‘‘What do you want, smiley faces, for Christ’s sake?’’ She glared at me. ‘‘You’re doin’ really good. Just get in touch with your feminine side, Buster, and you’ll be just fine.’’
Like they say, if you tend to rest your elbows on a keyboard, you’re bound to hit the wrong button some of the time.
‘‘Gee,’’ I said contritely, ‘‘I’m sorry, ma’am…’’
‘‘Houseman,’’ she said slowly, ‘‘you shouldn’t do this when we’re both armed.’’
Point well taken.
The reply to Gabriel, although critical, wasn’t too much of a pressure deal, since we had plenty of time to compose it. After all, it would take Nola some time to get back to her attorney’s laptop. Or some other computer.
‘‘We might think about coming up with another computer for her,’’ I said. ‘‘If we need fast communications.’’
‘‘I don’t expect more than three or four,’’ said Hester. ‘‘But while you’re at it, think about this… Nola is our target, not Billy or Herman.’’
I considered that. ‘‘You’re right. She’s smart, and, like Sally said, may have a little resentment over her position.’’
‘‘Think we can see her?’’ asked Hester. ‘‘Or you think Volont will stop that?’’
‘‘If we go fast,’’ I said, ‘‘before he realizes she’s probably the key, I think we can talk with her. If she’ll talk with us…’’
‘‘I wonder,’’ said Hester, ‘‘what’s become of George?’’
She and I drafted our response, after carefully considering what it would be that Nola would want, and how she could think that Gabriel could possibly help her. At the same time, we wanted to flush Gabriel out, if we could.
TELL HERMAN TO KEEP QUIET. MY LIAR TALKS ABOUT DEALS. I DON’T HAVE MY ADDRESS BOOK.
N
Personally, I thought the ‘‘N’’ was a nice touch. As I said to Hester, I was sure it had come from my feminine side. The ‘‘liar,’’ of course, was extreme-right talk for attorneys. They have a tendency to latch on to an old, and not particularly witty, joke and evolve it into jargon. The lack of an address book was Hester’s idea. That way, we just might be able to ask for an address in the future.
Anyway, we figured that implying that Herman wanted to talk would get Gabriel to make some sort of contact, both to reassure him and to tell him to shut up.
After that, I made a phone call to Melissa Stritch. I told her we really needed to talk with her, about Herman and the dope, and if he was involved with it in any way.
She said he didn’t have anything to do with dope, nor did the rest of the Stritch family. Never. Not at any time. But she would be very happy to come in and chat about it. I told her to plan on tomorrow afternoon.
I talked to Art for permission, changed out of my uniform into blue jeans and a pullover shirt and tennis shoes, and I was on my way to the Linn County jail in Cedar Rapids. The nearest federal holding facility.
Hester was going to spend the rest of the weekend at home, after we talked to Nola. I, naturally, was coming back to Nation County. We had to take two cars. The only bad thing, if you overlook cost to the ubiquitous taxpayer, was that we weren’t able to discuss things on the way down to see Nola. I’m always afraid that I’m going to have a solid thought and forget it before I get someplace… Slim odds, but it could happen.
As soon as we got to the interview room in the Linn County jail, we were met by a man named Victor Miller, attorney-at-law. He wasn’t happy about being there, but there he was. Nola’s ‘‘liar.’’ I noticed that, if he really did own a laptop, it wasn’t with him.
When Nola was brought in, resplendent in jail orange, I was the only familiar face in the room. A slight advantage. I introduced Hester.
‘‘Before we say anything more,’’ said Miller, ‘‘I want Nola to know that she is not required to answer any questions.’’
Nola nodded.
‘‘Maybe,’’ I said, ‘‘I can save us all time.’’ I looked at Miller. ‘‘I assume you want written questions, so you can advise her prior to the asking?’’
‘‘I’d prefer that.’’
‘‘Forget it,’’ said Nola. ‘‘I’m not answering any questions at all.’’
I held up my hand. ‘‘Wait a minute. Hester will write out five or six questions.’’ I looked at Nola and her attorney. ‘‘I’m not going to ask any right now. All I want is to tell Nola what I know, and let her know that.’’ I grinned. ‘‘Sort of a prediscovery discovery, so to speak.’’
‘‘I’ll tell you now that that’s acceptable,’’ said Miller, ‘‘unless I begin to feel it’s an intimidation tactic.’’ He looked at Nola. ‘‘We’ll stop it at that point. Oh, yes, don’t think you can just read back the indictment, to buy time,’’ he said.
‘‘Of course not.’’
Nola had clamped her mouth shut. No matter what happened from now on, she was going to assume her ‘‘liar’’ and I were conspiring against her. Well, that was her business.
‘‘Nola,’’ I said, in my best monotone, ‘‘I want you to know just where things stand. I’m telling you this because, in the next few days, you may be approached by us again, and I want you to be absolutely clear as to what we’re talking about.’’
‘‘I just want to know what that nice insurance lady is doing here,’’ said Nola.
Oops. Hester. Late of Lloyds of London. I’d already introduced her as DCI, and she’d shown Nola her ID.
‘‘That was an authorized ruse, Nola,’’ I said, as matter-of-factly as possible. ‘‘It was done for the sole purpose of saving lives.’’ I looked her squarely in the eye. ‘‘Yours, as well as mine.’’
‘‘Hold it right there,’’ said Miller.
It took about two minutes to explain it to him. I made my points when I said, ‘‘I said I want to let Nola know everything that’s happening. I would have gotten to that. If you think I’m not telling the truth, why would I bring Hester here at all?’’
Now, he might have been thinking ‘‘because you’re so dumb,’’ but he would have been wrong. ‘‘Forgetful’’ is the word he should have used. I had thought of this on the way down. Along with too many other things, apparently.
That out of the way, I began again.
‘‘Nola, what we know is this…’’ I ran through the training exercise, the ambush as well as I could, and told her that we were relying on forensic evidence for some of the reconstruction. I really had Miller’s attention, but I wasn’t sure about Nola. She had large blue eyes that showed absolutely no expression. When I talked to her, I looked right between them most of the time, saving solid eye contact to make specific points. I had the distinct thought that, a few years ago, when her hair would have been black, she must have been very striking. The question of how Herman had ended up with her flickered through my mind.
Then I did the events at her house. The fact that Lamar and Bud were serving a paper which she and Herman should have known was coming. That Herman had shot both the officers. Making it very clear that she, as far as we could tell, had not shot anybody. Not yet. I also threw in the fact that Lamar wanted to ask Herman some questions, as the DCI team had missed him the first time around. All matter-of-fact. All low-key.
Then I did the shooting of Rumsford, and saw her eyes flicker. I said that the angles hadn’t been fully described as yet but we believed that the first shot had come from the second floor and the second shot from the ground floor. Where she was.
At that point, she started to speak and I held up my hand before her attorney did. ‘‘Personally, I don’t think that was you.’’ I looked directly into her eyes. ‘‘But I don’t know for sure, so we won’t talk any more about that aspect of this.
‘‘But now,’’ I said, ‘‘I want to let you know some things you probably think we don’t know. Just to let you be aware…’’
I reached behind me and grabbed the handle of the old square-cornered attache case my grandmother had given me when I went off to college. It looked pretty well worn, but it was still going. It was my favorite. I opened it and got out a couple of sheets of paper, as well as a small case containing my reading glasses. And a small pack of tissue.
