Reilly 13 - Dreams of the Dead (29 page)

Nina tried to remember how to balance herself.

“Hey, you know tricks!” Paul said, watching Nina spin.

“It’s like a bicycle,” she said, “you never—oops!” Down she started, but Paul caught her arm. “You look good when you’re cold and out of sorts,” he said, steadying her. He stood there smiling at her like some kind of fool. They were both fools, spinning like tops.

She felt her eyes welling. “I’m scared for you.”

“Stop that immediately,” he said kindly, pulling her along. “We’re having fun here.”

They didn’t last long and settled into a quiet corner away from the crowds. They watched the kids and other skaters, clapping as Troy executed a jump.

“Someone else besides you and me knew Jim Strong was dead.” Paul kept his voice low in spite of the overall din. “It’s hard to believe. Bob would never say a thing except maybe to Sandy, and Sandy wouldn’t talk about it.”

“Sandy didn’t even tell Joe. I think she tells him everything, mostly.”

Brianna had hooked up with a few girlfriends. Hanging on to each other, they lunged, laughing, attaching themselves to various young boys and then detaching, favoring none.

Nina, watching, thought of herself at Brianna’s age, about the allure of young males with their hairiness, smells, and intensities, and about the way their chemistry compromised a young woman’s intelligence. She could only hope Brianna could pump her way up and down that seesaw back to sanity before she ruined her life. Nina wondered if Matt and Andrea worried that way about their daughter. Nina sure worried about Bob, every single day, and now and then she thought of herself and Kurt, the young craziness, the young blissfulness.

“The missing body is connected to the sale of the resort,” she
said, continuing to watch, multitasking. “Somebody knows you killed Jim Strong, Paul. Somebody knows where you buried him. The body was taken because someone doesn’t want the police to know he’s dead. It has to be the same person or persons who are trying to nick some of that sale money.”

“If that’s true, the responsible thing to do is to go to the cops and get this off my chest for once and for all. I think I’m going to have to take it to Fred Cheney. He’s an old friend. He’ll believe me. Not to talk to the cops at this point is beyond irresponsible.”

Nina found it hard to contain her fright at the thought. “You were a homicide cop. How can you suggest such a thing? Don’t be naive. They’ll eat you alive.”

“Okay, Nina, you’ve got advice? Good. Spill your guts.”

“You go to Sergeant Cheney, you open your heart. ‘Yessir, I took the guy out because he was threatening Nina. He came at me. It was self-defense.’ He may be your friend, but he has a sworn duty and an ethic, too. He may be sympathetic, but don’t assume he’ll treat you any differently than another police officer would.”

“I don’t expect sympathy I don’t deserve. Fred’s a dedicated law enforcement officer. I don’t expect he’ll let our friendship get in the way of what he considers his duty.”

“You’re hoping he will, though. Not officially, but you do hope for leniency.”

“But Jim’s body’s gone. We did try to take care of this. The police will never be able to piece this elaborate story together and find who stole the corpse if I don’t stop protecting myself.”

Bob, Troy, and Brianna linked arms like a gang. Swooping around the rink powerfully, they took on all challengers.

“Paul, you need to hire a criminal lawyer, anyone but me. I know all the best ones. You’ll be all right.” Nina looped her arm over his shoulder. “You saved my life. We both know that. Whatever happened to Jim Strong, he deserved.”

For some reason she lifted her face to look at him as his face was coming down to look at her. They kissed naturally and simply.

“I don’t think I want a lawyer anymore,” Paul said. “I just want to tell the truth about how I came to kill him. I wish the Strong family—peace.”

“That wish could land you in prison for life. Please, Paul. I’m a professional. Don’t do it that way.”

“I’ll think about it. Enough for now.”

They watched the skaters muscling their ways through tie-ups, laughing, having a good time. She clapped as Brianna made a small jump. “She’s beautiful,” Nina murmured. “So talented. Hard to know what life might bring her.”

The three kids crashed suddenly. They got rid of the skates and demanded food. Again.

On the way back to Matt and Andrea’s they stopped at Heidi’s, Paul’s choice. Everyone ate way too much, and the carbs made the backseat a calm and quiet place all the way home.

“A
hoy,” Matt said. He poked his head into his front door nervously, as if he had expected the whole place to have gone up in smoke.

“Did you have fun?” Nina asked. She and Paul, silent on a porch swing, rose together leaving it to creak back and forth behind them, empty.

