Whiplash

  "I'm FBI-Agent Sherlock." She handed Carla her creds, then she handed them over to Mr. Drexel, who was looking at Carla Alvarez, eyes flat and hard. He didn't even bother to glance at Sherlock's ID. Finally, he nodded to her, and remained seated, looking hard again at Alvarez, mouth tight.

  Alvarez asked, "Why is the FBI here and not the local police?"

  "The body was discovered in Van Wie Park, and that's federal land, which makes it our case."

  It was obvious neither Alvarez nor Turley had known that. Hadn't they watched the news? The murderer hadn't known it would draw in the feds either, Sherlock would wager. Sherlock decided she was going to rock and roll with this woman who was struggling to look so formidable.

  Sherlock gave them both impartial smiles. "What were you fighting about?"

  Turley Drexel was fifty-two years old, and cursed with a round baby face he'd hated for as long as he could remember. He answered her in the tone of a prim, tightly wound bureaucrat used to juggling numbers. "See here, Agent, we were simply having a business discussion, of no concern to you, I assure you, nothing at all to do with that dead man found out back. We don't even know who he is. No one's bothered to tell us. Was he a transient?"

  Sherlock said easily, "No, not a transient, Mr. Drexel. Actually, I'm very sure both of you knew him. He was an employee of Schiffer Hartwin, from their headquarters, a German national. His name was Helmut Blauvelt."

  Mr. Drexel paled, then quickly lowered his eyes to his black loafers and muttered something under his breath.

  As for Carla Alvarez, her hand went to her throat. She said slowly, "Helmut Blauvelt? No, surely that's not possible, surely-you're certain?"

  "Very certain."

  "We didn't know, I mean, sure, we've met Mr. Blauvelt, but we didn't realize-we just thought it was some stranger who was mugged and killed in the park. This is unbelievable, Agent. Mr. Blauvelt-it just doesn't seem possible."

  "He was identified very quickly." She gave them no details. She turned. "Mr. Drexel, if you would please return to your office, I would like to speak with Ms. Alvarez alone. I'll be in to speak with you soon."

  After Turley Drexel nearly ran from the office, Sherlock turned back to Carla Alvarez, studied her a moment, and said, "Men are dogs, aren't they, Ms. Alvarez?"

  "Dogs? What is that supposed to mean?"

  "I mean, Caskie Royal is married, he's got kids, and here he is sleeping with you. I wonder how many women, how many employees, he's talked onto his sofa? Surely you realize you're not the first."

  "That's insulting. If I were a man, you'd never say anything like that."

  "Depending on where I happened to be, and what I happened to find, sure I would. Ms. Alvarez, I understand you and Mr. Caskie Royal interrupted a break-in last night, in his office, and I was thinking it really strange that neither of you called the police, that the security guard did it some minutes later, with no prompting from you. Why is that?"

  "What does it matter who called the police? They were called, weren't they?"

  "Why don't you tell me why that wasn't the first thing you and Caskie did."

  Alvarez shrugged. "We were anxious to see if the thief got away with anything valuable, like confidential files or e-mails. So the guard called. I repeat, who cares?"

  "I'm thinking you guys didn't call because you were afraid the first question put to you would be why the two of you were there alone on a Sunday night."

  "We were working on the budget-we had adjustments to make, production dates to change-"

  "That doesn't sound all that urgent. So how long have you been sleeping with Mr. Royal?"

  "I am not sleeping with him!"

  "What did the thief take, Ms. Alvarez?"

  "Nothing, as far as I know. That's what Mr. Royal told me last night. He hasn't said anything different to me today."

  "How many times did you meet with Mr. Blauvelt?"

  "Only once, when he was here three, four months ago, his first visit to our office, I believe."

  "No, he's been here many times. All right, what was your meeting about during this visit several months ago?"

  Sherlock saw Alvarez's face go utterly blank, then watched her brain snap to. Alvarez said, her voice ice chips, "Not that you'd understand, but we spoke of the reasons behind some budget overruns on drugs we distribute. It's all very involved. After our discussion, he met briefly with Mr. Royal, then, so far as I know, he returned to Germany, pleased that we had resolved the situation."

