Poised to Kill by Brian Lutterman

Author:Brian Lutterman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Salvo Press
Published: 2013-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

My investigation began quietly, two weeks later, with breakfast at a coffee shop on Jamboree and I-405, just up the road from Horreyheadquarters. I had checked in with Detective Dan Howard; he was stymied in his attempts to find Ted Cline’s would-be killer. Ted himself had shown signs of consciousness early the previous week, but had sunk back into a coma before saying anything. I continued to visit him daily, hoping against hope that he’d come out of it and tell me what he’d been on to when they shot him. The doctors assured me he still had a decent chance of regaining consciousness.

Now I sat at a window booth, and waved to the young woman as she walked in from the parking lot. Heather Orson, now in her late twenties, had been my secretary (they were called assistants now, a more respectful and accurate term) several years back at Horrey.

When I’d moved up to Group VP, the image-conscious Jerry Thorne had bequeathed the older, more polished, BBC-accented Susan to me. I had then gotten Heather a job working for Jason Ross. Heather herself looked more stylish and sophisticated than she had two years earlier. But she was still slim and attractive, and if you put a gun to my head, I’d have to admit that was part of the reason I’d hired her.

We embraced warmly. “Great to see you, Hal.” She stepped back and looked at me. “This is so—like, weird. I mean, I thought you were dead and all.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Oh, I think it’s cool. I mean, it must have been exciting, to fake your own murder and then disappear.”

“More fun than should be legal,” I agreed. “How’s it going with Jason?”

“Oh, it’s okay. I mean, Jason is a great guy and everything, but, well, it’s not as much fun as working for you.”

“That’s nice of you to say.”

Our meals arrived. I dug into an omelet, and Heather picked at a cup of fresh fruit.

She looked up suddenly. “Don’t tell anybody this, but Jason started to get a little weird during the last few months.”

I waited.

“I guess it’s no secret,” she said. “He’s having problems, that’s all. He’s getting divorced, and has money concerns, and all.”

“I hadn’t heard about the money problems.”

“Oh, that goes back a long way,” she said. “I’m surprised you didn’t know.”

I was surprised I didn’t know, too. “What’s causing the problem?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess his wife liked to spend money. And I think he made some bad investments; I’ve heard him on the phone yelling at his broker a few times. I know he spent a lot of time doing stuff related to the stock market.”

“Do you think his money problems could have gotten him into trouble of some kind?”

Her brow furrowed. “Possibly. During the last couple of months, I’ve overheard him talking to an attorney, and I think it was a different one than his divorce lawyer. Maybe he’s going to declare bankruptcy or something...Hey, what’ve you got against Jason, anyway?”

I tried my winning smile.

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