Free How to Succeed in Murder by Margaret Dumas Page B

membership card she didn’t get here until 10:47.”
    Brenda nodded slowly. “That seems like kind of a long time, if there was no traffic.”
    We looked at each other.
    “Check your watch,” Brenda said. “We’re going to Zakdan.”

Chapter Ten
    It took us sixteen minutes to reach the offices of Zakdan, Inc.
    Which left roughly half an hour of Clara Chen’s time unaccounted for.
    Brenda pulled to the curb across the street from the Zakdan building and squinted up through the drizzle. “There are still lights on.”
    “Morgan did tell us that people work late here. Look at how many cars are still in the garage.”
    There was a parking garage below the building, and we could see through the grating that at least a dozen cars were still there.
    “Hey, someone’s coming!” Brenda grabbed my arm.
    A thin man in a black raincoat had come through a door at the back of the garage.
    “An elevator must go straight down to the garage,” I said. “Can you tell who it is?”
    “I don’t know anyone at Zakdan,” Brenda said. “I haven’t even met Morgan—Oh! Charley! I do know who it is!”
    “Who? How?” She’d gripped my arm so tight I was losing circulation.
    “It’s the Chief Technology Officer! Oh, what’s his name? Lalit…Kumar! Lalit Kumar!”
    “It is?” I strained my eyes. “How can you tell?”
    “I got his picture off the internet when I was doing the research. Look! I’m sure it’s him!”
    Now that he got a little closer, I recognized him from the dossier Brenda had compiled on all the Zakdan execs.
    “I wonder what he’s been doing here until almost one o’clock in the morning.” Brenda was a little breathless, and she still hadn’t let go of my arm.
    “I don’t know,” I said doubtfully. “Working? Although when I think about people working all night at software companies, I assume it’s the programmers, not the executives.”
    “Me too.”
    “He’s getting into the Jag.” I watched him unlock the car and toss what looked like a laptop bag into the back seat. Then he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a cell phone.
    “Is he calling someone?”
    “No.” I squinted. “I think he’s answering.”
    “Who calls a person at one in the morning?” Brenda asked.
    “Stay here.” I was out the door before Brenda could yell at me, and I dashed across the dark, wet street as quickly and quietly as I could. I took a position at the bottom of the driveway, hidden by a concrete pillar, and peeked around through the bars of the electronic garage door.
    Brenda’s question was a good one. Who would call at that hour? And who would make Lalit Kumar as angry as he looked, now that I got closer and could see his face?
    The CTO was clearly not happy with what he was hearing. I couldn’t make out everything he said, but I did hear snatches.
    “No. No way.”
    “Forget it—I’m not getting involved.”
    “How dare you!”
    I took another peek at that, in time to see Kumar bring his fist down on the roof of his pricy sports car.
    “Dammit, this is the last time!” With that he slammed the cell phone shut and opened the door to his car.
    I sprinted back across the street to Brenda, gesturing wildly for her to start the car. I threw myself in the passenger’s seat, panting and dripping.
    “Quick! He’s leaving!”
    “Get down!” She ducked down and pulled me with her. The Jaguar’s headlights illuminated the interior of Brenda’s car as it pulled out of the garage. As soon as it was dark again, Brenda released her grip on me and scrambled to get moving.
    We didn’t even discuss it.
    We followed him.
    ***
    Brenda pulled a U-turn on Townsend and waited until Zakdan’s Chief Technology Officer had crossed Fifth Street heading south before she put on her lights.
    “I can’t believe you did that! What if he’d seen you?”
    “He didn’t see me,” I protested. “And I had to do it to find out who was calling him.”
    “Who was it?”
    “I don’t know,” I