  "You're lying to me, Ms. Alvarez, and I do hate that. You know as well as I do that Mr. Blauvelt wouldn't know a budget overrun from a Gesundheit."

  "I am not!"

  "Why did Mr. Blauvelt come here this time?"

  "I have no idea. I didn't even know he was coming."

  "You must know Mr. Blauvelt was Schiffer Hartwin's enforcer, their messy-problem solver. Whenever he showed up, it meant there was a screw-up that needed his brand of fixing. This always involved people, Ms. Alvarez, not production problems. Who was he here for this time? Who was the problem, Ms. Alvarez? Were you the one he came to see?"

  10

  CASKIE ROYAL'S OFFICE

  Savich studied Caskie Royal, sitting erect and confident in his executive leather chair behind his equally impressive mahogany desk, and watched him thread a Cross pen through his large blunt fingers. He knew Royal had been first string quarterback in his senior year at Florida, and he still looked fairly buff, though living well was starting to thicken his waistline. His hair was thick, dark brown with flecks of gray at the temples, the politician's You can trust me look. Savich knew about his tomcat reputation and imagined Sherlock could tell him what it was that made women look his way. His dark eyes were intelligent, but Savich saw cunning lurking in them too. At first he looked decisive, a man at the top of his game, sure of his place in the sun. But his hands were the giveaway-nervous hands, fiddling with the pen, his fingers tapping. Savich imagined he'd been instructed to make nice and to get this mess shut down cleanly. He doubted Royal could be intimidated, at least not here on his own turf. A laid-back, more conciliatory approach, then.

  Royal asked, "May I ask why the FBI is visiting me, Agent Savich? It was a break-in, probably some competitor looking for some advantage, new and exciting to them, no doubt, but nothing more. I know poor Helmut Blauvelt was found murdered in Van Wie Park, but I will tell you right now I know nothing about that." He looked down pointedly at his Rolex.

  Savich smiled to himself. "I realize you're a busy man, Mr. Royal, and we will make this as quick and painless as possible. Did your employers at Schiffer Hartwin call you from Germany?"

  "Yes, of course they did. We are all very upset by this. They want me to help you as much as possible, but as I said, I don't know how I can." Royal shrugged.

  "Helmut Blauvelt was here to see you, Mr. Royal?"

  "No, I have no idea why Mr. Blauvelt was even here in the U.S." Royal sat forward, folded his hands in front of him. He looked serious and concerned, the picture of cooperation.

  Savich sat back in the chair, crossed his ankles, and said easily, "Mr. Blauvelt was a man to be reckoned with, Mr. Royal. He took care of people who were causing problems, as I'm sure you know. He was a fixture at Schiffer Hartwin when you first came on board five years ago as CEO. He possibly did your own background check."

  "I heard rumors, nothing more. Believe me, I didn't know what, if anything, he was here to do."

  "When was the last time Mr. Blauvelt came to see you, Mr. Royal?"

  Royal's eyes never left Savich's face. He splayed his wide palms on the desktop. Nice manicure, Savich saw.

  "I don't remember. Wait, oh, yes, it was maybe a year ago. We discussed cost overrun problems with a new drug. We resolved questions and he left."

  "Actually Blauvelt was here three and a half months ago. Why was he here then, Mr. Royal?"

  "He was? I'm sorry, Agent Savich, but I don't believe I saw him. Perhaps he was here on vacation."

  Savich merely
continued to look at Royal. Clearly he was an ambitious man who enjoyed his perks, a man unlikely to let any morals or ethics impede his progress toward his goals. Surely he was bright enough to come up with a better answer than that to suit Savich. "Why don't you look it up in your appointment book, Mr. Royal. It will only take a moment."

  Caskie Royal turned his chair to the credenza behind him where his computer sat next to a photo of a pretty blond woman in a white summer dress with two boys, one standing on each side.

  "Your family, Mr. Royal?"

  "What? Oh, yes, that's my wife, Jane Ann, and my two sons, Chad and Mark."