Matt looked at Andrea with adoration Nina had craved and had never gotten from Kurt. “Oh, yeah,” Matt said. He kissed Andrea on the lips. “I’m a lucky man.”

Nina filled him in on the morning, stretching out the part where the kids skated.

Paul walked Nina to her car. It was early afternoon, warm.

“I note you didn’t mention the hour they spent afterward playing video games,” Paul said.

“They won’t squeal. Paul, can you please do this for me? Wait a little longer before you talk to Sergeant Cheney.”

“Why? The court hearing has been lost. The body has been lost. The truth will never come out if I don’t speak up.”

“Don’t you feel the lines of force? Something bigger than stealing Jim’s body is going on. Can’t you feel it? It’s gathering. It’s coming. I feel like we’ll understand what’s going on in a very short time. Let me think about this for one more day. You should talk to another lawyer—”

“All right.” He ran his finger along the inside of her arm, a place that in other, more personal times he had described as “sexy with velvet.” “But on the other hand, I’ll do anything for you.”

T
hat afternoon at just after six, Lynda Eckhardt called Nina at home. Nina recognized the number and for a moment considered not picking up. She and Bob had given Hitch a bath and his heart-worm pill and had dolloped his antiflea serum onto his neck. The three of them sat together on the couch, Hitch’s head in her lap, watching a basketball game. The Golden State Warriors were beating the Raptors 76–74 and the cool day was clouding up.

“Hi. Look, I feel terrible calling you at home. But you did give me the number.”

“What’s up, Lynda?”

“My blood pressure. I’ve been talking to creditors of Paradise all afternoon, making deals, setting pay dates. What a damn shame. I just saw Philip at the hospital.”

“They let you in? I’m going after dinner.”

“Not a heart attack as it turns out, but an arrhythmia. Kelly was there. She told me that they implanted a pacemaker and they’re talking about releasing him tomorrow.”

A sudden thought struck Nina hard. Would Philip have suffered this attack if she and Paul had come forward right away with Jim’s body? She felt a rush of guilt and couldn’t breathe for a minute.

As if mind reading and giving her one small hope that this was not entirely their fault, Lynda went on, “Turns out he had a minor attack a while back, but got himself to the hospital and told nobody. Has heart disease, that poor man. The debts and the sale together
became too much for him. I really tried to prevent this forced sale, Nina.”

“Sometimes you can’t get the client what they want. You can only get them a chance to move on.” Nina, breathing again, moved into the kitchen with the phone away from the television’s distraction.

“I wanted to update you.”

“I appreciate that.”

“And one other little thing. A little favor I need to ask you.”

“Er, Lynda, I’m kind of tied up at the moment.”

“Doing what?”

“Visiting with my son. Petting my dog. Watching TV.”

“Relaxing, eh? The noive of ya! Okay, let me be brief. You hooked up on Skype?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve got a problem. I’m having a nervous breakdown, and I have one more big call to make. I can’t manage it. It’s to the lawyer for the buyers of Paradise. The Korean syndicate. She left a message for me to call her right about now. It’s ten a.m., bright and early for her in Seoul.”

“You want me to call
Korea
?” Nina had been pouring a tumbler of water on the nervous geranium in the window above the sink. She stopped and drank the rest of the water instead.

“Nobody else can handle this. It’s simple enough. She wants a progress report. Her name is Su-dae Choi and she went to the University of Hawaii as an undergraduate. Great English, sharp gal, not all formal like you might think.”

“Does it have to be right now?”

“It’ll only be ten minutes. Guess so,” Lynda said. “If you do this for me, I will stay sane, I promise. I will continue to be a contributing member of society. I will also be eternally grateful.”

“Does she know about Philip’s heart problem?”

“Well, no.” Above all else, Lynda, who should really have been a gentle librarian, hated bearing bad news. “I know you can keep them from panicking.”

“I see nothing to panic about. They want the sale, don’t they?”

“What if, God forbid, Philip should get worse instead of better?” Lynda said. “What if he’s incapacitated? The sale date might have to be extended, and you know what that means, some of their financing may evaporate. I think they’re gonna panic. Like me, like I’m doing right now. I’ve popped enough Librium to make me sleep two days, and my eyes are still bulging outta my head. Please.”

“You want me to reassure them that things are in order, that we can finish in time?”

“I’m on my knees.”

“What’s the number?” Lynda gave her that information. There were a lot of digits.

