“Screw you,” he said, but without heat.
“Come on, I’m not asking much here. And I’ve got a good reason or I wouldn’t bother you in the first place.”
“You and everybody else that wants something.”
“Ought to be a piece of cake for a man with your talents. You’ve forgotten more about electronics than most so-called experts will ever learn. If the Watergate boys had had you along, they’d never have gotten caught.”
“I don’t roll over for flattery, pal.”
“Right. For money, only money.”
“We’re all whores to one degree or another. What kind of alarm system?”
“M.A.S.”
“Madsen, eh? Not the best, not the worst. What type?”
“I don’t know from types. Digital key pad outside, probably another one inside. Pretty standard, I’d say.”
“Cameras or motion sensors?”
“I doubt it. Looks like doors and windows only.”
“What kind of building?”
“Private house.”
“Where?”
“Greenwood.”
“Uh-oh. High-risk turf.”
“Not a problem,” I said. “The neighborhood’s not ultra-exclusive and the property’s secluded. Nobody’ll see you working, nobody’ll show up to squawk.”
“Except possibly the owners.”
“Guaranteed that won’t happen. You can do it, can’t you?”
“Oh, I can do it.”
“Piece of cake, right? How much?”
“Well... five hundred?”
“Jesus, George, I’m not asking you to get me into City Hall. Besides, I think I’m likely to end up paying for this out of my own pocket.”
“No way to lay it off on your client?”
“I doubt it.”
“You wouldn’t be b.s.ing me, would you?”
“Have I ever? I’m a poor working stiff, same as you.”
“Oh, all right,” Agonistes said. “Make it two-fifty. That’s my bottom line.”
“Fair enough.”
“For you, maybe. When d’you want the job done?”
“Soon as possible. Some urgency here, George.”
“You couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
“I could if I have to, but it won’t make me happy.”
He let me hear an elaborate sigh. “I’m on a job right now, in the city, and I can’t leave until it’s finished. Looks like most of the day. I couldn’t get down to Greenwood much before five.”
“Five’s okay with me.”
“Meet where?”
“There’s a library on the main drag, middle of town. I’ll be waiting in the parking lot.”
“Bring your checkbook,” Agonistes said. Then he said. “Better yet, make it cash,” and rang off before I could put up an argument.
Kerry said, “She’s still asleep. I just looked in on her.”
“Poor kid must be exhausted.”
“Yes, and she feels safe here. She’s really taken with you, you know.”
“Taken?”
“Savior, protector, father figure all wrapped together.”
“Grandfather figure is more like it.”
“Don’t put yourself down. She loved her father, but I doubt he was ever really there for her. You were when she needed somebody the most.”
“As long as she doesn’t put too much faith in me.”
“She knows how had the situation is,” Kerry said, “even if she doesn’t know what it’s all about. The important thing is, she trusts you.”
“Trusts you, too.”
“Not completely, but I hope she will. How do things look down there?”
“The same — not good. But I’m trying to be optimistic. It’s going to be a long day.”
“You do what you have to. I’ll take care of Emily.”
“It may not be the only long day, you know.”
“Understood.”
“I mean, this thing could—”
“I know. I thought we settled all that last night.”
“Yeah, but if it gets to be a burden on you—”
“I’ve put up with you for ten years,” she said. “That means I can put up with anything. Don’t worry about me and don’t worry about Emily.”
Tamara said, “Man, that’s some caper those people pulled off. They had halls, you got to give ’em that.”
“And plenty of luck. But they paid a damn heavy price.”
“Lot of sleepless nights in ten years, I’ll bet. No wonder Mrs. Hunter didn’t want a detective messing around in her life, dredging up the past and blowing her cover. You think crazybone Cotter’s still hunting her?”
“She thinks he is, that’s the point. Either that or she’s afraid the blown cover will stir up his desire for revenge, bring him after her again. Her sister’s just as panicky. Two of them feeding each other’s paranoia.”
“ ‘The guilty flee where no man pursueth.’ ”
“More than likely,” I agreed.
“Man must really be some kind of monster. Messed up her head so bad she never got over it.”
I agreed with that, too. Then I said, “See what you can find out about Philip Cotter — fill in the missing pieces.”
“Right. So what about Mrs. Hunter? Running again, by herself or with somebody? Dumped the kid on her sister and just took off?”
“Best-case scenario.”
“Uh-huh. Golf pro mixed up in it, maybe?”
“If he is, he’s not running with her. Not yet, anyhow. Still on the job at Emerald Hills; I talked to him before I called you. He says he hasn’t heard from Sheila Hunter since midday Friday.”
“You believe him?”
“At this point I don’t know what to believe.” I told Tamara about my appointment with George Agonistes. “With any luck there’ll be something inside the house to give us some answers.”
“Better hope she’s not inside, you know what I’m saying?”
“Worst-case scenario. Let’s not go there.”
“What about the kid?” Tamara asked. “You and Kerry gonna keep her at your place?”
“Until her mother turns up one way or another. She’s got no place else to go.”
“Yeah. You tell her about her folks?”
“Not yet.”
“Gonna tell her?”
“Somebody’s got to,” I said. “I’d damn well prefer it to be her mother.”
“Couldn’t pay me enough for a job like that.”
Enough on that subject. I said, “The Archie Todd case. What’d you turn up?”
“Plenty,” she said. “Murdered or not, that old man sure got himself taken before he died. Screwed out of his life savings — every last penny.”
“Inco and John Klinghurst.”
“Phony investment scam, right. I called up Dunbar Asset Management yesterday. They didn’t want to tell me anything, but I silver-tongued the dude who handled Archie Todd’s account. Closed out in full in late September.”
“So that’s it.”
“That’s it. He wouldn’t tell me how much Todd had or what he did with his holdings, but you just know he transferred everything straight to Inco of California.”
“What about Klinghurst? Who is he?”
“CPA. Partner in a small outfit called Business Services, Inc. Offices on outer Geary. Another CPA with a get-rich-quick scheme, same as Emily’s old man. And everybody thinks accountants are dull and boring.”
“Does my mother-in-law know him?”
“Said she’d heard the name but couldn’t place where. She’ll get back to us if she remembers.”
“Captain Archie’s tax accountant, maybe.”
“She said no. Man did his own taxes.”
“Connected to the lawyer, Evan Patterson?”
“Not according to him. Told me he didn’t know anything about Mr. Todd pulling out of Dunbar, never heard of Inco of California or John Klinghurst. I didn’t come up with any facts that’d make him a liar.”
“What’s Klinghurst’s past history?”
“No police record, city, state or federal. Some trouble with the IRS a few years ago, when he had his own agency — suspicion of collusion to defraud — but he was never prosecuted. Fast and loose type. Business Services, Inc., has that rep, too.”