Killer Karma

something.

Flaxx cut her off. “I don’t give a shit if you were there or not or took a piece of trophy.”

Lamper stiffened.

A glare from Flaxx deflated him. “I don’t even give a shit who was outside the washroom…unless you can tell me, Irah, that it was someone outside of us three.”

“No,” she said.

“Then I just want all this crap stopped!” Flaxx glared at both Irah and Lamper. “We have a business to run. A profitable business…if we keep our minds on it. Let’s make money, not war. Remember the old line about hanging together or hanging separately? Remember it! Now, let’s get back to work.”

Rah rah, go team go.

The two of them started to stand.

Flaxx pointed at Irah. “I need you to stay a few more minutes…to go over details of the manager meetings.”

Her brows rose but she settled back in her chair.

If the request surprised her, Cole wanted to know what Flaxx really had to say. He leaned against the desk to wait.

After Flaxx walked Lamper out, he closed the door. “I don’t understand why Earl denies he came over last night. If it is like chess strategy, the way you were saying earlier, I don’t see where it can possibly go.”

“The way I- ” Irah’s eyes narrowed speculatively. “Tell me. How many people saw Earl at your place?”

Flaxx looked surprised by the question. “Just me. I happened to answer the door. Why?”

“Oh, I was thinking that it might be worth asking anyone else who talked to him what their impression was of his demeanor.”

The frown deepened. “No one else talked to him. It wasn’t a social occasion. Did you break into Earl’s place last night?”

She hesitated a moment, then shrugged. “I wanted to look around…see if there was anything that might tell me what he’s up to. I didn’t. But I was there just once. I didn’t go back.”

Cole hurried out and up the hallway to Bookkeeping. With her away from monitoring her spy cameras, this was a good time to work on Lamper. Briefly. Not much energy remained.

After making sure no one was looking his direction, he materialized in the doorway as Irah. Eyes in the main office turned briefly his direction, but none with the start of someone registering the fact that he appeared out of nowhere. He stepped into Lamper’s office.

Lamper eyed him warily. “Yes?”

Cole gave Irah’s face a conciliatory smile. “I owe you an apology. I was wrong about you and the washroom.” He was wrong, too, about how much energy he had. He gritted his teeth to hang on to the materialization.

Lamper’s expression went skeptical. “You changed your mind in a hurry.”

“I had the truth thrust on me. Meet me by the elevators in fifteen minutes and I’ll explain.”

Of course Lamper wanted to know. That showed in his face. So did suspicion. “Why not tell me here, now?”

Cole thought fast. “You’re in a fish bowl.” He tipped his head toward the office windows. How much longer before Irah returned to her office? “And I don’t want to risk being overheard.”

“You’re the one with- ” Lamper caught himself just in time.

Cole smiled inwardly. Good thing I’m not Irah; you almost gave away knowing about the spy camera. He edged toward the door. “Meet me. You need to hear this.”

After a moment of hesitation, his expression still suspicious, Lamper nodded.

As soon as he made it to the hallway, Cole let go with relief and zipped to the Embarcadero.

Watching the clock on the Ferry Building tower, he worked through traffic the whole fifteen minutes. The materialization might not need this much energy, but he had to be sure he had enough.

From a zip back to the reception area, he walked around to the elevators…checked to be sure he was alone, and materialized as Irah. Now if only Lamper were prompt.

He was…coming out of the office doors just seconds later.

“So who was outside the washroom that’s going to shock me so much?” Lamper asked. Still skeptical, Cole noticed…and looking around as worrying this was some kind of trap.

The elevator doors opened, letting off a couple who stood studying the floor directory.

Cole strolled down the corridor away from them and the Flaxx offices and lowered his voice. “The person outside the washroom was the same one Donald talked to at home last night. If you’re telling the truth about not going to the house- ”

“I am!”

“Then he hallucinated you being there. I think he hallucinated the washroom thing, too.”

Lamper gaped at him. “Hallucinated! That’s ridiculous.” He wheeled away.

“Who did he talk to, then?” Cole said. “You know it wasn’t you. It wasn’t me. I’m good at voices and disguises, but I’d have to be a shape-shifter to pull off looking like you.”

Lamper halted and slowly came back. “Maybe he made up the story to see how you’d react…thinking you’d incriminate yourself about the washroom.”

Cole arched his brows. “Did he look like someone making up a story? He believes you were there. And that isn’t his only conversation with someone who wasn’t there. When he came in this morning, I saw him standing by his office seeming to be talking to Farrell…only Farrell was at the reception desk the whole time.”

“So you say.” Lamper’s frown clearly said he did not believe a word.

“Ask Farrell if he followed Donald back from the reception desk. I think Donald’s cracking up.”

Lamper snorted. “Bullshit!”

Cole heaved a deep sigh. “I’m afraid not. He’s- ” He pretended to struggle internally, then lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “Wednesday evening I got a frantic call from him asking me to come in, that there’d been an accident. When I got here Benay was lying dead on his office floor.”

Lamper choked. “What!”

“It seems he came back to the office a little after eight for something and saw Benay working late, and he noticed, maybe for the first time, that she’s attractive, and invited her into his office for a coffee break. During chit-chatting she flirted with him and one thing led to another and- ”

“With Donald?” Lamper said in disbelief.

“Why not with Donald? He isn’t so obsessed with making money that he’s forgotten he’s a man.” Cole smirked. “A little sexual conquest now and then is good for the ego. And Benay liked entertaining alpha males.” Sorry for the cheap shot, Sara. But…it’s true, isn’t it? “Only Donald got overeager and tore her blouse. That apparently killed the fun and made her mad, because she started fighting him. The next thing he knew she’d tripped and hit her head on the corner of the desk and stopped breathing.”

The shock in Lamper’s face faded. His mouth went grim. “Why call you? Why not his lawyer? It was an accident.”

Cole nodded. “That’s what I told him…but he was in a screaming panic and wouldn’t listen. He just kept saying, ‘Do something. Get rid of her.’ Because of her torn clothes and bruises, he didn’t think the police would believe it was an accident, and he was afraid how Miss Mint Julep would react.” Having no idea of Maitland’s views on sexcapades, Cole happily assigned her one. “Boys can be boys but they’re supposed to keep their affairs out of the headlines.”

“So you were the loyal sister and took away the body.”

Cole grinned inwardly in satisfaction at the acid tone. “Wouldn’t you have helped if he called you?”

For a moment Lamper hesitated, then nodded. “Of course…if something like that happened.”

“If? Think about it. Doesn’t that explain her not telling someone where she was going? I left that message for Gao, so people wouldn’t miss her. Sometime this week I’m going