"You know Frank. He practically runs the place. I'll be honest with you. I didn't want him to take the fall alone, but Frank, well, he insisted on it. He wanted to take one for the whole family, so really, the least I can do is make sure he's well taken care of."

Win studied the old man's face and body language. Nothing. Most people a.s.sume that somehow you can tell when a man is lying to you-that there are clear-cut signs of deceit and that if you learn those signs, you can discern when someone is telling a lie or the truth. Those who believe such nonsense are just fooled all the more. Herman Ache was a sociopath. He had probably murdered-or more precisely, ordered the murder of-more people than Frank ever could. Frank Ache was obvious-a frontal a.s.sault easily spotted and thus taken down. Herman Ache worked more like a snake in the gra.s.s, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and thus was far more dangerous.

The tees on the seventh hole were up closer today, so Win pa.s.sed on the driver in favor of his three-wood. "May I ask you a question about one of your business interests?"

Herman Ache gave Win the eye, and now, yes, the snake was not so hidden.

"Tell me about your relationship with Gabriel Wire."

Even a sociopath can look surprised. "Why the h.e.l.l would you want to know about that?"

"Myron represents his partner."

"So?"

"I know in the past that you handled his gambling debts."

"And you think that should be illegal? It's fine if the government sells lottery tickets. It's fine if Las Vegas or Atlantic City or a bunch of Indians take bets, but if an honest businessman does it, somehow that's a crime?"

Win tried very hard not to yawn. "So, do you still handle Gabriel Wire's gambling?"

"I can't see how any of this is your business. Wire and I have legitimate business arrangements. That's all you have to know."

"Legitimate business arrangements?"

"That's right."

"But I'm confused," Win said.

"About?"

"What possible legitimate business arrangements involve Evan Crisp guarding Wire's house on Adiona Island?"

Still holding his driver, Ache froze. He handed it back to the caddie and snapped the white glove off his left hand. He moved closer to Win. "Listen to me," he said softly. "This is not a place you and Myron want to interfere. Trust me here. Do you know Crisp?"

"Only by reputation."

Ache nodded. "Then you know it won't be worth it."

Herman gave Win one more hard glare and returned to his caddie. He put his glove back on and asked for his driver. The caddy handed it to him and then headed toward the woods on the left because that was the real estate Herman Ache's golf b.a.l.l.s seemed to favor.

"I have no interest in hurting your business," Win said. "I have no interest in Gabriel Wire, for that matter."

"So what do you want here?"

"I want to know about Suzze T. I want to know about Alista Snow. I want to know about Kitty Bolitar."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Would you like to hear my theory?"

"About?"

"Let's go back sixteen years," Win said. "Gabriel Wire owes you a substantial sum of money for gambling debts. He's a drug addict, a pleated-skirt chaser-"

"Pleated?"

"He likes them young," Win explained.

"Oh. Now I get it. Pleated."

"So glad. Gabriel Wire is also-more important to you-a compulsive gambler. In short, he's a mess, albeit a profitable one. He has money and tremendous earning potential, ergo the interest owed keeps compounding. Are you with me?"

Herman Ache said nothing.

"Then Wire goes too far. After a concert at Madison Square Garden, he invites Alista Snow, a naive sixteen-year-old girl, back to his suite. Wire slips her Rohypnol and cocaine and whatever other drugs he has lying around, and the girl ends up leaping off a balcony. He panics. Or perhaps, being that he is such an important a.s.set, you already have a man on the scene. Perhaps Crisp. You clean up the mess. You intimidate the witnesses and even buy off the Snow family-whatever it takes to protect your boy. He owes you even bigger now. I don't know what 'legitimate business arrangement' you made, but I imagine Wire has to pay you, what, half his earnings? That would be several million dollars per year minimum."

Herman Ache just looked at him, trying very hard not to fume. "Win?"

"Yes?"

"I know you and Myron like to think you're tough guys," Ache said, "but neither one of you is bulletproof."

"Tsk-tsk." Win spread his arms. "What happened to Mr. Legal? Mr. Legitimate Businessman?"

"You've been warned."

"By the way, I visited your brother in prison."

Herman's face fell.

"He sends his regards."

22.

Back at the office, Big Cyndi was at the ready.

