Fidelity by Thomas Perry Read Free Book Online Page B

Hall said, “That was what-twenty years ago?”
    “I’m keeping the agency open. It’s not because ever since I was a little girl I’ve wanted to hunt down deliverymen who file fake disability claims. It’s because my husband’s dead and I still have to pay the mortgage. I would like it if the four of you would stay.”
    April’s lips moved as she counted the others: one, two, three. There didn’t seem to be anybody else. “You mean me, too?”
    The men watched Emily closely. “Of course I mean you, too,” she said.
    “Oh.” April seemed unable to fathom how she got included. She was mired in thought.
    Ray Hall said, “Emily, this isn’t a good idea. We still have no idea why Phil was murdered. It’s been a week, and the police don’t seem to have a theory, either. There’s no guarantee that whoever did it won’t try to kill someone else who works here. This could be more than unprofitable. It’s probably dangerous.”
    “I told you, Ray. I don’t have any other choice. You’re right that this could be some psychotic who has a grudge against the agency, or it could be someone who hates the world and wants to kill everybody in it. I won’t blame anyone who doesn’t want to keep working here, but I would love it if you would stay. Anybody who doesn’t want to stay, please come back in a couple of weeks and we’ll see what I can do to pay what I owe you. At the moment, I just don’t have the money.”
    Ray Hall said, “I was just giving you my best advice. If you want to try to keep the place going, then of course I’ll stay and try to help.”
    “Right,” Dewey said. “Me, too.”
    “I still need another year of hours for my license,” Bill said.
    Emily moved past them to the outer office and set her stack of files on April’s desk. “April, if you’re staying, here’s something to do. These are all cases that are closed, and the client owes money. I want you to call them all, and here’s what I want you to say. Mr. Kramer has passed away and his heir is in negotiations to sell the agency. Since material produced in any investigation that hasn’t been paid for remains the property of the agency, the files will be included in any sale. If you can’t remember it exactly, write it down and read it to them.”
    “But what if they pay?” April asked.
    “Then the files belong to them. When their checks clear, we’ll FedEx them.” Emily turned and walked back toward Phil’s office.
    April looked at the files doubtfully. “What are you going to do?”
    “I’m going to look for more money we can collect. If I can scrape up enough, then you’ll all get a paycheck this week.” She stopped at the door to Phil’s office. “If the rest of you are staying, see about completing the ongoing investigations, so we can bill for them.”
    Ray Hall hesitated, then sat at his desk and pulled a file out of his right-hand drawer.
    “Not you, Ray. You just finished the Stevens case, right?”
    “Almost. I just have to go show him what I’ve got and hand him the bill.”
    “Do it tomorrow morning, and then I want to put you on a new case right away.”
    “Who’s the client?”
    “Me. I want you to find out who murdered Phil.”

6
    Jerry Hobart had been in Las Vegas for five days now. He had told Tim Whitley to put the hotel bill on his credit card, and so, if Hobart wanted to, he could probably stay until Whitley’s card got maxed out. But he sensed it was time to move out of the Venetian.
    Having a sense of how long things were supposed to last was important. Parties ended, and the last one to leave might get stuck explaining the mess. He unlocked the safes in both closets, collected his two hundred thousand dollars, and packed the money in his suitcase. He filled out the express-checkout form as Tim Whitley and told them to leave the charges on the credit card, then dropped it in the box on his way out of the hotel at eleven in the morning.
    He was feeling better today than he had felt for