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time.”
    Karen looked at her. “You don’t
sound particularly enamored of our Mr. Holland.”
    “I’m not.”
    “Because….”
    Kelly moved back from the table
and swiveled her chair to face Karen. “Let me put it to you this way. I told
you Craig is basically a decent man underneath his ambition and his love of
money. I can’t say the same thing about Richard Holland, unfortunately.”
    “Oh?”
    “His late father worked for Mr.
Jarrett in the early days. Before my time, of course, but I know that Mr.
Jarrett kept in touch with the widow and her son. After graduation, Richard
showed up here, and Mr. Jarrett found a job for him.”
    “What was that all about?”
    “I don’t know. I asked the same
question. Mr. Jarrett said I didn't need to worry about it, so I took the
hint.”
    “You think there was something
hinky in their relationship?”
    “I think Mr. Jarrett probably felt
bad about Gerald Holland’s passing and likely made a promise to look after the
boy’s welfare. I also think Richard has taken advantage of Mr. Jarrett’s
generosity to an extreme.”
    “You don’t think he deserves to be
a VP around here?”
    “He’s clever, but I think he’s
over-achieving at this point.”
    Karen studied her for a moment
before nodding. “All right.” She glanced at Hank. “We’ll probably want to talk
to him sooner, as opposed to later. Is he here right now? At the press
conference?”
    Kelly shook her head. “He had a
meeting with several important contacts this afternoon at the Woodfern Golf and
Country Club.” She glanced at her watch. “Mr. Parris told him to keep the
meeting, rather than reschedule it. He’s likely still there. Would you like me
to call and tell him to wait there for you?”
    “No thanks,” Hank said, “that
won’t be necessary. If you could give us his cell number, we’ll call him
ourselves.”
    Kelly recited the number from
memory. Hank wrote it down.
    “Now, as for that timeline Mr.
Byrne mentioned,” he went on, “we’ll need you to put together everything you
have from his schedule, everyone he met, plus everyone you’re aware of that he
had contact with who wasn’t on the schedule. Go back a week for starters. We need
to get a sense of his routine to see if there were any deviations from it that
need explaining.”
    “Understood. I’ll have it for you
right away.”
    “Thanks very much for your time,
Ms. Kelly. We may have some other questions for you later.”
    When she didn’t respond, Hank
looked up from his notebook. Kelly’s face was turned away from them. Tears were
streaming down her cheeks.

 
    7
    They left through a rear entrance
at the bottom of the emergency staircase to avoid the backpack journalists
hanging around the front of the building. A short alley took them into a small parking
lot behind Jarrett Tower. The parking lot was set off by a low cement wall
topped with black tube railing. The parking spaces were filled with vehicles.
Horvath was waiting for them, sitting on the railing, the heels of his wingtip
brogues hooked for balance under the lower tube. When he raised the cigarette
to his mouth, Hank saw his hand tremble slightly.
    “I thought you quit,” Karen said,
putting her boot up on the lower railing beside him.
    Horvath blew smoke toward the tiny
patch of blue sky visible between the towers. “So did I.”
    “You’re going to get your ass
dirty on that railing.”
    Horvath stared at his cigarette.
    “What did Drussler have to say?”
Hank asked.
    “He’s pretty shook up,” replied
Horvath. He figures this’ll finish him in the business.”
    “Good guess,” Karen said.
    “A cousin of mine works in
executive protection.” Horvath looked at her. “He tried to get me to come in
with him when I graduated, but I was stuck on being a cop, so I didn’t. He
likes to talk to me about the work whenever we see each other, family
gatherings, funerals, you know. He doesn’t have a lot of people he can talk to,
I guess, so