* * *
Dishes were being dropped into the plastic tub that Linda had set on the buffet. I stood in the corner watching the other guests head out of the dining room, wondering whom I should talk to first.
"Ah, Ms. Merrifield?" a baritone voice asked from my right.
I turned to look into the face of a stout, gray haired man. "Yes?"
"I, um, I'm Scott Campbell. Was wondering if I could speak with you for a brief minute before you got too tied up with your detecting today?"
"I supposed we could do that. Let me grab a cup of tea, and we can take a turn around the music room. Will that work?"
"That would be splendid," he said joining the crowd.
I watched him saunter away before I nodded my head beckoning Luke.
"What's up?" Luke asked when he got close.
"Wanted to keep you in the loop. I'm going to be meeting with your Mr. Campbell in a few minutes. Anything that I should know?"
Luke thought about it briefly. "Nothing that I can think of. Again, I've only met him once before this weekend. He's married to one of the investors, ah, Beth, pretty sure it's Beth Campbell."
"Okay, " I said dropping my tea bag into the garbage. "I guess it's time for me to brush off some old skills and see what Mr. Campbell wants."
"Laura," Luke said almost in a whisper. "Missy and I are counting on you to get this resolved. If we loose this-" he said motioning to the whole house. "We're done. Please be careful, but please solve this quickly."
I gave his hand a comforting squeeze before I nodded and headed to the music room.
The music room, I could only guess, would have originally been a large veranda that was on the back of the main house. At some point, one of the past owners had enclosed it mainly with glass, giving it almost a greenhouse feeling. But that wasn't quite right, either. Walking in, I could automatically tell that even though there were many windows, this area didn't see much in the way of sunlight or natural warmth.
A baby grand piano sat tucked into one of the corners of the room and a shelf of sheet music ran full length under one complete wall of windows. I sat at the piano, closed my eyes and let my fingers run over the keys to some forgotten song while my mind escape for a few minutes.
"Oh, Ms. Merrifield. I didn't know that you played," Scott Campbell's voice echoed in the smallish room.
"Only for my own amusement," I replied, stopping and looking at him.
"Well, I want to thank you for seeing me. It's just this whole business with Moreno is a bit offsetting, if you know what I mean."
"I imagine so. Now, is there something particular that you wished for me to know?"
"I don't know how aware you were of Tony's activities. But in the past year, I know that he's been named in several different legal suits. And almost all of them have been by people that are on this current board."
That had my attention. I hadn't really started looking at Moreno's finances yet. It was a point that Chief O'Brien and I were still trying to work out.
"I had no idea on that, Mr. Campbell. Do you happen to know who the parties are that named him?"
"Well, Beth and I brought a suit about four months ago regarding a land dispute. Greg, ah, that'd be Gregory Nelson, had filed against him for embezzling money from a different investment they were involved with. And finally, it's rumored that his wife, Kim, put in a claim for damages that he supposedly caused."
I quickly scribbled notes on a blank sheet of paper. "Thank you, Mr. Campbell. I'll look at these as soon as possible."
After he left, I looked at the notes. The first thing that I needed was a background check on Anthony Moreno.
-5-
Scooter watched me from his perch on the bed while I was pacing the floor in my small room, pondering over the facts that I'd been able to establish. Scott Campbell had hinted at Anthony Moreno being individually involved in at least three legal suits.
When I called Chief O'Brien and gave him the information, he sighed and dutifully said that he'd run it through. An hour later, I was listening to the rain pounding out a very dramatic staccato rhythm on the roof, playing with a few imaginary lists in my head all while I tried to keep from going stir-crazy.
I turned when someone knocked on my door. "Yes?" I called out.
"Hey, Laura? It's me, Missy. Do you have a few minutes?"
When your pregnant sister-in-law asks if you have a few minutes, it's often worthwhile to take a few and help her out.
I changed my pacing route enough so that it went by the door and let her in.
"What's up?" I asked as I resumed my previous activity.
Missy sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing her hand over her swollen belly. "I feel all twisted up inside about what's happening. I mean, I know that that man was murdered, but from what you said at breakfast, we're all suspects. I'm worried about the stress that this is causing, and how it's going to affect the baby."
My mind instantly became schizophrenic; one part had to protect my family while the other had to look at everyone with distrust.
