Gage called Viz as he again drove along False River.
“He’s panicking,” Gage said.
“Did you tell him you knew Charlie’s Pegasus company was the source of the money that went into his house?”
Viz was parked at the service station near the phone booth Karopian had used after Gage’s first visit.
“I decided there’s no reason to let the other side know we’ve gotten that far. Anyway I didn’t need it to push him over the edge. Are you set up?”
“About fifteen yards from the phone. Where you gonna be?”
“Meet me at the fruit stand outside of Oakley.”
A half hour later, Viz drove up to where Gage was sitting at a picnic table in the shade. Gage reached into a paper bag on the bench next to him and handed Viz a Coke when he sat down.
Viz slid over an iPod.
“How’d you get it?” Gage asked.
Viz smiled. “The parabolic microphone you bought me.” He pointed at the new roof-mounted light rack on his Yukon. Black protective covers were fitted over two of the headlight-sized fixtures. One concealed the mike. “I have a little remote control in the cab.” His smile widened. “You bought that, too.”
Gage slipped in the earbuds, then pressed play. The first sound he heard was the Delta wind swirling into the phone booth, then footsteps, then the rustling of clothing, then a metallic snap, then tapping. Then a voice: Karopian’s.
“It’s me.”
…
“Gage came back. He knows what really happened.”
…
“How should I know? Maybe he… Oh shit.”
Gage gave Viz a thumbs-up. Karopian must have just remembered he’d referred to “fresh” welds. Gage hadn’t used the word, never even hinted about when he believed the pressure release had been welded over. The use of the word was Karopian’s inadvertent admission that he’d known that the corroded pressure release device had been welded over, and it had been done just before the explosion. He therefore had known it had been the new weld that had failed.
“Nothing… I just bumped my elbow.”
…
“Look Anston, I don’t know what else he knows. That’s where he left it.”
…
Another thumbs-up. Marc Anston, Brandon Meyer’s old law partner. The link Gage was looking for and the reason for his long drive out to the Delta.
“No. I didn’t tell him anything except the party line.”
…
“What’s the statute of limitations on this stuff?”
…
“Then there’s nothing he can do to us?”
…
“Slander. That’s right. It would be slander if he said something.”
…
“Yeah. I’ll let you know if he comes back.”
Gage removed the earbuds and handed the iPod back to Viz.
“Marc Anston is too smart a lawyer to think the statute of limitations has run on this,” Gage said. “Unless he’s forgotten he conspired to cover up a corporate murder.”