'I'd be deeply touched,' I said, 'if you told me whether Gavin knew about O'Mara and his program.'
'I may have mentioned something about it.'
'Did you tell him you were involved?'
'No, of course not. I simply told him that I'd heard it was popular at Kinergy.'
'Was he interested in that?'
Marlene was doing defiant now. Her head was up and sort of tilted back, as one's head would be if speaking to an underling.
'Yes. He seemed quite interested. It is, after all, quite an interesting concept.'
'You bet,' I said. 'Was there anything else he was interested in?'
She almost blushed.
'I don't mean that,' I said. 'Was there anything else about your husband or about the company that Gavin seemed interested in.'
'There was some sort of money problem, I think. He had talked with Trent about it, I think, before Trent passed away.'
'Did he say what kind of money problem?'
'Nothing I paid attention to. I found it all very boring.'
'Did he talk with anyone else about it?'
'He seemed worried about Coop,' she said. 'After Trent's tragic death, Gav said maybe he could talk with Bernie.'
'Bernie Eisen.'
'Yes.'
I put my hands up to defend my face. 'He didn't know about you and Bernie.'
She had moved from haughty to icy.
'I told you, no.'
'So how long had you and Gavin been an item?' I said.
'Since, let me see, we were, um, together for the first time ... it was just a little while before Trent's death, I believe.'
The woman with the bull terrier came back along the seawall toward us. I watched her over Marlene's shoulder. The front was as good as the back.
'So for a while there,' I said to Marlene, 'you were juggling Trent, Bernie, and Gavin. Pretty good.'
'I wasn't juggling anything,' she said. 'I was trying to find myself.'
'How'd that work out?' I said.
'Very well, thank you. I know who I am now.'
I avoided the trap she had set. I did not ask her who she was. Whoever she was I was sick of her. The only genuine thing she had done since I met her was to get zonkered at lunch.
'Shall we walk back?' I said.
'Tired already? I always walk five miles. I'm in excellent condition.'
'Can you do a one-armed push-up?' I said.
'A what?'
'Never mind,' I said.
'Five miles too much?' she said.
'Yes,' I said. 'I'll say goodbye here.'
'Well, I hope I've been helpful,' she said.
'Sure have.'
'Good,' she said. 'We always enjoy our time together, don't we.'
'Always,' I said.
56
Back at my office I called the management company that ran the Park Drive apartment complex where Coop had his love nest, and impersonated a police officer. There was no one named Cooper in the building, nor anyone named Griffin. Apartment 2B was rented to Steven Gavin. Checks were from his own account.
I looked at the big picture of Susan on my filing cabinet.
'So,' I said to her, 'Gavin knew about the love nest, and he knew about something else, something to do with money which he'd spoken to Trent Rowley about, and maybe Bernie Eisen.'