Nina went to the cubby in the kitchen where the big iMac was, looked through a couple of drawers and located the tiny camera, mounted that, and set to work getting the Skype software going. Then she realized the Korean lawyer would see her. She went upstairs and put on her blazer over her AC/DC shirt, put on gold earrings, and pulled her hair into a rubber band. Then she brushed her teeth and applied makeup.

A jiffy.

The game was over when she went back downstairs, and Bob was watching a
Simpsons
DVD. “Warriors,” he said. “By twelve.”

“Okay.” She returned to the kitchen, turned the oven dial, got a pan of chicken and vegetables in to bake, drank half a cup of coffee from the morning pot, and called Su-dae Choi.

“A
loha!” Ms. Choi said after her secretary put Nina on the line. On the screen Ms. Choi was a motherly-looking woman with a warm smile, and Nina’s spine got to slump a little. Behind Ms. Choi there seemed to be another desk where another woman worked. Nina saw a watercolor on the wall. The office was not as sumptuous as she had feared.

“Aloha to you.”

“How’s the weather at Tahoe?” They compared notes on the weather. Ms. Choi’s English was accented but fluent. “As a matter of fact I just returned from Honolulu,” she told Nina. “My attorney friends are ready to retrain as surfers. Business is terrible. Too many lawyers. I told them, Korea is worse. Nobody’s making any money. How about your neck of the woods?”

“About the same. You know, business for lawyers is supposed to be great in bad times, but I don’t practice that kind of law.”

“We’re all going to be coloring ladies’ hair in the evenings at this rate. I see you are at home. Is Lynda all right?”

“I’m actually the litigating attorney in this matter.” A lock of hair escaped Nina’s rubber band and swung to her shoulder. “Lynda felt that I could give you more up-to-date information and asked me to make the call.”

“I assume we are on track with the sale after the court hearing?”

“Very much so.”

“Did it go smoothly?”

“The net proceeds will have to go into escrow.”

“Yes, I checked on that with the court. Any other problems showing up? My clients call me every day. This is a big deal for them. First U.S. purchase. They own resorts in Switzerland and Austria, a big one here in Korea. We are fine at this end. The sales price will be wired to the two bank accounts on Tuesday and will be there for the Wednesday closing.”

“Well, yes, something has come up.” Nina watched a vigilant look flit over her colleague’s face. “Mr. Strong has a medical problem. Unfortunately, he’s in the hospital at the moment. He’s scheduled for release on Tuesday. That’s my information, and I assume he’ll be able to sign the final set of papers in connection with the sale.”

Ms. Choi took this in stride, and Nina gave her the details, thinking, Lynda could easily have handled this phone call, and I missed the one game I wanted to see. “I’ll call our contact,” Ms. Choi said then. “Marianne Strong. She has taken over in Mr. Philip Strong’s absence, I suppose?”

“Not that I know of, but please don’t worry. The resort will be managed properly for the next few days. It is possible Mr. Strong’s daughter, Kelly, might oversee it if Marianne does not.”

Ms. Choi visibly recoiled. “She was in a mental hospital.”

“Not for some time. She has had problems, yes, but she has studied law and worked at the resort off and on for her whole life.” No need to mention her experience towing cars and running snow-plows.

“But—” Ms. Choi frowned. “This makes no sense. Marianne is the new manager. Why didn’t Mr. Strong bring her in? She is taking over the general management responsibilities as soon as the sale is complete. Hasn’t she informed you of that? Her half brother also has a management agreement.”

“I just learned that,” Nina said. “Mr. Strong wasn’t consulted.”

“He wasn’t consulted? He doesn’t approve?”

“Let’s back up a little. I’m curious as to how Marianne Strong was hired to run Paradise after the sale.”

“You don’t know? That is so odd, forgive me.” Ms. Choi frowned, eyes downcast, thinking. “Well, she is a minority owner of Paradise of course. She and her half brother”—Ms. Choi looked down at some paperwork—“Gene Malavoy first approached us about this potential sale almost three years ago. My clients’ company was expanding rapidly at that time. We had interest. I’m not certain what happened, but someone dropped the ball in the negotiations for the past couple of years. Apparently, Mr. Strong was trying to find new financing to keep the resort. Marianne finally persuaded him that it would be wiser to let the resort go and contacted my clients again. She said that her father-in-law was ready to negotiate, at her insistence. We were, of course, grateful.”