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Mac hurried back to the apartment, where A
“I need a drink,” Mac said, heading for the kitchen. “You?”
“I already have one,” A
“So,” he said after he’d joined her on the couch, “what now?”
She shook her head and sipped. “I don’t want to believe him. I’ve been sitting here conjuring all the reasons not to believe him.”
“Lay them out for me.”
“All the evidence he has comes from this Poindexter character. Is he to be believed?”
“The agency he works for is respected, A
“Maybe not deliberately false, Mac, but possibly erroneous. They wouldn’t be the first private investigatory agency to phony up results to satisfy a good-paying client.”
“No, but let’s view them in a positive light and take a look at what you’ve written.”
Based upon what Josephson had allowed them to see, there wasn’t any doubt that the private investigator, and those working for him, had done a thorough job of building a case against Pawkins. According to the reports, Pawkins had visited Georges Saibrón two months after the murder of Aaron Musinski. A series of receipts were attached to the report, Air France records of the trips Pawkins had taken, and hotel bills. There had been three trips within six weeks of one another. Poindexter’s source inside the Saibrón organization told him that the Mozart-Haydn string quartets had been delivered during that third trip.
The next report traced Pawkins’ movements following his final trip to Paris. He’d flown to the Grand Cayman Island, where he’d opened an account at one of that island’s numerous private banks, their existence marked only by small, nondescript placards on their doors. Two days later, according to Poindexter, Georges Saibrón wired Euros equivalent to a half-million U.S. dollars to that account.
“So much for the famed secrecy of Cayman Island banks,” A
“Happens all the time,” Mac said. “You can always find someone willing to give out a little information about accounts in return for a payoff. I did it myself once or twice when I was practicing criminal law. The important thing is that if this information is true-and I don’t see any reason to doubt it at this juncture-Ray Pawkins is not the man I thought he was. He might be not only a thief, he could be a murderer.”
“A cop investigating a murder he committed.”
“Convenient. But as I told Marc, there’s nothing in these reports pointing directly to Ray as Musinski’s killer.”
“One and one add up to two, Mac.”
“Not always. Look, what we have to hash out is what Marc wants me to do.”
“You aren’t considering it, are you?”
“There was a moment when I was open to it. Not anymore.”
“Good.”
“I’m listening. I always do-listen to you, A
“You should go to the police with this, Mac.”
“And tell them what, that I’ve met with a gentleman from London who claims he knows that Ray Pawkins took the musical scores from the apartment of a murder victim?”
“A victim whose murder he investigated.”
“Marc Josephson has his own agenda in this, A
“Mac, do you know what you’re sounding like?”
“Tell me.”
“You’re sounding like a criminal defense attorney again. You’re sounding as though Ray Pawkins is your client.”
“He may need an attorney.”
“But not you.”
“Of course not. I don’t defend clients anymore. But I do believe in giving him the benefit of the doubt. I believe in that for anyone. By the way, Marc offered me a fee. Ten percent of what he collects from Ray.”
“Which you turned down, of course.”
“Of course. As I said, I think Ray Pawkins deserves the benefit of the doubt.”
“I suppose he does. What do you intend to do, take him to lunch and ask if he murdered Aaron Musinski?”
“That’s a possibility.”
“And what if he says, ‘Yes, I killed him, and I stole his musical scores and sold them to some Frenchman for a half-million dollars.’ Then what?”
“A bridge to cross.”
“Well, Mac,” she said, “I’m not as sanguine about this as you seem to be. If Raymond Pawkins is a murderer and a thief, I certainly don’t want him investigating the Charise Lee murder for the Washington National Opera. Oh, my God!”
“What’s the matter?”
“What if he…?”
“I see where you’re going with this,” Mac said, placing his hand on hers. “What if Pawkins killed Charise Lee.”
“And ended up investigating that murder, too.”
Mac’s thoughts went to the attractive Asian woman who’d waited for Pawkins at the supers rehearsal. He also recalled Pawkins saying that he was looking into a worker at the Ke
He didn’t express these musings to A
“Including what Marc Josephson has asked you to do.”
“That’s not in question, A
Josephson’s request of Mac had been simple. He wanted him to act as a go-between with Pawkins to try to convince the retired detective to pay Josephson the money Pawkins had received for the Mozart-Haydn scores from Georges Saibrón. “Use the threat of going to the authorities if you must,” Josephson had said as they stood in the Watergate lobby an hour earlier.
A
In bed, she reminded him, “Don’t forget the tech rehearsal tomorrow night, dress rehearsal the night after that, then opening night. And, of course, there is the ball following that.”
“It looks like there are two operas going on at once,” he said, “one on the stage, and the other offstage.”
“And murders taking place in both,” she said, tightly wrapping her arms about him, as though to squeeze such thoughts away.