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They called Dahlat the Home Streets office from an anonymous burner phone, one of several that Sandy kept in her desk. The secretary asked for Lucas’s name, and he said, “Mike Bennett.” She said, “Just a minute, I’ll ring you through.”
Lucas hung up and said, “Okay. He’s at the office.”
—
Virgil read throughCooper’s list of beneficiaries on their way out of town, and said, “There’s one guy, Martin Wye, who’ll get a million from Alex Sand and another million from Maggie, if shedoesn’t change it before she dies. It appears that he runs some kind of wildlife rescue center up in Ely. Wolves and so on.”
“And nobody’s interviewed him?”
“Nope. Not yet.”
“Sandy needs to look him up.”
—
Ten minutes fartheron, Sandy called. “Do you guys know a reporter for KSTP named Daisy Jones?”
Virgil: “Ah... yeah. What does she want?”
“Have you ever slept with her, Virgil?” Sandy purred.
“No. Jesus, Sandy. I never slept with her,” Virgil said.
“Okay, then. That’s one that we know of.”
Lucas laughed until Sandy asked, “How about you, Lucas?”
“No. Never.” He laughed again. “I like that line about Virgil, though. ‘That’s one we know of.’ ”
“Sandy... what do you want?” Virgil asked.
“Jones called and asked me if it’s true that you and Lucas are working the Sand murder together. I told her I didn’t know and suggested that she get in touch with you guys. She said she tried Virgil’s number, the last one she had, and it’s now assigned to somebody who never heard of Virgil. She said if you don’t call her back, she’d have to go with the rumor that you’re on the case and have identified the killer and expect to reveal the name in the next couple of days.”
“Goddamnit, she’s blackmailing us,” Virgil said. “Gimme her number.”
Virgil called Jones, identified himself, and asked, “What do you want?”
“Is Lucas there with you?” Jones asked.
Virgil looked at Lucas, who shrugged and said, “Yeah, I’m here, Daisy.”
“Good. Who’s the killer?” she asked.
“We don’t know. We really don’t have a clue,” Virgil said. “That’s the truth, Daisy. You know I’ve never told you a direct lie.”
“You’ve sort of danced around a lot of them, though,” Jones said.
“So have you. But: honestly, we have no idea who did it. We’re flopping around like fish out of water.”
“But you are both working the case,” Jones said.
“Yes, we are,” Lucas said.
“Good. I can deal with you guys,” Jones said. “Those stiffs from St. Paul and the BCA won’t even talk to me about Sand. So I’m going with the new fact that you’re working it, and I won’t add anything really delicious. For not doing that, I’ll expect a call.”
“We don’t know if we’ll ever find anything,” Lucas said.
“I have faith,” Jones said. “Oops, gotta go. Somebody’s crying in the corridor.”
