“What’s that?”
“Become an innocent purchaser for value of some of the stock in one of the other corporations he’s promoted.”
“What makes you think it’s Crumweather who’s doing the blackmailing?”
“It has to be. It’s the only way it makes sense. Earlier today I thought it might have been a trap set by the D.A., but it isn’t or they’d have sprung it by this time. Crumweather is representing a client. It’s an important case. A lot of public attention is going to centre on it. It’s a chance for him to make a big grandstand. He could, of course, do it just for the advertising, but Crumweather isn’t built that way. He saw there was an opportunity to bring pressure to bear on Alta Ashbury and make her put up dough. He did it. He got twenty thousand of her money. Something went wrong on the last ten.”
“Donald, I’m going to ask you something. I want you to tell me the absolute truth.”
“What?”
“Did you kill him?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think you’d do it, Donald. I don’t think there’s a chance in ten thousand, but it looks— Well, you know how it looks. You’re just the type who would fall head over heels for a girl and do something desperate to save her.”
I slowed for a signal light, and managed a yawn.