The Dirt Peddler by Dorien Grey Read Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t send it to his home because of his wife. I don’t have his home address anyway.”
    “And did you ever find anything to incriminate any Craylaw and Collier personnel?”
    He shook his head. “Oh, I never read anything I copied. That wouldn’t be right. Tony would just tell me which file he wanted and I’d find it and copy the whole thing.”
    I wondered if he knew it was Tunderew who had gotten him fired.
    “You’re no longer working at Craylaw and Collier, I understand.”
    He looked embarrassed, and again lowered his eyes.
    “No. I…I was fired . I think someone found out I was copying files, though they never asked me anything until later when the lawyers talked to me. When he found out I was fired, Tony went right to Mr. Craylaw to ask him to give me my job back.”
    “He did? How do you know that?”
    “Tony told me.”
    Dear God!
    “When did he tell you that?”
    “I ran into him in the hall when I came back to the office the next day to pick up some of the things I’d left.”
    “Were you aware that Mr. Tunderew is being blackmailed?” I asked, again watching closely for any reaction that might indicate I was wrong in thinking it wasn’t him.
    He looked truly shocked. “No! What for? Who’d do something like that?” He paused and then nodded his head up and down slowly, eyes narrowing. “I’ll bet it’s his wife! I heard that he finally filed for divorce. I’ll bet she’s trying to get even!”
    The guy had a good point. Now that I’d ruled him out, she’d be the next logical place to look. I was still amazed at how incredibly naive Fletcher was about Tunderew and what he was really up to.
    I couldn’t resist asking the obvious. “Didn’t you think it a little odd that after Mr. Tunderew had you do all that file copying on Governor Keene, he comes out with a book on the scandal?”
    He shook his head. “No…well, maybe a little bit at first, but I went to his very first book signing and waited for him afterwards until he came out, and I talked to him and asked him about it. He said the FBI had given him permission to use anything he’d found out about the scandal for helping them, except he couldn’t mention Craylaw and Collier because the investigation is still going on.”
    And the kid actually believes it! my mind said, incredulous. How can any one human being be so stupid?
    And the minute I thought that, I was ashamed of myself. It wasn’t a matter of being stupid, just a matter of seeing what one wants to see. Fletcher sincerely thought Tunderew was his friend, and that alone made me truly sad.
    There was one other thing I thought I should clear up, just for my own satisfaction.
    “Mr. Tunderew says he’s seen you at a couple of his book signings.”
    Fletcher nodded. “Yes, I wanted to be one of the first ones to buy his book, and I did have those questions for him, so I went to that signing I told you about. And then I went to Bennington’s opening of their new store in The Central to have him sign a copy to send to my folks. He was so busy, he hardly even had a chance to look at me.”
    Uh huh.
    I got up from my chair.
    “Well, thanks very much for coming in, Mr. Fletcher. I’ll let Mr. Tunderew know I’ve talked with you. And he told me to tell you to just forget about repaying the loan. He owes you a lot more than that.”
    Fletcher got up and followed me to the door. He was obviously delighted that Tunderew had been thinking of him. I was very glad he did not know in what way.
    “Please tell Tony hello for me, will you?”
    “I’ll do that.”
    Smiling, he left.

Chapter 3
    Jonathan showed up about five minutes after Larry Fletcher left, and we got on with our weekend. I was pleasantly surprised to find that from the moment I closed the office door behind me until I opened it again on Monday, I hadn’t given more than a total of five minutes of thought to my current case—largely, I’m sure, because other than my empathy for Larry Fletcher, I knew I