“Yes.”
“Would the president of Pequod have to know?”
“Almost certainly,” Grove said. “But that said, once you got your own man in there…”
“Conroy,” I said.
He nodded. “Then, while he would know what was going on, he wouldn’t have to be involved. He could just get out of the way and let Conroy run the scam.”
“How much money are we talking about?” I said.
Grove shrugged, put his head back, pursed his lips, and thought about it.
“A hundred million dollars would not be out of the question,” he said.
Rita said, “Jesus Christ!”
“People have been killed for less,” I said.
“Mind you, this is all hypothetical,” Grove said. “We may never prove any of it.”
“We’re not compelled to prove any of it, About,” Rita said. “We’re only on the hook for defending Mary Smith.”
“That would be your area,” Grove said.
“It would,” Rita said.
“You have questions,” Grove said, “feel free to call me.”
“I’ll have questions,” I said.
Grove nodded, still with a hint of scorn, and went out.
“Grove know his stuff?” I said.
“He knows everything there is to know about finance law. He knows almost nothing about anything else.”
“Turned you down?”
Rita smiled. “Dumb bastard,” she said.
Rita and I looked at each other for a moment.
Rita waggled her knees at me.
“Remember that scene with Sharon Stone?” Rita said.
“Don’t start with me, Rita. You know how excitable I am.”
“I’ve always wanted to see you excited,” she said.
I had nothing really good to say to that so I didn’t say anything.
“I guess we’ve got Mary Smith out of the deep water,” I said.
“She did try to conceal a murder,” Rita said.
“Well, did she,” I said. “She set out to conceal a suicide.”
“By pretending it was a murder.” Rita smiled. “Which in fact it was,” she said. “I think we can reason with Owen Brooks about that.”
She swung her foot some more, watching as it moved in a small arc. She smiled at me again.
“You know,” she said, “Owen’s single again.”
“A single DA,” I said. “What could be better?”
“You think Mary knew anything about the bank-fraud enterprise?” Rita said. Sex and business were two sides of the same thing to Rita.
“I haven’t come across any sign of it,” I said.
“The murder was the only overlap.”
“Far as I can see, except for Graff…!”
“What?” Rita said.
“Graff. Graff is the only person left standing that could connect Shawcross to the bank fraud and the murders.”
“What about Conroy?”
“Shawcross thinks Conroy is waiting for him in Wamego, Kansas,” I said. “Under another name. In another bank.”
“And Graff is connected to them?”
“The bank lent him money, interest-free,” I said. “He used his original name, Joey Bucci.”
“A gift.”
“Yep.”
“He did something for Shawcross,” Rita said.
