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XXI
The Fourth Thursday
Every human relation is to some degree a power relation. We move in a world of perpetual strategic relations.
Michel Foucault
Charlie woke feeling good; he realized that he'd slept very well. His talk with Milford had settled a number of points in his mind. Now the question was what Bolster and DeVries had learned from Smythe. Should he wait for her to call or call her? No, that would be pushing it. He'd wait.
Charlie got to the department early. Jodie was there but Phoebe had not yet arrived. He went for coffee and pastry and was soon back in his office. He went through his email, dealing with most of it, which were questions from students. Then he tried to do some preparation for the next class, but he grew more distracted as time passed and the phone didn't ring. Finally, at a little after eleven, DeVries called.
"Charlie, just wanted to fill you in but also we need some help."
"I'll do what I can. What happened?"
"Well, we spoke with Mr. Smythe last night. He wasn't too happy about being grilled so late, but he was cooperative. He's travelling with an assistant, and that takes care of one more name on our list, but the assistant is very junior; more a bag-carrier and coffee-fetcher than anything else. Anyway, what matters is that Smythe is in Kingsford to discuss the purchase of some rare books, but he never met Dr. Wilson or Mr. McKay and didn't know who they were. It seems he's been dealing with a Mr. John Sawyer. They spoke twice on the phone while Smythe was still in London, once again when Smythe arrived here a few days ago, and then again just the day before yesterday. Sawyer told Smythe that there had been a hitch but he would deliver the books in the next few days. Smythe has given him until next Wednesday, then he's going back to London."
"Their only contact was on the phone?"
"Yes, but one-way; Sawyer called him. Mr. Smythe recognized the list of books when we showed it to him, though he said that there should be two copies or editions of three of the books listed. Apparently, his main interest is in one pair of copies, both of which are annotated. He wasn't willing to discuss the amount of money involved but he said it was substantial and that he wouldn't have come himself but for his special interest and the amount involved. The question we have for you is if you have any ideas about who this Sawyer might be?"
"I don't know the name; it looks like there's someone else involved. I thought so."
"We're going to continue checking out the names. It's possible that this Sawyer came to Kingsford from somewhere else. What you could do is talk to people who knew Dr. Wilson and see if anyone recognizes Sawyer's name. Dan and I will do that, too, but not yet. We think you might do better because people tend to get defensive when questioned by detectives."
"Okay; I'll do what I can and get back to you."
After hanging up Charlie wondered where to start. He supposed the obvious place was with Jodie and Phoebe. They might have taken calls from Sawyer to Barrett.
On his way to lunch Charlie asked Jodie and Phoebe if either had ever met or taken a message for Barrett from a John Sawyer. He drew blanks; neither recognized the name, though Jodie said she was pretty sure Barrett had had a student named Sawyer the previous year because he'd had to do a grade-change. A quick check on the computer showed it to have been a woman name Marjorie Sawyer, so that was that. Charlie stopped in the TA office on his way to the club and found Pullen there. She had no idea who John Sawyer might be.
On the off-chance, Charlie asked several people at the club table if they knew John Sawyer. No one did. Charlie walked back to his office and sat brooding for a while over a thought that had been sparked by what initially seemed a trivial coincidence: the initials, J. S. John Sawyer; Jack Shwayder. He called Milford.
"This is Charlie Douglas. Sorry to bother you again, but the police have been asking me about a certain John Sawyer. Do you recognize the name in connection with Barrett or McKay?"
"Sawyer? No, that's a new one. Please understand, though, that aside from the students at the parties and one of his colleagues, I never met anyone Barrett knew other than Chet. As for Chet, he never brought anyone to the apartment."
Somewhat surprisingly, Charlie had a productive afternoon. He was able to finish his preparation for the Monday seminar, worked a bit on a paper, and spent a fruitful forty-five minutes with one of the students who seemed newly fascinated with Foucault. At a quarter to five he packed up and went home.
"Sandovals."
"Good; suits me just fine. Are we going to walk or take the car?"
