Taking the Fifth(73)

“Yes, yes. He said we’d have to hurry to get to the bank before it closed. He said to be ready, that he’d pick me up and fly me to Bellingham so we could be there before the bank closed at six.”

“And did you make it?”

“Yes. We were at the bank about twenty minutes before six. I got the stuff out of the safety deposit box and handed it over to him. There must have been twenty envelopes in all. It seemed like that many, but I don’t know exactly. I didn’t count them.”

“What did Wainwright do with them? Did he show you what was inside?”

“No. He sent me home in a cab. We had taken a cab from the airport into town. He said he’d take charge of the evidence, see that it got into the proper hands.”

Mrs. Grace Simms Morris paused to blow her nose. Over the phone, it wasn’t exactly a ladylike sound. I’m sure she would have been embarrassed to know she sounded like a foghorn trumpeting in my ear.

“I still don’t understand why you’re so upset,” I said.

“Just wait a minute. I’m coming to that. The cab dropped me off at my house. There was so much mail piled up that I didn’t feel like looking at any of it right away. I went around the house and opened windows and unpacked and started a load of wash before I picked up the mail.”

She had been rushing forward. Now she paused, as if to draw breath.

“Have you ever gotten a letter from someone after they’re dead?” she asked. “I mean, a letter someone wrote before they died, and you didn’t get it until after you knew they were gone?”

“I guess I have,” I said. “At least once.”

“It’s a weird feeling, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I agreed.

“Well, when I finally sat down to do the mail, there was an envelope from Richard, one that he had mailed on Wednesday afternoon. I knew it was from him because of the handwriting, and for a long time I couldn’t bring myself to open it. I just sat there and held it. Finally, I had to open it, had to know what it said.”

“What did it say?”

“There was no letter, just a note telling me to put this away along with the other stuff at the bank.”

“This what? What was it?”

“A tape. A cassette tape.”

“So what did you do?”

“I was a little angry at Mr. Wainwright,” she confessed. “I mean, it would have been polite for him to at least show me what was in those envelopes after I had kept them for all that time. But he didn’t bother. So I decided to listen to the tape. I wanted to know what it was that Richard was doing. I needed to know. Can you understand that?”

“Yes. So did you listen to it?”

“Yes.” Her voice dropped. Her answer was almost a whisper. “It’s him,” she said. “Wainwright.”

“Tell me,” I commanded.

“I heard these two men talking. They said nobody had to worry about getting caught, since Wainwright was running the show. I’m scared, Detective Beaumont. What should I do with this tape? What if he comes back here looking for it?”

My mind was racing. “Does he know you have it? Did you call him?”

“No. I wanted to hear it first, and then, afterward…”

“You’re sure they were talking about drugs?”

“Do you want me to play it for you?”

“We can try it.” She tried, but I couldn’t understand what was being said. There was too much interference. “Just repeat it for me in your own words,” I told her. “Tell me what it says as best you can. Can you make out any names?”

“Yes, I think so. One seems to be named Dan, and the other is Ray. Yes, that’s it.”

“Shit!” I said.

“Pardon me?”

“Never mind,” I said. “I just sneezed.”

“I don’t understand this, but first Dan asks if the setup is working, and Ray says yes. That she’s gone out with all the dealers, and that when they pull the rug out, it’s going to look as if she was doing it all on her own.”

That has to be the comps, I thought. So it was a setup. The whole thing. Maybe even the whole tour.

“After that, that’s when one of them says Wainwright’s a genius. You know, I rode all the way home with that man in a plane. I almost got sick when I heard that.”

“Me too,” I echoed. “What else?”

“Then they talk about the money, lots of it, and then later, they say that with Wainwright running the show, nobody had to worry about what L.A. was doing. That’s it.”

I tried to keep my voice calm. “You’re sure that’s what they said: ‘With Wainwright running the show’?”