A Fine Mess

Chapter 40

Gil was late arriving at the station to give his statement. He had spent most of the morning arranging for Brian's release on bail and calling the hospital about Deborah. When he did reach Mike's office he wasn't surprised to find that his presence wasn't really missed, Jarlayne was comfortably ensconced in Mike's chair while he rested quite happily by the window, one cheek seeking purchase on the narrow sill.

"Mister Petchorik, nice of you to come by."

"Sorry, I was busy at the courthouse freeing my client and then checking on my secretary."

"How is Deb—?"

"How is she—?"

"Fine, to both of you. The doctors say that she can probably go home in two or three days. She'll have to go back for a while but..."

"I'm going to have to get a statement from her too you know." Mike looked apologetic.

"She knows. It's no problem. You can do it while she's still there if you need to." Gil looked around and found a chair in the corner to sit on. "So, how do we do this?"

An hour later they emerged from Mike's office and went downstairs from the squad room. Miriam Spenser-Forbin had arrived home to find police crawling all over her house and her husband dead. She immediately claimed privacy due to shock and was allowed to spend the night in town; She would have to make her husband's funeral arrangements, promising to receive the police the next day for an interview. Gil wanted to call Brian and make sure he was clear on what would be required of him at Moira's trial. The news was not good.

"Moira Weston was released on bail this morning. A representative from her company made all the arrangements. Apparently there is an internal investigation going to take place concerning the sale of stocks yesterday. The shareholders are up in arms."

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Gil did a brief spin on the spot, glaring at nothing in particular. "They agreed to the merger and then dumped the stock or something as soon as the shares were transferred and recorded. Somebody's investigating already. But how could they do it? Myles is dead and Moira was in custody? There was another accomplice!" He stopped, pointing to spot in the sky and turned slowly toward Jarlayne.

"I know," she said. "That other phone number."

Gil pounded his hand. "Right on."

"What number? What are we talking about here?" Mike frowned at their sudden smiles.

***************

Peter Delacourte closed the suitcase and stood it by the door. The taxi would be along in a few minutes and he had time for a quick drink and a final check around the apartment. The money from the trust account, which had been concluded through facilities of his overseas connections were converted to bearer bonds and they were now snugly stacked in bundles in the bank and waiting to be picked up.

Within the folds of his packed clothes was the cash from the sale of his private shares. It was a big risk and it had started the investigation sooner than he'd hoped, but he couldn't resist. He sipped his drink and gazed out the window for what would be the last time, thinking about Moira and Barton. As financial advisor, he had been given signing authority over the corporate shares and when Barton and she were engaged, he had convinced her to assign the same power of attorney for her personal shares.

Pity things broke down the way they did, he mused, a much longer affair with Moira had been in his plans, at least until he had the money safely secured in his own account. Who expected an Arnold Chang to show up waving handfuls of money? Maybe it was for the best, after all, things were still going quite well in that department.