Free The Heir Hunter by Chris Larsgaard Page B

they know that we don’t?” asked Arminger, not hiding his frustration. He looked to the pad again. “Alex Moreno, Lawrence Castleton. Merchant and Associates and General Inquiry.”
    “Have you ever heard of these outfits?” asked Gordon.
    “I don’t care who they are—I want to know why they’re getting involved.” He hit his intercom. “Carol, I need background checks on two individuals. Alex Moreno, out of Albany, New York, and Lawrence Castleton out of Los Angeles. The names are spelled just like they sound. I want full bios on their companies as well.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “The names are General Inquiry and Merchant and Associates. They’re in Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    He clicked the intercom and nodded at his chief. “This Jacobs business is getting interesting.”
    “Not for me,” replied Gordon, looking steadily at him. “You’re getting too wrapped up in this. I don’t want you going beyond these background checks until we get more answers.”
    Arminger frowned defiantly. “I don’t like being kept in the dark.”
    “Nor do I. I agree that it’s time we were briefed. I’m going to arrange a meeting back in Washington.”
    “I think it’s time, Arthur. We need to know. Ten or fifteen minutes, we’ll know exactly who these PI’s are.”
    “I’m delighted. But both of us need to be careful until I know more.”

CHAPTER

7

    A LEX HATED THE look. She used to draw it from him in college. It grated on her, that look of thinly veiled skepticism. After all those years, it still made her mad.
    “Don’t give me that little smirk, Nick.”
    “What are you talking about?” replied Nick, no longer smirking. He was leaning back on her kitchen countertop. “Why would I be smirking?”
    “You do it when you don’t believe me.”
    “Why would anyone follow you, Alex? Other than trying to get your phone number, I can’t think of any reason.”
    “It’s GI. They know we’re on this and they’re trying to see what we’re up to. You were probably being followed yourself—you just didn’t notice.”
    “As if that’s something I’d miss. Hey, I don’t necessarily see it as a bad thing if they were following you. Indicates to me that they’re as clueless on Jacobs as we are.”
    “I don’t like being followed.”
    “Take it as a compliment. If it’s them, they’re showing us respect. Too much, I’d say.”
    “What if it wasn’t them?”
    “Who would it possibly be if it wasn’t them?”
    Alex turned away, angry that she had no answer. She noticed the kitchen table behind Nick was covered with several small stacks of paper.
    “What’s all that?” she asked, pointing.
    “Jacobs’s mail. I grabbed it from his mailbox when I was looking around his house.”
    “Anything good?” she asked, taking a handful of letters.
    “Zero. About as boring as
my
mail.”
    She began to look through the little piles. “Did the neighbors know anything?”
    “Nope. Jacobs was the neighborhood outcast. Never talked to anybody.” He picked up a piece of mail. “I ran into the GI investigator out there.”
    “With the car, I hope.”
    “No such luck. Impression he gave me was that they weren’t exactly setting the world on fire either. Jackass made some smart quip: ‘You’ll never solve it.’ Like he was trying to bait me or something. I laughed in his face and drove off.” He dropped the envelope back on the table. “How’d it go with Bonnie?”
    “Not too well. She knew things, but she wouldn’t come out with them. I pushed her a little too hard and she threw me out.”
    “What do you mean ‘she knew things’? What was her relationship to him anyway?”
    Alex pulled a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator.
    “A friend. She knew him for two years. She kept talking about the IRS, how much she hated it. She got all bent out of shape when I asked her if Jacobs was connected to them somehow. Said she’d promised him she would keep her