"Could be just overseeing a new business. Recruiting, hiring, all that."
"No question. But then things really start escalating. Look, the first month he went to Florida, flew directly to Palm Beach. Comes back to Providence two days later. Then, not long after that, he goes to Holland, flies into Amsterdam. He makes two trips there. Then, gradually it picks up. First he goes to Canada, to Vancouver. Then he's out in Northern California. And then he really starts traveling heavily: to South America, Colombia. And New Zealand, Australia, Alaska, and Russia. The past three months, he made three trips to South Africa. He's gone almost every seven to ten days. And then it all stopped about three weeks before he died. He's home."
Justin nodded, absorbing the geographical locations. "They don't mean anything to me."
"Me either. If there's a connection between all those spots, I don't see it."
"Did you see who got billed for these trips?"
"Yup. I cross-checked every one of them. The two trips to Amsterdam were billed to Ascension. So were the ones to California and Colombia. Which means we've got a direct financial connection. But then no more Ascension. After that, all the trips are billed to different companies. Seven or eight different names."
"Did you-"
"Yup, I tried finding them, but so far no luck."
"Not one of them?"
"No. I've requested an expert in this area, but I haven't heard back yet. I just don't have the know-how. And there are federal channels. I can't just go and try to get the SEC to do my job for me."
"How do we try to cut through all that?"
"I don't know. I told you, as hot as this is, we're still not the highest-level priority. And every time a bomb goes off in the Middle East-or anywhere, for that matter-we go lower on the priority list."
He indicated the papers she'd put together, organizing the information. "So what do you need to try to make sense of all this?"
"I need more information. Something I can compare it to. Why'd he go to all these countries, who was he talking to, what kinds of businesses, who was paying him after Ascension stopped? I'd also like to know if there's any matchup on the Ascension side."
"Such as?"
"Business crossovers, for instance. I'd like to see if Ascension does business with any of the other companies paying for LaSalle's trips. And I'd like to see if any of the places match up to any trips made by Evan Harmon or his associates."
"What else?"
"If we're being thorough, we should try to check the same things to see if anything matches up with Ellis St. John or even David Kelley or…"
"Or who?" he asked as her voice trailed off.
"Or Abby Harmon," she said.
He barely missed a beat in the rhythm of their conversation. But he was well aware that he did indeed miss it. "Meaning Abby could have been doing her husband's dirty work?"
"Or doing whatever she was doing behind his back, without his awareness. We have a connection between LaSalle and Harmon. It's tenuous, but it's there. Right now, it seems to be purely business and, until we know more, there's no reason to think it's anything but legal. But might as well check out whether there's a more personal connection, too, and that might come between LaSalle and Mrs. Harmon. She seems to connect to quite a few people."
"Okay," he said.
"Just okay?"
"Just okay. You have any ideas on how we can get any of this info?"
"Some. I'd like to make an in-person visit to the Ascension offices to begin with."
"It's too late now. Set it up for tomorrow morning. No, set it up for tomorrow afternoon if you can."
"Why afternoon?"
"Because I want to see if I can get a date in the city tomorrow night. So I can just stay in."
"Have you lost your mind? A date, Jay?"
"This one'll be worth it," he said. "And besides, we can go see somebody in the morning out here."
"Another social occasion or could it be work related?"
"The morning's definitely work related."
"Who we going to see?"
"Dave Kelley."
"The big rival?"
"I'll tell you what, Reggie. You might want to think about knocking that stuff off. You haven't earned the right to flirt and make comments on my personal life."
She looked stricken. It was the look of someone who'd forgotten she was on probation and had way overstepped her bounds. "I'm sorry," she said. "I mean it. I apologize."
He nodded. "Okay," he said. Then, after a brief pause: "I guess we can't do much more today. At least right now. Would you like to go get dinner?"
He got that crooked smile from her. "Do you want to have dinner with me, Jay?"
"No," he said. "Not really."
"Then I'll see you at what, nine a.m.?"
"Make it eight-thirty. We've got to go to Riverhead and there'll be traffic."
"Eight-thirty it is. I'll be ready."
For the second night in a row he stood at his living room window and watched Regina Bokkenheuser and her lopsided smile head out to her car and drive off into the town and away from him.
He thought about the last time he'd touched her. He remembered the way she felt. And the way her hair smelled. And he remembered his lips lightly kissing the little tattooed butterfly nestled in the small of her back. She used a soap on her body that had the slightest hint of vanilla and even now he could almost taste it.
He thought about the little dots that made up the butterfly.
It's all about the dots, he thought.
Justin took a deep breath because he knew he was going to hate himself for what he was about to do, then he went to his desk, looked up a phone number he'd added into his notes on the Hades file. He picked up his phone and called Belinda Lambert, Ellis St. John's assistant at Rockworth and Williams. When Belinda answered, Justin identified himself and said that he'd like to get together. As soon as possible.
"Really?" she said. "You mean, like, in the office or something?"
"No," he told her, and he remembered the vague air of desperation she had about her. And her willingness to be used. "I was thinking more about dinner."
"You're asking me out to dinner?" Even over the phone Justin could hear the combination of pleasure and surprise. But there was something else, too. There was also a certain amount of satisfaction. As if she somehow knew that he'd call sooner or later. He thought that came from being around the hounds on Wall Street. There's no question she had a certain amount of sex appeal. It might be obvious and it might be a bit cheap, but it was there. And in her world, that meant that eventually she'd be a target for somebody on the prowl.
"If you'll go," he told her.
"Well, sure I'll go," she said eagerly. "When?"
"How about tomorrow night?" he asked.
"Tomorrow? Well… I…" The hesitation wasn't genuine and it didn't last long. "Okay," she said. "Sure."
They arranged a time and a place-he asked her where she lived and picked a good restaurant within a reasonable distance of her apartment. He said, "I'll see you there."
She said, "This is cool."
He said, "Yeah, cool," and after he hung up, he felt like a total shit for a minute, maybe two.
And then he went back to his computer and began to work.
Justin was just about to call it quits. It was about ten-fifteen at night when the phone rang.
"It's me," Reggie said.
There was a strange air of familiarity in the way she said those two words. There was both a hesitancy to the greeting and a definite intimacy. It was the way an ex-wife would just say hi when calling after the split. It threw Justin a little bit. There was no question that intimacy was hanging over the two of them. He wanted it to go away. But at the same time he liked it. It evoked a certain warmth and, he had to admit, lust. He wondered if it was the same on Reggie's end and decided it had to be. He shook his head-he did not need such distractions at the moment. But he couldn't help picturing her on the other end of the phone, shoes off, sitting on the motel bed, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, one foot planted with her knee up, the other leg tucked under her. He knew that's the way she sat. And he also couldn't help wondering if this was a personal call or business and he realized he wasn't sure he wanted it to be all business.