ROY KINGMAN was sitting in the managing partner’s office that was only a bit larger than his space, though it did have a water view. Chester Ackerman was a few inches shorter than Roy, and he carried the heft of a man who liked his food rich and often. He had a horseshoe of graying hair around his broad head and a large nose with a bump at the end. Roy guessed he was about fifty-five, though he suddenly wondered why he didn’t know for sure.
Ackerman brought in far more business to the firm than anyone else. Roy had always found him sharp, tough, and big-voiced. Today, the man was none of those things. He sat across from Roy, his face sweaty, his hands trembling, and his voice low and croaky.
He wagged his head from side to side. “I can’t believe this shit. I can’t believe it happened. Here!”
“Just calm down, Chester.”
“How the hell am I supposed to calm down? There was a murder three doors down from my office.”
“And the police are investigating it, and they’re probably already running down some solid leads.”
Ackerman lifted his head and stared at him. “That’s right, you used to work down there, right?”
“Down where?”
“With the cops.”
“I was a defense attorney, so I was actually on the other side. But I know how the police work a crime scene. And this is high-dollar Georgetown, so they’ll pull out all the stops. Hell, even the chief herself was down here asking me questions.”
Ackerman blurted out, “Who do you think might’ve done it, Roy?” He looked ten seconds from stroking.
Roy said, “I have no idea who could’ve done it. I worked with Diane but I didn’t really know her personally. You were fairly close to her, weren’t you?”
“No, not really. I mean, she never really talked about her personal life with me.”
“You talked to the police?” he asked.
Ackerman rose and looked out the window, his hands fingering the striped braces he favored. They had gone out of style sometime in the nineties, only the man apparently hadn’t noticed or didn’t care. “Yeah. They asked me some questions.” He turned around to face Roy. “And I told ’em just what I’m telling you. I’m scared and I don’t know a damn thing.”
“It could just be random, you know.”
“Random, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Guy follows Diane in, kills her, and exits. Maybe it was a simple robbery.”
“But there’s a guard in the front lobby.”
“Ned’s more of a joke. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve come in the building in the morning and he’s nowhere to be found.”
“What the hell do we pay building fees for?”
“If you want serious perimeter protection, hire a real security firm who’ll send a trained person who carries a gun. The only thing Ned can do is whack an intruder with a frozen sausage biscuit.”
Roy popped up from the chair. “Is there anyone we need to call?”
The other man looked at him with a confused expression. “Call?”
“Yeah, like her relatives?”
“Oh, I’ve got folks doing that. Her father’s dead, but her mom lives in Florida, retired. Diane didn’t have any kids. She has an ex-husband, but he lives in Hawaii.”
“Did you just find that out?”
“What?”
“You said you didn’t know much about Diane personally, but you know all that.”
“I just found out!” Ackerman snapped.
Roy put up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay. That’s cool.” He headed to the door. “Do you mind if I take the rest of the day off? I don’t have anything critical pending and what with everything that’s happened.”
“No, sure, go on. Get some fresh air.”
“Thanks.”
“Roy, what was it like? Finding the body?”
Roy slowly turned around. “I hope you never have to find out.”