the other Son

Chapter 31

The gray dirt made Lesza reevaluate whether it had been right to rule out any connections to Martin Guttman's workplace, the law firm which had represented plenty of building enterprises in its time and had found loopholes to their clients' liking. But no matter how uncooperative Myers & Myers had been in their investigation there was no link, no reason, no motive. On the contrary, Martin Guttman's 'unannounced abscene' - as Myers senior had put it very diplomatically – had left the remaining attorneys juggling his unfinished cases on top of their own workload and had caused quite a ruckus amongst their wealthy clients. Myers & Myers didn't gain anything from his death.

Furthermore, Colm Stewart had never been involved with the firm or any of the clients Guttman had handled. Their long friendship was a much more obvious connection than some dust that could possibly be linked to some building site and maybe the responsible contractor had been represented by Guttman. Frankly, it was a wild guess, a shot in the dark.

Lesza liked to keep his options widespread and not zero in on just one single explanation but Myers & Myers was clearly out of the equation at this point.

He hoped for the fingerprints Innis had mentioned to match ones that were already in the system so they could finally put a name to the culprit's face.

"Lee?" Innis' imploring voice startled him out of his musings.

They'd arrived back at the harbour where the police boat was bobbing on the water, ready to take them back to shore.

Lesza exited the car and smiled at her. "Thank you for your help today." He made a point to look at both of her colleagues as well who nodded and mumbled something and began unloading their equipment from the Jeep's trunk.

Innis grabbed a heavy case herself and lugged it to the edge of the pier, voice not strained at all as she said, "It's our job."

Before she could take another case Lesza grabbed the handle and carried it over to the boat, carefully handing it down to the officer there.

"I reckon we'll have the results tomorrow afternoon. No guarantees." She stepped down into the boat herself, effortlessly so as if she'd done it all her life. "Don't bother calling any earlier. In fact, don't call at all."

Lesza laughed at that. "Your word is my command."

"That's what my fiance says right before he leaves the dirty dishes in the sink – his version of 'doing' them."

"Then he must've never been on the receiving end of your wrath," Lesza commented with a tilt of his head and she huffed out a short laugh.

"I'll save that for after we're married."

"So he can't get away – good plan." Lesza shoved his hands into his coat's pockets. "I'm going to catch the ferry later on, actually. There's some unfinished business."

Innis paused checking whether the heavy cases were secured properly for the bumpy passage and threw him a questioning look. "Really?"

Lesza nodded, very much aware that he was breaking several regulations already merely by being on his own – for safety reasons, officers were required to take a partner with them pretty much everywhere they went. It was a wonder they didn't need to hold hands while peeing.

"Seems like you seduced the ladies on this island quite quickly," Innis commented with a wry smile which Lesza answered with one of his own – half relieved grimace, half actual amusement.

Innis waved as the boat left the pier and headed for the open water beyond the harbour.

Lesza ran a hand over the stubble along his jaw and turned back to McParrish. "Thank you for your help as well, Mayor."