  He raised his hands to the keyboard, then shook his head at himself. "Sorry, I forgot." He swiveled his chair toward the desk again and opened a drawer, withdrawing a datebook covered in beautiful Moroccan leather. He looked up after a moment. "Here we are. Yes, I remember now. He came over to speak to me about one of our employees. A manager at Rexol, our distribution plant in Missouri. Blauvelt was here to discuss problems with his performance. He wanted me to fire him.

  "I, ah, I talked him out of firing the employee, Mr. Rink, who is a good man, very experienced. I explained to Mr. Blauvelt that we could trust Rink to turn things around. He was having personal problems. I told Blauvelt I'd speak to Rink, oversee his work more closely. Blauvelt agreed and left. There was nothing more to it than that."

  So Royal had quickly come up with a nice fleshed-out story on the fly. Savich was impressed. "You are a very important man in the Schiffer Hartwin hierarchy, Mr. Royal. Why would corporate in Germany send Blauvelt over to speak to you about the performance of one of your own employees?"

  Royal continued to smile, looking more sincere than the pope. He said, "I recall they sent a message through him, Agent Savich, giving me their ideas and expectations. Not a big deal."

  "All right, Mr. Royal. You're certain Mr. Blauvelt wasn't scheduled to meet with you on this trip to the U.S.?"

  "No, he wasn't."

  "Would you mind telling me what you had on your computer that might tempt a thief ?"

  "E-mails mostly, and endless reports, Agent Savich. A great many reports are copied to the CEO, reports on programs in research and development, reports on our cost structure, reports on the status of drug production and distribution, you get the idea."

  "No reports that were particularly critical? That might be of interest to a competitor?"

  "That's hard to say, Agent Savich. There were so many reports, I don't think a thief could have located a specific one. But whatever the thief was after, he was out of luck." He smiled.

  "I see. I'm something of a computer expert. Would you like me to look through your files? Perhaps I could locate files that were accessed before you and Ms. Alvarez interrupted the thief."

  Royal shook his head. "I cannot do that, Agent Savich. I assure you, no files were disturbed. We interrupted whoever it was before anything could be taken."

  "You yourself checked your computer to see what file or files were accessed?"

  "Of course I checked immediately, nothing was opened. Look, Agent Savich, I told you, we interrupted the person before anything could be touched. I even took my hard drive to our IT department this morning, had them install a new one. They are checking it again to be sure nothing was uploaded or accessed."

  Now that was well done, Caskie. You're not a dummy, are you? Savich said pleasantly, "So the files that were on your computer last night are gone, destroyed?"

  "That's right. No big deal, Agent. I do it several times a year."

  "I read in the police report that the thief escaped through a small window in your connecting bathroom, which means your thief was very probably a woman. Do you know anyone who might fit the bill?"

  Royal shook his head slowly. "It's bizarre, the break-in. I wouldn't have thought any of our competitors would break into our headquarters."

  "Of course, given how important a cog Mr. Blauvelt was in Schiffer Hartwin's vast wheel, I would assume he would have had the access and passwords to all the management computers. Could he have hired a woman to break into your computer for something specific?"

  Royal looked bewildered. "I'm sorry, but I can't imagine what."

  Savich said, "Well, we know it wasn't Ms. Alvarez, since she was with you. I guess in a small town like Stone Bridge, you can't be discreet getting a hotel room. That sofa doesn't look all that comfortable."

  "I was not here last night to sleep with her! I do not have sex with my managers. We were having a business discussion, that's all."

  Savich looked down at his fingernails, buffed them on his sleeve. He said, "A man like you-you earn a good living, you support your family, you provide for all their needs and wants." Savich splayed his hands in front of him. "Of course I understand how a man like yourself wouldn't want to admit that you sometimes get bored. That you would want, even need, some variety to liven things up now and then. After all, don't you deserve it?" He gave Royal the man-to-man look he'd seen on DEA agent Joe Monroe's face when he talked about his girlfriends at the gym.

  "No, really, it's just that I-" Royal saw that look, recognized it immediately, gave Savich a shrug, and said finally with a smirk, "What the hell. Carla's hot, you know? She loves sex, unlike my wife, and knows more ways to do it than I do. She had a bad divorce a while back, so there's no chance she'd want more than sex and some laughs."

  "A pity you had to deal with the break-in and the cops instead of enjoying yourself."