"Missy," I said taking a seat next to her. "I don't think that you're responsible for this. But I need to play it straight. The best thing that you can do right now is to play it straight with me. There's nothing to be gained by lying about anything. And trying to hide anything isn't likely to help either, as it will usually be worked over and brought out in fairly short order.
"Now, why don't you tell me what happened last night after Luke and I went to look at the generator?"
Missy nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, I've always trusted you, Laura. Now I need to trust you with everything.
"After you and Luke headed out, the remainder of the guests sat in the sitting room. Ah," she closed her eyes in concentration. "I think it was Theresa who asked about maybe starting a fire. Her husband, James, and Mike, whom I'm pretty sure is her brother-in-law, asked me if it was okay. I didn't care, so I showed them where we had wood piled behind the house. We didn't really have much left, being so late in the season. But if it gave off a little light and made the others comfortable, then it was fine with me.
"When I came back into the room, the heavy-set man, Scott I believe is his name, had gone over and was leaning on the edge of the bar, talking to his wife. Whispering, actually now that I think about it. He stood upright the moment that I walked back into the room.
"Greg was complaining into his cell phone about the inconsistent electrical system that we have here. He's still very upset with our decision to try to keep Rim Runners' off of the main grid. After hearing what Luke said ya'll found up at the turbine, I wonder if Greg had anything to do with that. It'd be just like him to try and stir up problems where there aren't any."
"Missy," I interrupted her. "Have you known this Greg for a while?"
"I don't know him well. But I've known about him for nearly fifteen years. I went to school with his youngest sister. She always complained about how pushy Greg was. After their dad died, Greg took it upon himself to keep the younger siblings in line. Their mom didn't push back much, so Greg acted almost like a dictator in the house. Now, to give him the credit, which he is due, he did get two younger brothers and his two sisters through high school and college. That was a huge responsibility right there."
I simply nodded and jotted a few more notes down. "What else was happening when you came back in?" I prompted.
Missy thought about it again. "Tony and his wife were still sitting in the chairs. They were leaning close together, talking between themselves. I kind of thought it was romantic. They were holding hands and smiling.
"I picked up my knitting and started working on the booties for the beast," she said tapping her belly. "It was only a matter of minutes later when the couples began heading out. Mike and James had just come in with the wood before Michelle and Theresa led them off. Greg and Tammy went next, as I recall. Once Tony and Kim headed up, Scott and Beth
were right behind them. It sounded as though they might have been talking on the way up the stairs, but nothing that I could discern.
"You and Luke were back thirty minutes later. By the time that Luke got the camp generator up and running and we got everyone back down, it was a just about nine thirty. From there you know the rest."
She was right. I did know most of the rest. Tony Moreno wasn't there when everyone reassembled. Somewhere between the time that he and his wife left, if my figuring was right, around 8:30 p.m., and the time that we found him, he'd ended up getting hit in the head with a heavy object and was very dead by 10:10 p.m..
"What are you thinking about?" Missy asked softly.
When my eyes came up to look at her, she grinned. "I'm sorry. I never got to see the cop part of you working before. It's an intense look," she said.
"I'm just trying to put the timeline together, and figure out who I need to talk to next."
"Am I, am I in the clear now?" she asked.
"Look, Missy," I confided. " I'm pretty sure that you didn't kill Moreno. But in order to make Chief O'Brien happy, I need to make sure that everything is corroborated. But in my book, the way that Moreno was murdered, I don't think a woman who is nearly eight months pregnant could do it.
"It would be a heck of a lot easier if we could get an actual time of death. But the way things are, the best we've got is a range. So, I'll keep digging until I uncover something that points to one individual.
"Are you going to be talking to the others too?" Missy asked as she stood.
"Yeah. I'm going to try and approach it conversationally for now. Maybe if we start talking about little things, somebody will add more to it and fill in a bigger part of the picture."
I watched my sister-in-law waddle down the hall, hoping that something would jump out for me and give me the answer that I was looking for. Realizing that it wasn't going to happen, I knew the best thing for me right now was a little head clearing time.
The rain was steady and cold, so I was thankful that I'd put a sweatshirt on under my raincoat before I'd headed out. I totally dislike being rude, but I needed the time alone, and if my brother found out, he'd insist on accompanying me.
I slipped carefully around the maintenance shed where Tony's body had been found last night.
