Lee held up the list. “Where did you get this?”
“Could we sit down?”
“If you like.”
He took a seat on the sofa, Lee across from him in one of the chairs.
“I’ll ask again. Where did you get this list?”
“A mutual friend gave it to me.”
“Who might that be?”
“Hank Reed.”
“And its significance?”
He chuckled. “You’re good.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, I understand you’re being cautious. Who could blame you? You don’t know me at all. You’re probably wondering if I’m wired or something.” He stood and rolled up his shirt. “See, no wires. If you want, I’ll be glad to drop my pants or you can just pat me down, whichever’ll make you happy.”
“That won’t be necessary. I get the point.”
He replaced his shirt and sat.
“Why are you here?” Lee asked.
“You have a serious problem that I can help with.”
“And what might that be?”
His tone hardened. Time to play the hole card. “The problem your dear departed ex-partner created with Brent Walker. So let’s cut through the crap, Hamilton. You don’t mind me calling you that, do you?”
Lee said nothing.
“Frankly, I don’t care whether you mind or not. I read that confession Bozin left Walker. Pretty revealing. You’re not a nice man. And by the way, it explains things clearly, including that list in your hand.”
“And how can you help?”
He got comfortable, spreading his arms across the back of the sofa. Now he was getting somewhere. “It’s lucky for you they came to me. So far, nobody knows anything but me, Reed, and Walker.”
“And you have what Bozin gave Walker?”
“Yep,” he lied.
“What is that?”
“A couple of handwritten notes, a flash drive, and a tape recording.”
“Tape recording?”
“You didn’t know about that? Seems Bozin taped a conversation among the three of you. Happened Thursday, I believe, in your house at Hickory Row.” He shook his head in mock disgust, then reached back and removed the recorder Brent Walker had surrendered to him from his pocket. He pushedPLAYand allowed it to run a couple of minutes. He’d already selected one of the more salacious points of the conversation. He stopped it. “Really incriminating stuff. You should watch what you say.”
“What are you proposing?”
“A partnership.”
