“So whatever caused him to change his name happened between 1994 and 1996,” Susan said. “Are you ready to talk with Epstein yet?”
“No.”
“The FBI has considerable resources. They might be able to fi nd out a little about Bradley Turner.”
“Do I tell you how to shrink the loonies?” I said.
“Wow,” Susan said. “I’ve never heard it described that way.”
“One of the women I talked to told me I was fun,” I said.
“She has no idea,” Susan said.
We were quiet for a moment listening to the soundless distance between us.
“I miss you,” Susan said.
“I know,” I said. “I don’t like this either.”
“How soon?” Susan said.
“I got a guy to talk with tomorrow. Then maybe I can come home.”
“Good.”
“Who’s with you now?”
“Chollo and Vinnie are downstairs in the study. Hawk is in the living room with Pearl reading the New York Times from this morning.”
“I wonder who’s reading to whom,” I said.
51.
Fred schuler was still in business. He had an offi ce on Ontario Street, near the Justice Center. He must have been doing okay because it was a nice office, with a reception area, in a good building . . . with a secretary.
“Have a seat, brother,” Schuler said.
He was tallish and lean with white hair and bright blue eyes.
“You had a job tailing someone named Bradley Turner,” I said.
“In 1994. His wife apparently thought he was cheating on her.”
“I tail a lot of husbands, for a lot of wives,” he said. “And that was a while ago. What’s this about?”
“Murder case in Boston. I think this guy Turner killed a couple of people. He was using the name Perry Alderson.”
“How come you’re involved?” he said.
“I was hired by one victim to check on the other.”
Schuler nodded.
“And they both got killed?” he said.
I nodded.
“I feel like I shouldn’t let clients get murdered without doing something about it,” I said.
“You been a cop?” he said.
“Yeah,” I said. “You?”
“Nope. I was an insurance investigator and sort of drifted into this. Mostly divorce work. Good money, a steady stream of clients. Not a lot of heavy lifting.”
“Most adulterers aren’t too hard to catch,” I said.
“You got that right,” Schuler said.
“How about Turner?” I said. “You remember him?”
“Not off the top of my head,” Schuler said.
“You have fi les?” I said.
He grinned at me.
“Files and someone who knows how to use them,” he said. He went to the door and stuck his head into the reception area.
“Honey,” he said. “You want to see what you can find in the fi les on a Bradley Turner, around 1994?”
He came back and sat down at his desk.
“Wow,” I said. “This is like a private eye movie. A nice offi ce, a secretary you call honey?”
“That’s her name,” Schuler said. “Honey Schuler.”
“Relative?”
“Wife.”
“Ah,” I said. “She on salary?”
Schuler grinned again.
“No,” he said. “I am.”
Honey came in with a file folder and put it on Schuler’s desk. She was attractive, stylish and silver-haired, with an ornate wedding ring. She smiled at me and went out.
“Married long?” I said.
“Forty-two years,” Schuler said.
“And you like it.”
“Being married?” Schuler said. “To her? Best thing ever happened to me.”
He picked up the fi le folder and looked through it. I waited.
“Yeah,” he said, “I remember this guy.”
He took a photograph of Perry Alderson out of the folder and held it up. I nodded.
“That’s him,” I said. “How long were you on him?”
“About a month, I think.” Schuler shook his head. “In my line of work you see some cockhounds, but this guy. Whoa!
Different woman every day, sometimes more than one. Made me tired just watching him.”
“Got pictures?”
“I don’t know that it’s good for business if I just empty out the whole bag for you.”
“I know,” I said. “What we say here stays here.”
“Like Las Vegas,” Schuler said.
“Sort of.”
“No insult, but how do I know I can trust you?” Schuler said.
“You don’t, but the other alternative is I make one phone call and the FBI will descend upon you like the wolf upon the fold.”
“What’s their interest?” Schuler said.
“One of the vics was an agent,” I said.
Schuler was silent for a moment.
“And they don’t know about me?” he said.
“Not yet,” I said.
He smiled and took a smaller brown envelope from the folder and handed it to me.
“I’ve decided to trust you,” he said.
“Oh good,” I said, and began to look at the photographs. It was Alderson all right, and a number of women, several of whom I’d interviewed, including Claire Goldin. Checking into hotels. Coming out of motels. Holding hands. Dining together.
“It’s all coming back to me,” Schuler said. “One of the babes made me. Brother was a cop. Cincinnati, maybe. Or Toledo, I don’t remember which. He called me up and ragged on me. Wanted to know why I was following his sister. He made reference to coming to Cleveland and kicking my ass.”
“And?”
“And nothing. I explained what I was doing. Promised not to include his sister.”
“But you kept her photo?” I said.
He smiled.
“So maybe I’m not entirely trustworthy,” he said.
“How did the case end?” I said.
“Right after that. Routine. I reported to Mrs. Turner. She paid me. Never saw either of them again.”
“You didn’t have to testify?”
“Nope. I called her once to follow up on that. Phone was no longer in service.”
“You have her address?”
“The original one. I assume she moved.”
“I’ll take that,” I said. “And her fi rst name.”
“Anne Marie,” he said.
He wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to me.
“And the FBI?” he said.
“Mum’s the word,” I said.
52.
T he address was in Laurel Heights, about eight miles out from downtown. It was a big Tudor revival house with a broad lawn, and a two-car garage, and a couple of big trees out front.
“My name is Spenser,” I said to the woman who opened the door. “I’m looking for Anne Marie Turner.”
I gave her my card. She looked at it, looked at me, and didn’t invite me in.
“They haven’t lived here for years,” she said.
She was a big-boned blond woman who looked as if she might have grown up on a dairy farm.
“How long?” I said.
“Oh, God, when did we buy this house,” she said. “Ten years. Eleven this summer.”
“You bought it from the Turners?” I said.
“Yes,” she said.
Then she smiled.
“Actually,” she said, “not exactly. We bought it from the bank.”
“The bank foreclosed?” I said.
“I guess. I don’t know the details. My husband does most of the money stuff.”
A cluster of small brown birds landed suddenly on the big lawn and began pecking about in the winter grass. I wondered what they found in there. Grass seed? Insects? Were they actually eating? Or just going through the motions? And did it matter. Maybe in the big scheme, but not in the small one I represented.
“Do you know why the bank foreclosed?” I said.
“Nonpayment, I assume,” she said. “Phil told me we got a good deal.”
“Phil is your husband?”
“Yes. Phil Karras. I’m Flora.”
“Do you know where Anne Marie went?” I said. “Or her husband?”
“No,” Flora said. “No idea.”
“And the bank?” I said. “Do you remember the bank you bought from?”