Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon (21 page)

As soon as I woke up, I realized that between dodging people and slinking about the office, I hadn't gotten a chance to use the black light. Which was one of die main reasons I bothered to go over in the middle of the night – so I could wield Ted's black light unobserved. I'd have to go back tonight.

I also realized that I was already late for work and destined to be even later by the time I arrived, even if I omitted all my usual little personal grooming rituals – – like running through the shower, combing my hair, and throwing on some clothes.

Since I was late anyway, I stopped by the hardware store on the way in to get Ted's key copied, in case I wanted to snoop in his house again.

I arrived to find Dad seated at the switchboard, looking befuddled, while nine or ten lines were flashing.

„There you are!“ he said. „I seem to have lost the knack of this.“

„I was expecting a temp to show up to take care of the switchboard,“ I said as I scrambled to take his place.

„One did show up,“ he said. „But she left.“

„Left?“ I said. „What do you mean, she left?“

But Dad had escaped. Ah, well. I decided it was academic exactly which staff member had scared away today's temp.

When I'd cleared out the stacked-up calls and put in a
complaint to the temp agency, I slipped away long enough to make a copy of the paper I'd found in Ted's cache. Then I called the police station to report finding it and his keys, and sat down to await the chief's arrival.

„Great,“ I muttered as I leaned back in my chair. „The police are trying to railroad Rob, and here I am, stuck at the switchboard again.“

Of course, getting stuck at the switchboard would have been a lot worse if I had any idea what I ought to be doing to clear Rob. But my brain was a blank. So I answered calls and pondered.

And, just to feel I was doing something useful, I took out one of the romance books I'd found in Ted's cache, stuck an emery board in it as a bookmark, and left it lying on the reception desk, so I could watch people's reactions to it.

„Doesn't look like your kind of thing,“ Liz noted.

„Found it,“ I said, waving at the chairs across the room, as if to imply I'd found it there. „Thought I'd put it where the owner could claim it.“

Jack had much the same reaction, and Luis pretended to ignore it. Everyone else who passed by felt obliged to comment on it. Three of them made fun of the male cover model's physical development and questioned his masculinity. Three insisted on reading passages aloud, and two asked me if I would read to them. Five pretended to think I was reading die book for educational purposes, and four of those offered to help me with my homework.

Rico, the graphic artist, was doing the reading aloud routine when Chief Burke strolled in.

„ 'You're mine!' he exclaimed, as his cruel hand savagely ripped the silken fabric of her blouse. He ravished her with his eyes – “

„Am I interrupting something?“ the chief asked.

„Yes, thank God,“ I said. „Go emote someplace else, Rico; I need to talk to the chief.“

„You're no fun,“ Rico complained, tossing the book back on the desk.

„None at all,“ I agreed. „Go spread the word.“

„So what's this thing you think you've found?“ the chief asked.

„Here,“ I said. „I found Ted's keys – he dropped them when he was riding through the reception area Monday, and I picked them up, but with everything else that was happening, I forgot about them till today, when I opened the drawer they were in. And this was with them.“

The chief took the printout and held it at various distances from his eyes, tilting his head up and down, left and right, then up and down again, with an occasional irritated glance in my direction. Was it my fault that the print was so small? He finally gave up, tucked his chin on his chest, pulled his glasses down so he could see over them more easily, and studied the paper.

„And you think this thing is connected with the murder?“ he said finally.

„Of course,“ I said. „Don't you see what it is?“

He lifted his eyes from the paper and looked over his glasses at me.

„It's his list of people he was blackmailing!“ I exclaimed.

„What makes you think that?“

„Look at the notations in the far right column,“ I said. „Stuff like 'coughed up' and 'caved' and 'won't pay' – doesn't that sound like blackmail to you?“

„Maybe,“ the chief said, studying the paper again.

„For heaven's sake, you're the one who's so excited about
the blackmail note you found in Rob's office,“ I said. „If the guy would try to blackmail one person, why not several? And here's his whole list of victims.“

„It doesn't have names,“ the chief pointed out.

„Of course not,“ I said. „I expect even Ted knew better than to leave evidence of his crime lying around for anyone to find. But I bet if you figure out who these names match, you'll be a lot closer to convicting the killer.“

I'd said convicting rather than catching because I suspected the chief thought that by arresting Rob he'd already caught his man. He stared at the list a little longer and then reinforced
my suspicion.

„You realize your brother's probably on this list,“ he said.

„He may be,“ I said. „And ten other people, too.“

„Maybe he's the Ninja,“ the chief mused.

„In his wildest dreams, maybe,“ I said. „More like the Space Cadet.“

„One of these columns looks like dates,“ he said. „You have any theory on that?“

„No,“ I said, trying to peer over his shoulder to see the column in question.

„We'll look into this, then,“ he said, curling the paper so I couldn't see the contents.

Of course, I had to wait until after he left to pull out my own copy of the paper. Dates? What did he mean, dates?

„Oh, by the way – “

The chief. Standing right in front of the reception desk – I'd been so absorbed in scanning the printout that I hadn't heard him come back in. I nearly fell out of my chair, and if I were the chief, I'd have been highly suspicious of the way I was acting, and would have demanded to see the paper I was so quick to hide with such a guilty look. Fortunately the chief's mind wasn't on the case. He was holding an Affirmation Bear.

