Mercy

money to buy his mistresses presents. When Catherine found out about his adultery, she called me and told me she was changing the will.'

'Did you attend the funeral?'

'I went to the mass,' he said. 'But I didn't go to the cemetery.'

'Michelle said there was only a handful of mourners. Did you know any of them?'

'I knew the housekeeper, Rosa Vincetti. I met her when I came to the house to discuss the changes in the will.'

'What about John's coworkers or friends?'

'A couple of men and women from the trust department where he works were there. I talked to one man, and he introduced

me to the others, but I don't remember their names.'

'What about John's friends?'

'Let me think,' he said. 'I remember there was a woman standing in the back of the church. She told me she was Catherine's interior designer but that she had also redecorated John's office. As I was leaving the church, she chased me and handed me

one of her cards. I thought that was most inappropriate, and as soon as I got back to the office, I threw the card away. The

only other person I remember seeing was Cameron Lynch. He's a close friend of John's.'

'Tell me about him.'

'He's a stockbroker,' Benchley said. 'A very successful broker,' he stressed. 'I had heard of him, but I'd never met him until

the day of the funeral. I remember thinking that he was an alcoholic. It wasn't a charitable thought, granted, but he smelled like booze, and his eyes were bloodshot. I'm certain he was hungover. He also had that look about him-you know what I mean, the gray skin, red nose, puffy eyes, indicating he had been a heavy drinker for some time. Cameron stayed close to John and sat in

the pew with him like he was family.'

'Did John speak to you?'

'Are you kidding? He looked right through me, and I must say, I did get a chuckle out of that. The man despises me, and that couldn't make me happier.'

Theo was almost finished. He asked a couple more questions, then thanked Benchley for his help and left. The attorney had thoughtfully called his secretary and gotten the addresses Theo needed.

He had at least two more stops before he could head back to Bowen.

Theo needed to make sure Cameron Lynch was the man Michelle and he had seen the night before. He drove to the brokerage firm and went into the lobby. He had already come up with a good lie to tell the receptionist so she would find a photo for him,

but that wasn't necessary. As soon as he walked through the doors, he saw a eight-by-ten color photo of Cameron Lynch on the wall. Theo came to a dead stop. There was a grouping displaying all the brokers in the firm. Cameron was in the middle. Theo glanced at the receptionist. She was talking into her headset but smiling at him. Theo smiled back. Then he lifted the photo off

the wall, turned around, and walked out.

He needed help with the next stop. He called Captain Welles, the man who had introduced him at the awards ceremony, and asked him for assistance. Then he drove to Cameron Lynch's apartment, located in a sleazy neighborhood adjacent to the newly refurbished warehouse district. He parked his car down the street and waited for two detectives from the captain's precinct to arrive.

The two men pulled up behind him fifteen minutes later. Detective Underwood, the senior of the two, shook Theo's hand.

'The captain told us you're the man who got The Count. It's an honor to meet you.'

Then Detective Basham stepped forward. 'I heard your speech at the banquet.'

Theo had removed the photo from the frame. He handed it to Underwood and said, 'This is the man I want.'

'The captain said we're taking Cameron Lynch in for attempted murder and that you've got a witness,' Basham said.

'I'm one of the witnesses. Lynch tried to kill a friend of mine and me.'

'We did a sweep of the neighborhood, and his car isn't here,' Underwood said.

'So how do you want us to do this?' Basham asked. 'Captain said you had special instructions.'

'Assume he's armed and dangerous,' Theo said. 'When you cuff him, read him his rights and take him in, but don't book him yet.

I want him locked in an interrogation room so I can talk to him. I don't want his name in the computer, not yet anyway.'

'We'll stake out the place. You want to wait with us?'

'No, I've got another stop to make, but as soon as you have him, call me on my cell phone or at a bar in Bowen named The Swan. Hopefully, you won't have to wait long. I think he's on his way home.'

It seemed logical. Lynch wouldn't want to stay in Bowen, not after he'd been spotted, and he wouldn't know that Theo had made the connection. Theo wrote down his number and handed it to the detective, then reiterated that he wanted to be called, no matter what time, the second they had Lynch.

'Yes, sir, we'll call,' Basham promised.

'Wait a minute,' Theo said as the two men walked away. He picked up his notepad, flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for, and then asked if either one of them could give him directions to the address Benchley had given him.

Underwood told him the quickest route to take and then remarked, 'That's a bad-ass neighborhood. Be careful.'

Theo drove through the heart of New Orleans, slowly negotiating his way through the narrow streets. He was sure he'd gotten lost, but once he turned the car around, he spotted the street he was looking for. Two blocks later he found the address.

He parked the car, then picked up his phone and called Noah.

'Find out anything?' Noah asked.

Theo told him about Cameron Lynch. 'Ask Ben Nelson to look for a '92 blue Ford Taurus.' He gave him the license number and told him to tell Ben that if he found the car, to proceed with extreme caution.

'You think he can handle it?' Noah asked.

'Yes,' Theo answered. 'He knows what he's doing. Just make sure he knows Lynch is one of the shooters. I want that bastard locked up and isolated until I can interrogate him.'

'I doubt that Lynch is still hanging around Bowen. He's got to know you can ID him.'

'I don't think he's there either,' Theo said. 'I'm hoping he's on his way home. What's Michelle doing?'

'She's a funny woman,' he said. 'She fell asleep sitting at the table.'

'She had a long night.'

'So did you,' Noah pointed out. 'Anyway, she's getting ready to go to The Swan with Jake and me… and his laugh-a-minute son. Have you heard from Detective Harris yet?'

'No, I haven't, and I've left her three messages. The first two were sort of polite, the third wasn't.'

'While I was in New Orleans this morning, I went over to her precinct like you asked,' Noah said. 'I talked to her captain.'

'Did you get a copy of the file on Monk?'

'No,' he answered. 'The captain told me Harris was out on an investigation. He wouldn't give me any indication of where she might be. He made it clear he didn't want me interfering. The twelve hours will be up soon. When are you heading back to Bowen?'

'I've got one more stop, and then I'm on my way.'

'I've got to go,' Noah said. 'Michelle's calling me.'

Theo grabbed his notepad and glasses and stared at the tiny ranch house in front of him. The little patch of yard was meticulously cared for with flowers lining either side of the sidewalk leading up to the door. The house needed paint, and the wood around the windows was rotten. Termites, he thought as he walked to the door. The