long were you on the line?”
“What’s the difference? Even if they traced the call, they couldn’t get to where I was.”
“Maybe not, but even so. How long were you on the line?”
“Five minutes tops.”
“Long enough to trace the call.”
“But not to get there. If I’d used the same phone, sure. They trace the call and stake someone out there for when I call again. But I didn’t do that. The phones weren’t even near each other. There’s no way that could have happened.”
Steve sighed. “Great. Nice work. You understand it would be better for us if it could?”
“Yeah, but it’s you and me talkin’ here. And you don’t want some nice theory, you want the facts. Well, those are the facts.”
“Great,” Steve said. “And then we have the little matter of the gun.”
“I can’t understand that.”
“You and me both. How did David Castleton come to get shot with your brother’s gun?”
“I have no idea.”
“What a surprise.”
Kelly opened her mouth to say something. Steve held up his hand. “Look, let’s not go through the same bullshit over this. The fact is, he
“I didn’t.”
“Fine. I know that. But the cops are gonna
“They can’t.”
“Did you ever see the gun?”
“Of course not. I didn’t even know he had one.”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“You never saw it?”
“No. I told you that.”
“Okay. After you came to New York and you went to see Herbert …”
“Yes?”
“Did you go to his apartment?”
Her eyes faltered. “Oh.”
“Shit.”
“Well, how was I to know?” she said indignantly.
“You weren’t. But here we are. I take it you went there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It’s a two-bedroom apartment. Herb was sharing it with this other guy. When Herb went to jail, of course he stopped paying rent. His roommate was pissed off, didn’t want to go it alone, wanted to rent the room. Anyway, the guy was putting all of Herbert’s stuff in storage.”
“So?”
“So I packed for him.”
“Oh, hell.”
“It was the least I could do. Sort through things, make sure nothing got left behind.”
“The roommate knows this?”
“Of course. He was there when I did it.”
“He didn’t watch you all the time, did he?”
“No. Why should he?”
“But he can swear you went through every inch of your brother’s stuff. Which is all the cops will need to convince the jury you would have found the gun.”
“But I didn’t. It wasn’t there. If it was, it was in some box I didn’t open.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because if the gun was packed away in storage, it wouldn’t have killed David Castleton. No, there’s only two theories. Either the gun was there and you found it, or it was already gone.”
“It was already gone.”
“So you say. Who would have taken it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about Herb’s roommate?”
“What about him?”
“He could have taken the gun.”
“Why would he?”
“I don’t know. But he had access to the gun. That makes him as good a suspect as any.”
“But killing David Castleton-why the hell would he do that?”
“I don’t know. Who is he, anyway?”
“Some guy. I don’t even know his name.”
“He work for Castleton Industries?”
“I don’t think so. In fact, no. He’s an actor.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I remember now. I didn’t like him. I didn’t like him because Herb told me he was an actor. My husband was an actor and he was a schmuck, and when I heard he was an actor I immediately didn’t like him.”
“Was he a schmuck?”
“Who?”
“The roommate.”
Kelly shrugged. “He was a nice enough guy. But he was an actor and he was throwing Herb out, so why should I like him?”
“I see,” Steve said. He sighed and got up.
“You going?”
“Yeah. It’s real nice talking to you and all that, but the problem is you don’t know anything.” Steve shrugged. “Looks like I’m gonna have to have a talk with your brother.”
