Home>>read Conspiracy Theory free online

Conspiracy Theory(143)

By:Jane Haddam


“Why should they?” Jackman asked. They were now in one of those parts of the city that were all overpasses and four-lane roadways and chain-link fences. “It would make sense to me that Alden would be there. Why wouldn’t it make sense to you? He was Tony Ross’s assistant, wasn’t he? Some kind of second in command?”

“A protégé, mostly,” Gregor said. “Yes, I know. And that was the opportunity and the problem at once. Alden had complete control of the Price Heaven account, and that meant of Price Heaven’s ready cash. He and Tony Ross were the only two people in a position to make use of that for personal gain. It’s always possible that we’ll find that Tony Ross was in on it, but I doubt it. He had too much money of his own. Thirty million doesn’t mean as much to a billionaire three times over as it means to the ordinary guy on the street. I should have listened to Bennis. She said something the first or second day about how there were always people around the rich who weren’t rich themselves but managed to live as if they were, and nobody knew how they did it. But you know, that’s not quite true, either.”

“I can’t believe you think Bennis told you something that isn’t true,” Jack-man said.

“I don’t mean she lied,” Gregor said. “I mean it’s not quite true that they live as if they were rich. What they do is appear in public as if they live as if they were rich. That’s Ryall Wyndham’s whole thing. He has great clothes—”

“Too bad he looks so awful in them. He looks like Porky Pig, Gregor, have you noticed that?”

Gregor ignored this. “The thing is, I never went out to Wyndham’s apartment to see him, but I do have the address written down. It’s not a good address. I know that neighborhood and I know the apartments you can get there. If his place is like everybody else’s, it’s a dump. He really can’t afford to live as if he were rich, so he doesn’t.”

“So?”

“So,” Gregor said, “David Alden does. Do you want to see the addresses I have down for him? The apartment in New York probably belongs to the bank. That’s not a problem. But he’s got a place in Rittenhouse Square, and that isn’t cheap. It doesn’t come close to cheap. So what’s he paying for it with?”

“Family money?”

“According to Bennis, no,” Gregor said. “That’s how we got onto that discussion about living as if you were rich. His family used to have money. He has an old Philadelphia name. He’s gone to the right prep school and the right college and all the rest of it. He’s got the right job, and he gets paid well. But if he’s keeping up that place on straight salary, I’ll almost guarantee you that he’s living paycheck to paycheck and that he’s probably in debt. That’s something you can check out, or Lower Merion can.”

“Do you ever do the conventional thing and arrive at theories after you’ve collected the evidence?” Jackman said. “You’re going to get yourself and whoever you’re working for in a lot of trouble one of these days.”

“Only if I try to make them act on what I don’t know yet, which I won’t. He’s an interesting man, David Alden. You should talk to him sometime.”

“If you’re right about all this, I’ll get my chance.”

“No, you won’t. You’ll talk to him through his lawyer, and you won’t get the measure of the man at all. But he is an interesting man. In a way, it’s a shame he’s a completely venal one.”

“That’s always a shame, Gregor.”

“Sometimes it’s more of a shame than it is at other times. Even if, as is usually the case, he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. He could have gotten away with it, you know. Don’t think it’s impossible to get away with financial fraud on a major scale. It happens all the time. If he’d been careful not to tip Price Heaven into bankruptcy, the chances are pretty damned good that nobody would ever have caught up to him. On one level, they’re all alike though, these guys. The need for money is infinite. Anyway, once the bankruptcy was inevitable, Tony Ross would have been required to step in and oversee the proceedings. He was David Alden’s superior. He would also, most probably, have realized without too much trouble that something was fishy about that account.”

“So David Alden killed him. Fine. Why didn’t he wait for a more opportune moment? Why not catch Ross at the golf club or somewhere? They had to be alone sometime, didn’t they?” Jackman asked.

“Of course they did,” Gregor said, “but David Alden knew he was going to kill Tony Ross from the first. He’s been setting up that murder for over a year. That’s why he became Michael Harridan. Don’t you get it?”