murder, Templeton would be all over them, national security or no national security. The Dwarf would climb on a stump and start pumping out headlines ending in question marks-what was the federal government up to, and why did they allow a multiple murderer to leave the country and then run free?
“Larry.” Howser was trying to catch Templeton’s attention from the other side of the desk.
“Well, are you going to call him or not?” Templeton’s gaze was locked on Harry.
“If I do, I’ll let you know,” said Harry.
“Larry!” Howser was standing there looking down at the open drawer on the other side of the desk.
“What?” Templeton was aggravated by the interruption.
“I think you better look at this.”
He walked around to the other side of the desk. “What is it?”
Howser pointed. “Right there.”
At first Templeton didn’t say anything, at least not with his lips. Instead the Dwarf stood there looking as if he had just found the original gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill.
“Okay. Okay. I want everybody outta here,” he said. “Clear the offices. I want everybody outside now. And call the crime lab, tell them to send a van over here right away. I want two CS technicians, and tell them we’re gonna need photos.”
“What are you talking about?” said Harry.
“Maybe you can tell us how you’re gonna explain that?” said Templeton.
“What?” Harry edged his way around the desk.
“That.” Templeton was pointing toward a lot of clutter, pens and paper clips, some loose change, rubber bands, and a roll of Scotch tape in a center section of the top drawer of Paul’s desk. “Right there.”
The second Harry saw it, all the blood seemed to drain from his head. He began to sway. For a moment he thought he might actually fall.
Templeton grabbed his arm as if he could hold him up. “Are you all right?”
“I’m okay. I’m fine,” Harry lied.
“I know. I know,” said Templeton.
In that moment Harry and the Dwarf seemed to communicate on a level that transcended language. With the evidence he had and the charges he’d brought, it was clear that even Templeton, deep down, harbored nagging doubts that another lawyer could have done this.
But there in front of them in the drawer was one of the bags of catnip. It looked identical to the bags found by the police and photographed, the catnip used to take down the motion sensors in the side yard, the path used by the killer to enter Emerson Pike’s house.
FORTY-TWO
I had just finished shaving when I stepped from the bathroom and noticed that someone had slipped an envelope under the door to my room at the Sportsmens Lodge. I reached down, grabbed the envelope, and opened it. It was from the front desk, “a message from a Mr. Hinds. You are to call him in San Diego.” I knew that Harry wouldn’t call the hotel unless it was important. He must have called the cell phone and realized it was turned off.
A few minutes later Herman and I descend into the basement of the Sportsmens Lodge, near the exercise area. The place is deserted except for some of the hotel staff taking care of laundry. Herman watches the stairs while I make the call.
Harry answers the phone on the first ring and doesn’t even say hello. “I hope you’re sitting down. Let me get outside.”
I give him a few seconds to get out of the office so that federal bugs can’t pick up the conversation.
“What’s wrong?”
“Templeton dropped the world on us early this morning,” says Harry. “He raided the office, seized all the files in Katia’s case. There’s a warrant out for your arrest.”
Even though Harry and I have talked about this, the possibility that Templeton might charge me, the actual news that he has now done it knocks the breath out of me.
“Where are you now?” says Harry.
When I don’t answer he says, “Are you there?”
“I’m here.” I am swallowing hard.
“Are you still in the hotel?”
“Ye…Ah, yeah. Down, we’re, Herman and I, are down in the basement.”
“Get your stuff together and get outta there,” says Harry. “Do it now.”
“First tell me what’s happened.”
“Trust me. You don’t have time to talk,” says Harry. “Gather your bags, check out, and don’t leave by the front door. Is there another way out?”
“Yeah. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Templeton knows you’re in Costa Rica. He’s working on a fugitive warrant. The minute he gets it, he’ll bring fire down on the FBI to pick you up. You can bet on it. You were right; he had a hold on your passport, so he’s hopping mad. He knows the feds had it lifted. He’s already leaking information to the press to turn the heat on Rhytag. I got a phone call from a friend. It’s already been on Fox News. San Diego lawyer charged with murder, and the report is that you’re hiding out in Costa Rica with federal authorities close on your heels. You’ve got to move.”
“He still has a pretty thin case,” I tell him.
“Not after he found the bag of catnip in your desk drawer.”
“Oh, shit.”
“You might want to think about where it came from,” says Harry, “and we can talk about it later.”
“I forgot all about it. I found it the day we were out at Pike’s house.”
“I’m not the one you have to convince,” says Harry.
“It was cumulative evidence. The cops already had their own collection of the little white bags, all of them the same. I couldn’t see how one, more or less, was going to change anything,” I tell him.
“Yeah, well, the Dwarf must have feline DNA in his blood then, because he looked like he wanted to roll in your drawer and have an orgasm when they found the bag there,” says Harry. “And one other thing; it seems the cops have been holding back another piece of evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“You remember the promotional pens we had made up last year, the plastic ballpoints? We did a batch of them for New Year’s, along with the calendars, to give to clients.”
“I remember.”
“Forensics found one of the pens in the study, underneath Emerson Pike’s desk, when they processed the crime scene.”
There is a pause on the phone as Harry allows this to sink in. “Are you there?” he says.
“Yes.”
“According to their investigative notes, you told the police you’d never been to Pike’s house and that neither Pike nor Katia had ever been to our office. So Templeton is dying to know how the pen got there.”
My mind is racing with all of this.
