Cold Winter Rain by Steven Gregory Read Free Book Online

you?”
    “ They found my business card in your partner’s shirt pocket.”
    Woolf nodded.  “I see.  So, I could ask, why was your business card in my law partner’s pocket?  But this is not a deposition, and you came to see me.  So why don’t you just tell me why you’re here?  If this is about money, I can tell you, I’ve never heard of you, so this law firm owes you nothing as far as I know.”
    Lawyers, especially litigators, experience more confrontations in the average week, just in the normal course of business, than the average person does in a lifetime.  Most lawyers are comfortable with confrontation, and some learn to seek it out, to initiate it, some because they learn to need it, others because they see it as the shortest way through life.
    Woolf, I figured, was in the short-way-through group.  Sometimes, so was I.  “I don’t need your money, and I never heard of you before yesterday either.”
    “Fair enough, Slate.  So why are you here?”
    “ But I had heard of Don Kramer before he came to see me in Gulf Shores.  He brought this.”
    I laid the picture of Kris Kramer on the desk in front of Woolf.
    “She’s missing, and he asked me to find her.  Now he’s dead, but I intend to do what he asked me to do.  That’s why I’m here.”
    Woolf looked down at the picture of Kris Kramer and nodded several times as though he had confirmed something.
    “Do you have a business card?” he asked.
    I placed a card on the desk beside the picture.
    Woolf glanced at the card, looked up at me and nodded again.  “All right.  What do you want to know?”
    “ Did Kramer talk to you about Kris’s disappearance?”
    “ A little, yeah.  I knew he was going to see a new investigator he’d heard about from one of his law enforcement contacts.  I knew he was going to Baldwin County, so that must have been you.  He was frustrated with the local police, especially the campus cops.  Not sure why; I would assume they couldn’t find water in the river.”
    “ Do you think the girl’s disappearance and Kramer’s murder could be connected?”
    Woolf shrugged.  “Who knows?  Kramer was working night and day trying to find her.  We relieved him of all his duties here.  If you knew Kramer or his reputation, you would know he’d charge hell with a bucket of ice water if he thought it would help bring Kris back.  Maybe he had arranged an exchange with the kidnappers and it went badly.”
    “Is that what you think happened?”
    “ Again, Mr. Slate, I just do not know.”
    “ What was Kramer working on before she disappeared?”
    Woolf leaned away from the desk and crossed his fingers behind his head.  “Well, that.  I don’t think I can speak with you about legal matters the firm may be handling.  Sorry.  Our clients are off limits.  Privilege.”
    I nodded.  “Right.  But still, it’s possible, isn’t it?  Was Kramer working on any cases where he was getting any threats, any matters with criminal involvement?”
    “ Can’t tell you, Mr. Slate.  Won’t tell you.  Our clients expect their business to remain privileged.  It’s one of my jobs to see it stays that way.”
    “ Does the name Godchaux mean anything to you?  Michael Godchaux of New Orleans?”
    Woolf shook his head slowly.  “No.  I don’t think so.  But if it’s a witness or even a client, I would not necessarily have known details about what Kramer was working on, and even if I did, I could neither confirm nor deny that the name means anything to me.”
    Woolf’s face was absolutely blank.  He probably played poker well.
    I stood.  “Well, I hoped this would be more helpful.”
    I picked up the photograph and gestured at the card.  “Call if you think of anything that might be useful.”
    He was already out of his chair and showing me to the door.  He had me by seven inches.  I hate having to look up at people.
    “I wish I could help,” he said.  “I’d like to see Kris safe and sound, too.