TB12 206 Bones by Reichs Kathy

Author:Reichs, Kathy [Reichs, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2011-09-20T14:56:41+00:00

Temperance Brennan 12 - 206 Bones

21

“KEISER HAD A HIDEY-​HOLE.” TYPICAL CLAUDEL. ARRIVING AT THE lab, he got straight to the facts. No Bonjour. No Comment ça va?

Surprised, I laid down the vertebra I was scoping with a hand lens.

“The building manager’s a guy named Luigi Castiglioni, Lu to his close amici. Yesterday, I’m doing follow-​up with Lu, and the whole interview something’s bugging me, like he’s looking different than I remember. That, and the fact he’s jumpy as hell. When I squeeze hard, the asshole lets slip he’s just back from a six-​month sojourn in the old country.”

Quick calculation. July to January. That put Lu in Italy from the time Keiser disappeared through the time Claudel began to investigate.

I started to ask a question. Claudel held up a manicured hand.

“So I ask him. How’s that work, you being overseas and here fixing toilets at the same time? Lu admits he’s got a twin. Eddie. You believe that? Lu and Eddie. Sounds like some cheesy vaudeville routine.”

I didn’t interrupt.

“Conscientious citizen that he is, Lu doesn’t want to get canned while he’s on sabbatical, so he talks brother Eddie into acting as super in his absence. The scam flies. No one picks up on the swap. But the thing is, Lu’s worked the building for twenty-​two years. Probably schmoozing for tips. Whatever. He gets to know the tenants, learns what they’re up to. Brother Eddie doesn’t know jackshit.”

I got the picture. Lu revealed something Eddie didn’t know. New search. Bingo.

“Where was she?” I asked.

Claudel shook his head, as though amazed at the foibles of his fellow man.

“Turns out the old broad kept a getaway near Lac Memphrémagog.”

I let the “old broad” reference pass. “She went there to paint.”

Claudel dipped his chin. “Yeah. The place started life as her third husband’s hunting shack.”

“Third?”

“Got the lineup from the kids, Otto and Mona. They’re a prize pair, by the way. Gotta revisit that.”

“Oh?”

“Just a gut. Problem is, both were thousands of clicks from Montreal in Alberta when Mama dropped off the radar. There’s no evidence of missing money. Still, I’m examining financials, looking for secret accounts, suspicious transfers or withdrawals, major debts, big purchases. Any flags over the past three months. Changes in routine, spending habits, income. It’s a long shot, but we’ve got no short ones. I’m also checking the possibility of nasty habits—addiction, gambling, the usual. Doing the same for the stepson, Myron Pinsker.”

“What about the three husbands?”

“Uri Keiser was numero uno. They married in ’fifty-​eight, divorced in ’seventy-​eight. He remarried in ’seventy-​nine, moved to Brooklyn in ’eighty-​two. Some bad blood there. Keiser’s been in New York ever since. Pinsker was next. Married in ’eighty-​four, taken out by an aneurysm in ’ninety-​six.”

“He’d be Myron Pinsker’s father?”

“Yeah. Named Myron, too. Why would you keep saddling kids with a tag like Myron? That a Jewish thing?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Hubby three was Samuel Adamski. Keiser married him in ’ninety-​eight. Interesting sidebar, the guy was fourteen years younger than his bride. She was sixty-​one. He was forty-​seven.”

“Is Adamski still around?”

“Died in a boating accident in 2000.

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