“Paula, you busy?”
“Do I look busy?” Paula asked, covering the mouthpiece of the phone cradled between her chin and neck. “Let me call you back,” she said to whoever was on the other end and hung up the phone. She crooked her finger at Leo and said, “Actually, come in, I need to talk to you.”
“Good, I need to talk to you about something, too.”
“Look, Leo, I was happy to let you dig around a little with this Lee thing. Who knows, you might find something we missed, right? But it’s got to stop. Right now. Officially, there is no case. There never was. I want you to let it alone.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Of course I’m sure. I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, or what kind of impression you’re giving people, but this was never your case. There was never a case, period.”
“Did something happen?”
“Yes, something happened. That Hunter bitch had the nerve to call me.”
“Anne Hunter?”
“Do you know another one? She has somehow gotten the impression you’re working a murder case. Any idea how that could have happened? Do you miss the old glory so much that you’d put my ass on the line to see your name in the paper again?”
“Anne Hunter is no friend of mine. She crucified me in the press. You know that.”
“The thing is, if this gets in the papers, Bob is going to come gunning for me for going behind his back. It all stops now.”
“Sure, whatever you say, Paula. But before I leave, I’ve got someone here I’d like you to meet.”
Leo opened the door wider and ushered in a young woman in a white sundress.
“Paula Manning, I’d like you to meet Violet Perkins. Violet has something she’d like to tell you.”