Laura Stone turned her head, as though looking around Phil's office, taking in the books, the pictures, and the mess. What was she, Elizabeth's age? No, a little older. The age he'd been when Markie Keegan was assigned to him. The fingertips of her left hand lifted to her temple, pressed. Headache? Or maybe he was supposed to think she had one, so he'd be gentle with her.
He waited to see.
Laura Stone brought her eyes back to him. “It didn't turn out so well for Mark Keegan, that deal.”
“You think that's the fault of the deal?”
She wrote and moved on. Plainly, what she thought wasn't a topic of this meeting. “What's your relationship with Mark Keegan's widow?”
“Private.”
“You and Sally Keegan have been intimate since you met, isn't that true?”
No, it's not true. Markie'd been in jail five months and dead sixteen before the foggy cold night on the Staten Island ferry when I first kissed Sally. “No comment.”
“What's your relationship with Edward Spano?”
Ah, Eddie. I knew we'd get to Eddie. “No comment.”
“Is it true you were taking money from Spano all these years and passing it on to Mark Keegan's family?”
Not directly. Not that I knew about. “No comment.”
“But you don't deny the money didn't come from New York State?”
“That's public record.”
“Where did it come from?”
Wish to hell I knew. “No comment.”
“You're acquainted with Marian Gallagher? Of More Art, New York? And the McCaffery Fund?”
“Yes.”
“Ms. Gallagher suggested that you, as the attorney handling the payments, would have to know the source of the funds.”
“Did she?”
“Would you care to comment on that?”
“No.”
“Is she wrong?”
“Usually.”
Laura Stone let go a sudden smile. “You don't like her?”
Shrug. “You met her.”
She reined the smile in, as though it had escaped by mistake, all business again. So, he thought, now we share a secret. Now we're buds. Good move, and well done. Probably usually works.
She said, “But you received the money from somewhere.”
“True.”
“Close to $350,000 over the years, that's a lot of money. Harry Randall thought it came from Edward Spano through McCaffery. Do you want to deny that?”
I'd love to. “No comment.”
“What was its purpose?”
“The money? To support Keegan's wife and child.”
“Who would want to do that?”
Anyone who knew them. “No comment.”
“Would Edward Spano have any reason to do it?”
“Not that I know about.”
“If Spano had paid Mark Keegan to kill Jack Molloy, would he have had a reason to support Keegan's family once Keegan died?”
If he had, you bet he would. “No comment.”
“Why did Jack Molloy threaten Mark Keegan?”
“He didn't just threaten Mark Keegan, Ms. Stone, he shot at him.”
“Why did Jack Molloy shoot at Mark Keegan?”
No change of tone. Phil had to grin. He'd have done it just that way himself. “He was drunk and from what I hear, he was crazy.”
“He'd been like that all his life, and he'd never shot at Keegan before.”
