CHAPTER TWELVE
The basement parking lot was a very different place from the showy frontage of the law firm. Down here, it was dark and damp and nearly deserted. Only a few cars were parked in the shadowy space.
May saw a BMW, a Mercedes, and a Porsche. The cheapest of the four, an Alfa Romeo, was getting ready to leave. The engine started and headlamps flashed.
May broke into a run. She jumped in front of the car and held up her hand. Owen pounded up beside her as brakes squealed. The window buzzed down and Christa looked curiously out.
“What’s up?” she said.
“I need your help,” May said breathlessly.
“My help? Sure.” Christa frowned at her, puzzled.
May decided there was only going to be one way to do this. She turned to Owen.
“Will you take my car back to the police department?” She handed him the keys.
“Sure,” Owen said after a pause.
May climbed in the passenger side of the Alfa Romeo, next to Christa.
“Will you give me a ride to the police department?” she asked her old school friend.
Christa looked more confused than ever. “Sure. I mean, but why?”
May fastened her seatbelt and spoke in a low voice.
“We really need this case solved, Christa. There is a murderer at work. We don’t know who’s going to die next. It could be anyone linked to the Reeds. It could even be someone from this law firm. Until we know more, everyone’s at risk, and I mean everyone.”
Her eyes widened. “Of course.”
“Your boss couldn’t tell us some of the facts, because he’s bound by confidentiality agreements. But I know you probably know as much, or more, about the clients as he does. Receptionists always do.”
Christa drove out of the garage, glancing at May suspiciously.
“Like what? I can’t give you any documents, any facts and figures.”
May shook her head. “I don’t need that. I need your impression about things. And background information. That would be so helpful,” she appealed.
“I don’t know if I should,” Christa argued. “If my boss didn’t say anything, and I talk, then I’m going to be in trouble.”
“I won’t say it came from you. I promise that.”
“It still feels wrong,” she protested.
May thought back.
“Remember that time Penny tried to bully you in school, and you smacked her upside the head, and she tried to get you expelled?”
Christa nodded. “I remember that.”
“Remember I was the one who stood up for you and explained you’d been bullied, even though it got me in trouble too?”
“Yes, I remember,” Christa said.
“No one believed your side of the story until I spoke up.”
“Okay,” Christa said doubtfully.
“That’s why I’m asking you to help us. Someone needs to speak up. More people are bound to get killed if we don’t crack this case.”
Christa was silent for a long moment, driving carefully.
May upped the pressure. “You’re a strong person. You fight for people who can’t stand up for themselves. I remember how you were back then. You would never let anyone push you around. You’d fight back. And that’s exactly how you are now. You fight for the people who need it,” May said. “If telling us something you know can help catch a murderer, that’s the sort of thing you would do. Right?”
“I guess so,” Christa said doubtfully.
“The truth’s important. Withholding information that could help us is what’s wrong. I’m just asking you to do the right thing now. If you do the right thing, you might well end up basically solving this case.”
She could see that appealed to Christa.
“Okay. I can try. I really don’t know much, though. They keep all the dealings with that firm very confidential, and to be honest, it’s bothered me before now. Why does everything need to be kept so tightly under wraps? I’ve wondered myself what really goes on.”
“The relationship between Mr. Reed and his sister. What was it like? What was your impression?” May asked.
Christa frowned. “Not close. They didn’t seem to like each other very much, but for some reason my impression is that they did do a fair amount of business together. I think they had to start running some affairs through the company, and through other people, for some reason. They seemed to change that recently. Madeline wanted to take a step back.”
“Which other people?”
“I don’t know. It was a snippet of conversation I overheard, and I think it was someone else within the company that was going to take over some of what she did. Whatever that was.”
She pulled onto the main road. Now they were following Owen back to the police department.
“Did Madeline have any role within the company?” May asked curiously. What exactly was being taken over? she wondered.
Again, Christa made a face.