"I have some information on Gabriel Wire's tattoo, Mr. Bolitar."

"Let's hear it."

Big Cyndi wore all pink today with enough blush on her cheeks to coat a minivan. "According to Ma Gellan's extensive research, Gabriel Wire had one tattoo. It was on his left thigh, not his right. This may sound a little strange, so please bear with me."

"I'm listening."

"The tattoo was a heart. That tattoo itself was permanent. But what Gabriel Wire would do is fill in a name temporarily."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"You have seen what Gabriel Wire looks like, correct?"

"Yes."

"He was a rock star and an absolute major yummy, but he had a certain predilection."

"That being?"

"He liked underage girls."

"He was a pedophile?"

"No, I don't believe so. His targets were fully developed. But they were young. Sixteen, seventeen."

Alista Snow, for example. And now that he thought about it, Suzze T, back in those days.

"So even though Gabriel Wire was a tasty rock star, he often needed to convince a girl that she meant something to him."

"I'm not sure how the tattoos fit in."

"It was a red heart."

"So?"

"So it was plain inside. Just red. Gabriel Wire would then take a Sharpie and write in the name of the girl he was pursuing. He would pretend that he had gotten the tattoo especially for that particular girl."

"Wow."

"Yes."

"Talk about diabolical."

Big Cyndi sighed. "You wouldn't believe the things men will do to land some of us hotties."

Myron tried to process this. "How did it work exactly?"

"It would depend. If Gabriel wanted to close the sale immediately, he would actually take the girl to a tattoo parlor that night. He would tell her he was going to the back room and to wait for him. Then he'd draw in the name. Sometimes he would do it before a second date."

"Sort of, say, 'I care about you so much, look, I got a tattoo with your name on it'?"

"Precisely."

Myron shook his head.

"You have to admit," Big Cyndi said, "it is sort of genius."

"More like sick."

"Oh, I believe that was part of it," Big Cyndi said. "Gabriel Wire could have any girl he wants-even young ones. So I ask myself, why would he go to all that trouble? Why not just move on to the next girl?"

"And?"

"And I think, like many men, he needed the girl to truly fall for him. He liked them young. So my guess is he was developmentally stunted, stuck in that stage when a boy gets off breaking a girl's heart. Like in high school."

"Could be."

"It's just a theory," Big Cyndi said.

"Okay, this is all interesting, but what does this have to do with the other tattoo-the one that Suzze had too?"

"The design appears to be original artwork of some kind," Big Cyndi said. "So Ma Gellan theorized that Suzze and Gabriel became lovers. Suzze got the tattoo and-to impress or fool her-Gabriel got one too."

"So it was temporary?"

"There's no way to know for certain," Big Cyndi said, "but it is certainly, based on his past, a strong possibility."

Esperanza was standing in the doorway. Myron looked over at her. "Thoughts?"

"Just the obvious," Esperanza said. "Suzze and Gabriel were lovers. Someone posts a tattoo that both of them wore with a message about the paternity of her child."

"Kitty admitted that she posted it," Myron said.

"That might add up," Esperanza said.

"Why's that?"

The office phone rang. Big Cyndi moved back to her desk and put on her sugary-sweet voice. "MB Reps." She listened a moment and shook her head at them, pointing to herself: She could handle it.

Esperanza signaled Myron to follow her into her office. "I got Suzze's mobile phone records."

On television, they make getting phone records seem difficult or, for the purposes of the plot, that it takes days or weeks. In truth, it could be done in minutes. In this case, it would take even less. Suzze, like many of MB Rep's clients, had set up all her bill paying via MB Reps. That meant that they had her phone number, her address, her pa.s.scodes, her social security number. Esperanza was able to get the calls online as though it were her own phone.

"Her final call was to Lex's cell, but he didn't pick up. I think that he may have been on the plane flying back. But Lex had called her earlier in the day. Right after that-this is the morning before Suzze died-she also called an untraceable disposable mobile. My guess is, the police will believe that she was calling her drug dealer to set up a buy."

"But that wasn't the case?"

Esperanza shook her head. "The number matches the one ol' Crush gave you for Kitty."

"Whoa."

"Yes," Esperanza said. "And maybe that's how Suzze got the drugs."

"From Kitty?"