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“My ego and my respect both cast long shadows.”
“What shape is the respect shadow?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Because the ego shadow’s shaped like a penis. So I wondered.”
He turned her around, flicked a finger down the dent i
n her chin as she sent him a big, sunny smile. “I believe I’ll take the shadow of my penis to my office. Is there anything in particular you want me to look for?”
“Sex and money.”
“I thought we’d done talking about my ego.”
“That’s a good one. Sex and money as applies to Steinburger and/or Valerie. Because there’s something there. She looked too damn smug this morning. Like she’d just got laid, or got a big bonus in her paycheck. There’s something.”
“I’ll see if I can find the something.”
“One thing I’m chewing over. If the killer arranged the meet with Asner with murder in mind, he’d have taken a weapon. But he used a statue—Maltese falcon.”
“Really? Killing the erstwhile Sam Spade with the black bird. It’s very nice irony.”
“I don’t imagine Asner thought so, but yeah. Point is, either the killer opted for the irony and the convenience, or didn’t bring a weapon. If no weapon, the meet wasn’t about murder. It just ended up that way.”
“Another fork in the road, another choice.” Roarke nodded. “Maybe the meeting was to be a negotiation, and the killer didn’t care for the terms.”
“So, the hell with it. I’ll just bash your brains in. Killing comes easier the second time for a lot of people. Once it’s seen as a solution why not use that solution again?”
She studied the crime scene stills of both victims.
“I don’t think either of these murders was planned as much as decided on the spot. Back to the game again. Once you make one turn, you have to make another, or backtrack. You can’t unkill, so he made the next turn.”
“And there’s usually another to come. If it’s Steinburger, and he’s used Valerie for cover, she’s another threat. Another turn may be to eliminate that threat.”
“Yeah, it might. Taking it now, that’s very risky, but down the road, at another fork. He might see it as another viable choice. I need the why. I can pressure him with the why. Otherwise all I’ve got are impressions.”
Hands in her pockets, she rocked back on her heels thinking about turns in the road, choice, consequence.
“For an amateur he’s done a good job of cleaning up after himself. So far.”
“Maybe he’s done it before,” Roarke suggested. “Taken this fork, made this choice.”
She stopped, turned. “Done it before? Wouldn’t that be interesting? Could that be the why? Sex and money,” she said to Roarke as she strode to her desk. “I’m going to take a deeper look at his background, see who else might be dead.”
“That’s perfect, isn’t it? I’m sex and money; you’re dead bodies. What a team we are.”
“Best to stick with our strengths.”
What if he had done it before? she wondered. Accidental, deliberate, momentary impulse.
And got away with it.
And what if, she continued, Harris either knew or suspected—had Asner working on digging deeper.
Eve sat back a moment. And who was running down a fork in the road now? A waste of time, a rush to nowhere if she was wrong. But with no evidence, what choice was there but a walk in the dark?
“Computer, search for Steinburger, Joel—as identified in these files. Match with any deaths associated with him.”
