Calculated in Death (In Death #36)(35)

“For what?”

“For taking some risks and reaping rewards—long-term. I acquired a lot of real estate during the thin. You don’t think this man killed your victim.”

“No, at least I’m not sold on the idea. But like you said he or one of the crew could’ve been paid to pass on the code.”

“You don’t like that one either, less now that you’ve looked into this man more thoroughly.”

“No, I don’t like it. Not enough time, as far as I can see, to find the right person, offer the right incentive. Unless they were already involved, and I can’t see that connection.”

She edged her hip on the corner of the desk as she sampled her own coffee. “I get the same, basically, from the interior designer. Good rep, up front with the cops I set on her, what appears to be a good relationship with the construction guy, and with the clients—the partners.”

“Then even if you don’t—or can’t—absolutely eliminate them, they’re well down the list.”

“Yeah, unless inadvertently they passed the codes.” She shifted around to look at her board. “That leaves me, so far, with the three partners and the accountants whose work the vic took over. Or one of the others in the accounting firm, but from what you just told me, that doesn’t hit the mark.”

“They’d have known she had nothing to speak of, and there was no reason to kill her. Arrange to mug her and take the briefcase, the handbag in case she took files home. Then, if they had access to the offices as employees, it’s not that difficult to access a locked office after hours, corrupt files on her comp. Easier, cleaner than murder.”

“That’s my take. That leaves me with the partners, clients who cross, and the two accountants in Vegas. One couldn’t talk to her as he was in a coma, and the other could only speak to her in a limited way. Too much curiosity, and it looks off. Plus he’s pretty banged up.”

“Hard for either of them to order the hit.”

“Yeah. I can’t quite see some accountant calling in a hit from his hospital room in Vegas. The hit came from somewhere else, but if it came due to the files, one or both are in this. They’re too good at what they do not to have seen something off.”

“Have you looked at their financials?”

“Yeah, and one of them lives close financially. Two marriages, three kids, one with a hefty college tuition, another who’s been in some trouble and did a stint in expensive private rehab.”

She pointed to her board and Arnold’s photo.

“He’s got a house in Queens and three vehicles he’s paying for. To want something you have to know about it, see it, imagine it—and if you see it a lot, deal with it a lot, and it’s always someone else’s?”

“You want it more, or some do. I did.”

“Yeah. On the surface, he looks like an average guy, but that’s surface. The other’s single, came from blue-collar, hard-scrabble, studied. Got a good ride on scholarships.”

Again she gestured, zeroing in on Parzarri.

“He’s made money with his money, which you ought to be able to do when you know money, I guess. He’s not swimming in it like a money pond, but he’s solid. Scholarship kid, going to good schools, really good schools and coming home to a tough neighborhood in Jersey. You see how the other half lives, and that can be rough. You’re the one who’s there because you’re smart, not because you’ve got money. You don’t have the nice clothes, you take the bus instead of driving the car Daddy bought you. It can piss you off.”

“So you’ll make sure you’ll eventually be the one with money, with the nice clothes and the fancy car?”

“Maybe. They look clean, but . . .” She tapped her computer. “There’s something there.”

“But no pressure.”

She laughed, shook her head. “You’ll find it. But meanwhile, I need some input. You’re the expert.”

“On greed and avarice?”

“On how the greedy and avaricious work. If there’s something in there, and there damn well has to be, would the accountant in charge of the account know, or am I just assuming and suspicious?”

“You’re suspicious, but yes, almost certainly the accountant in charge would know. There’s some wiggle room there if the person—if it isn’t indeed the accountant skimming, cooking or finagling on his own—who’s finessed the numbers managed to do so without having it show. A thorough audit’s bound to turn over some of those rocks.”

“So the person doing the audit would know, or find what’s under them.”

“In a firm like Brewer? You could count on it.”

“Would the financial guy—the money managers, brokers, whatever term you use for WIN—would he know?”

“Again, there’s that wiggle room, particularly if the client and the accountant worked it together. But to make more? To keep it smooth, and actually simpler? You’d want the money manager in the pocket as well.”

“At least three people,” she considered. “Simpler maybe, but it gets sticky. The more people who know, the easier for something to slip.”

“Didn’t it?” he returned. “Someone’s dead.”

“Yeah.” She looked back toward the board. “Someone is.”