Page 129 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective
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Airtight
worth holding here—or had convinced Labelle Gramercy that he was
worth far too much to be held.
“Listen,” he told the crew, “I’ve got to go meet with some
investors, but I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of your
achievement, and how sorry I am about Dr. Reath.” Then he let the
cat out of the bag. Human nature, I guess. “Now, that policewoman
is suspicious by nature, so she may give you the idea somebody
purposely put that insecticide in Laurel’s Ovaltine. But the whole
thing could just be a ghastly error of some sort, so don’t let yourself
get rattled when you go in there.”
That little speech, of course, had the effect of rattling everybody. I
wished he had been sent out of the building directly. Waldo, ever the
cynic, said, “Well, what about you, Ben? Why did she want to
question you?”
Our president was taken aback, momentarily speechless. He
recovered clumsily. “Me? Why, I’m in charge here, that’s why.
Anyway, I can’t reveal what was said in there. Kelly here will stay
with you and get you anything you need, won’t you, Kelly? Fine. See
you all tomorrow morning. We have a lot to do.”
And he was gone, just like that rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, late for
his important date. The residue of ill will he left behind was almost
palpable. I suddenly realized how much solidarity had built up among
the team members over the course of their voluntary incarceration,
and I felt strongly that I was an outsider.
Ray bit his nails as he talked. “So now it’s a murder investigation.
That so-called policewoman is really a homicide detective. Do they
really think we would kill one of our own people? What on earth for?
To ruin a year’s worth of work?”
“I hope they’re not looking for a scapegoat.” Blanche was doing a
bit better, anger pulling her out of whatever distress she had been in
earlier. “It’s easy for Ben to go waltzing out of here; he’s got an
airtight alibi.”
I held my tongue; no point in telling them about life insurance,
uncertain capitalization or that Labelle and I had seen Ben coming
out of the Ecodome after the team had been sequestered for the
‘debriefing.’
“Well, one of us has something to explain, anyway,” said Ray,
waving a self-manicured index finger in Toro’s direction. “We
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