“Exactly, Doctor. What else motivates those losers but control?” said Karski. “Do I sound bitter? Maybe I do but that’s after working in D.C. for years.” He shook his head. “If only we could elect people who don’t want the job.”
Milo said, “Martha was all about work.”
“That’s what I observed. Petite little thing, she gave off this hummingbird energy.”
I said, “Did she hang out with anyone on her side of the room?”
“Hmm,” said Karski. “You know, Doc, now that I think about it, I don’t think so. The others were guys and they’d go out together but if they included her, I never saw it. Not that she seemed to mind. Just threw herself into her work, did that desk-straightening thing, and went home.”
“What aspect of the investigation did she work on?”
“Couldn’t tell you,” said Karski. “Which shows you how pathetic the whole thing was. We were given assignments by His Majesty and that’s what we stuck to. The Bureau was clear we shouldn’t make waves.”
Milo said, “What kind of assignments?”
“Ours was going through the numbers. We were all trained in forensic accounting.”
Milo said, “You said Martha interviewed POIs. So our guys worked the offender angle.”
“Your guys seemed to be doing some sort of fieldwork, because they were in the office a lot less than us. Come in, talk on the phone, leave. Sometimes they’d return, sometimes not.”
“But Martha spent more time in The Wasteland.”
“That she did,” said Karski. “From what I saw she mostly did desk work but occasionally I’d see her take someone into the interview room. So maybe the others trawled the POIs and handed the catch over to her.”
I said, “Given her homicide experience, that would make sense.”
“Maybe.” Karski edged forward. “As I’m talking about this myignorance is starting to hurt. I mean here was a supposedly big-deal investigation and none of us really had an overall picture.”
I said, “Like the atom bomb. Built in Chicago, D.C., Manhattan, Lawrence Livermore, and other places. So no one would know too much.”
Karski laughed. “Excellent analogy, Doc, because this thing sure bombed.”
Milo said, “The people Martha interviewed. Any idea who they were?”
“I assumed employees of the firm. And Alberts’s wife, she came in looking miserable. They all did. But turns out Alberts was a one-man scam machine, no one else worked the fraud so no one got charged.”
Milo showed him a photo of Michael Heck.
Karski said, “Who’s that?”
“Heck.”
“Yeah, he was there. I remember him because he came in with a lawyer which made me wonder, Does this guy know he’s been a bad boy? But like I said no one materialized as a suspect except Alberts.”
“Who was the lawyer?”
“Some female. Cute, looked too young to be practicing but she had that lawyer look about her—scanning the room, accusatory looks. You know, lawyer bullshit.”
Milo scrolled his phone but I was already there with mine, showed him a photo of Bettina Bel Geddes.
Karski said, “Yup, that’s her. Back then, she was blond. Platinum, you know? The Marilyn thing. Come to think about it, maybe a wig. Though why a young chick would need a wig, I have no idea.”
He returned the phone.
Milo said, “She’s still his lawyer.”
“Long-lasting relationship?” said Karski. “So maybe more than just business?”
