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“Yesterday You and Mom were unavailable, so I stuck with an impersonal list I felt I should talk to you before I went any further This is bound to be uncomfortable for you No matter how tactful I am, I’m bound to piss off some people with my questions”
“I don’t really give a darab a pad and pen “I piss people off every day And that’s just by doinga book deal I was nearly killed If our neighbors and the building staff can’t deal with your probing, then screw them”
“I agree,” Matthew concurred instantly
“Then that’s settled” Rosalyn pulled her chair close to Matthew’s and put the pad and pen on the table in front of him “It’s easier for you to write We’ll break this down by categories: neighbors, service people, building staff That’ll make it easier for Sloane”
“That would be great, thanks” Sloane noticed that her mother didn’t mention friends or acquaintances in her breakdown list Thatin that direction If she was, she would have confronted Sloane head-on Maybe it was better that way Let her parents focus on the path she’d planned on the anyway Later, if it caly possibility that one of their friends—or partners—was the acco
If it came down to it
Sloane extracted a few sheets of paper fro “The FBI faxed me a copy of the police report It details all the people they interviewed after the break-in Take a look at it, see who’s applicable, and I’ll start with them while you write up your list”
“We will” Curbing his apprehension, Matthew took the police report and glanced over it “As far as I’m concerned, you can talk to all these people Roz?” He showed the report to his wife
She nodded “Go for it”
“Okay” Sloane took back the list and headed for the front door “I’ll check back in a little while”
Armed with a handful of people to interview, Sloane took the elevator down to the lobby Might as well start on the ground level and work her way up She stepped outside to talk to the doorman, and winced when she saas on duty Bernie Raskin This was going to be tough Given that her parents had sublet their apartht back in when they returned, Sloane had known Bernie for a decade He was a gentle, polite sweetheart of a guy, as always s and never had a bad word to say about anyone Sloane could nothan she could a boy scout
Regardless, she couldn’t exclude anyone The good neas that Bernie hadn’t been on duty the night of the burglary So she wouldn’t be i his character with her questions On the other hand, he had a tight friendship with the other three door basis He was bound to resent any iuilty of this
Well, she’d known this wasn’t going to be fun Nevertheless, it had to be done
She took a deep breath and approached Bernie
Diagonally across the street, eating a hot dog and ostensibly scanning a college textbook, was a young Asianlike every other New York college student Except that on his right ary aron tattoo