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"How well do you know Starks?"
"Only as a co-worker."
"You hadn't seen him since he got fired?"
"No."
"You two ever hang out? Go for a beer after work?"
Lofland was shaking his head. "I never saw him socially."
"Mrs. Lofland?" When Ski spoke her name, she jumped and came around quickly. "What are your impressions of Oren Starks?"
"I don't have any."
"You never met him?"
"Well, yes. Ben introduced us at a company function."
"You only met him that once?"
"Once or twice. I don't remember."
"Nothing about him stood out to you?"
"They were casual introductions, Deputy. Insignificant. If I had known that one day he would try to kill my husband, I would have paid more attention."
In Ski's opinion, these two people deserved each other. One was as unlikable as the other. He returned his attention to Ben. "Did you and Starks get along okay in the office?"
"He was off-putting to some people, but I never had any issues with him."
"Did Ms. Malone?"
"Wouldn't you call stalking an issue?"
Again, his smart-aleck tone grated on Ski. He wanted to yank hard on the catheter draining Lofland's bladder, see what effect that would have on his sarcasm, but he settled on glaring at him coldly.
Lofland got the message. His smirk dissolved. "Berry told me Oren was stalking her."
"When?"
"When did she tell me? First I heard of it was when she decided to spend the summer here in Merritt. Naturally I was surprised."
"Why?"
"Berry's such a workaholic. Rarely even takes vacation days. First one in the office each morning, last one out in the evening. But Oren had become a real pest, she said. She wanted to disappear for a month or two, hoping he'd lose interest. She's been working from the lake house. She calls it the annex."
"How'd that go?"
"Not as well as when we're both in the office. We've been working as a team, almost exclusively, on a campaign for an important client." He gave his wife a quick look.
"A hundred miles isn't as convenient as next-door offices," Ski observed.
"No. The distance created a few efficiency problems. Here in the boonies the Internet connection isn't one hundr
ed percent reliable, especially out toward the lake. But it's been okay. And if it helped her shake Oren, I was willing to put up with a few inconveniences and delays."
"Hmm." Ski pretended to think about that statement, give it importance. Then he said, "You brought some materials up here to her yesterday."