"Charlie, what's the point of living where we do if we're going to drive a few blocks to a restaurant? We'll walk. On the other hand, it's cold. We'll drive. Let's leave a bit after six; I've got some stuff to finish."
At the restaurant Derek had their table ready and Charlie ordered a bottle of pinot noir. Over dinner he told Kate about his talk with DeVries.
"Sawyer? I wonder who that is. Do you think Barrett or McKay had an accomplice?"
"I think it's likelier that Barrett had a go-between to deal with Smythe. I don't think he'd want to be identified as involved with the books. But I have a rather crazy idea. Suppose Shwayder is Sawyer. Barrett might have brought in his buddy to take the books to Smythe, probably for a share."
"Charlie, you're really suggesting Shwayder shot Barrett, aren't you?"
"Maybe."
"But why would Barrett drag Shwayder into the deal in the first place? And if he didn't want to be connected to the sale of the books, why would Shwayder be any more willing? Or why didn't McKay take Smythe the books? McKay could be gone the next day. Look, let's work this out. Order us some espresso or a brandy or both."
Charlie signaled to Derek who was at their table in a moment.
"Derek, we'll need a couple of double espressos and two brandies."
"Okay, now consider this: Barrett went to his office that day to meet this Sawyer and show him the books. That's the likeliest bet, whether or not Sawyer is Shwayder.
"And if the books had been there, there would have been no need for Sawyer to search McKay's apartment and Barrett's and Milford's houses."
"Right, right. How about this. Barrett didn't have the books with him, or maybe had one or two. He demanded half the money up front or held out for more. Sawyer gets pissed off and shoots Barrett, assuming McKay has the books."
"Would Sawyer know about McKay? And what about him getting the drop on McKay? Surely McKay would have been suspicious after Barrett was killed."
"Both good points."
"Charlie, are you forgetting Milford and Hamilton? Or are they out of the running? One of them could have been working with Sawyer. That'd be one way for him to find out about McKay and where he lived."
"That's good, but of the two I'd go for Hamilton. I think Hamilton is the brighter of the two and she's better at conning people; part of her job. And I'm still wondering about her and Shwayder."
Charlie was surprised to realize that his espresso was finished and his brandy nearly so. Looking over he noticed Kate was keeping pace.
"Refills?"
"No. I've had enough. Let's go home."
When they got home Kate said she was tired and sat down to read. Charlie couldn't let it go and continued musing about where Shwayder might fit into the killings. But maybe his dislike of Shwayder was getting in the way; perhaps Shwayder didn't fit. All Charlie had was that Shwayder had gone out with Hamilton and that he had the same initials as John Sawyer. That really wasn't enough. Sawyer had to be himself or someone else. Neither Barrett nor McKay could be the voice on the phone to Smythe because Smythe had heard from Sawyer after Barrett and McKay were dead.
"Charlie! Aren't you coming to bed?"
"Yes; in a bit. I'm just finishing something."
One thing that bothered Charlie was why the mysterious Sawyer had shot both Barrett and McKay before getting the books. The apartment and house searches didn't make sense if the killer had gotten the books. Just then the ph
one rang. Charlie looked at his watch; it was eleven-forty.
"Hello?"
"Dr. Douglas. It would be beneficial to your health to stop digging into your colleague's death. Stick to your own business."
The dial tone jolted Charlie into realizing that the caller had hung up and that he was standing there holding the receiver. He immediately dialed star-six-nine and was given a number he recognized as a cell-phone from the prefix. He wrote it down to give to DeVries and then dialed the number. He let it ring some twenty times but there was no answer.
Charlie's reaction to the menacing call was a mixture of anger and concern. The call had taken less than ten seconds but it had quite an impact. Charlie had never been threatened before; certainly not in this manner, and he immediately thought of Kate. She was obviously also in danger. Then questions started popping up. How had the caller known what he was up to? Who of those with whom he'd spoken had told the caller? And the voice… There'd been something odd about the voice. He went upstairs to tell Kate.
