“She’s got the demeanor and self-assurance to be a lawyer, I’ll give you that,” Evie agreed. “But if she’s a lawyer, why underplay what she did for Estate Services with Nathan? Why not tell him she’s a lawyer? There are ways around attorney-client confidentiality; she’s not required to cover up a crime.”
“So, you’ve got a dying client who tells you about a hidden body. Maybe Lori doesn’t know precisely which building—the client didn’t give her an address, just described the place and said it was in Englewood. She mentions the problem to Ann, and Ann says, ‘Hey, I know someone who’ll be working in that neighborhood and I need a favor to solve what happened to his wife. Come to Chicago and help me out. You can look at solving your mystery while you’re here.’ Lori goes along, seeing Ann’s request as a valid reason to come to Chicago. As to Nathan, Lori didn’t tell Nathan she’s an attorney because he would stick her in legal affairs and Ann wanted her in a job closer to him—searching to find someone who had caused him problems and ultimately killed his wife.”
“That fits. I rather like it, in fact.” Evie reached for more maple syrup for her pancakes. “Now, who went from Chicago to Houston who would have information about a body concealed in a wall?” she asked idly.
David narrowed his eyes at the question.
Evie smiled. “Come on, go there too.”
David picked up on her subtle point and immediately protested it. “No way was I looking at someone with knowledge of the Witness Protection Program.”
“C’mon, the building fits—an old warehouse, a rough neighborhood? Card game. Gambling. Body in a wall. I’m thinking gangsters, organized crime. You said yourself it was likely a client who told her about the body. Somebody in Chicago who knew about that body went into WITSEC in the last six years, and got relocated to Houston. And that somebody in WITSEC told Lori about it. She used that knowledge and went whack whack with her hammer, gave cops the body.”
David laughed at the visual whacks Evie gave the air. “Maybe. It’s an interesting ball of twine you just rolled out.”
She nodded and stabbed another piece of pancake. “We need to ask Lori if a client told her about the body. It stands to reason that whoever told her was either the person who killed Saul or was involved in some other way. We’ll get a confession of the crime, even if secondhand.”
A server came by and refilled their coffee mugs. David nodded his thanks. After the woman had moved on, he offered, “You would think if all this shakes out as you’ve described it, Lori would simply tell us the story. ‘I heard this rumor in Houston from a client, decided to check it out since the building sort of fit the location he described. Wow. Body found. The client’s name was Joe Killer. I’m sorry, but the client is dead now.’ But Lori doesn’t say a word, just gives us the body.”
Evie grinned. “Exactly. It’s a WITSEC situation. That’s how she knows the truth. And why she can’t tell everything she knows. Maybe the guy who told her isn’t dead yet.”
“I agree it’s a theory worth a conversation,” David replied. “Do we talk to Ann first or Lori to figure out how much of this theory might be true and how much is us whiffing at a good pitch?”
“My experience with Ann is that she tells you what she wants to say and no more, so I vote we start with Lori.”
David nodded. “Lori it is. But first we do basic cop due diligence, see if Saul answers who murdered him with a photo on that camera, or a name in that notebook. We also need to check out what she told us about where she worked, when she moved here.”
“You’re spoiling my fun by wanting evidence.”
David was still chuckling as he signaled their server for the check. “Thanks for the mental detour, Evie—the brain-twisting what-if you just spun out, no doubt so I wouldn’t brood on the fact that my poor guy was buried in a wall.” He put breakfast on his credit card, handed it to the server.
“You’re welcome. But I wasn’t entirely filling time. I think it’s a reasonably good theory. Lori knew there was a body in that wall. It’s the only thing that really works.”
“We shall ask her just that, and soon. For now, let’s head back and see what the lab geeks might have for us. We need to dig into RB Electric. If we find out it was mob-owned, your theory gets even more interesting.”
Sixteen
“There are photos on Saul’s camera!” Evie slapped David on the shoulder hard enough to jar the coffee he held.