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Dressed in my partially wet suit still splotched with bloodstains, I took the car back to the office. Adele wanted to go with me, but I convinced her that her ripped clothing would receive too much attention.
“Since I look like a tramp, it should be easier for me to get to the building unnoticed,” I rationalized to Adele.
“You have a knack for making things up as you go, don’t you?” she smirked.
With a nod, I grinned before adding an incentive to counter her worries. I told her I would send Alice over with clothing.
A parking in an alley, I followed it to the street. Fortunately, the sidewalks were nearly empty, so I walked across the street and entered the Royal Building from the back. Even with the assurances from Alice, I still looked around every corner as I headed to my office.
Silently pushing through the door, I overheard Alice talking in my office with someone. The conversation stopped and my secretary leaned over by my office door and saw me standing there.
Tom Winton stood as I entered the room. As I whispered to Alice, his pale blue eyes gave me a onceover. As we shook hands, I decided to see where our conversation would go. I recognized my bruised face and clothing made me a perfect target for the law. However, I’m betting on the need to kill me quick, not take me to jail. That’s why I told Alice to warn me if cops started for the building.
A tall man who wore a gray pinstripe suit with a bowtie, Winton had a standoffish presence and a neutral expression on his face. He was a lawyer and politician, which meant he was a perfect liar.
“What brings you to my office?” I went straight to the point.
The man remained stoned face.
“I wanted to check on the person who called my home with unusual requests. You appear to think you run this city.”
Pointing to a chair, I went around to the back of my desk.
“Just a concerned citizen who knows too much,” I said.
Alice let herself out of the room and closed the door while I took a seat.
“One recent item was a coverup at the Elder mansion. I found it amazing that O’Conner died in the garden from multiple gunshot wounds. Still, nothing showed up in the paper.”
“Is that a confession?” He asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Shaking my head, I grunted out a forced laugh.
“No, but then again, I bet you haven’t found a body. It’s probably the same as with Cora Elders.”
A hint of surprise showed on the man’s face.
“I hope you’ve looked into the links you’ve found among the various people of the Pendo club,” I continued. “Also, I heard they had an emergency meeting that same night. Poor ol’ Lees got a face full of boiling water trying to harm my wife. Kind of surprising you didn’t hear about that. Otherwise, she and I should be in jail for assault.”
His eyebrows raised at my words. But he didn’t correct me about Adele striking Lees so my guess is he didn’t know anything about it. Still, the man’s face remained stoic.
“It appears I need to have someone follow up on the whereabouts of Mr. O’Conner. By the way, Jenny Penske started talking to my investigator.”
His cool tone started to bother me. Since I’m not sure if he’s playing for time, I thought I’d throw out a question.
“Do you trust that man with your life?”
Winton blinked several times at my question.
“H—he’s a good man.”
“Well, you can’t be too careful with Lees and his crew running things in city hall. What did Jenny tell you?”
His eyes narrowed at my clear warning.
“She says O’Conner shot her. That’s all she said. Claims she can’t remember anything else. The doc told me she should recover.”
