Page 68 of Fish in a Barrel
“Ooh,” Jade added, coming through right behind him and cutting in front of him so she could sit in the comfortable chair next to Ellery. “I’m going to put that on our letterhead! We should have business cards that say that. It’s classy, doncha know.”
Ellery snorted at their foolishness. “That’s not what I was talking about. Galen,youknow what I’m talking about, right?”
Galen was chuckling too, but he sobered and grew patient. “I do. You don’t say jack to the police without your lawyers, even if the cop’s name is Jack and he’s your long-lost brother.”
Ellery slow-blinked. “I don’t really phrase it that way, but yes. And he just… I don’t know—”
“Answered the door in his pajama bottoms and convinced two detectives and four flatfoots he was nowhere near a murder without even getting you out of bed.” Galen rolled his eyes. “I understand. Your feelings are hurt because your boyfriend proved to you that he doesn’t need you for your lawyering. Boo-hoo. I’m so sad for you. It must suck to have a man in your bed who loves you. I know I wake up every morning looking at my man and think, ‘God, if only he loved me for my law degree.’”
Ellery managed to keep a straight face, but then Jade said, “My God, if only Mike was turned on by higher education, my life would be perfect,” and he barely controlled himself.
Then Henry said, “Yeah, it’s a good thing Lance is pretty or that cardiologist thing he’s doing would be a real turnoff,” and that was it. The four of them lapsed into a fit of the giggles that Ellery didn’t even want to try to control.
Finally, they had the laughter out of their system, and Jade was the one who brought them to order. “As entertaining as this was, the fact is, Ellery was right—they sent those guys out to bother Jackson to keep them away from the crime scene. Now we know the DA did that for a reason. One option could be he didn’t want anyone connected to us to see something there. Jackson and K-Ski are looking at crime-scene photos, and K-Ski is apparently calling uphiscontacts in the department, but Jackson asked us to have Crystal and AJ run financials and phone records. Which they did.” She paused. “Crystal said Jackson made a very good impression on the police officers, given that she didn’t have much time to warn him they were coming when she woke up this morning.”
Ellery and Galen took a collective breath, because that “psychic accountant” thing was still a little rough on both of their practical psyches, but Jackson had shown Ellery the text that morning when he’d been retelling the incident.
“That’s good to know,” Ellery said dryly. “Does she have any ideas as to why they were sent to our door?”
“She did. She said it was to send you a message, and while I think you and Jackson are right about someone not wanting the good detectives to see anything, I think she’s right about that too. What if Jacksondoesn’thave an alibi the next time something like this goes down. I mean, somebody could be offing guys right and left, and if they had a beef with Jackson, the cops could end up on his doorstep every time.”
“But Jackson hadn’t evenmetCharlie Boehner,” Ellery protested. “What would his motive possibly be?”
Henry, who’d been slouching against the doorframe after Jade came in and made herself comfortable, moved to sit in the straight-backed chair to the side of Galen’s desk.
“See, I’ve been thinking about that. That thing Jackson and I did Thursday night—that’s going to have repercussions. Did you see the piece Arizona’s contact did in theBee, about the illegal relocation?”
Ellery shook his head, feeling off his game. “No. I’m sorry, I—”
“You were too busy tending to the crankiest patient in the world,” Jade excused for him. “Which is too bad, because it got its own headline, and if you get the email newsfeed, that means it got its own email. It said, ‘Reporter Investigates Forced Homeless Relocation; Finds Troubling Answers.’ Would you like to know what those answers were?”
“Yeah,” Ellery said, “considering Arizona promised to keep us—and Ezekiel—out of it.”
“Well, first of all, she found out that California Department of Corrections buses had been usedfive timesto bus people from Sacramento streets to Redding. The governor has sent a contingent of volunteers and social workers to Redding to investigate the camps and to try to get the people with connections in Sacramento back home. The reporter drove there and did interviews on Saturday—to a one, they reported being thrown on a bus and drugged. There were even witnesses who recalled police officers, and I quote, ‘chasing some guys and shooting at them because they wouldn’t do what the cops said.’ Goslar and McMurphy were interviewed, and she got video of the two of them telling her to fuck off and to—and here’s another quote—‘talk to Charlie Boehner if you want to question our procedure.’ So while she’s dug up plenty to implicate Boehner and our four choirboys, she’s also dug up a motive—but a thin one—for Jackson to have killed Boehner.”
“But he didn’t,” Ellery said. “And we can prove it. So what are they going to try to pin on him next?”
There was a silence, which Henry broke with a wisecrack. “I don’t know. Whatever crime they’re gonna go out and commit next?”
Ellery and Jade gave a burst of laughter at that, but Galen sucked in his breath.
“No. No. That’s not funny. Because that’sexactlywhat sending those detectives is implying. It’s saying that you and Jackson had better keep your noses clean of this investigation, or the next time somebody involved in this gets popped, they’re going to come looking for you, and like you said, Ellery, the alibi might not be locked in. But it’s also giving away his hand—the DA’s, or whoever is pulling his strings—because it’s saying that he’splanning something else. So besides needing to keep you and Jackson well alibied, we’re also in sort of a time crunch here, because Charlie Boehner might not be the only body to hit the floor.”
“Alrighty then,” Ellery said, putting this new angle together with what they had so far. “That means wereallyneed to see what Charlie Boehner was involved in with Cartman. Also—show of hands. Who thinks Cartman is responsible for the forced homeless relocation to make himself look good for voters?”
Everybody in the room raised their hands.
“Okay, so we’re on the same page. Now the question is, was Boehner aware his men were being asked to do something illegal, was he behind pulling those men for the job, or did Cartman do it behind his back? Because if he was working in league with Cartman and backed out, that’s a good motive for Trey Cartman to murder him and then threaten me and Jackson. If Boehner wasn’t in league with Cartman, that means someone else is involved, and things get muddy. So if we’re looking through the financials and the phone numbers, we need to look for Cartman and Boehner, as well as Boehner with another number belonging to someone who’s either dangerous or who has a lot of political clout. Does everyone follow me?”
“Yup.” Jade held up two files that she’d walked in with. “Henry and I have phone numbers, you and Galen have financials. Do we want to work here or in the conference room?”
“Conference room,” Ellery and Henry said in unison.
“Meet there in ten minutes,” Jade said. “I’ll go make sure we’ve got coffee, snacks, and highlighters. Are we good?”
They nodded, and Jade said, “Break!” before she and Henry filed out.
Ellery stood and stretched and looked at Galen. “You don’t like the conference room?”
