“Oh, brother,” Michael said, and I suspected he was wiping tears from his eyes. “And you know Rob isn’t in any hurry to let the chief know that he’s not a martial arts master. Right now, he’s probably enjoying being prime suspect.”
“I’m sure he is,” I said. “But sooner or later, he’ll panic when he realizes the chief is serious. So I’d like to make sure the chief looks at some other people.”
“And you’re going to pick on anyone who’s a martial arts expert.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “Apart from me - and I’m certainly no expert, even when I have both hands in good working order - Jack Ransom’s the only other person I can think of who seems to have done any real martial arts training. And I don’t know that he’s an expert; he just doesn’t seem quite so clueless as everyone else around there. Maybe I’ll see if I can get the chief to pick on the other Bruce Lee wannabes.”
“You have others, besides Rob?”
“Tons of them,” I said. “Mostly because of Rob. It’s monkey see, monkey do around here; as soon as they see Rob’s interested in something, they all jump on the bandwagon. Ever since Rob took up karate, they’ve all been trying to join studios, wearing gis, and waving around nunchaku and shurikens. That’s probably where the shuriken the police found came from, anyway. It was probably just lying on the mail cart, nothing to do with the murder.”
“Why do I not find that reassuring?” Michael mused. “That you’re spending your days in a place with lethal weapons just lying around on the mail cart? I don’t suppose I could convince you to come out here after all?”
“I thought you liked the idea of me staying here, keeping my eye open for a house.”
“Oh? Have you had a lot of free time today for househunting? For that matter, have you had a lot of free time for anything since the minute you walked into that crazy place?”
“It’s bound to get better, now that we’re in the new office,” I said. “At least it will once all the fallout from Ted’s murder is over with. And then I might actually have time to read Living Graciously in a Single Room. Which isn’t going to be as helpful as you’d think.”
“Why not?”
“Most of these single rooms are giant lofts with panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline or the San Francisco Bay. So much for Mother turning practical.”
“At least she’s trying.”
“Trying too hard, if you ask me,” I growled. I, flipped the book closed and added it to the two-foot-high stack of decorating books that we were using as an end table. If Mother didn’t stop sending books soon, we’d have to start building a second end table. Or perhaps a room divider. I was beginning to dread checking the mail and finding yet another large, flat parcel, I thought - and that jogged my memory.
“Hang on a second,” I said. “I just remembered something I need to do first thing tomorrow; I want to jot it in my notebook.”
“Things to do today,” Michael intoned. “Number one, find a new receptionist. Number two, find Ted’s killer.”
“No way,” I said. “I just want to remember to call the company that supplies the mail cart. The police impounded the one. we had, so I need to get them to bring over another one.”
“So finding Ted’s killer moves to number three.”
“No way,” I said.
“I thought that’s the whole reason you were there,” he said. “To find out what’s wrong in the company.”
“And fat lot of good I’ve been at mat,” I said.
“You haven’t figured out anything that could account for Rob’s worrying?”
“All I know is that if there’s a problem here, it isn’t financial,” I said. “And I can’t even take full credit for that; Mother did as much as I did.”
“Your mother?”
“I know everyone thinks she’s a financial bantamweight, especially anyone who’s seen her in action as a shopper, but she’s actually pretty financially savvy.”
“Yes, especially when it comes to telling other people what they should do with their money.”
“Precisely,” I said. “So after I’d looked over the books, I reminded her that any financial malfeasance at Mutant Wizards would ultimately reduce the dividends she received as a stockholder and got her to do the same thing.”