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“No, no, no. Just leading up to it. My PGPD connection told me about the accident, so I went to the hospital. Looked like a cops convention.”
“I thought only Jergins was interested in Stavos.”
A waiter scurried by with eggs over easy in one hand and creamed chipped beef on toast in the other. Some traditions die hard, even in a nouveau diner.
“Well, they changed their minds or maybe they just wanted to keep an eye on Jergins. I don’t know, but everyone was there—the Secret Service, Derry ...”
A waitress took our orders with a quick, practiced hand. She snapped the order form off the pad, pushed it across the shelf, then made a beeline to the coffeepots.
“I tried to sit in on the interrogation,” Duvall said. “But someone spotted me, and they kicked me out.”
“That wasn’t very hospitable.”
“No. I didn’t miss much though. They took all of five minutes.”
“Stavos probably insisted on having a lawyer present.”
“That, plus the nurse insisted that they only take five minutes. From the looks of this nurse, I would have made it four-and-a-half.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“I don’t know. You’re telling the story, and I still haven’t heard anything about Ash and the IRS.”
“I’m getting there. I don’t know what they asked Stavos, but I know Jergins’ concern in this case is finding Gregory Knudsen. It has something to do with a disc Stavos is looking for.”
“I know about the disc. Stavos thought Melanie or I might have it.”
“Jergins wants it, too.”
“And?”
Duvall shot me a glance as he took a long sip of coffee. “And ... now the other cops are interested in Knudsen, too. Including the IRS.”
“IRS agents were at the hospital?”
Duvall nodded. “There was one in the room when they questioned Stavos. Along with Jergins, some other FBI agent, the Secret Service, and Derry.”
“You’re sure he was an IRS agent?”
“That’s what my friend says, and I have no reason to think he lied.”
“What the hell would a tax collector be doing there?” I asked. “And what does Ash have to do with this?”
“Some kind of screw-up with his contracting, I heard. Something about a 1099. My friend isn’t privy to all the info, but that’s the rumor.”
“Maybe it’s not important to the investigation, if your friend doesn’t know for sure.”
“My friend isn’t a detective. He just passes along what he hears.”
“Maybe your friend was misinformed.”
“Anything’s possible.”
“A 1099 is an income reporting form. I’m trying to picture how this would pertain to a murder investigation.” I stopped, a thought forming. “Unless it relates to the identity theft case.”
“Tax forms and identity. I can imagine a connection.”
