“And the lawyer’s name?”
Nash had known that was coming, but Temple would see any signal he could make to Parker.
“I don’t remember offhand.”
“I’m sure you have it on some piece of paper somewhere. We’ll wait.”
Parker rose unsteadily, and with a furtive look at the man she hurried off.
Temple immediately said, “She’s lying her ass off. She knows the guy. Right?”
“She’s definitely uncomfortable,” Nash said quietly.
“This might be our big break.”
“But what can the lawyer tell us?”
“Who knows? But we’ll let Steers know what we think, and she can have her guys tear this place apart and interrogate Parker. They’ll make her spill.”
“Rhett, you want to unleash Steers’s goons on that poor woman?”
“No, I don’twantto. But I’m not looking to end up in the water with concrete shoes or have Steers do to my neck what she already did to my arm.” He added spitefully, “And she doesn’t call meRhettsan, Dillon. You may be in her good graces, but she’ll crush me.”
“Well, let’s at least talk to the lawyer first before we unleash the hounds of hell.”
“Fine, but the lawyer will probably tell us nothing. Attorney-client privilege crap. But Steers can make him talk, too.”
“Don’t you think the police have already talked to both of them?”
“Maybe. And both of them could have lied.” He eyed Nash with a look of distrust. “If I didn’t know better, I’d start thinking that you don’t want us to find Nash.”
“You knew the guy, I didn’t. I have no skin in that game. But what I don’t want to do is give Steers a lead and an expectation of success that goes nowhere. That would not be good for either of us, regardless of the ‘Dillon-san’ stuff.”
Temple’s suspicious look faded. “Yeah, she can be a real bitch about things like that. Expecting the impossible and if you come up a bit short, you lose an arm or a leg or both. We’ll talk to the lawyer first.”
Parker came back in with a piece of paper and handed it to Temple, who looked at it.
“Morton Dickey? Okay, great, thank you.” He took out a wad of cash and held it out to her. “For your troubles.”
“No, I. . .I don’t want your money.”
Temple looked at Parker like she had lost her mind. After glancing around once more at the modest interior he said, “O-kay, your choice.”
They walked out and got back in the Range Rover.
Temple said, “Let’s go see the lawyer.”
“Rhett, it’s after eight. He won’t be at his office.”
“Oh, I lost track of time. Okay, drive me back to my place. You can have some dinner and say hello to Mindy and the kid.”
Nash drove over to the Temple estate and followed the man inside.
“Time for a drink,” Temple remarked. “I sure as hell need one. A big one.”
CHAPTER
53