"Why?"
"Some kind of father-figure thing, I think, and all the scars you guys got," she said, and she sounded serious. "She wants to talkactually, I think she wants to confess something to you."
"She"
"No, no, she didn't kill anyone," Sherrill said.
"Then why doesn't she confess it to you? You got scars."
"Because she's not interested in me. With you, she's thinking it over. Women would much rather confess to a guy they're thinking about sleeping with, because they thinkthat way, they might have some control over him."
"Ah."
"So when can you come down?"
"Pretty goddamn quick, but I've got a couple of calls to make. See you in twenty minutes."
Lane stuck his head in as Lucas was hanging up. "I'm heading out to Fargo."
"Why?" Lucas punched in Del's number.
"Because I was looking at Tom Olson's alibi for the night Alie'e was killed. It's loose, and I need to talk to a guy out there. And I've got all the genealogical shit you could ever ask for."
Del's phone started ringing, and Lucas asked, "When will you be back?"
"Tonight, late, or midmorning tomorrow."
Del said, "Hello?" and Lucas lifted a hand to Lane. "Take off." Del asked, "What?" and Lucas said, "I was talking to Lane So what's happening with the deal, and the warrants?"
"The warrants on Bee and Logan are in the works. Manny Lanscolm is taking Outer's statement right now. We could move in an hour."
"Call me," Lucas said. "Make sure that the warrants specify computer files and disks."
He dialed Catrin's number. The phone rang twice, and Catrin picked it up.
"I'd like to talk again," she said. Her voice was low, tight, anxious. "I know you're busy with the Alie'e thing but could we meet in St. Paul, somewhere, tomorrow?"
"Sure, I guess." He gave her the name of a restaurant near St. Anne's, told her how to find it. "It's got those old-fashioned high plastic booths," he said. "We can talk."
Jael. He was looking forward to seeing her again.
Sherrill met him at the door and said, "She's back in her studio. As long as you're here, I'm gonna run out and get a cheeseburger."
"All right."
Jael Corbeau was sitting on a wooden stool, wearing a clay-spattered apron over jeans and a loose flannel shirt, the sleeves rolled over her elbows. She was turning a cream-colored juglet in her hands. She looked up when Lucas came in. Her eyes were rimmed in red, her nose red and a little swollen; she was still striking. "This thing is three thousand years old," she said. "Look how nice it is."
She handed him the juglet; it was the size of a hand grenade, with a soft, porous surface. "Where'd you get it?"
"My mother gave it to me, because of my name. Amnon got one, too. They come from Israel, the north part of the country, the Galilee."
"I don't know Israel." He handed the juglet back. "You wanted to talk?"
"Where's Marcy?"
"Since I was here, she went to get a bite," Lucas said.
"Okay. So why don't we walk?" Jael said. "I wouldn't mind getting out for a while. Did you bring your gun?"
The last question came with a small hint of humor in her eyes, and Lucas nodded. "Not only that, but it's got a hair trigger."
"Now I feel completely safe," she said. But as they stepped outside, she said, "Do you really think somebody might be trying to hurt me?"
"I don't know, but there's no point in taking a chance."
"I'm not sure I'd be missed that much."
"Maybe not, but if you were killed, the media would trash us. That's what we're trying to avoid."
She smiled now. "NowI feel safe. You've got a selfish motive for keeping me alive."
"Damn right."
They walked along for a while in the cold air, and then Jael asked, "What's the thinking on Sandy Lansing?"
"Well, she's kind of a mystery," Lucas said. "She wasn't a hotel executive, and she had no family money, but she had great clothes, a nice apartment, drove a Porsche, and apparently snorted a massive amount of cocaine, which is not free of charge. We're trying to figure out where the money came from. We thought maybe it was sex, that she was taking care of rich people at Brown's, but that seems unlikely now."
Jael stopped and looked up at him, her face sober. "Its weird, you know, all the people at that party."
"What?"
"Oh, just the way they all made the same excuses: there was no dope, they didn't see any, they didn't know about any. All so worried about their reputations, just like me. And really, in my world, a little dope is no big deal."
"Maybe in the back of their minds, they're worried about something a little more stark, like jail," Lucas said. "Rich people don't like jail. They don't function well in that environment."
"But they didn't tell you about Sandy. And I didn't tell you about Sandy We were all busy thinking about Alie'e, what a tragedy it was, and just keeping your mouth shut about a little dope"
"What about Sandy?" But now he knew.
"She was the dealer," Jael said. "Half the people at the party bought dope from heranything you wanted, she could get. She was discreet, she had to know you before she would sell to you, you had to have a recommendation but she could get it."
"Did you ever buy from her?"
"A little heroin, once or twice. Just little touches of it," she said.
"Jesus Christ, Jael, that stuff is poison."
"But it feels so nice. It smooths you out." Lucas shook his head angrily and stalked off down the sidewalk. She watched him go, then hurried after him. "What?"
"That's so fuckin' stupid, what you just said. It makes my goddamned head hurt." Then he stopped, and faced her. "Will you come in and amend your statement, and say that Sandy Lansing was a dealer?"
"Would I go to jail?"
"No. There's nothing illegal about knowing that somebody deals-Bring your lawyer, so you get all the words right. But it's important that we get it on paper, so we can use the paper to pry information out of other people. I knew something was going on with Lansing, but it was so hard to look in her direction, when everybody was screaming about Alie'e. Did Alie'e get that shit from her?"
"Yeah. Actually, I wasn't there, but I think Sandy had a kit in her purse, and I think she's the one who popped Alie'e. You didn't find a syringe"
"No. Nothing like that. Nothing but the tracks."
"You didn't find Sandys purse?"
"No."
"Well, she had one. Pretty biga lot bigger than fashionable. She had some stuff in it."
"Okay," Lucas said.
"I'll come make another statement, but I won't turn in any of my friends. Or anybody else, for that matter."
"Goddamnit."
"I won't."
"Then you just might be covering for a killer," Lucas said impatiently.
"It's more important to me to protect my friends than to catch the killer. Catching the guy won't bring Alie'e or Sandy back. If I turn in my friends well, I won't do that."
"Listen, how about if I put a name on you, and you tell me Look, here's what I want to know. We're ninety-nine percent sure that Sallance Hanson knew that there were drugs all over the place."
"I won't"
"We're not on the record here. It's just you and me. But I don't want to go off on Hanson if she's really naive. But she can't be that naive, can she?"
Jael kept her mouth shut. Lucas said, "So tell me, can she be that naive? You don't have to accuse her of anything, but tell me that: Is Sallance Hanson naive?"
"You're getting me twisted around."
"Is she naive?"
Jael turned and started back toward her house, her arms wrapped around her body, as if the cold air had suddenly gotten to her. Over her shoulder, she threw one word: "No."
Lucas followed after her, said, "Tell me one more thingsomething that won't hurt anyone anymore. Did your brother buy from Sandy Lansing? Did he know her?"
She slowed, and let him catch up. "I don't know if he knew who she was, or what she did. Maybe. Somebody might have told him. But he didn't like dope. He'd get pissed when I used it."
"He said he used it when he was young."