It looked different in the muted light. Nowhere near as intimidating or foreboding.
Now it was just a simple metal structure, with the open door facing mostly south. Small scrubby bushes surrounded the entrance. I made my way over to the side farthest away from the house and looked.
I pulled out my iPhone and used it as a camera and took pictures of the broken branch on the tree. Now, I realize that during a near miss of a hurricane, the winds may damage branches. But from everything that I've seen, when that happens, it occurs on more than one branch. The single twig that was still hanging by the bark showed a fracture where somebody had bent the still green wood out of the way.
Looking at the ground behind the bush, I could just make out the impression of a shoe.
Luck was with me, as I noticed another identical impression not too far away. It may not have been made of breadcrumbs, but I'll take an easy to follow trail any day.
-6-
Kim was sitting alone at the dining room table when I walked through in search of a mid-morning snack. I grabbed a muffin from the buffet along with a cup of tea before moving to the table. "Mind if I join you?" I asked
""What?" her head shot up. Her eyes were blotchy and red from crying, yet wide with surprise. "I'm sorry. I guess I was really lost in my own thoughts," she said motioning me to join her.
"I'm truly sorry for your loss, Mrs. Moreno," I said pulling up my chair. "Is there anything that I can do to help?"
She stared at me, almost as if she was judging me on something before she'd decide how to move forward. "Luke says you used to be a cop."
I swallowed the bite of muffin that I was working on so I could answer. "Yes, I was. I spent eight years working on the force."
"So why'd you quit?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "When my husband was killed in Afghanistan, I couldn't concentrate enough to do justice for the people that I was supposed to be serving. I took a leave of absence, and found that I preferred the writing of mysteries to actually solving them. Why do you ask?"
She nodded as if I'd given her the answer she's been looking for.
"Then it's apt that you're the one who's going to end up working for me. Help me find out who did this to my sweet Tony. Please, I'm begging you. One widow to another."
I reached across the table, and took her hand. "I promise you that I will use every available resource to do that. Perhaps you could help me. I need to understand Mr. Moreno's background so I can see all of the pieces."
Sorrow was etched on her face, but she nodded her head. "I guess I can see why all of the rumors that are flying around are things you need to know about." She folded the handkerchief that she'd been using to dap at her eyes, straightened in her chair and began.
"I'm not Tony's first wife. Not even his second, but it was true love that brought us together. Tony'd been married to Edith when they were both in their early twenties. She ran off and left him high and dry. Tony found out that she'd been sleeping with some guy she worked with, and they decided to run off together.
"It took Tony a couple of years to get that mess cleared up. And I mean legally cleared up. He went through the steps and had their marriage annulled, spent a lot of time with the lawyers making sure that they got things right. That's the kind of man he is." Her eyes glistened with fresh tears. "I mean, the kind of man he was."
She took out the handkerchief again using it to blow her nose. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"It's still a shock to you and you're trying to deal with it the best that you can," I offered.
She smiled slightly. "Tony met Sandy almost ten years after Edith ran off. They dated for a while, ended up getting married. They were together for twelve years and had three kids together. Bobby is the oldest, and then there are the twins, Gabby and Abby.
"Tony had started his company the year after Bobby was born. It was taking longer than Sandy wanted for him to have a decent income. She wanted him to close the business and go to work for her uncle, but he didn't want to. She kept threatening him that she was going to leave, and eventually she did.
"Tony came in one night, and found the house totally empty. She cleaned out everything. All of the furniture, the appliances, even the food. All she'd left him was a note and a pile of bills that she'd neglected to pay.
"Tony tried to work things out, but in the end, Sandy got her way, filing for divorce. Tony did what was right by the kids, but it was never good enough for Sandy. Tony made sure that he was there for all of the big events in the kids' lives, even though Sandy tried to prevent it. She'd move and wouldn't let him know, or she'd change plans on him and wouldn't be where she'd told him to meet the kids. She was a nasty woman. Still is as far as I can tell."
"How old were the children?" I asked.
"Oh, geesh. Let me think for a minute. When Sandy left Tony, Bobby had just turned eleven which would have made the girls about nine I guess."
"How did you meet Mr. Moreno?" I asked.