„Damned thing turned up down at the station,“ he said, slapping it down in the desk.

„I gladly accept new challenges and new situations,“ the bear chirped.

The chief scowled and walked out again.

„What's that?“ I looked up to see Frankie standing near the entrance.

„Here,“ I said, tossing him the bear. „Whack it in the belly.“

„I am not afraid to show my feelings,“ the bear announced when Frankie whacked him.

„Cool – I've got to show this to Rico.“

„Be my guest,“ I said to his departing back. I turned back to the spreadsheet.

Damn, die chief was right. There was a column that probably contained dates. I hadn't realized it because I usually separate the month, year, and day with slashes or hyphens, rather than periods, but once he suggested the idea of dates, I realized that's what they had to be. And they were all this year – within the last three months, in fact.

Of course, I wasn't sure what good this new insight did, since I still had no idea what he was tracking – the first time he approached his victims? The last time the victims had paid? Their most recent turn to bring doughnuts for staff meeting? No way of telling.

Let's tackle something else, I thought. Ted's house, for example. I made a few phone calls to the Caerphilly Courthouse and found out where I could go to find out who owned the house.

„Meg?“

I looked up to see Frankie.

„Okay if we keep this for now?“ he asked, brandishing the bear.

„As long as you like,“ I said. „It belongs to Dr. Brown, but
I don't think she'd mind. There's a whole box of them in the closet.“

„Really?“ Frankie said. „What are they doing there?“

„Getting in my way,“ I said. „Why don't you stash them someplace else until Dr. Brown needs them?“

Frankie left, dragging the giant box of bears.

For the next hour or so, I heard a great deal of squeaking from the rest of the office. Squeaking and laughter. Then Cubeville grew suspiciously silent.

I thought of going back to see what was going on, but I was lying in wait for Luis. I didn't see him until lunchtime. He nodded as he passed through the reception area, but I was stuck on a call until after he'd disappeared.

Damn. I mentally cursed the temp agency. Then with a sudden inspiration, I punched in the code that would let me change the answering message and recorded a new version – instead of „Our offices are closed now“ it said „Our switchboard is closed now“ and reminded people that they could reach whoever they were calling if they knew their party's extension. Then I put the phone in night mode, grabbed my purse, and raced for the stairs.

Luis was strolling at the languid pace most people adopted if they had to go out in the near hundred-degree heat. By walking briskly, I caught up with him when he was only half a block away.

„Fetching lunch?“ I asked.

„Want something?“

„I'll stroll along with you, if you don't mind,“ I said.

Luis nodded, and I fell into step beside him. I'd been planning to bring up the subject of the Robin Hood Hacker in casual conversation, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to start a conversation that I could drag in the right
direction. And Luis wasn't one for casual conversation, anyway. We had already ambled on half a block, and I got the feeling he was perfectly capable of walking all the way to whatever carryout he planned to visit and then back again without saying another word.

Forget subtlety, I told myself. „Luis,“ I said.
„I
know what Ted was up to.“

Luis frowned and glanced at me, but said nothing.

„What he was trying to do to you, I mean,“ I added.

„I don't think he deliberately mangled the code so I'd have to clean it up, if that's what you mean.“

For Luis, that was a long speech.

„Dammit, Luis. I know you were the Robin Hood Hacker,“ I said,
Luis seemed to shrink a bit, and he hunched his shoulders as if expecting a blow.

„And Ted knew,“ I continued. „And he was trying to blackmail you with it. I don't know why – all the charges were dropped and almost everyone thinks you were a hero. I mean that's where the Robin Hood nickname came from, right? But I knew you were paying him blackmail, and I want to know why.“

„I don't want to lose my job,“ he said.

„No reason why you should,“ I said. „I mean, it's not as if you were convicted of a crime.“

„Yeah, but the bank – the one I hacked? They'll never let it go.“

„What could they possibly do to hurt you?“

„They've gotten me fired from two jobs already.“

„Rob wouldn't fire you for that.“

„He might not want to, but what if the bank figures out a way to put pressure on him? What if suddenly his line of credit
gets canceled? Or one of our competitors' systems gets hacked and word leaks out that I work here. Stuff like that happened, my last two jobs.“

„So that's why you changed your name?“

„Yeah,“ he said. „Changed it back, actually. That's the funny part. Mike Crews was me trying to be somebody I wasn't, when I went away to college. Luis is my middle name. Miguel Luis Cruz.“

„Does anyone else know?“

„Jack,“ Luis said. „He hired me for my first job when I got out of college. One of the two I lost. He was the one who recommended me to Rob. And suggested going back to my real name.“

„What did he say about Ted trying to blackmail you?“

„I didn't tell him about that,“ Luis said. „I was afraid of what would happen.“

„Afraid of something like what did happen?“

„No,“ Luis said. „If you mean you think Jack killed Ted, no, that's not what happened. I just figured he'd come down hard on Ted, and Ted would find some way to get even.“

„Like what? What could he possibly do to get even with Jack?“

„I don't know,“ Luis said. „If there was anything you wanted to hide, Ted would find out about it. He had this thing about knowing everything, all the dirt, even if he didn't do anything with it.“