The Price of Greed

CHAPTER 36

The microwave buzzed and Jarlayne moved sluggishly to the kitchen and took out the pasta dish. She set it on the counter and then poured herself a glass of wine, retrieved a pre-made salad from the fridge and sat down at the kitchen island to eat. Hood's theory popped into her mind and she chewed on that for a few minutes along with her pasta then got up and found a large pad and a pencil and sat back down, thinking.

The thinking centred on Hood and not his theory. Deep down she knew that there would have to be a reckoning, a summing up of the situation she had allowed herself to drift into. Mike flashed in her thoughts and she felt her eyes water at the memory. Did she really need this again; another cop?

The wine disappeared and she refilled her glass as she scribbled some doodles on the pad, expanding slowly until the entire page was filled with meaningless signs and shapes... and a couple of stains from tear drops. Her dinner finished, she carried the pad and the wine glass to the living room and curled up on the sofa, tearing off the doodled page and staring at the new blank space.

After a while she began to feel something stirring in her gut. Hood's theory began to take; it made perfect sense considering the players and the known facts. She tried to imagine how it all worked and found her head beginning to ache. Using the tried and true technique, she divided the page into columns and titled each one with a suspect then entered the known facts about each. When the page was full again, she began correlating the information in the different columns using Hoods basic theory.

Gloria, on Charlotte's recommendation, exploited Milo French's appetite in her plan to steal the software data. Lady Nightwalk uses her knowledge to help Gloria recruit Milo. She wrote the sentence under Charlotte's column. Why would she help Gloria? Milo steals the codes and delivers a copy to Grover. He doesn't know Grover is Gloria's brother. She circled the last part of that line and drummed the pencil on her lips. Victor suspects(?) Gloria is fooling around. Somebody tells him? He hires Derrick Cutter to find out.

She shook her head, thinking what a can of oil that was to add to the mix. Cutter sees a greedy opportunity to make some fast money and braces Milo. Milo panics and tells Gloria, who devises a scheme to neutralize Cutter. In turn he tries Gloria directly and is thwarted again. Not really a credit to the profession, Derrick, Jarlayne thought with some amusement. Grover calls Victor and makes his threat. Presumably they negotiate. The pencil drummed again and her brow creased with uncertainty. It was time for more wine.

She padded out to the kitchen and filled her glass, noticing the time. Hood was on the griddle tomorrow she knew and she felt a gnawing ache for his dilemma. He was a good cop according to the bio she had guiltily gone over once again. One misstep and a career dissolves like sugar in tea. She returned to the living room and settled once more with her notes.

Cutter admitted planning to try his extortion on Grover but said he didn't get the chance. True? She looked at Charlotte's column and made a mouth. Why would she help Gloria? The question burned. Grover calls me and says he needs my help. I investigate, so what kind of help could I give? Did he want to use me to scare Cutter off? Somebody else? Who?

Jarlayne glared at the clock and sensed a wave of helplessness. She was getting nowhere and in a short time Hood would be facing his captain empty-handed. Why did somebody kill Milo? What was the threat from him? The codes. Did Milo kill Grover and take the codes back? Who would know unless he told someone? The questions piled up and the lack of answers grew proportionately.

Jarlayne reread her scribbling and then shoved the pad aside. Theories are fine but they have to be proven. Maybe she should have talked to Hood when he called. She finished her wine and pouted at the room. More to the point, maybe she should have listened to him.