tell if it's been copied? No, you can't. Neither can I. So I pulled the files this morning, and I'm sending them to Chicago. They're gonna check 'em for fingerprints. Take about a week."
"He couldn't copy those files," Lambert said.
"What else would he copy, Ollie? I mean, everything's locked on the fourth floor and the third floor. Everything, except Avery's office. And assuming he and Tarrance are whispering in each other's ears, what would he want from Avery's office? Nothing but the secret files."
"Now you're assuming he's got keys," Locke said.
"Yes. I'm assuming he's made a set of Avery's keys."
Ollie snorted and gave an exasperated laugh. "This is incredible. I don't believe it."
Black Eyes glared at DeVasher with a nasty smile. "How would he get a copy of the keys?"
"Good question, and one that I can't answer. Avery showed me his keys. Two rings, eleven keys. He keeps 'em with him at all times. Firm rule, right? Like a good little lawyer's supposed to do. When he's awake, the keys are in his pocket. When he's asleep away from home, the keys are under the mattress."
"Where's he traveled in the last month?" Black Eyes asked.
"Forget the trip to see Capps in Houston last week. Too recent. Before that, he went to Grand Cayman for two days on April 1."
"I remember," said Ollie, listening intently.
"Good for you, Ollie. I asked him what he did both nights, and he said nothing but work. Sat at a bar one night, but that's it. Swears he slept by himself both nights." DeVasher pushed a button on a portable tape recorder. "But he's lying. This call was made at nine-fifteen, April 2, from the phone in the master bedroom of Unit A." The tape began:
"He's in the shower." First female voice.
"Are you okay?" Second female voice.
"Yeah. Fine. He couldn't do it if he had to."
"What took so long?"
"He wouldn't wake up."
"Is he suspicious?"
"No. He remembers nothing. I think he's in pain."
"How long will you be there?"
"I'll kiss him goodbye when he gets out of the shower. Ten, maybe fifteen minutes."
"Okay. Hurry."
DeVasher punched another button and continued pacing. "I have no idea who they are, and I haven't confronted Avery. Yet. He worries me. His wife has filed for divorce, and he's lost control. Chases women all the time. This is a pretty serious breach of security, and I suspect Lazarov will go through the roof."
"She talked like it was a bad hangover," Locke said.
"Evidently."
"You think she copied the keys?" Ollie asked.
DeVasher shrugged and sat in his worn leather chair. The cockiness vanished. "It's possible, but I doubt it. I've thought about it for hours. Assuming it was some woman he picked up in a bar, and they got drunk, then it was probably late when they went to bed. How would she make copies of the keys in the middle of the night on that tiny island? I just don't think so."
"But she had an accomplice," Locke insisted.
"Yeah, and I can't figure that out. Maybe they were trying to steal his wallet and something went wrong. He carries a couple of thousand in cash, and if he got drunk, who knows what he told them. Maybe she planned to lift the money at the last second and haul ass. She didn't do it. I don't know."
"No more assumptions?" Ollie asked.
"Not now. I love to make them, but it goes too far to assume these women took the keys, somehow managed to copy them in the middle of the night on the island, without his knowledge, and then the first one crawled back in the bed with him. And that somehow all of this is related to McDeere and his use of the copier on the fourth floor. It's just too much."
"I agree," said Ollie.
"What about the storage room?" asked Black Eyes.
"I've thought about that, Nat. In fact, I've lost sleep thinking about it. If she was interested in the records in the storage room, there must be some connection with McDeere, or someone else poking around. And I can't make that connection. Let's say she found the room and the records, what could she do with them in the middle of the night with Avery asleep upstairs?"
"She could read them."
"Yeah, there's only a million. Keep in mind, now, she must have been drinking along with Avery, or he would've been suspicious. So she's spent the night drinking and screwing. She waits until he goes to sleep, then suddenly she has this urge to go downstairs