Page 132 of 56 Days
Karl rolls his eyes. “You’re right. I’m sure we’ll find her in no time.”
Lee drums her fingers on the desktop, thinking.
“Why are you so determined to find a crime here?” Karl asks. “We’re not going to get any blowback. There’s one relative who lives on the other side of the world and he wants all this kepthush-hush. Laura Mannix knows she’s dodged a bullet and will be on her best behavior from here on out with this—she’s not going to be a problem either. So let’s just tell the Super our thinking is that it was an accident but we’ll have a look for this Ciara woman, sure, and we’re waiting for toxicology to confirm, but beyond that...” He turns up his palms. “What else is there to do?”
“I just feel like we’re getting swindled somehow,” Lee says. “Like someone is offering us abrand-newcar for a bargain price and assuring us everything is aboveboard. Weknowit can’t be true, but the car seems fine, so we can’t quite put our finger on where the lie is.” She sighs. “Let’s say he did turn off the water by himself. Fine. But why was his girlfriend using apay-as-you-go phone? When did you last meet a twentysomething who wasn’t onbill-pay? They need unlimited data for all their, I don’t know,tick-tockingand stuff.”
Karl snorts at this.
“And isn’t it a bit convenient,” she continues, “that not only is the phone disconnected now, but that their communications stopped, what? At most three or four days before he died? And then you have the fact that the entire apartment was wiped clean, the door was unlocked and... What was that other thing? Oh yes, he was aconvicted child killerwhose identity was protected, with a journalist on his tail.”
“But he wasn’t murdered,” Karl says.
They both sit in silence for a moment.
Then Karl says, “Can I throw something crazy out there?”
“You’ve never asked my permission before.”
“What if thereisno Keyser Söze?”
Lee looks at him blankly. “What’s that?”
“Seriously? Lee, yourpop-culturereferences are alloverthe show. You give out to me for not knowing that Louise Lane woman—”
“Lois.”
“—butyoudon’t knowKeyserSöze?”
“I know we’re meeting the Super in fifteen minutes, Karl. That’s whatIknow.”
“What if thereisno Ciara?”
“But there was. He was texting her. And Laura met her.”
“He was textingsomeoneand Laurasaysshe met her. Look, I’m not saying there wasn’t a girlfriend. I’m not saying Oliver didn’t think her name was Ciara. But what if that was—drumroll please—actually our friend Ms. Laura Mannix?”
Lee tries to push aside herbrain-meltingexhaustion to consider this.
“It fits,” Karl continues. “And it would explain the convenient timing of the end of their relationship and why she’s not answering the phone now. Laura poses as Ciara to get close to St Ledger. St Ledger roofies himself and drowns in a puddle of shower water. Laura goes to the apartment, discovers this, freaks out because she thinks he did it on purpose because he found out who she really was or whatever, and she’ll get the blame, so instead of reporting it, she cleans the place down and leaves. Sends that text message to make the”—Karl makes air quotes—“girlfriendgo away. Waits for him to get whiffy enough for someone else to call it in and then worms her way into our investigation because getting some juice on that is the next best thing. Tells us she didn’t speak to him—again, convenient—but that shedidtalk to his girlfriend. I mean, come on. You have to admit it all fits.”
“Maybeyoushould write a crime novel,” Lee says. She chews on her lip, thinking. “It’s not acompletelycrazy idea, but... she must be ten years older than him.”
“So? Guys in their twenties love that shit. And she’s hot.”
“Oh, sheis, is she? Good to know your mind was on the case, Karly boy.”
Karl grins. “Mymindwas.”
“Why do I always feel like I need a shower after I talk to you? Can you stop sexualizing our witnesses, please?”
“I mean, she definitely has thatI-might-wake-up-tomorrow-morning-to-find-her-standing-over-me-with-a-knife energy, but yeah. And, hey.” He holds up his hands. “Ciara. Laura. They both end ina.”
“I’m just going to forget you said that last bit.”
“I’d appreciate it.” Karl nods solemnly. “Not my best work.”
“Laura as Ciara. Ciara as Laura...” Lee leans back in her chair and resumes her absentminded swiveling. “It’s not theworsttheory you’ve ever had, but that’s not saying much now, is it?”
