Fighting Chance(25)
Tibor started. “But that—”
“Isn’t true?” George Edelson said. “Of course it isn’t true, but the record will be there all the same, and you can shout your head off about how you never asked for me. I’ll have a paper trail that says you did. So if you think you’re going to make another histrionic stand about your refusal of all legal help, don’t bother. You can’t win that fight, no matter what you do.”
“It is my right not to have a lawyer,” Tibor said. “I can fire you even if I never hired you.”
“That, I don’t care about. All I care about, all anybody cares about, is finding out what is going on around here. John Jackman has made it a priority. Do you understand that?”
“I don’t have to talk to you,” Tibor said. “I have the right to remain silent.”
“Would you prefer to talk to John directly? That would break another hundred and fifty regulations, but we can get it done.”
Tibor started to feel panicked and claustrophobic. He hadn’t felt claustrophobic in his cell. He felt claustrophobic here. “I don’t have to talk to you,” he said again. “I will not talk to John Jackman.”
“Would you rather talk to Gregor Demarkian? The office of the mayor has been in touch with Mr. Demarkian. He has returned to Philadelphia and is presently at his home. We could have him here in less than half an hour.”
Tibor nearly choked on that one. Krekor, for God’s sake. Krekor was the last person he wanted to see. Krekor was the last person he could talk to. If they ever got him into a room with Krekor, the whole thing would be over in a second.
George Edelson was one of those people who could go forever without talking. He sat in his seat and stared. He stared and stared. Tibor thought he was about to faint.
It would have been the perfect thing if he had been able to faint, but of course he couldn’t.
“Is this room soundproofed?” he asked.
George Edelson looked surprised. “What do you mean by soundproofed? I can tell you with assurance that it is not in any way bugged.”
“I didn’t ask about bugged,” Tibor said. “Could somebody standing outside the door listen to us?”
“Well, Father, I suppose he could. As far as I know, this room is not constructed to eliminate all levels of sound. But there is really nothing like that for you to worry about. It’s a very thick door. There are bookshelves filled with books on both the walls this room shares with other rooms. The best anybody could hear from inside this place is incohate noises.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tibor said. “If you don’t go away and leave me alone right this minute, I will start screaming at the top of my lungs until somebody hears the noises and has to come investigate. Someone will come to investigate. They will have to.”
George Edelson looked impressed. “You’re out of your mind,” he said. “You’re stark, raving bugshit. Don’t you know that people are only trying to help you? Don’t you realize that as things look at this moment, you’ve got a one-way ticket to the electric chair?”
Tibor folded his arms across his chest.
“I have the right to remain silent,” he said.
And he didn’t say anything else.
FOUR
1
Terry Carpenter’s business card was lying in the middle of Gregor’s place at the breakfast table when he finally got down to breakfast that morning. For a few minutes, he couldn’t remember what it was.
* * *
TERRENCE CARPENTER
Interagency Task Force on Mortgage Institutions and Practices
* * *
Gregor picked the thing up and put it down again and picked it up again. It was one of those government agency names that seemed to have been invented by gerbils.
It was early enough for them to go to the Ararat, but Bennis obviously wasn’t intending to go. There were place mats set out on the kitchen table and place settings as well, the heavy pewter ones that Bennis used for “everyday.” It was one of the things about Bennis that Gregor couldn’t help but wonder at. His family’s idea of “everyday” had been a cheap set of tin, and even his late wife’s had run to nothing fancier than stainless steel. This was the kind of thing people did when they’d grown up to be debutantes on the Philadelphia Main Line.
Gregor sat down and put Terry Carpenter’s card away from him, toward the middle of the table. There was orange juice already out in a tall crystal glass. There was coffee percolating in the machine on the counter. There were napkins folded under the forks. Bennis had once explained to him that it was never right or proper to put napkins in napkin rings. Gregor couldn’t remember why.