'You should have worn runners,' I said, looking down at his highly polished loafers. 'I don't know what kind of grip you're going to get with those.'
'You're crazy,' he said. 'I'm not-'
'I'm giving you the same choice you gave me. Walk or get shot.'
'If you kill me,' he said, 'you'll have every cop in the city after you.'
'Led by Tom Barnett,' I said. 'He couldn't solve your robbery, what makes you think he'll catch your killer?'
'I'm big in this town! You have no idea how big. I bring billions into the economy. I have friends who are judges, U.S. attorneys. You can't treat me like some common criminal.'
'I'm not. I'm treating you like-what was it you called me? — a pissant. A shit stain on the sidewalk? That's what I'm treating you like.'
'Francis!' Birk said.
'Yeah?' Curry drawled.
'Fucking do something.'
Curry looked at Ryan, who had a gun trained on him. 'I'd say my options are limited.'
I looked around the site and picked up a fallen bolt, hefted it in my hand. 'Look on the bright side,' I said to Birk. 'The farther out you walk, the harder it's going to be for me to hit you with this.'
'You wouldn't.'
I held up my hand so he could see the welt between my knuckles. 'That's one hit,' I said. I pushed up the sleeve of my leather jacket to bare my forearm. 'That's another. It hurts too much to get my jacket off so I won't show you the one on my shoulder. That was a hummer. How many do you think you can take before you lose your grip and fall?'
'We can come to some kind of agreement,' Birk gasped. He was shivering. Whether from cold or fear, I didn't care. It looked good on him. 'I know we can. I negotiate every day.'
'There's nothing to negotiate.'
'I can compensate you-'
'I'm not the one who needs compensation.'
'Then these supposed victims of yours. Their families.'
'Which victims?'
'The ones you mentioned. The ones you think I killed.'
'The ones you ordered killed.'
'No!'
'Walk,' I said.
'Please!'
'One foot, then the other.'
I cocked my throwing arm. He inched out onto the beam.
'My advice?' I said. 'Don't look down.'
'Jesus Christ, you're making a mistake.'
'Keep going.'
'I can pay you, Geller. Millions! Tens of millions.'
'It wouldn't be enough. Everything you have wouldn't be enough.'
'You can't do this.'
'I'm already doing it,' I said.
'Francis did it!' he said. 'All of it.'
'Shut your mouth,' Curry said.
'Let's hear it,' I said to Birk. I looked at Avi. He turned his recorder on and pointed it at Birk. 'Loud and clear.'
Birk started in off the beam but I stopped him. 'Not yet,' I said. 'Let's hear it all first.'
'All right! Rob Cantor called me,' Birk said. 'He told me his engineer was making noise about the land. About having to have it all cleaned again. I told him we couldn't. The hole was already dug. The caissons were already sunk. Starting over would have ruined everything.'
'Ruined you, you mean.'
'It's a precarious business we're in. And I was overstretched, I admit it. Too many buildings going up and too many things going wrong. Acts of God, acts of war, sabotage, unions-one disaster after another. I couldn't handle one more, so I told Francis to take care of it. I never told him to kill the man. I just thought he'd…'
'He'd what?'
'Make it go away somehow. Bribe him. Threaten him. Then Francis went to Toronto and came back and all he told me was it was fixed. I swear I didn't know Glenn was dead until it was already done.'
'And Will Sterling?'
'Who?'
'The student who discovered the Aroclor on the property.'
'Same thing,' Birk panted. 'It was Francis who shot him.'
'On your orders.'
'Not explicitly,' he insisted. 'I didn't say kill the boy. I didn't say shoot him. I just said we had a problem, that's all.'
'And you had no idea how Francis eliminates problems.'
'None!'
Curry laughed harshly and spat out the words 'You lying piece of shit.' His white shirt was spattered with blood but unlike Birk, he showed no sign of being cold. Maybe he was just colder inside. 'He knew everything. Every step of the way.'
'No,' Birk said. 'I was blind to it. Wilfully, perhaps, but I never knew the details, I swear.'
'What about Maya Cantor?' I asked.
'What about her? She killed herself.'
'No,' I said. 'She didn't. And anyone who says she did is pissing on her grave.'
'I swear I had nothing to do with that. Maybe Francis did, ask him, but not me.'
'She called your office the day she died.'
'If she did, I never spoke to her. No one gets through to me if I don't know them. Even people I know don't get through.'
'Someone picked that girl up and threw her off her balcony.'
'Why?'
Why. Why had someone killed Maya? The simplest of questions. And not one I'd expected him to ask. He seemed genuinely in the dark about it.
'She was helping Will Sterling. Looking for evidence that her father was covering up the Aroclor.'
'Then ask her father. Ask Francis.'
Curry said, 'Don't look at me. I wasn't in Toronto when she died.'
'It doesn't mean you didn't contract it out.'
'A double negative,' he smirked. 'That shit won't get you far.'
'Should I hit him some more?' Ryan asked. 'It gives his face character.'
'Save it for now. What about the robbery?' I asked Birk.
'What about it?'
'Take five steps out.'
'I can't!'
'Do it!'
'Why?'
I yelled, 'Because I said so,' and flung the bolt at him. He ducked and lost his footing and almost fell off the beam. He grabbed it with both hands and stayed in a squatting position. 'Five steps,' I said. 'Or the next one drills you in the head.'
He shuffled back five steps on his hands and knees. Avi was looking at me like I was crazy. Luckily for me, he was a lawyer, not a shrink, so I didn't have to pay it much mind.
