‘You’re right, it is. I lied. There are some things I wanted to talk over with you. I take it Jim Conley stopped by.’
‘He did, and I’m fairly certain that I pissed him off.’
‘I can’t imagine how that could happen. You’re always so tactful.’
‘He has quite a temper. He keeps it carefully under wraps, but it’s there. Did you know that?’
Tedone didn’t bother to reply. Just sniffed at the air and said, ‘Smells like rain.’
‘I just made a fire, Lieutenant. Come on in, have a seat and I’ll pour you some Chianti Classico.’
‘Thanks, I will – except for the Chianti part.’
I deposited my parsley on the kitchen counter and joined him in the parlor. He took the wing-backed chair and gazed into the fire. I took the sofa. Lulu curled up next to me, watching him.
‘This sure is a nice place,’ he said. ‘Cozy.’
‘Yes, it is. Merilee has exceptional taste, along with her many other attributes.’
‘Did Conley fill you in on what we know? Or should I say don’t know?’
‘Do you mean before he almost bit my head off? Yes, he did. And I have a question for you. Wouldn’t Michael’s killer have been covered in his blood?’
‘You’d certainly think so. But they’ve found no bloody handprints or footprints at the scene. No trail of droplets out to the driveway. Nothing.’
‘What does that suggest to you?’
‘Someone who was careful. Brought a change of clothes and shoes.’
‘Which means the bloody clothes and shoes have to be somewhere.’
‘Yes, they do. But we’ll never find them. This is no dummy we’re dealing with.’
‘So you’re sure it’s the same killer.’
‘The odds of it being two different people are so slim as to be nonexistent. The M.O. in both cases is exactly the same – throat cut from ear to ear. And the M.E. said both brothers were slashed by someone who is right-handed, strong, used the same type of knife – possibly even the same exact knife, although we can’t prove that yet – and attacked them with a tremendous degree of ferocity. Trust me, it’s the same killer.’ He turned from the fire, raising his chin at me. ‘Why did you harass Jim Conley?’
‘I didn’t harass him. Or at least I wouldn’t characterize it that way.’
‘Well, he sure did. Called me up and said you practically accused him of killing Austin.’
‘I did no such thing. I merely laid out a plausible scenario.’
‘He was furious.’
‘Then he’s awfully thin-skinned, which I wouldn’t think of as an asset in your trade. We had a constructive conversation. We talked about Felix Unger Day …’
‘Felix Unger what?’
‘I did tell him I thought it was strange that he’d never mentioned that he, Austin and Michael were first cousins. Also that I’d heard he had a pretty wild youth. Got in lots of fights, stole some money. Almost ended up in jail, in fact.’
‘I take it he didn’t like you bringing it up.’
‘That’s putting it mildly.’
Tedone gazed back at the fire. ‘He’s under a lot of pressure. We all are. Me, I feel like my head’s on a chopping block. We’ve just lost the two richest men in the state, one of them a close confidante of the governor. You know what they call cases like these? Career killers.’
‘Are you any closer to cracking it than you were this morning?’
‘Can I change my mind?’
‘About …?’
‘That glass of Chianti.’
‘Absolutely.’ I fetched the bottle and a glass. Filled his and handed it to him, then topped mine off before I sat back down.
He took a sip, smacking his laps. ‘This is the good stuff. Warms you right down to your toes.’ He took another sip, looking at me, then at Lulu dozing next to me. ‘Something sure smells good in the kitchen.’
‘I’m thawing a Portuguese potato and kale soup with linguica that Merilee makes. Care to stay? There’s plenty.’
‘Sounds terrific, but my wife will be expecting me.’ He ran a hand over his layered Travoltage pompadour. ‘I just realized something about you that I didn’t quite grasp when we worked that case last summer.’
‘Which is what, Lieutenant?’
‘You’re one very lucky guy.’
‘You wouldn’t have said so if you ran into me ten years ago. But I kept battling until I turned my luck back around. It wasn’t easy. I needed someone who believed in me. Someone who gave me a reason to get my act back together.’
‘That would be Merilee?’
‘That would be Merilee.’
‘I suppose being genuinely talented helps, too.’
‘Doesn’t hurt.’
He let out a laugh. ‘You’ve got yourself an ego, haven’t you?’
‘All writers do. We wouldn’t set pen to paper if we didn’t.’
‘I’ll have to read that great American novel of yours some time.’
‘I sincerely hope you do,’ I said, wondering why Tedone was suddenly being so nice to me. Was he caving to the pressure? Seeing his career crash and burn right before his eyes? Or did three sips of wine just make him into a big teddy bear? ‘Would you mind putting another log on the fire, Lieutenant?’
‘Sure thing.’ He laid an applewood log atop the blaze, poked at it and sat back down, gazing down into his wine glass for a long moment before he said, ‘I know I’m going to regret saying this, but I can’t seem to stop myself …’
‘What is it, Lieutenant?’
‘I don’t suppose you have any ideas, do you?’
‘I do, actually.’
‘Somehow I thought you would. Or I should say hoped you would. Hoagy, you’re looking at a desperate man.’
‘No need to worry. Twenty-four hours from now you’ll be a hero.’
‘Is that right? What are they? Your ideas, I mean.’
‘I need for you to find out something that I can’t, since I don’t have the legal authority. A date.’
‘A date? What kind of a date?’
‘It may prove to be totally insignificant. Then again, it may steer you exactly where you want to go.’
‘OK …’ He took another sip of his wine. ‘Tell me what it is.’
So I told him.
TEN
Tedone was right. The rain arrived in the night. It was about three
