is costly, and the news of the suit made the price of the stock go down, down, down - until Verger's disappearance, of course. Now the stock is going up, up, up. It took a nice hike yesterday - and Ernst cashed in.'
'But why is Verger's disappearance an advantage,' Quill asked, 'and not his death?'
'The document says that in the event of Taylor's death, Carmichael will execute any standing orders. Doesn't say a word about what happens if he just beats feet. As Birdie and Bea told us this morning, Ernst is in charge until Verger comes back or is proved dead. So Ernst had enough time to cash in. Which maybe was all he wanted.'
'We've got a motive,' Quill said, 'but we don't have any evidence. If it's true, how the heck do we catch him?' She sighed. 'And still get home in time for spring.'
Meg grinned. 'See this? The next payout's due in thirty days. What if we E-mail Carmichael - with an electronic order from Verger to press the Murex suit forward. That'll drop the stock price again for sure.'
'What's that going to do?' Quill said, exasperated. 'Think about it, Quill. You're Ernst Kolsacker. You illegally moved and/or otherwise disposed of your partner's body. Everything's fine until he starts to speak beyond the grave. All of a sudden, you've lost any advantage you might have keeping your partner alive, but absent. It is highly advantageous to your future to have him turn up dead; Quill. That means the police will have to find the body. You see.'
'I see that. What I don't see is how that's going to implicate Ernst Kolsacker any more than he's implicated already. And that's nada.'
'Hey,' Meg said. 'It's the physics of murder.'
'The physics of murder?'
'For every action, there's an equal reaction. The more Ernst has to act, the higher his chances of exposure. And of course, there's one more thing. Ernst is going to be able to track where this order came from. I mean, he can backtrack from this message into our system just as easily as we broke into Carmichael's. So. Is Ernst going to run to the cops and tell them we're interfering with his ability to make a profit on Murex? Not likely. That's risking too much exposure. As soon as he finds out where this order originated, he has to act. Most likely,' Meg said sunnily, 'he'll come roaring after us. Tonight.'
'You mean me,' Luis said in alarm. 'This is my computer. I think I'd better go visit my cousin.'
'We'll make sure he knows it's us, Luis,' said Meg. 'We'll use an address like gourm.det.quill.meg. Right, Quill?'
'Pfui,' Quill said, in the best Nero Wolfe tradition. 'This is nuts, Meg. I absolutely refuse to put either one of us at risk.'
'It's not much of a risk. We input this order. We wait. Ernst shows up at our condo tonight. I threaten him, recording his confession with a concealed tape recorder of course. He agrees to pay blackmail. I agree to take the money. We get it all on tape.'
'It's too dangerous.' 'It is not too dangerous! Ernst is a body snatcher. That's a far cry from murder, Quill. He just took advantage of the situation that presented itself. He's no killer.
Gosh, the man's sixty-two years old with a heart condition. And he loves to cook. I refuse,' said Meg, with an utter disregard for the rational, 'to consider anyone who's a good cook a killer.'
'Oh, Meg.'
'Let's put it this way. You want to go home, right? Sometime before next Christmas? You know perfectly well what's going to happen if we don't expose Kolsacker. We don't expose Kolsacker, we may never find the body. No body - no conviction for Evan and Corrigan. If we ever do get back to Hemlock Falls, we'll be dragged back here for depositions, testimony, and God knows what all. Month after month. It may even take year after year. You can just bet that Cressida isn't going to miss a trick to save her boys from a murder.I charge, and legal tricks take weeks. Months. Years. You want to tie yourself up that long? I mean, we do have a life.'
'What if he doesn't show up tonight?'
'He'll show up,' Meg said confidently. 'Trust me on this one.'
'We should at least tell Jerry what we're doing. He could give us some protection.'
'As if!'
'Why don't we turn this information over to Jerry? He can trap Ernst if he wants to.'
'Because the police can't entrap citizens, Quill,' Meg said virtuously. 'It's not legal. If you just presented the cold facts to a judge - where's the wrong-doing? We have no physical proof that Ernst snatched the body...'
'We don't know that he did, either,' Quill pointed out.
'And in the absence of proof, all he has to say is that he - sorry about that - took advantage of his dear friend's absence to make a little money. And who on the jury is going to dispute that? Especially down here? Everybody wants to make money down here. No, Quill, we have to have some proof. This little blackmail scheme will provide us proof. I'll tell you what. We'll even let Ernst know that we know where the body is when we talk to him.'
'But we don't know where the body is.'
'He doesn't know that. Okay?' She sat at the computer, her fingers poised. 'All I've got to do is use the E-mail to get word to Carmichael. Carmichael's obligated to pass word of this on to Ernst.' She cocked her head. 'Don't look so worried. I mean, it's much more realistic if we go ahead and prove that we have this knowledge and can pretend to be Verger Taylor and give orders for a while, by sending this phony buy order from Verger.'
'Be quiet a minute, Meg.' Quill dithered. She bit her nails. She pulled her hair. Finally she said, 'Okay. But. If anything, anything happens to either me or Meg tonight, Luis, you go to the police. Agreed?'
'Can I put all this in the book?' Luis asked. 'After you've captured him, of course.'
They waited all night. Ernst the body snatcher never showed up.
-16-