"I came to work at Moreno Investments straight out of college. I was a business major there, and landed a prime position. I met Tony for the first time three weeks later. I'd been running through some paperwork that my predecessor had left hanging. I found a letter of interest from one of the over-seas clients who was looking for farmland.
"I knew that Tony had been talking to the Campbell's about buying Beth's family's old farm. Apparently, they'd grown tobacco there for many years, but the latest generation didn't have anyone who wanted to go into agriculture in any way.
"When Beth's mama passed, the farm came to her. She was living two hundred mile
s away from it. Somehow, the connection was made between Tony and Beth that led to the discussion of the purchase of the farm.
"When I brought the letter of interest to Tony, and showed him how the Campbell farm fit almost perfectly, he was ecstatic. He called Oshu, our client, and got a letter of intent about the farm. It took a little more than a week, and he'd made the deal with the Campbell's. Oshu had walked around with Tony on the last visit, and was more than satisfied. When they closed at the end of the month, Tony basically did two deals at once. He had the lawyers draw up the paperwork that put Oshu representing the interest. After they closed, Tony took me out to dinner as a celebration. The company had netted over six million from that one deal.
"Over dinner, we talked and one thing led to another. We started dating. That was in the fall, and we got married the next summer. Our wedding was nice. I had Gabby and Abby as my two maids of honor, and Bobby was Tony's best man."
"Mrs. Moreno, there is no tactful way to ask these next few questions, so please forgive me. How do you compare in age to your step-children?"
She barked out a laugh that made me jump. "I was twenty-two when I married Tony. At that time, the twins were twenty-four, and Bobby was twenty-six."
"How is your relationship with them?"
"Surprisingly good. They could see that their dad was happy with me. Bobby said he'd never seen his dad smile like he did with me." Her face dissolved into a new round of tears, which she mopped up. Choking, she continued, "I know that having a step-mom who is younger than the kids would normally be a problem. But we'd found a way to be friends. I'm hoping that they'll?they'll stand by me and continue to be there for me now. When I talked to Bobby this morning, he promised me that we were still family. It's all I've got to hold onto right now."
"Mrs. Moreno, I spoke to Mr. Campbell this morning. He implied that right now, there were several suits against your husband, including one from him and Mrs. Campbell and one from you."
"From me? Why would I want to sue Tony? That wouldn't make-"
Her hands went over her mouth, "Oh, God. Gabby mentioned something about her mother being furious when Tony changed his will after we were married. Originally, she was going to be given a percentage of the company. But Tony changed that so that the three kids and I would get the entire company. All of us get a quarter share."
"And with each of you having a quarter share, Sandy Moreno no longer gets any compensation, which she apparently thinks she deserves. What about the Campbell's?"
Kim balled her fists. "They think that Tony double crossed them. They feel that he should have paid them the full amount that he was paid for the sale of the farm. It didn't matter that they're the ones who set the original price. It didn't matter that it was his previous work with this particular client that opened the doors. They just see that he pocketed six million that they wanted."
Her phone rang then, and she glanced at the screen. "It's the kids. Bobby was meeting with the girls and we're going to have a conference call about what we do next. I've got to take this. Sorry."
"Thank you for your time," I said as she rose and hurried out of the room.
Snagging another muffin I pondered what I'd learned about the relationship between Kim and the Moreno clan. It seemed that she and Tony had been truly in love, and that she'd worked hard to make the step-family thing work.
I pulled out my notebook and put my observations in order. It still didn't answer my questions about the suits against Tony Moreno, but I had a better idea of what kind of man Tony had apparently been. He made sure things were handled properly, and had taken care of his kids to the extent that he had been allowed.
Now I needed to think about how this all fit with what I'd found on my excursion outside. The only thing that I was sure of now, was that it was time for me to see a lady about a horse.
-7-
Debra Burke was a sturdy woman who was dressed in riding pants and boots topped with a gray rain slicker. According to Luke, she was the one who ran the stables on Rim Runners'. Since this is where the trail from the maintenance shed had led me, I figured this would be a good place to start. So I shrugged into my rain gear and prepared to brave the torrential downpour from the hurricane.
I saw Debra as I was approaching the main stables as she was pitching used hay out of one of the large open doors. She must have seen me about the same time since she stopped and stood with the pitchfork in her hand.
"What do you want, Laura? Ain't you got sense enough to stay inside when it's raining?" she grumbled.