"Charlie, you have to call DeVries!"
"I will, but not tonight. I understand it's a threat, but there's something else. The voice. It sounded…odd, hollow; it didn't sound natural. It's sounding odd made me think that there are voice-disguising gadgets. Suppose whoever called me used one, and suppose he also used one when talking to Smythe?"
"You mean to disguise his voice for Smythe, too?"
"Yes."
"Well, I guess it'd be so that neither you nor Smythe could identify the voice again or for you not to recognize him if you've spoken to him before."
"But that's just it; you're assuming it was a man. Suppose it was a woman that called Smythe and me. Suppose the use of the gadget was both to prevent being recognized and being recognized as a woman. If the killer is a woman, it was a good way of passing herself off as a man named John Sawyer."
"You're thinking of Hamilton!"
"Precisely. This threat could be another - and bigger - mistake."
Unable to wait, Charlie booted his laptop and Googled "voice changer" and "voice distorter" and found several sites offering both software and hardware to change one's voice. The legality of the hardware gadgets seemed iffy, but they obviously could be had and for surprisingly little money. The software was more readily available and required only that calls be placed through a computer - hardly a problem. He'd call DeVries first thing in the morning.
Wide awake because of the threatening call, Charlie brewed himself a cup of decaf and had a couple of cookies with it. All the while he kept reconsidering Hamilton's role. If it had been her using a voice-changer when talking to Smythe and calling Charlie tonight, there was no need to factor in a mysterious John Sawyer. Sawyer was Hamilton. The question was whether Charlie could see Hamilton killing both Barrett and McKay. One thing in favor of her having done so was that she would have had a much better chance of catching McKay off-guard than a stranger. And if she'd played up to McKay, he might have been able to accept her having shot Barrett. Or it might not even have occurred to him that she'd shot Barrett. McKay might well have thought that Barrett had been killed by someone he'd contacted about the books.
What about Shwayder? Probably a red-herring. More than likely it was Charlie's own dislike of Shwayder that had made him seem to be involved. Admittedly it was an odd coincidence that he'd gone out with Hamilton, but it could be just that: a coincidence. Once he put aside his personal feelings, Charlie really didn't see Shwayder having a gun and using it on Barrett and especially on McKay.
When Charlie finally went to bed he had some bad moments when he took a more objective look at the threat he'd received. What the call came to was that someone who had killed twice was warning him off. Moreover, Charlie had to assume that Kate was in as much danger as he was. Would he back off? He could simply stop talking to DeVries as well as to anyone else about the case. But would that be enough? He'd obviously done or said something that had alerted the killer. If the killer was indeed Laurel Hamilton, then she'd either waited after he spoke to her, probably not wanting to threaten him too soon, or she'd heard something from someone. What might she have heard? It seemed clear to Charlie that whatever had prompted the threat had to be connected to Bolster and DeVries talking to Smythe and getting the name "John Sawyer" from him. That had taken things further than before. But Charlie hadn't played a part in the police contacting Smythe. That was the result of Bolster and DeVries tracking down the names of people staying in hotels in Kingsford during the relevant time. That had been pure police work.
What had been Charlie's last move regarding the case? Yesterday he'd spoken with DeVries about Smythe. That probably wasn't the important factor, unless DeVries had told someone about their conversation and that seemed unlikely. No; it had to be his asking people about John Sawyer. That would have concerned the killer because it meant the name was known. Who had he asked about Sawyer: first, he'd asked Jodie and Phoebe; then he'd asked people at the club table, but they likely wouldn't have remembered or bothered to mention it. And he'd asked Milford. The likeliest bet was that Milford had unknowingly mentioned it to the killer. That had to be it. His conversation with Milford, which had pretty much taken her off the suspect list, must have prompted the threat. Had Milford talked to Hamilton? Even if they hadn't had much to do with one another, they'd met at Barrett's parties. As Charlie drifted off to sleep he thought that he had to risk another chat with Milford.