City Of Lies by R.J. Ellory Page B

around a little after Garrett died. He was a friend of the family so to speak.’
    ‘Involved with your aunt?’
    Harper turned and looked at Duchaunak; he frowned, felt irritated. ‘Why the third degree? I didn’t have anything to do with the shooting.’
    ‘I know you didn’t, Mr Harper. I have a curious nature. Did you know Walt Freiberg and Edward Bernstein were business partners . . . have been for many years?’
    ‘I don’t know anything, Detective. I got a call from my aunt. She told me to come back to New York. When I got here she told me that a father I thought was dead was actually alive . . . well, nearly alive. She told me he’d been shot. I came here to see him yesterday and Walt Freiberg was here at the same time. I haven’t seen Walt for about twenty-five years. He was here when I arrived at the hospital, and then we left and had something to eat. I stayed in a hotel last night, and then when I got up I came back here. Now you show up and ask me all manner of questions like I know a great deal more about what’s going on than you do. I’m tired, stressed, confused, overwhelmed, the last thing I can deal with right now is the third degree from you.’
    Duchaunak was silent for a time. He looked the other waydown the corridor. When he turned back he looked exhausted, as overwhelmed as Harper felt. ‘I don’t mean to bust your balls, Mr Harper. I got a headache the size of Michigan and then some. I haven’t slept all night. I don’t know who you are, except that you might be Lenny . . . Edward Bernstein’s son. I don’t know much of anything at all to tell you the truth, probably as little as you. I just have to find out who shot your father, and anything that might lead me in the right direction is something I have to follow. That’s all.’ Duchaunak rose from the bench. He looked down at Harper. ‘I’m sorry for harassing you at a time like this, but you have to understand that this is my job—’
    Harper raised his hand. He didn’t think he could tolerate any more words from anyone. ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘No harm done. I’m going to stay here a while if it’s okay with you. I just need some time to figure all of this out.’
    ‘Sure thing,’ Duchaunak said. He held out his hand. Harper reached up and took it. ‘Take care, Mr Harper. Maybe we’ll speak again sometime.’
    ‘Maybe we will, Detective.’
    Duchaunak started to walk away. He slowed, turned, and Harper looked up.
    ‘Still think you should go back home,’ Duchaunak said.
    ‘I know, you told me once already. You and Evelyn both.’
    Duchaunak nodded, looked like he was going to say something else, but he merely shook his head.
    Harper listened to the sound of Duchaunak’s shoes echoing down the corridor, could still hear him walking even when he turned left at the end.
    Harper leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. He felt as if the world and all its troubles had settled on his shoulders.
    Across the street, half a block down, Duchaunak and Faulkner seated in the car.
    ‘Didn’t see anything.’
    ‘Nothing at all?’
    ‘Nope, not a thing. Kid seemed wired up tight. Don’t think he has a clue who these people are.’
    Faulkner put the lid on his styrofoam cup and slotted it in the cup-rest beside his seat. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine kicked into life.
    ‘Hang fire,’ Duchaunak said.
    Faulkner killed the engine.
    ‘That’s her,’ Duchaunak said.
    ‘Where?’
    ‘Over there in the black Merc.’
    Faulkner leaned forward and peered through the windscreen. ‘You sure?’
    ‘Sure as can be.’
    ‘She waiting for Harper?’
    ‘Fuck knows. Maybe she’s waiting for Freiberg.’
    ‘You’re sure it was the aunt who called Harper, not Walt?’
    ‘’S what the kid said. Said his aunt called him, told him to come back to New York, and it was only when he got here that she told him about Lenny. Said that Freiberg was here when he came to the hospital yesterday, and when they