"Well, hello to you too, Deb," I tried to sound cheerful. "My brother said you'd be out here, so I figured it'd be easier to start here."
She glared at me, dropped her shoulders and sighed. "Well, if you've gotta come talk to me, let's at least go in out of the rain," she said, this time the heavy southern accent cutting through.
I'd known Deb for just about five years. When Rob had been home between deployments, we'd decided to take a vacation to see Luke and Missy. One of the things that we'd done was to take a guided horse tour through part of the Smokey Mountains. Deb was our guide for the trip. We'd had some good times then, and when I came back to mourn Rob, she'd come around several times bringing me chocolate and giving me an extra shoulder to cry on. She knew what I was going through. She'd lost her Dave in Vietnam.
I tried putting my relation with Deb out of my mind and followed her. Weaving around the bales of hay that were scattered on the floor in the center of the aisle, she led me to a small office. She slipped off her slicker and squeezed in behind the desk.
I pulled my raincoat off as well, and took the seat across from her.
"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Laura. I've known Luke for nearly ten years, was thrilled to death when he and Missy asked me to come down and run the stables. Kind of a dream for me."
Her face tightened. "Turned into a nightmare last night, though," she confided.
"Deb, I hate to ask, but I've got a few questions. Did you cut through from the back doors of the stables to the maintenance shed anytime in the last few days?"
"Why the heck would I do that?" she asked. "It'd be a whole lot faster just going straight from the front door here to the front door there." She stared at me with her brown eyes. "Now, since I know you, and know what you used to do, the only reason you'd ask that kind of question would be if someone had done just that. So, what do you figure?"
Again, Deb had found a way to lighten my mood a bit. "I found evidence that somebody walked from the back door here to the far side of the maintenance shed. Just trying to pin down movements and activities."
"Now why would somebody go sneaking round that way for?" Deb asked.
"What's in the back of the stables?" I offered.
"There ain't much. Just some old tack, and the?hmmm, I wonder," she said pushing to her feet. "We've got some tools that Luke picked up at some auction. They were specialized equine tools, so we threw them in the back room. I haven't really gone through them yet. But let's go take a look."
I dropped my coat and followed her to the back of the stable. It was kind of unnerving. I felt as if twelve pair of eyes were following me, and several of the occupants neighed out a warning as we passed through.
Debra was reaching out for the door, when my eye caught the scratch on the handle.
"Hold on, Deb," I said pulling out my phone. I took a picture of the lock and studied the scratches. "They're fresh. Probably only a few days old at most," I said.
Turning back to Deb, "Have you ever locked yourself out of this room and needed to try and pick it to get in?"
She laughed loud enough that the dozen horses whinnied with her.
I pressed a few buttons on my phone. "Luke? Yeah, listen, I'm with Deb by the back stock room in the stables. Somebody's at a minimum attempted to pick the lock. Deb says that the stuff that was stored in here is stuff that you found
at an auction."
"Yeah," Luke's voice came through the phone. "What do we do next, Laura?"
"Well, honey, you'd better see if you can scrounge up a list of what you bought at that auction and get it out here to me. Then we're going to see if anything is missing."
"I'll be there in ten. The list is in the office file box. I'll grab it on my way."
The phone clicked off. I peered through the window at the mountain of stuff that was strewn along the counters. "Deb, do you think they sacked this room first?"
"Laura, you know your brother's about as fast as a three-legged turtle climbing an icy slope when it comes to putting things away. Even though this is my place of business, he said he was going to sort through all that junk. That's about all that's there. He's got stuff strewn all over in here and, like I said, I haven't really gone through it yet, but nothing's caught my eye as attention worthy. I haven't noticed a single item in that lot that I'd keep."
I thought about that for a minute. Deb was right on about Luke's tenacity and pace. Then another thought occurred to me.
"Hey, Deb? Have any of the other guests come out to the stables since they've been here?"
"Well, yeah. That snooty one, ah, Michelle I think the name was, came out with her sister, ah, Teri, or something like that. Never would have placed those two as friends let alone relatives. They came out, took two of the horses out for a ride around the island. They took Zeus and Toby. Both could ride well.
"Then let's see, Kevin and Donna came out later that afternoon and took Zoe and Kong out. Other than that, I don't know of anybody else. And if they were playing with my horses, I'd know."
