Part 24 (1/2)
”And tell us what she said and what you said about Pharaoh.”
”I told her that this man had come in and what he said about seeing the Pharaoh and that I had told Erno. And she got upset with me. For telling Erno. And so one thing led to another. She told me who Pharaoh was.”
”And what did she tell you?”
Mrs. Carriere now looked back at Muriel with the same intensity Muriel had directed toward her. Then Genevieve covered her mouth with her hand and started shaking her head.
”I'm not going to say,” she declared, her voice warbling a bit, despite her emphatic tone. ”All I know is what she said. Which my lawyer says can't be used in court. Which is why I don't understand why I have to go through this.”
”Off the record,” said Marta. She waved Arthur and Muriel across the corridor to her office. It was furnished like a gentleman's library in a bygone era, all leather, with deep sofas and matched sets of books with spines imprinted in gold aligned on the long shelves. Arthur could smell Stern's cigars from next door. One of the side tables held an array of family photos of Marta and her husband, who appeared Hispanic, and their two children. There were also several photographs of her parents in earlier years. Especially in today's outfit, a double-breasted pantsuit, Marta, to Arthur's eye, was a dead ringer for Stern, decades ago.
”Hypothetically,” said Marta, ”let's imagine that Ms. Remardi was defalcating certain property from TN.” Marta was treading lightly. 'Defalcating' was fancy for 'stealing.'
”What kind of 'certain property'?” asked Muriel.
”Airline tickets.”
”Airline tickets?”
Larry, who had followed them in, was the first to catch on. ”She was fencing them through this Pharaoh, right?”
”Hypothetically. Now TN is ruthless in pursuing employee dishonesty. Zero tolerance. They got burned about ten years ago trying to sweep something under the rug with one of their higher-ups. One of the lawyers who was supposedly investigating a theft ended up running off with four million bucks.”
”I remember,” said Muriel.
”These days it's the gallows for everyone. Prosecution, if possible, and civil suits to recover what was stolen. No matter who or what. The Remardi kids are living on a TN pension.”
”TN won't sue orphans.”
”If they were your best friend's children, would you take that chance?” Marta opened her short hands toward Muriel. ”You don't really need Luisa's activities to be part of the record, do you?”
”Right now, I'd say no,” said Muriel. ”But I don't want to keep chasing your client over hill and dale to get a straight answer.”
Marta nodded several times, then turned to Arthur. He was startled and uncertain what to think. For the time being, he reminded Marta that this was a capital case. He said he'd let the issue go as long as he could, but he reserved the right to re-examine it, if on reflection he thought it could materially aid Rommy.
”Of course,” said Marta.
Once they were done, Marta, Arthur, and Muriel returned to the conference room, and Marta called her client outside. When Genevieve resumed her seat beside the court reporter, she mouthed, ”Thank you,” toward both lawyers. She still appeared unsettled and had her purse in her lap and a hankie in one hand.
Muriel did not appear much pacified by Genevieve's grat.i.tude. In fact, with time she seemed to have grown vexed. She bounced on her chair several times settling in. Arthur suspected Muriel felt Marta had shortchanged her in their conversations beforehand.
”Back on the record,” Muriel said. ”A man whose name you didn't know had come in looking for Luisa Remardi some time in May of 1991”is that the correct time frame?”
”It is.”
”And this man said something about Pharaoh or the Pharaoh. You then told Erno Erdai what that man said and Luisa Remardi was angry you had done so and therefore explained to you who Pharaoh was and the nature of their relations.h.i.+p. That's the basic outline?”
”Correct.”
”Did she tell you Pharaoh's last name?”
”No.”
”Did she say whether that was a nickname?”
”No.”
”Did she tell you where Pharaoh lived or worked?”
”I don't know anything else about him. Once Luisa told me what they were doing together, I didn't want to hear another word. Frankly, the only thing I was curious about was how they were getting away with it. I'd never heard of anything like that working in the long run. But I decided I didn't even care to know that.”
”And this man who came in”did Luisa Remardi explain what his connection was to Pharaoh and her?”
”He'd introduced them.”
”I see. And did he have any partic.i.p.ation in the enterprise in which Luisa Remardi and Pharaoh were engaged?”
”Luisa said he'd wanted a share, but he didn't get it.”
Muriel muttered ”Mmm-hmm.” She'd already figured as much. Arthur replayed it for himself. This third man had been the connect. He'd put Luisa in touch with Pharaoh to fence the tickets and was looking for a piece of the play, which he didn't receive.
”Now I want to be sure I have this right. You had no idea who Pharaoh was or what Ms. Remardi's relations.h.i.+p was with him until she explained that to you the day after this other man appeared? Right or wrong?”
”Completely right.”
”And if you didn't understand the nature of Ms. Remardi's relations.h.i.+p with Pharaoh, why did you tell Erno Erdai what the man said?”
”Because Erno was the head of security.” Marta, on the other side of her client, made a subtle movement and Genevieve lifted her chin to Muriel. ”Because the man had made threats against Luisa.”
”Specific threats? Specific actions?”
”Yes.”
”And what action did he threaten?”
Genevieve's eyes wilted toward her hands, now covering her purse in her lap.
”He said he was going to kill her.”
Arthur's vision jumped, as if a film had skipped frames. Muriel, never nonplussed, sat with her mouth open.
”Erno Erdai said that?”
”The man who had come in that night said it.”
Growing agitated, Muriel re-arranged herself in her chair, shook her shoulders, straightened her neck. Then she stared down Genevieve, speaking to her stiffly.