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?“Why did you want them?”
?“Ms. Cunningham had been pressuring me. She’s the company’s biggest investor and she wanted to double check what Randall was doing with her money. She was threatening to close her accounts, including her insurance and annuity, which I’m in charge of. Those accounts have paid me a fine commission over the years.”
?“What did Ms. Cunningham want from you?” I demanded.
?“She insisted I find a record of her money not provided by Randall.”
?“Which explains what she spoke with you about at the conference,” Mark pointed out.
?I gave Jon a hard stare. “And that is what you and Candy argued about backstage in the ballroom.”
?Jon frowned. “How did you—”
?I smirked. “I saw a tall silhouette talking to her, and I just realized it was you. Thanks for confessing.”
?John mopped his brow again. “Candy wanted more money—after we’d come to a very reasonable arrangement.”
? “It makes sense of a lot of things,” I decided. “Did you give the records to Ms. Cunningham?”
?“I never got them,” Jon whined and took another sip of tea. “Candy had me go through this elaborate ruse where I had to pick up the records by buying a pipe of all things.”
?“A pipe!” Mark and I bellowed in unison.
?“Yes,” Jon said, taken aback by this display. “I was to meet someone in the lobby.”
?“Big man, red hair?” Mark asked.
?“No. Some woman met me and gave me one of those elaborate things, like you used in the lecture. And then she told me it was the wrong one.”
?“What did she look like?” I pushed.
?“Tall, tattooed. Nasty attitude.”
?“Was her name Hypno?” Mark asked.
?“We didn’t exchange names. But she told me there had been a mistake and the pipe ended up with you.”
?“‘Ended up with me.’ She said that?” Mark questioned.
?“Her exact words.”
?Mark frowned. “She brought a pipe for you? We were told there were only three of those and the other was—”
?“Sold, yes,” I interrupted to shush Mark. “But go on with your story.”
?Jon looked at each of us and continued, “Well she said what I wanted was in the bowl of the pipe and all I had to do was switch my pipe for yours—”
?“A pipe with an ‘X’ on the bottom?” I asked.
?“Yes, she said that was how I would recognize it. I have been trying to switch pipes with Mark ever since.”
?Mark frowned. “But how did your pipe end up at the crime scene with my fingerprints on it?”
?I elbowed Mark in the ribs, but it was too late. You think he would know how to do an interrogation!
?“What?” Jon said. “No! I’ve been carrying that pipe with me ever since.”
?He reached into his outer coat pocket and pulled out the intricate and overlarge pipe. The shank had come out of the stem and hung loose on two fine wires.