Luke sloshed in from the rain. "Geez, it's miserable out there," he said as he wove through the aisle. Most of the horses ignored him. Only the chestnut colored filly that he'd owned for the last five years demanded his attention, nearly breaking out of the stall when he started to walk past.
"What? Do you want a piece of an apple?" Luke said.
As if in answer, the horse moved her head up and down, and then stretched trying to reach him. He took an apple from his pocket, held it up in front of the horse. "Do I get anything for it?" he asked playfully.
The filly brushed his cheek with hers before nuzzling her nose into his hair. He rubbed her neck and fed her the apple. "We'll go for a ride in a bit," he said stepping back into the aisle.
"Think it may be the first time I've ever seen you seduced by a female, Luke. You used to like doing the seducing as I remember from our teenaged years," I teased.
"There are days, she's my favorite girl. And if either of you ever tell Missy that, I'll call you both liars," he said with a laugh. We enjoyed the mood for a few seconds before what we needed to do took over.
"I've got the list right here," he said. "I don't know how much this is going to help us, but let's go."
Deb unlocked the door and we headed in.
It took us nearly two hours before we were able to identify three items that were missing from the lot. "Any idea where the antique hoof pick, the ball peen hammer, or-what was it?-a manure scoop, or something? Any idea where they ended up?" I asked.
"None," Luke replied.
"Any idea on if anything was valuable or not?" I tried.
Both Luke and Debra shook their heads. "I took some pictures, hoping that I'd get a chance to see if they were worth anything. Never got around to it though," Luke said.
I mulled my options over for a moment. "Why don't we saddle two of the horses, and take a ride. After lunch you can get me the pictures and we can see if anything rings for us?"
"I like that idea," Luke said leading the way back out.
I had a sneaky suspicion that we were going to find one or more of the missing items tied to Tony Moreno. All I knew for sure was that the situation stunk.
-8-
I wandered around my room while I talked to O'Brien on the phone. "Look, Chief, I'm trying to get to the bottom of this as fast as I can. I've got some puzzles pieces that I need to be able to see the shape of, but I'm not in a position to do the research."
"Sheez, Merrifield. I'm letting you get your fingers all through this one. I'll be able take care of things in two days. Why not just cool your jets, stay inside catch a couple of movies on cable or something."
I ground my teeth. "We've been over this before, Chief O'Brien. We both know that the murderer is someone who is here right now on this island. I know that you've stretched quite a bit to let me do the initial investigation. But," I qualified, "we've sent you every photo, every piece of video that we shot and every detail I've ferreted out. I'm not looking to try and take the glory away from your fine department. But right now, you can't get in, and the weather is destroying the evidence. So, unless you really want someone to walk on this, I need you to run the backgrounds on the list that I gave you. I don't have access to the necessary databases. Your office does."
O'Brien sighed loudly. "You know, Merrifield, when we actually meet for the first time in person on Monday, I might decide to charge you with being a pain in my butt.
"Anyway, I'll have one of the guys run your list for you and we can e-mail the results to you. Anything else?"
"Yes. I was thinking that the situation with the electric turbine might be related."
"Hold on. Just hold on, Merrifield. You're trying to connect the fact that something went wrong with your brother's wind turbine and one of his guests getting killed? The two events aren't even in the same proximity. Why do you think there might be a connection?"
"Whoever did Moreno wanted, or let's say needed, the dark to get a chance to take him out unseen. Rim Runners' has a series of outdoor lights as well as security cameras that patrol the entire compound. Those circuits were hardwired into the main generator, so that if anything happened to the turbine, they would still have power.
"Now, before you say anything about this being a crime of opportunity, I'd like to point out that everyone of the board members, all of whom are here, had knowledge of the system and it's failsafe. When the turbine was sabotaged, they made darn sure to take out the generator as well."
I could hear him grinding his teeth for what had to be thirty seconds. "What do you want from me, now?"
"When I was on the job, I worked homicide, not explosives. Is there someone who can shoot me a quick glossary of what to look for to determine what was used?"
O'Brien let out a long sigh. "I'll pass it along. Jensen should be able to get you what you're looking for. But honestly, it most likely won't be until the morning."
"That'll work for me. Thanks, Chief." I didn't hear his response, only the receiver being dropped onto the phone.