Roarke to let him know she was back, then wrote and filed her report.
While waiting for him she did what she hadnât had time to do all day. She started her murder board.
When it was done, she sat, put her feet on the desk, sipped coffee, and studied it.
Bart Minnock, his pleasant face, slightly goofy smile, rode beside the grisly shots from the crime scene, the stills from the morgue, and the people she knew connected to him.
His friends and partners, his girlfriend, the sad sack Roland, Dubrosky, DuVaugne. She scanned the list of employees, of accounts, the financial data, the time line as she knew it and the sweepersâ reports.
Competition, she thought, business, ego, money, money, money, passion, naivete, security. Games.
Games equaled big business, big egos, big money, big passions, and the development thereof, big security.
Somewhere along the line that security had failed and one or more of the other elements snuck through to kill Minnock.
âI heard you made an arrest,â Roarke said from behind her.
âNot on the murder, not yet. But it may connect. Theyâll push this project through, this game, without him. Not just because itâs what they do, but because they wouldnât want to let him down.â
âYes, itâll be bumpier, and there may be a delay, but theyâll push it through.â
âThen whatâs the point of killing him.â She shook her head, dropped her feet back to the floor. âLetâs go take a walk through the scene.â
6
SHE LET ROARKE DRIVE SO SHE COULD CON-TINUE to work on her notes, determine who among those interviewed needed a second pass, and who she still needed to contact.
âIâve got a buzz out to his lawyerâon vacation. Sheâs cutting it short and Iâm meeting with her in the morning. She was a friend,â Eve added. âShe seems inclined to give me whatever I need, and already outlined some basic terms of his partnership agreement and will. Nearly everything goes to his parents, but his share of U-Play is to be divided among the three remaining partners. Itâs a chunk.â
âAre you thinking one or more of them decided to eliminate him so theyâd have a bigger slice of the pie?â
âCanât write it off. But sometimes money isnât the whole deal.â Money, she thought, was often the easiest button to push but not the only button. âSometimes itâs not even in the deal. Still, I canât write it off. You said theyâd probably have some bumps and some delay in getting this new game out, but theyâre going to reap a whirlwind of publicity so it seems to me when it hits, itâll hit big. Would that be your take?â
âIt wouldâand it will. Even though we have a similar game and system about to launch, itâs a considerable leap in gaming tech. And theyâll have a lot of media focused on them due to Bartâs death, and the method. Itâll give them a push, but for the long haul? Losing him is a serious blow.â
âYeah, but some donât think long haul. And conversely, from a competitive standpoint, if you cut off the headâliterally and figurativelyâyouâre banking that the delayâs long enough to give you time to beat the jump. They may be partners, and all bright lights, but Bart was the head. Thatâs how it strikes me.â
âIâd agree. And, if itâs business? It feels more like competition than any sort of bid for splashy media attention. I canât see that, Eve.â
Maybe not, she thought, but it was a by-product. âWhat do you know about game weaponsâthe toys used in a game, vid props, replicas, collectorâs items.â
âThey can be and are intriguing, and certainly can command stiff prices, particularly at auction.â
âYou collect.â She shifted to study his profile. âBut you mostly collect real.â
âPrimarily, yes.
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