Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #2: Books 5-8 (A Dead Cold Box Set) Blake Banner (read out loud books txt) 📖

“Detective Stone, may I offer you a hot drink? Please come and sit in front of the fire. Or perhaps you would like to go and dry off in the restroom?”

I approached the fire. “Thank you, Mr. Lee. We won’t keep you.”

“That was quite a coincidence, your breaking down right in my driveway.”

I sat and gave him my most blank stare. “About as much of a coincidence as your returning from your travels on the very day we come looking for you.”

“Touché. I understand you want to ask me about Dave.”

“Yeah, just a couple of questions. When did he give you his article and his laptop?”

He stared at me for a long moment, then frowned and swallowed. “Excuse me?”

I repeated very deliberately, “When did he give you his article and his laptop, Mr. Lee?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, detective. Dave never gave me any article or any laptop. What makes you think he did?”

I frowned. “You were his attorney.”

“So?”

“He was a very cautious, suspicious, security-conscious man. He didn’t give it to Bob Shaw…” I shrugged and shook my head. “So I assumed he gave it to you.”

He gave a small laugh. “That’s a pretty big assumption, detective. And a mistaken one. In fact, I had started to distance myself from Dave some time before he died.”

Dehan put down her cup on the coffee table. “Oh, why’s that?”

He sighed. “To be perfectly honest, he was starting to grate on me.”

She scrunched up her brow. “Grate on you? What does that mean?”

“He was a class A narcissist. He thought the entire universe revolved around him, and treated people accordingly. I had known Dave and Samantha for a few years. I liked her. She was a good person and frankly deserved a damn sight better than Dave. I got tired of the way he treated her.”

I asked bluntly, “Were you in love with her.”

He laughed. “Oh no, you don’t! No, I was not in love with her. I just liked her. And he was an ass. And when I heard that he had shacked up with that girl…”

“Katie O’Connor?”

“Yeah, Katie O’Connor.”

“Who told you he’d shacked up with her?”

He blinked at me a few times. “Well, um, he did.”

“How come? I thought he’d gone off the radar.”

His eyes flitted around the room for a moment, then he gave a small laugh. “It’s a long time ago. I don’t remember the details, but as I recall it, he had just had this girl move in with him. He called me and we met for coffee…”

Dehan interrupted him. “What for?”

“Excuse me?”

“What did he call you for?”

“To have coffee.”

I sighed. “What my partner means, Mr. Lee, is that David had gone undercover. He was immersed in his investigation and typically, when he was doing that, he would not contact anybody at all. So what made him contact you at that time, aside from having coffee?”

He thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I honestly don’t recall.”

“And that was the last time you saw him alive.”

“Yes, I suppose it was.”

“You suppose it was?”

“It’s a figure of speech, detective. It was in fact the last time I saw him, alive or otherwise.”

“Did he at any time give you any indication of what his article was about?”

He shook his head again. “No, he never discussed his articles with me. That was between him and Bob.”

I nodded. “I just have a couple more questions, Mr. Lee, and then we’ll leave you in peace. Back then you specialized in intellectual property rights, is that correct?”

“Sure.”

“That must be a very lucrative area of law.”

He smiled. “Very much so. When you think about the kind of properties you’re dealing with.” He spread his hands. “Star Wars, Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter… You are talking about hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of dollars’ worth of property every year. And the property is all ideas! Whom do those ideas belong to? Well, that’s where I come in, to help the judge decide.”

“I see, yes. Well, that kind of answers my second question. Why does a reporter need a lawyer?”

“Oh, sure! With a journalist, not only are you dealing with intellectual property rights, but also libel. You have to be very careful as a journalist. You are treading a very fine line.”

Dehan was smiling at the fire. She knew what was coming next. I made appreciative noises and said, “Wow, yeah. On a paper like the Telegraph that’s pretty important. You must have saved his bacon a couple of times.”

He gave a self-deprecating smile. “More than twice.”

“And here’s the thing that confuses me, Mr. Lee. How could you help him, if he never discussed his cases with you?”

He froze. Then after a moment, he laughed. “Kudos, Detective Stone. Well played. Naturally he discussed his cases with me. And as his attorney those discussions were, and are, covered by client confidentiality. I did not discuss his last article with him because, as I have explained to you, by then I had started to distance myself from him.”

Dehan spoke up suddenly. “How well do you know Shelly Pearce?”

He pushed out his bottom lip and shrugged. “Our paths cross occasionally, socially.”

I added, “How about Carol Hennessy?”

He looked surprised. “Senator Hennessy? Hardly at all. Again, our paths cross from time to time…”

I stood. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Lee. As you see, it really wasn’t worth hiding from us.”

“I assure you, that was not my…”

Dehan stood and cut across him, “But next time, you might be wise to!” He looked at her in alarm and she laughed and slapped his shoulder. “Just kidding, Jackson. Thanks for the coffee. See you