61

“You come in too, baby.” Hathaway talked to Brenda like she was his pet. “Come on.”

“I’ve got work to do.”

“This won’t take long.” He winked at her, chomping at his gum.

Tom faced the brother. No tie today. Bankers dressed down the day before Thanksgiving, apparently.

“What do you want? I haven’t seen him. I’ll call you if I see him.”

“And good morning to you too,” Hathaway said. Tom heard the door close behind them. Hathaway ushered Brenda into the little circle they formed with Jason. He hadn’t moved from behind his desk.

Jason looked at Hathaway. “We’re trying to get some things done around here so we can take off for the holiday. What do you want?”

“You haven’t heard from him?” Tom asked.

“No. I would’ve called you.”

“Well, you won’t. He’s dead.”

A breath escaped from Brenda. Her hands clenched and went to her abdomen.

The banker laughed. People did that sometimes. “No way.”

“Trash men found him in an alley this morning about a mile from your house.”

His face started twisting. Here was what Tom wanted to see. Jason fell back in his chair and his head turned away. His top lip snarled upward.

“Well, lookie here.” Hathaway leaned forward to get a better look at Brenda. She tried to get away from him, but Hathaway caught her by the chin. “I told you, Tommy.”

“Get your hands off her.” The banker came out of his chair. Papers fell from the edge of his desk onto the floor. He was around the desk and ready to shove into Hathaway, but Hathaway chopped the banker’s arms away. He caught Jason by the shoulder, twisted him around and had his arm ready for breaking by the time he pinned his chest against the wall.

“I understand you’re in a state of shock, brother Dunn,” Hathaway breathed into the banker’s ear. “So maybe you’re not responsible for your actions. But you don’t want me to haul you in for assault, do you?”

Tom kept his eyes on the girl. She blinked away tears. Her arms folded across her chest and then fell back to her sides. She couldn’t seem to keep her feet still.

Again, Hathaway had been right about some kind of connection here.

Hathaway backed away from the banker and shoved him toward his desk.

Jason’s sport coat had been ripped at the shoulder. He looked down at it, stripped the coat off and threw it at Hathaway. “Why did you come here? What did you expect to find out?”

The girl wouldn’t look at them. Hathaway got in her face. “Trying to think about something else, aren’t you? Don’t want to think about Flip.”

“I don’t even know him. It’s Jason’s brother, that’s all.”

Tom looked close. “Just feeling sorry for your boss, is that it?”

She nodded. But tears brimmed her eyes.

Hathaway’s head shook back and forth, and a smile warped his mouth. “No, no, no.” He pointed at her face. “You knew him. Didn’t you?”

“She’s never even met him,” the brother said. He supported himself with the desk. Tom could see the anger draining from the banker’s face. “I’ve got to call my father.” The words came out vacant of emotion.

Tom and Hathaway watched as Brenda touched away a tear escaping from her left eye.

She lifted her chin and shook her head as if she’d just come out of the water. “Can’t you get out of here? Poor Jason’s just lost his brother. Don’t you have any decency?”

“How did you know him? His brother doesn’t think you did, but we know better, don’t we, Tommy?”

“Yes, we do. What was it you and Flip had going?”

The threat of tears was gone. It was as if she’d lowered over her face the veil of the character she played. The real woman was again replaced by the part of Brenda Tierney.

“I’m telling you, she doesn’t know him.” The banker returned to his chair. He lifted from the floor the papers that had fallen when he went after Hathaway. He stared at them for a long time.

Hathaway didn’t take his eyes off the girl. “Tell us about the real Brenda Tierney.”

For an instant, her guard dropped. Those green eyes betrayed fear. Then the veil dropped again. “You’re looking at her.”

“No, the real Brenda Tierney,” Tom said. “The one born in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania.”

Her eyes held. She didn’t allow them to shift. She was good, all right.

“We got your social. The one you used when you applied here. Your HR people really want to cooperate with us. That Brenda Tierney wasn’t born around here at all.”

“So I was born in Westmoreland. So what?”

Tom stepped in. “So how do you live in two different places? You’ve still got an address in Pennsylvania, and this address here in LA. What’s that about? And what’s the tie with Flip Dunn?”

“There’s no tie. My parents live in Pennsylvania. I went to school there. They still get some of my mail.”

Hathaway looked at her as if he were peering through a magnifying glass. “Tidy.”

She waved a hand. “You guys need another hobby. Jason, I don’t think we have to listen to this.”

The banker slouched in his chair. His eyes had the appearance of having sunk far into their sockets. “Get out.”

“Don’t you want to know where the body is?” Tom asked.

“No.” He blinked, seemed to regain something. “All right. Where is he?”

“Coroner’s. You need the address?”

“No.” He stared at the papers he’d picked up off the floor. “I have to call my father.”

Hathaway leaned into Brenda. “We’ll be in touch, baby.”

“I’m not your baby.”

Tom said, “They really want to cooperate with us. We’ve got your picture, your fingerprints. It’s just a matter of time until we find out who you really are.”

“Get a life.” She went to Jason. “You better call your dad. I’ll finish that up for you.”

He looked up at her. The papers drew his attention like something from the distant past. Things like a brother’s death had a way of dividing time into before and after.

The banker handed her the papers.