I sat down on the guest chair. Swanson kept standing by the doors, his back to me, like he was deciding what to do next.
“You call my office,” he said, finally turning around. “You harass my secretary. You come to my house and threaten me in front of my wife.”
“I didn’t threaten you.”
“That little story about the champagne bottle, what was that?”
“Just an amusing anecdote.”
“What do you want?” he said. “If you want money, you can just forget it. I will not be blackmailed.”
“Who said anything about blackmail? I just want to ask you a couple of questions.”
“Cut the crap, McKnight. I know who you are. I know why you’re here. I’m telling you one more time. You will get nothing from me. Not one dime.”
“Will you sit down for a minute? You’ve got the wrong idea. I’m not here for money.”
He looked at me for a long moment, the way a man looks at someone he thinks may be demented. Then he slowly sat himself down in the chair behind his desk. “What is this about?” he said. “I know you’re Leon Prudell’s partner. And I know he’s been following Mrs. Vargas around the last few weeks.”
“I’m not his partner anymore,” I said. “I’ve got nothing to do with that… How did you know he’s been following her around, anyway?”
“Come on, like she’s not going to notice this big clown with orange hair following her everywhere? I knew he had to be a private investigator, and since there’s only one PI firm in town, it wasn’t hard to figure out who Vargas had hired to watch her. The listing I saw said ‘Prudell-McKnight Investigations.’”
“Old listing,” I said. “I’m out of that now.”
“So it’s just him doing this? Following her around like some sort of lowlife stalker?”
“I think you can rest easy,” I said. “I don’t think Leon ever got the money shot he was trying for. You know, the one of you with your pants around your ankles.”
“Could this possibly be any less your business, McKnight? My relationship with my wife? Or whatever might be happening between Mrs. Vargas and myself?”
“Aside from feeling bad for your wife, I don’t care. I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Then why the hell are you here? I swear to God, I was sure you were going to put the squeeze on me, try to work both sides against the middle. Believe me, I’ve heard about private investigators pulling this scam. Some people will do anything for a little easy money.”
“I’m here because I was the lucky guy who took your place at the poker game,” I said. “I’m here because I want some answers.”
“What kind of answers could I possibly give you? I don’t know anything about it.”
“One of the gunmen turned up dead this morning.”
I watched him carefully. He narrowed his eyes, as if honestly confused. “One of the men who broke into Win Vargas’s house?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. If he was acting, he was doing a good job of it. But then, that’s what lawyers do. That’s why lawyers were put on this earth. “I don’t understand,” he said. “What does this have to do with me?”
“Somebody set up Jackie, Bennett, and Gill,” I said. “I’m trying to find out who.”
“I knew they were arrested yesterday,” he said. “What makes you think they were set up?”
“Are these your friends or not? Do you really think they were involved in this?”
“All three are friendly acquaintances,” he said. “Men I play cards with once in a while. I’ve seen enough to never be surprised by what people will do, McKnight. Especially when money is involved.”
“Let’s talk about that money,” I said. “You’ll agree with me that whoever put this together had to know about the money in Vargas’s safe?”
“That makes sense.”
“Vargas claims he only mentioned the money in the safe once, at a poker game two months ago. Not even his wife knew about it.”
“Therefore you assume,” he said, “that one of the men present at that poker game must be responsible for the robbery.”
“Yes.”
“And that the same man must also be responsible for this frame-up you think these three innocent men are presently caught up in.”
“You’re doing beautifully,” I said. “Keep going.”
“And that if it was not in fact Jackie, Bennett, or Gill, it must have been either Kenny or myself. The two of us being the only other men who knew about the safe.”
“I don’t think it was Kenny,” I said.
“It wasn’t Kenny.”
“Kendrick, actually.”
“Kendrick. It wasn’t Kendrick.”
“You’re almost home,” I said. “One more step.”
He threw his hands up. “You’ve got one man left,” he said. “Swanson must have done it.”
“Did you?”
“I’m not under oath here.”
“Just tell me,” I said. “Did you do it?”
“No,” he said. “I didn’t. Why would I?”
“You said it yourself. People will do anything for a little money.”
“I said easy money. There’s a big difference. It’s only easy if you know you can get away with it.”
“I didn’t see you get arrested yesterday,” I said. “So far, you’re getting away with it just fine.”
“Let me ask you something. Let’s assume I set this up. You didn’t see me there, did you? I must have hired three men to break into his house.”
“Apparently, yes.”
“These three men, aren’t they entitled to some of the money?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’m sure they are.”
“How much money are we talking about? What did it say in the paper? Five thousand dollars?”
“That’s what Vargas told the police. You and I both know it was more.”
“Certainly. So let’s say it was what, fifty thousand dollars? A hundred thousand dollars? Let’s say it was a million dollars. A cool million in cash. That’s a pretty good haul, wouldn’t you say? I’m gonna hire three men to go in with guns to steal a million dollars, and then have them deliver it to me. Which of course they’ll do, because even though they’ve just ripped off a million dollars, they’re men of honor and they’re gonna stand by their promise to me. But now what do you think their cut should be? You think they’ll let me have a full share of it? Even though all I did was tell them about the safe, and then sit here in my easy chair while they committed armed robbery? Sure, let’s say they cut me in for a full quarter. Now I’ve got a quarter-million dollars. I’ve risked my entire legal career, which by the way will probably gross between five and ten million more dollars before I retire. I’ve risked going to prison for what, twenty or thirty years? Everything I own, every person in this world I care about…I’ve risked it all for two hundred fifty thousand dollars. Is this the way you see it, Mr. McKnight? Is this what you think really happened?”
I didn’t say anything. I sat there in the chair.
“Please, Mr. McKnight. I’d like an answer. If the answer is yes, I want to make sure I exclude you if you ever come up on jury duty. Because you’ll obviously believe anything.”
“You don’t have to get cute,” I said. “I’m sure it didn’t happen exactly that way.”
“Then how did it happen?”
“That’s why I’m here. I’m trying to find out, and I thought you could help me.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
“As soon as you heard my name,” I said, “you ran for the hills. Do you blame me for being suspicious?”
“If you had told my secretary why you had wanted to see me, we could have avoided all this.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have experienced your wife’s carrot cake.”
“I think we’re done, Mr. McKnight. The door behind you leads right outside. I suggest you use it.”
“Please thank your wife again for me.”
“I’ll try to remember.”
I left through his office door, walked across his lawn to the street. Some kids came by on their bikes. Somebody started up a lawnmower. I got in the truck and stared out at nothing for a while.
Swanson was right. It was a tough way to make money, and riskier than hell.
So maybe it wasn’t about the money after all. Maybe it was something else.