  "Yeah, that's the truth."

  "You must have some idea of who broke in last night and why."

  "No, I'm sorry, I don't."

  "Mr. Blauvelt's body was found behind your building, at the edge of Van Wie Park, an area few people ever go since the undergrowth is so thick. Come now, who could Blauvelt have sent to break into your office? Was he here in the building with her? Did you or someone here come in on him, kill him, then panic and dump him out back?"

  "No, that is ridiculous! I am trying to cooperate with you, Agent Savich. You have no right to treat me like a criminal. I should get one of our lawyers in here."

  "Would his name be Bender?"

  Royal froze. Slowly, he took his hand off the phone. "Yes," he said, "it would. We call him Bender the Elder."

  Savich said easily, "We are nearly done here, Mr. Royal. I don't believe Bender the Elder is needed, do you?"

  Royal chewed that over a moment, then drew in a deep breath, and nodded.

  "Tell me, how long have you been having an affair with Carla Alvarez?"

  "If you must know, not all that long. Maybe four months. I was getting tired of her, truth be told. You know how it is, you screw an older woman, and she gets ideas." He shrugged.

  Older woman? Savich had seen a photo of Carla Alvarez. Caskie Royal had at least seven or eight years on her. He looked hard at Royal. He looked just a bit shaken, but still well in control. Savich said easily, "No, I can't say I've had that experience, Mr. Royal."

  11

  CARLA ALVAREZ'S OFFICE

  Sherlock asked again, "If Helmut Blauvelt wasn't here to see you, was it Caskie Royal? There was something in Royal's files Blauvelt wanted to see, something Mr. Royal had done, right? I find it strange Mr. Royal didn't mention Blauvelt to you last night when the two of you were together. Royal had to be worried that Blauvelt was here, and terrified of what he'd find out. How about you, Carla? Were you terrified too? Were you part of-what? A cover-up, maybe some profit skimming, some doctored financial reports? Something your German bosses found out about and sent their Mr. Fix-It to take care of ?"

  Carla said quickly, "No, no, they've been quite pleased, our profits have been unexpectedly high, and now- No, there was nothing like that, look, I have no idea about any of this, Agent, none at all."

  Unexpectedly high profits? What was that slip all about? She pressed on. "So Blauvelt came over here to work with Mr. Royal because of this windfall?"

  "No, there is no windfall that I know about. I misspoke."

  "
So Mr. Fix-It is murdered his very first night on our soil. If you and Mr. Royal didn't kill him, who did, Ms. Alvarez?"

  "I'm telling you, I don't know."

  "How long have you been sleeping with Mr. Royal?"

  "My private life is my own affair! Just because I'm a woman, even you, another woman, immediately suspect me of sleeping my way to the top." Carla Alvarez drew herself up. She stared straight through this obnoxious FBI agent with her cool leather jacket and her curly red hair. "You have been listening to gossip, Agent Sherlock. I'm surprised that an FBI agent would listen to meaningless gossip."

  "Ah, we listen to all sorts of things, Ms. Alvarez, and sooner or later we learn just about everything that's important. Do you know, I'd bet your beautiful leather briefcase that his wife already knows about the two of you.

  "If I were you, I'd update my résumé, Carla. You're divorced, right? For nearly two years now? Your ex burned you to your heels, and on top of that you have to pay the loser alimony."

  "Yes, that miserable-I resent this. My personal life has nothing to do with the death of Helmut Blauvelt, Agent, and nothing to do with the break-in in Mr. Royal's office. I could be sleeping with half the staff here and it would still have nothing to do with any of this."

  "Actually, it does, since you and Mr. Royal were here about the same time Mr. Blauvelt was getting himself murdered and dumped in the bushes in your backyard. Tell me, what was copied off Mr. Royal's computer files, Ms. Alvarez?"

  "As I already said, Mr. Royal told the two officers he saw that nothing was accessed, nothing erased or disturbed."

  "Of course he'd lie to the police, but not to you, Ms. Alvarez. I suppose since you're sleeping with him, you're very likely a part of this. You were with him when he discovered the thief. Mr. Royal must have been really upset because of what was copied. What was it?"