on file somewhere, along with a couple of outstanding arrest warrants.
Chartering helicopters is an expensive proposition. Whoever was behind it either had money to burn or else they had some damaging piece of information on David Lions, information with enough blackmail potential that the charter pilot had been forced to go along with the program.
Last but not least was Pamela Kinder's comment about the Chicago accent. I'm sure there are lots of law- abiding citizens living in Chicago, but with all due respect to them, Elliot Ness didn't spend his career busting mobsters in Hoboken, New Jersey. That was reaching, though, and try as I might, I could see no connection between Tadeo Kurobashi and the Mob.
Waiting in line to pay the garage parking charges at Sea-Tac Airport, I used my car phone to try calling Big Al down at the department. Margie, our clerk, said that Detective Lindstrom was down at Industry Square meeting with Bernard Rennermann and Thomas Blakeslee. Obviously, Big Al hadn't been sitting on his hands in my absence. I told Margie I'd try to catch him there on my way into town.
Locating Big Al turned out to be no trouble at all. A white Reliant with the usual police department markings was parked near a building one building over from the one where Tadeo Kurobashi's body had been found. Bernard Rennermann's digs were next to the elevator on the ground floor.
A young receptionist took my name and called the information into an inner room. A moment or two later, Bernie himself appeared at a door down a short hallway, mopping perspiration off his brow with what looked like yesterday's handkerchief.
'Oh, Detective Beaumont. You're here too. I didn't know you were expected.
'I wasn't, I replied. 'I managed to get here anyway.
He stepped aside and let me into the room. It was a spacious conference room whose main piece of furniture was a long, rectangular oak table. The padded captain's chair at the far end was empty. Big Al Lindstrom sat on one side of the table, glaring sullenly at a smug little man who was seated opposite him, a man I assumed to be Thomas Blakeslee.
Somehow I had imagined Blakeslee, the bane of Tadeo Kurobashi's existence, to be different-bigger, larger than life. Instead, he was a stunted, bald-headed little twerp with thick glasses who smoked unfiltered Camels like a damn chimney.
Two chain-smokers in as many days! Doesn't anybody read those Surgeon General's warnings?
Thomas Blakeslee had managed to get himself at cross purposes with Big Al Lindstrom, whose hackles were definitely up. As I came in the door, Al glanced briefly in my direction and nodded, but immediately he turned his full attention back on Blakeslee.
'This is my partner, Detective Beaumont, he said. 'Now, would you please answer my question?
'What was it again?
'Did Mr. Kurobashi know that you were the new tenant who would be taking over this space?
'I wouldn't know about that. You'd have to ask Bernie here. He might have told him.
'I didn't, Rennermann blurted, again wiping his damp forehead. 'You asked me not to, remember? So I didn't.
'Why didn't you want Kurobashi to know that you were moving in?
Blakeslee shrugged. 'It would have been awkward, that's all. Besides, Tadeo had lost the lease. It was none of his business what happened to the space after he moved out.
'Except that he lost the lease because he lost the patent infringement lawsuit against you.
'Business is business, Blakeslee said offhandedly.
He was a cold-blooded, mean-spirited little rat. No wonder he had provoked Big Al's ire. Lindstrom may look big and tough, but there's not a cruel bone in his body. Never has been. Meanness offends him.
Blakeslee thumped a mound of ashes into the large cut-glass ashtray on the table in front of him. 'Look, he said, 'I wanted the space, all right? My lease at the old place was running out in a few months anyway. I had to look for a new location. Then, when I found out that Tadeo was leaving, I decided why not? After all, we were in pretty much the same business. He laid out the manufacturing plant here almost identically to what I've been using in my place. Hell, he's the one who organized that plant years ago when he was working for me, except this one is brand-new, totally upgraded.
'What about the equipment? Lindstrom asked.
'I'll be bringing my own, of course.
'And what happens to the MicroBridge equipment?
Again Blakeslee tapped his cigarette, a gesture I recognized as a delaying tactic. 'As the major creditor, I expected to buy it at the auction. For ten cents on the dollar, I should have been able to pick up all the equipment, the hard assets, and customer lists, and I wouldn't have had to pay a dime out of my own pocket.
'It sounds as though that deal is off, Big Al interjected.
Blakeslee shrugged again. 'From what I hear, there's not much left, although I may still bid on some of the equipment.
'Do you have any idea what Mr. Kurobashi was working on at the time of his death?
'None whatsoever.
'And you're not interested in finding out?
'Not particularly. My dear Detective Lindstrom, RFLink provides me with a more than adequate livelihood.
'Particularly if your major competitor is no longer in business.
'That's right.
'Or dead, Big Al added.
'Are you accusing me of something unlawful here, Detective Lindstrom? If so, I'm afraid I'll have to request that my attorney be present. I agreed to come here and talk to you of my own free will, but it seems to me that your questions are going beyond the pale of what's acceptable and what isn't.
I had heard enough to see what kind of a tack Big Al was running on, and I happened to have some information that he didn't.
'Mr. Blakeslee, I put in, 'would you have any idea why Tadeo Kurobashi would feed a virus into his entire office computer system, including the new computer he was giving his daughter?
'How would I know? Everybody always told me he was a genius, but he never showed me anything I couldn't have done better myself and in half the time, Blakeslee replied.
'Or why he would send most of his important company records to the shredder?
'Like I said, even when he was working for me I didn't understand him. I have no idea, unless…
'Unless what?
'Unless he had something to hide.
'What might that be?
'I don't know.
'How much did you win? Big Al asked, returning to the fray.
'Excuse me?
'The judgment you won against him. How much was it and when is it due?
'A total of 350 K. It was all due and payable the first of last month.
'Will the judgment be voided by the bankruptcy proceedings?
'No.
'So his estate will still have to come up with that much money?
'That's my understanding.
'Did he actually steal your patents, Mr. Blakeslee? Big Al asked.
Blakeslee tapped his cigarette and smiled enigmatically, a vulture claiming his prize.
'That's no longer a matter open to debate, Detective Lindstrom. A jury said he did. That's what counts. He pushed his chair back and stood up. 'I must be going now, if you don't mind. I have a luncheon appointment.
Disgustedly, Big Al waved him out of the room. Bernard Rennermann hurried after his departing guest and soon-to-be tenant.
'I'm glad I'm a cop, Big Al said. 'At least with pimps and pushers, you know where you stand. These guys are absolute cutthroats. That asshole doesn't give a shit that Kurobashi is dead. All he cares about is how soon he can move in and pick the rest of the meat off the bones. And Rennermann's no better. The whole time Kurobashi was
