Winter Chill. Jon Cleary

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СКАЧАТЬ was handsome now, but one could already see the plumpness, like clouds of flesh, gathering around the cheeks and jowls, that would dim his looks and turn him into a fat middle-aged man. His voice was soft but reedy, unassertive, but at least his gaze was direct and Malone had the feeling he could be trusted. ‘I had only just begun to work with Mr Brame, to assist him personally, I mean. I’ve been with the firm four years, ever since I came out of law school, but I was in a section that Mr Brame had nothing to do with. Clients’ tax problems.’

      ‘How big is the firm?’

      ‘All told, I think we have about four hundred and fifty people on staff, including the partners and senior men.’

      ‘So what were you assisting Mr Brame on?’

      ‘Mr Brame handled half a dozen or so of our top clients.’

      ‘Such as?’

      Tallis named three corporations that even Malone, no student of American business circles, knew. ‘You’d know those, I’m sure, Inspector. There were others, not so public, but all of them highly capitalized. There were times – well, I – I was out of my league, the first month or so. Perhaps, like me, Inspector, you don’t realize how much hidden money – well, not hidden – unpublicized money there is in our country. Mr Brame, in a way, was – connected to a lot of wealth. Riches.’

      ‘No names, Adam.’ Joanna Brame smiled, but there was no mistaking the fact that she was warning Tallis.

      ‘Are you suggesting money might be behind his murder?’

      Tallis was abruptly cautious. ‘Well, no … I think we should wait till Mr De Vries arrives. He’s the other joint senior partner. I called him first thing this morning, when we – when we got the bad news. He was leaving immediately, as soon as he could get aboard a plane. Fortunately he was in Seattle on business, on the West Coast. I think I should leave him to answer all questions about the firm.’

      ‘Mr Tallis, we’re investigating a murder here. We don’t want the trail to go cold while we pay our respects to company protocol.’ Crumbs, he thought, I’m starting to sound like a lawyer, God forgive me.

      Joanna Brame interrupted, politely: ‘Inspector, I don’t think Mr Tallis is trying to obstruct your investigations. Though he was my husband’s assistant, he was not privy to everything that Orville would have been involved with. I know – knew my husband. He carried everything very close to his chest. I think it would be advisable to wait for Mr De Vries.’

      ‘Did he ever confide in you?’

      Her gaze, like Tallis’s, was direct. ‘No, nor did I encourage him to.’

      Why do I have the feeling I’m facing hurdles here? Is it because lawyers, even lawyers’ wives, can’t help blowing smoke? Or was it just a cop’s prejudice? ‘You mentioned Mr Brame had a brother here in Sydney. Were they close?’

      ‘No. Anything but.’ Well, that was a direct answer, no smoke there.

      ‘Have you ever met Mr – what was his name?’

      ‘Channing,’ said Clements. ‘Of Channing and Lazarus.’

      ‘Never,’ said Joanna Brame. ‘Their father, his name was Lester Brame, was in Sydney during World War Two. He was a sergeant in some company or something that spent all its time in Sydney. Having a good war, I think it was called. He met and married their mother. My husband was born in 1943, I think. His brother was born ten years later. In the years between, I gather, the marriage had been an on-and-off affair. Finally, my husband’s father went back to the United States – he was never a success here nor back home. My husband grew up and went to law school at Sydney University, then left immediately he’d got his degree and went to join his father. Lester Brame died the day after my husband graduated from Yale Law School. The brothers took sides in the marriage – it often happens. My – my brother-in-law took his mother’s name, Channing.’ She stopped suddenly, as if she had run out of breath, but it was surprise at how much she had revealed. She was, Malone guessed, not one given to opening family closets, not to strangers. He wondered if, though she was a lawyer’s wife, this was her first encounter with a police investigation. She reached for her glass, saw that it was empty but waved a dismissing hand when Tallis gestured that he would refill it for her. ‘I don’t think my brother-in-law would have a clue, as you call it, as to who might have killed my husband.’

      ‘I hadn’t suggested he might have, Mrs Brame.’ There was just a hint of stiffening in her face, but that was all. But Malone saw Tallis straighten up and he turned to him: ‘You thought of something, Mr Tallis?’

      ‘Well, no, not really—’

      ‘Try me. I’ll tell you if it’s something worthwhile.’

      Tallis hesitated, glanced at Joanna Brame, then looked back at Malone. ‘I saw two letters from Channing and Lazarus, both marked as strictly personal for Mr Brame. They came in in the last month. I gave them to him, but he never made any comment on them.’

      ‘Did Mr Brame ever dictate any reply?’

      ‘Not that I know of. He may have phoned his brother, but I wouldn’t know about that. You’d have to check the office switch records.’

      ‘Or he could have called from home?’ said Clements, who had been taking notes.

      ‘He could have,’ said Joanna Brame. ‘He often made business calls from home.’

      ‘Has Mr Channing been in touch with you since you arrived?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘That’s odd, don’t you think? He’d know of the murder. Common courtesy should have made him call you.’

      ‘He wouldn’t know I’m here. He may have called Mr Zoehrer or someone else from the Bar Association.’ She seemed unconcerned at her brother-in-law’s lack of interest. ‘When may I take my husband’s body home?’

      ‘That will be up to the coroner, Mrs Brame. The police can ask for a delay, but I don’t think there’ll be any need for that. Not if we get co-operation and we find the murderer soon.’

      2

      ‘You have only a faint resemblance to Orville.’

      ‘I’ve got my mother’s looks,’ said Rodney Channing. ‘Orville always looked like our father.’

      He was as tall as Orville had been, but thicker-set. He was better-looking than Orville, but his looks were fleshy; he had thick wavy hair with streaks of grey along the temples; he wore a medium-thick moustache that was already grey. He had smooth, almost unlined skin, and she wondered if he used lotions on it, something Orville had never done. He had Orville’s eyes: dark, giving nothing away, waiting for the other man (or woman) to tell secrets first.

      He had phoned just after six, a few minutes after the two detectives had left. ‘I’ve only just learned you are here. I’d have called earlier if I’d known.’

      He had said Mrs Brame? when she had answered the phone, but he had given her no name at all after that, not even now, ten minutes after he had entered the suite. They were strangers, not even linked by a common surname.

      ‘Did СКАЧАТЬ