'Not in my experience,' I said, surprised.
'He had a metal allergy,' Rick said.
'You knew him a little better than I thought.'
'I read his personnel file,' the private detective admitted.
'I'm betting the weird content of Clyde Nunley's classes wasn't the only reason he was being investigated,' Tolliver said. 'I'm betting he had some affairs, maybe with a student or two? And the college decided they'd better check him out. Am I right?'
'There was a certain amount of talk on campus.'
'His wife wasn't so amazed when he didn't come home at night,' I said. 'She didn't even call the police until the next morning.' I sat on the couch and crossed my legs, lacing my fingers together in my lap. Tolliver was still hovering around the room, too restless to perch. Our guest had thrown himself down into one of the wing chairs without waiting for us to ask him to be seated.
'Rick, do you still have a lot of friends on the force?' Tolliver asked.
'Sure.'
'So you won't mind when they ask the staff what they saw last night?'
'Of course not.'
'Even when they tell your former colleagues that they watched you throw a guy out of the lobby, while my sister was absolutely passive?'
I made my eyes look all big and tearful. I look frail anyway, no matter how tough I actually can be.
'I wonder who they'll remember being violent and forceful, you or Harper?'
'Damn. And I was helping her out.' Rick Goldman looked at us as if he could not believe people like us were walking the earth unjudged. 'You people!'
'I did appreciate your helping me, right up until the time you insulted me,' I said. 'But Clyde Nunley was a pest, not a danger. Now he's dead, and I had nothing to do with it. We were just over at the Morgensterns', and they heard the news while we were there. Pretty upsetting.'
'They asked you to their house?' This, again, got a big reaction.
I said, 'Some people don't treat us as if we were frauds and murderers.'
He threw up his hands, as if I'd stepped over a dearly held boundary. 'I give up,' he said.
A little drama on the part of the old Rickster.
'You two are no better than scam artists,' he said. 'It makes me crazy that I can't figure out how you do it. You were right on the money about those deaths, right on the money. How'd you get the documents ahead of time? I really want to know how you did it!'
There's no convincing someone who's not open to reason, or to anything else, for that matter.
'You're not going to believe I'm the real thing, anytime soon,' I said. 'There's no point in talking to you. Besides, the police will be coming, and I want to shower before they get here.' That wasn't true. I'd already showered. I just wanted Rick Goldman to leave, right away.
twelve
MANFRED Bernardo called us from the lobby about three o'clock, asking if he could come up. I smiled when I imagined what the staff was making of Manfred, with his metallic face.
'I wonder what happens when he goes through airport security detectors?' I said to Tolliver. He'd been reading a Robert Crais mystery, one of the earlier ones featuring Elvis Cole, and he'd been smiling to himself from time to time.
'I don't think that's a problem Manfred confronts often,' Tolliver said, but not as if he cared one way or another.
Manfred enjoyed touching people. When I answered the door, I observed that he was perhaps only an inch or two taller than I, but even as I was registering that, he leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek.
I didn't give him one in return, because casual kissing's not my way. But I think I was smiling as I showed him into the room.
'Hello, Tolliver,' he said, as Tolliver rose to shake his hand. Tolliver just goggled at Manfred for a second. Manfred was wearing all black again; this time he was encased in leather pants, a sheer black T-shirt, and a leather jacket. He was wearing heavy boots and a small fortune in silver on his hands, face, and neck. His platinum hair had been touched up, and his goatee matched. I wondered if all this was for my benefit, or if Manfred just loved looking remarkable for its own sake.
'Please, have a seat. I hope your grandmother's well?' I asked. I sat on the love seat, expecting Manfred to take the wing chair next to Tolliver's, but he sat down beside me.
'She's not doing real good,' Manfred said. His smile faded, and I could see he was worried. 'She's having bad dreams about people in graves they weren't supposed to be in.'
'Have you been watching the news? I don't know how close you live to Memphis, but you get the Memphis news in the evening?'
'We don't watch television,' Manfred said simply. 'Grandma thinks it interferes with her brain waves. If I want to catch a program, I go over to a friend's.'
'Then let us show you what an FBI agent brought us today,' Tolliver suggested, and after he turned on the television, he ran the tape.
