“You wake up looking like that, or what?” I asked her.
She smiled and said, “I wish. Actually, I have a job interview in an hour, so I appreciate your being willing to drive out here so quick.”
I tried to think about what sort of job she’d be applying for in that outfit, but gave it up after just a minute.
“Oh,” she said, “by the way, Jake knows about the interview. I mean, I like working for him and all, but it’s not like he thinks I’m planning on spending the rest of my life at The Joker’s Wild.”
“Don’t blame ya,” I told her.
“Sit down,” she said. “Can I get you something?”
“No, I’m fine,” I said, “and I won’t take much of your time. I just need to ask a couple of questions.”
As I walked over and sat on the sofa, I glanced around the place. It was small, but nicer than I’d expected. It appeared to be a one-bedroom unit with a small kitchen off the living room. The furnishings were pleasant, and there was even some artwork on the walls. Dee-Dee noticed me looking around.
“Not the fanciest place in the world, huh?” she asked. “But it’s cheap and convenient. I can get to work in less than ten minutes. I spend a lot of my money on clothes, but most of the rest I’m saving for a down payment on a nice condo or a little house.”
I nodded.
She sat down next to me and said, “So, Jeremy, what can I do for you?”
“You said you last saw Terry just a few nights before he was killed, right?”
“Yeah,” she said. “It was just two or three nights before. Why?”
“Did Terry say anything to you about a disc?”
She hesitated.
“A disc? What kind of a disc?”
The hesitation could have been because she was hiding something, or because she truly didn’t know exactly what I meant by disc. I wasn’t sure.
“A computer disc,” I said.
She frowned and said, “Un-uh, I don’t think so. Is the disc important or something?”
“Probably not,” I told her. “It’s just something that came up a couple of days ago, and I thought you might have heard Terry mention it.”
“Nope,” she said. “Sorry. I wish I could have been more help.”
I stood up and said, “Well, good luck with the interview.”
“Thanks,” she said, as we walked over to the door of her apartment. “So, I guess you really came out here just for the case, right?”
“Huh?” I said. Then I got it. “Oh. I mean, well, yes, that’s why I came out.”
She smiled and said, “You blush easily, don’t you, Jeremy?”
“It’s a family trait,” I told her. “A curse that extends back through several generations of Barnes men.”
This time, she laughed.
“Well, if you ever decide you want to talk to me about something other than this investigation, you know where I live.”
I assured her that I did, and made as graceful an exit as possible. Which, in my case, was not very.
Driving back home, I thought about two things. First, did Dee-Dee know anything about the disc? I had a hunch she did, but there was no way to force her to tell me what she knew. Once I had more information about what was on the disc, maybe I’d take another run at her.
The other thing I thought about was, first Sandra, then Dee-Dee. I could see this blushing problem wreaking havoc with my manly image.
Chapter 36
On Friday morning, while doing some abs exercises, I thought about what to wear to lunch with Elias. I used to work my midsection by doing sit-up after sit-up after sit-up, until I couldn’t do anymore, but I eventually reached the point where I could spend the better part of a day doing sit-ups if I wanted to, which I didn’t. Lately I’ve been taking advantage of the best thinking on the subject and doing very slow stomach crunches. It doesn’t take nearly as long to reach exhaustion, and the results seem to be just as good, if not better. Usually, I hold a lightweight dumbbell in each hand while doing the crunches, which speeds the exhaustion process along nicely.
By the time I was finished, I’d decided on my luncheon ensemble. Single-breasted navy suit, dark blue shirt, burgundy tie, gold collar pin, highly-polished cordovan shoes. Elias would be proud of me.
I thought about the fact that it would apparently be just Elias at lunch, not Elias and William. More and more, I figured that, although they were supposedly equal partners, Elias was the alpha male at Chaney and Cox. I wasn’t sure what the purpose of the lunch was, but I was betting that it would somehow involve my investigation of Terry Pendleton’s murder. More to the point, I was sure that Elias was going to do or say something designed to either solicit information from me or get me off the case.
At exactly one o’clock, smartly attired, I presented myself at the door of the College Club, conveniently located in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh’s financial district, which is to say, near a bunch of lawyers’ offices. Actually, I’d had lunch at the place once before, when I’d done some work for a colleague of Simon’s. The colleague was a member and had invited me to lunch to celebrate the successful conclusion of the investigation. After lunch, we’d continued the celebration at her apartment. Thus, I must admit that I have nothing but fond memories of the College Club.
Pittsburgh has a sizable number of Ivy League graduates, but not enough that any one of the institutions felt the
