Mona Lisa Eyes (Danny Logan Mystery #4) (35 page)

They both stared at me
, curiosity in their eyes, neither saying anything.

“Well, go on
,” Cecilia said, waving her hand impatiently for me to proceed
.

“After examining his records, we find that Eric Gaston is
apparently a pretty wealthy man, based on his lifestyle. He
lives in a very nice home—on the same level
as yours; wouldn’t you say, Toni?”

She nodded. “Yes
. It’s a nice home up in the Laurelhurst area
. Just east of the University District.”

“He has several expensive
automobiles, and he even has a racing sailboat that he
keeps at the Elliott Bay Marina,” I said. “The boat
alone looks to be worth nearly half a million dollars
. From what we’ve been able to see about Eric
’s background, we can’t see where he’d have
gotten this kind of money. As I recall, his father
has passed, but his mother is still alive. We know
his salary is not that high, so the question is
, where’d he get his money? Inheritance?”

“His . . . his . . . see
here,” Oliver said, indignantly, “Mr. Logan, I see where you
’re going with this, and I must say you’re
layering supposition upon supposition, leading, I suppose, to the eventual
conclusion that Eric Gaston has somehow embezzled money from the
Foundation. Let me say quite clearly that the very notion
is preposterous. He couldn’t possibly have taken money from
the Foundation. All the donation funds are escrowed and then
sent directly to the project providers. The whole process is
audited, top to bottom, inside out, every year. And, I
might add, in any case, Gaston’s not the sort
. He’d never consider something like this.”

“Let me stop
you right here,” I said, holding up my hands. Oliver
was getting worked up, and that was counterproductive. “I apologize
—I shouldn’t have brought it up. If I inadvertently
cast aspersions on anyone, including Eric Gaston, well then I
’ve made a mistake. I have no solid proof. I
should have kept my mouth shut until I have more
information.”

Cecilia smiled. “Yet once the subject’s broached, it
’s rather a difficult genie to stuff back into a
bottle again, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Logan?”

I nodded
. “I’m afraid you’re right, but again, I apologize
.”

“But it sure points out why we need to find
those photographs,” Toni said, rescuing me. “It might be just
as you’ve said, Cecilia. Completely innocent.”

Oliver nodded and
looked relieved. “Indeed. I would imagine that’s exactly what
you’ll find: nothing at all.” He turned to me
. “I’d say it’s critically important that you find
the photographs, then—if only to clear the Foundation of
any suspicion. What are you doing to locate them?”

“We
just discovered Monday that the photographs even exist. We’ve
spent the last couple days looking for them with Gloria
McKenzie. So far, no luck.” I smiled. “Gloria’s brother
accompanied McKenzie to Africa. We’re checking with him.”

“Maybe
he has a copy?” Oliver said.

“He told her he
didn’t. It’s a bit of a long shot
, but we’re checking again. We don’t know.”

“Well
, let’s hope you’re successful. You’ll keep us
posted with all the details, then?” Oliver said.

I nodded
. “Of course. You know, the heck of it is? We
’ve got Lieutenant Bergstrom waiting for them too.”

It was
quiet for a few seconds, save the background noise from
the other tables. Finally, Oliver said, “When that other fellow
jumped off the roof—”

“Joshua Bannister,” I said.

Oliver glanced
at me. “Joshua Bannister, that is, well, we thought the
case was closed.” He shook his head. “We were really
hoping that we’d finally reached a resolution.”

I nodded
. “I’m sorry for the whipsaw the two of you
are having to endure. We know it’s tough. It
’s been tough on us too. That said, we really
want to see this case through to the end. Officially
, our contract with you ended last night, but we’ve
decided that we’re going to work on our own
nickel for another week or so. We’re going to
push our next job back a week.”

Cecilia stared at
me for a moment, clearly surprised. “I apologize for the
oversight. I shall contact my brother at the conclusion of
this meeting. Obviously, it was never our intent that you
should work on our behalf without compensation.”

I smiled. “Thank
you for that. That would be appreciated. But the fact
is, we’ve grown quite fond of Sophie over the
past month. We decided as a team that we’re
going to see this case through to its correct and
final conclusion, regardless of our compensation arrangement.”

She looked at
me for a few moments, then she gave me a
respectful nod. “Thank you.”

Wow! Coming from Cecilia, that was
almost as good as getting paid. Almost.

The next day
, Friday the 16th, just before 5:00 p.m., Doc and
Toni walked into my office.

“Kenny’s on the phone
,” Doc said, as he grabbed a chair across from my
desk. Toni took the other.

I punched the flashing line
and put him on speaker. “Dude. Talk to me.”

“Found
’em,” he said, his voice full of excitement.

I smiled
. “Excellent work, man. Where are they?”

“Gloria’s brother finally
called. He’s been down in Miami. When Gloria asked
before, he says she asked if he had photographs. That
, he does not. I asked if he had a disc
. He didn’t even know what it was until I
described it. Turn out he does. It’s at his
house. Said Leonard gave it to him after the trip
and told him to hang on to it. He never
told him what it was or why it was important
. Gary put it away and forgot about it.”

