Hour Game

"So news of an illegitimate son wouldn't have helped the negotiations," said King.

"Precisely. As a matter of fact, the deal did go through and made Bobby more money than he could possibly have spent in several lifetimes. It was probably a good thing."

"Why do you say that?" asked King.

" Battle had always been eccentric, but for some years he was growing more and more bizarre in his behavior. Violent mood swings, bouts of depression followed by times of unrealistic euphoria. And his mind wasn't what it was. One of the most brilliant engineers and businessmen of his day, he was forgetting names and important items. I really wasn't surprised about the stroke. In fact, I suspected he suffered numerous minor ones previously that had affected his mind. But we're getting far afield from the topic of blackmail." Harry turned to King. "Sorry for the detour."

"No, we need all the information we can get. The timing of the sale of Bobby's company makes me believe it was only Roger Ca

Harry picked up this line of reasoning. "But Roger Ca

"Or maybe," said Michelle, "Roger Ca

"But it was Bobby's car that was damaged right around the time of her death," King said. "So it seems far more likely that Bobby killed her."

"I'm just pointing out that Roger Ca

King looked at her admiringly. "That's a good point, Michelle. I hadn't really considered that."

"So where does that leave us?" she wanted to know.

The bell for di

"I've told Calpurnia that a di

CHAPTER 75

SEAN HAD UNCORKED BOTH bottles of wine upon his arrival so that they could properly breathe before di

"And I'm sure it has some wonderfully nifty history," said Michelle as she smelled it.

"It's made by the appropriately named Carole Bouquet, who used to be a famous model and was a James Bond girl in one of the films-For Your Eyes Only,I believe. The other bottle is a Ma Vérité de Gérard Depardieu, Haut-Médoc."

"Let me guess, made by the actor of the same name," chanced Harry.

"Yes. These wines are really up and coming, and I only bring them out on special occasions."

"Harry and I feel so honored," said Michelle, smirking.

They toasted and began their meal, which was served by Calpurnia. She was about sixty years of age and over six feet tall, blocky of build and with thick gray hair pulled back in a harsh bun. She looked like every child's worst school-cafeteria-worker nightmare. Yet the food was spectacular.

As Calpurnia left them, Harry said, "Now, Michelle was asking where your speculations about Steven Ca

"With the fact that two of the victims might be co

"Janice Pembroke?" said Michelle.

"No. I figure her simply as a person in the wrong place at the wrong time," answered King.

"Diane Hinson? She was a lawyer. Maybe she was working on some corporate deal with Bobby," Michelle suggested.

King shook his head. "Doubtful. She was a trial lawyer, mostly criminal work. I made a lot of inquiries and could find no one who could place them together at any time. Let's leave Hinson for the moment and move on. Next up is Junior Deaver. He had a clear co

"Right. He worked for them and was also accused of stealing from them," said Michelle.

"But the burglary occurred after Bobby had his stroke," said Harry.

"I never thought that Bobby was killing anyone," said King, "perhaps other than Mrs. Ca

Michelle looked unconvinced. "Granted, Pembroke might have been killed merely because she was with Ca

"Her watch was set to one minute past four," said King. He paused and said, "And remember, Pembroke's watch was set to one minute past two. The others were right on the hour."

"So Hinson's and Pembroke's were one tick off," said Michelle slowly.

"Exactly." King looked at her puzzled. "One tick off? There's something familiar about that phrase, but I can't think of what it is."

"So the killer is intentionally telling us, via the watches, that some victims are, what, slightly off?"

"I think he's telling us that Tyler, Ca

"All right, let's assume Pembroke was killed because she was with Ca

"So we'd run down numerous paths trying to have it all make sense but it never would. For our killer's purposes having Pembroke die at the same time as Ca

"But, Sean, if the killer really wanted to throw us off, why set some of the watches so they were one tick off? If he'd kept them all on the hour, chances are you'd never have stumbled on this line of reasoning."

"For some reason I think this guy is trying to play fair by giving us a legitimate clue."

"Or he's just screwing with us," said Michelle.

"Possible, but I don't think so."

Michelle still looked skeptical. "All right, let's assume all that's true. Now we have Bobby Battle as a possible common denominator. But you don't think he was killed by the same person. Isn't his being linked to yet another killer too huge of a coincidence? And then we have Kyle and Sally. How do those deaths fit in?"

"Despite what Sylvia found, Kyle may have been a suicide. And Sally may have been killed because she didn't come forward about the alibi for Junior."

"I'm not following, Sean," said Harry.

"If Junior was killed only because he stole from the Battles, then once the killer found out he really hadn't committed the burglary, that meant Junior was killed for no reason. The killer revenged himself and in his sick mind perhaps thought he was avenging Junior as well by killing Sally. He might have foregone his trademark watch and infamous serial killer indicia in her case because he was too incensed or didn't consider her to be important enough. And he didn't have much time to plan it. Sally only told me the truth barely seven hours before she was killed."