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. Murdered also? Yes, sir. My God what s the connection to Mary? All we know at this time was that Gavin was her patient, and they re bothdead. My God, Koppel repeated. There s a lot you can t tell me.Page 173ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Is there something more you could tell us, sir?Koppel considered that. I wish there was.Mary and I we rarely spoke, exceptwhen there was a business issue.Even then, there was little to talk about.Iset up our partnership so she didn t have to be hands-on.She had herpractice, she didn t need to be distracted.Because properties can bedemanding.To make them work you have to give them attention like children.I m on the road all the time. All those cars, said Milo. I know, I know, it probably seems eccentric, but I need to have reliabletransportation.Jerry s son? He was young, right? Just a kid. He was twenty.Koppel s face had turned an unhealthy color bologna left too long in thefridge. You can t tell me anything? The truth is, we don t know much ourselves. Quick s son.the girl you showed me Flora was she a patient of Mary s,as well? The girl we showed you hasn t been identified yet, so I don t know if shewas one of Dr.Koppel s patients.The files are confidential, we can t get inthere. All those questions you asked me, said Koppel,  about the halfway houses.Are you saying you suspect one of my one of those tenants had something to dowith something really horrible? If you do, please tell me.I really need toknow if you do. Do you think that s a possibility, sir? How would I have aclue ? Koppel bellowed.One of his hands movedspasmodically, knocked against the popcorn bowl, sent it flying.Yellow rain.When it settled, Koppel was covered with kernels and husks anddust.He stared at us, breathing heavily.Milo went into the kitchen and unrolled apaper towel from a wooden spool.He came back and began brushing Koppel off.Koppel snatched the paper away and flailed at himself.When he finallystopped, yellow grit clung to his sweatshirt and his pajamas.He sat there, staring at us, still panting.Milo said,  What else can you tell us about Jerome Quick?Koppel didn t answer. Sir? I m sorry.For losing my temper.But you re freaking me out.First Mary, nowJerry Quick s son.That girl.Milo repeated his question.Page 174ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html He didn t pay his rent on time, that s it.His excuse was the up-and-downnature of his business.He trades metals, makes deals on scrap.Once in awhile he has a windfall that carries him for a while; other times, he losesmoney.To me it sounded more like gambling than business.Had I known, I neverwould have rented to him. He didn t tell you? He came to me through a leasing agent.In the past they d been reliable,said Koppel. It s not as if his rent is prohibitive.I keep all my rentsreasonable, want the turnover low.He looked down and picked stray bits of popcorn from his pajamas.Dropped thefirst few into the bowl.Ate the rest. His son.Poor Jerry.Guess I ll need to cut him some slack. Suddenly, hestood with surprising grace, brushed himself off some more, sat back down. What kind of emotional problems did Jerry Quick describe? He didn t get specific.At first I wasn t sure I even believed him.Hebrought it up when we were having one of our rent discussions.Second month srent, and he s already twenty days late.I dropped by to talk about it, and hegave me a sob story about how he d been cheated out of a deal, lost big, andnow on top of it his kid was having psychological problems. Which he didn t specify. I wasn t interested.Figured he was just trying to make me feel sorry forhim.The way the referral came about is I called his bluff, said,  If that sthe case, why don t you get him some help? and he said,  Yeah, I need to dothat. And I said,  My ex-wife s a psychologist, and her office is close toyour house [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]