“So he
doesn’t know what’s on it?”

“Nope. No idea
. Said he never even looked. He said Leonard didn’t
tell him, either—never mixed business and pleasure. Said there
were several times on the trip when Leonard would leave
him for a couple of hours, saying he had some
work to attend to. Leonard would take a cab and
disappear. Said Leonard never offered up any commentary.”

“That sound
weird to you?” I asked.

“Based on what I’ve
learned of Leonard? No. He sounds like a pretty solitary
guy for things like that.”

I turned to Toni. “That
leaves us where?”

She shrugged. “We’ve got to look
at the photos.”

I nodded. “Kenny, how’s he getting
them to us?”

“FedEx. Monday morning.”

“Monday? No Saturday delivery
?”

“No, he’s on a flight home now, doesn’t
have it with him, and he doesn’t get in
until late. He lives in Pennsylvania, remember? He’s going
home early so that he can get the disc to
us. He gets in late tonight, and he’s going
to drop the disc off at FedEx tomorrow. It’ll
be here Monday morning at eight.”

I nodded. “Okay. Well
, that’s good work, man. I suppose I shouldn’t
be surprised—you being a special agent and all.”

“Thanks
, boss.”

“Good work, Kenny,” Toni called out.

“Thank you, kind
lady.”

We said good-bye and hung up.

I rubbed
my hands together, excitedly. “Well, hopefully good news for a
change. Maybe now we can finally start to get somewhere
, huh?”

Doc nodded. “Depending what’s on the disc.”

“Shall
we call Ron and let him know it’s on
the way?” Toni asked.

I thought for a second, then
I shook my head. “Nah, let’s not—he can
wait ’til Monday. We’d better have a look at
whatever’s on that disc first. If we’re wrong
, I don’t want to blow any more cred with
him. And if we’re right, well, we’ll know
soon enough. Let’s give him a finished package. I
say we wait.”

She nodded. “Okay. What about Oliver and
Cecilia?”

“I’d better give them a call.” I rubbed
my chin. “Cecilia will have my ass, even if we
’re not under contract anymore.”

“Well, with all this good
news, does that mean we don’t have to work
the weekend?” Doc asked.

“Pictures aren’t going to be
here until Monday, and David and George don’t work
weekends anyway. You’re off the hook, dude. But I
’m not. I’ve got that sailboat race with Eric
Gaston tomorrow.”

He looked at me sternly. “Yeah, ’bout that
sailboat race. Been meaning to speak to you about that
.”

I looked at him curiously. “Oh yeah? What about?”

He
leaned back in his chair and clasped both hands behind
his head. Uh-oh. This was a classic “serious” posture
for Doc. I glanced over at Toni, but her face
was blank. She either didn’t know what Doc wanted
, or, more likely, she knew all about it but was
happy to have Doc take the lead.

I turned back
to Doc. “C’mon, man,” I said, impatiently. “Out with
it.”

“Well,” Doc said, slowly, “I’ve just been thinking
. This sailboat thing tomorrow? I got something I want to
show you.” He opened a file, pulled out a printout
, and handed it to me. I scanned it quickly and
saw that it was a description of MarlowRopes.com. The
heading said “Dyneema for Yachtsmen.”

“It’s used on boats
?” I said.

Doc nodded.

“Yeah. Racing boats, among others,” Toni
added, apparently already having read it. “You making the connection
?”

I stared at the printout.

“The short answer is that
this little sailboat race tomorrow might not be the smartest
thing you ever did in your life,” Doc said.

It
was silent for a second.

“Think about it, Danny,” Toni
said. “There’s a reasonable chance that those pictures are
gonna hold some incriminating evidence that points to a problem
between the Foundation and one of their donors. Something caused
Leonard to jump on the phone with Sophie when he
got back. If we’re right, four people may have
been killed because of what’s on those pictures. That
’s a lot of dead bodies piling up that all
point back to the Foundation. And now, here you are
, the man who’s about to blow the cover off
the whole thing, about to go out on a tiny
little sailboat on a big damn ocean with the guy
who runs the Foundation and who may be the one
behind the whole damn thing. That sound a little funny
to you?”

I smiled. “You guys are worried about me
. I am touched.”

Both fired off looks that said they
were annoyed at my flippancy. Doc reinforced the notion by
flipping me off.

“How about if I go, and you
stay. How’s that feel?” Toni said.

“It feels pretty
damn stupid,” I said. “He didn’t ask you. He
asked me. How could you go?”

“But if he had
asked me, would you have agreed?”

I smiled. “Of course
not. You’re a girl, and he’s a dude
. I’d have never agreed to that, and you know
it.” I can play dumb too.

“Cut the crap, Danny
. You’re being obtuse on purpose,” she said. “Pretend like
Gaston was a woman and
she
asked me to join
their sailboat racing crew. And we were starting to get
the teeny-weeny sense that, just maybe,
she
was connected
in some fashion to a quadruple homicide. Then would you
let me go?”