Part 16 (1/2)
”I don't know. Maybe. If I could just go to a club or something, get out for a night.”
”No clubs around here, Lloyd. And we can't go back to Baltimore just to go clubbing. We could go to the movies, though.”
”Seen all that s.h.i.+t at the Sun 'n' Surf.”
”Maybe we could find some decent paperbacks at the bookstore up in Bethany Beach.”
Lloyd rolled his eyes. ”Man, we listen to books all day. Do we have to read 'em at night, too?”
”Ed said he might finish blowing out the b.u.mper-car machines with the air hose today.”
”He saves all the good jobs for himself,” Lloyd grumbled. ”He gets to stay inside, out of the wind, tinker with s.h.i.+t, while we just paint and sc.r.a.pe, sc.r.a.pe and paint.”
”You're missing the bigger picture, Lloyd. Once the b.u.mper cars are up and running, Ed will need to do some test drives.”
”Now, that,” Lloyd said, ”is something I could do.”
Given Lloyd's experience behind the wheel of the Volvo, Crow somehow doubted that. Then again-no stick s.h.i.+fts on b.u.mper cars. Maybe Lloyd would do better.
”Your finances look pretty shaky,” Gabe Dalesio informed Tess an hour later. She was in an office in the federal courthouse, not an official interrogation room, but that didn't comfort her.
”It's been a thin few months, but things are turning around. I started an excellent job today-although you guys pretty much ruined it for me. And the Beacon-Light owes me quite a bit of money.”
”They paid for you to turn over that source? I didn't think legitimate newspapers played that way.”
”I did a seminar on investigative techniques. The two things aren't related.” Not directly.
”You were asked to teach their reporters how to report? You think they would have picked someone more successful.”
Tess supposed that Gabe thought this would hurt her feelings. She simply looked away, not even bothering to shrug.
”It's been established,” Tyner said, ”that my client doesn't have a lot of cash in her accounts. Is that a federal crime now? Is federal enforcement going to be part of the overhaul of Social Security, with citizens being rounded up if they're not putting away enough for retirement?”
”It's just I don't get why she's carrying her boyfriend and all. Why doesn't he pitch in?”
”He does what he can. The house is in my name, so I pay the mortgage, and that's how I want it. But we split everything else.”
”That's big of him, going dutch when he's sitting on almost a hundred fifty thousand in his checking account.”
Tess didn't have to fake her laugh at the bluff. ”Don't be ridiculous. Crow doesn't have that kind of money.”
Jenkins didn't literally elbow the young prosecutor aside, but he did square his shoulders back, signaling that the interview was now his. ”According to bank records, he deposited that amount in his account on Tuesday, right before his...um, road trip. That was what you told us, wasn't it? That he went out of town for business?”
Again she had to tell the truth without telling too much. ”He's out of town, and I don't know where he is.”
”Have you spoken to him?”
”No.” Listened to his voice mail less than an hour ago, but not spoken to him.
”Heard from him?”
”He left a message, said he was safe.”
”Safe?” s.h.i.+t. ”Unusual choice of words, don't you think? Why wouldn't he be safe?”
”It's what he said. I didn't think about it.”
”Safe,” Jenkins repeated. ”Safe. Is it dangerous, what he does?”
”I don't really know.”
”Of course, he's got five thousand in cash on him, so maybe that's why he's worried. See, the deposit was for a hundred and fifty K, less five thousand.”
Five thousand? Five thousand dollars? Crow didn't have enough money to fix the m.u.f.fler on his Volvo.
”You and your boyfriend ever use illegal drugs?”
Tess glanced at Tyner. ”She doesn't have to answer that question. Self-incrimination.”
”Okay, your boyfriend ever use illegal drugs?”
Tess sat, stony-faced.
”Your boyfriend dealing in illegal drugs? Because I have to tell you, that's the only thing that makes sense. The cash, the road trip. I bet he deals out of your daddy's bar. Lord knows that business needs all the help it can get, too.”
”He would never do that.”
”How can you be so sure?”
”I know him.”
”Yet you didn't know he had all this money.”
”I never said that.”
”Did you? Did you know?”
Again there was the not-lying problem. The federal rules seemed so unsporting. ”His parents are very well-to-do.”
”I guess we'll have to put them on our list.”
”List?” She hated the way her voice squeaked, making the word two syllables.
”Yeah. We've already started checking into your finances, your father's. I mean, when there's a drug dealer in the family, who knows how far it goes?”
”You keep saying that as if you've established the fact.” Tyner spoke, as Tess was having trouble with complete sentences. ”I know the young man. He is not a drug dealer.”