Reilly 13 - Dreams of the Dead by Perri O'Shaughnessy Page B

think so.”
    “Why?” Brinkman said. “What about the affidavit?”
    Nina got a funny feeling. “Are you recording?”
    “Are you?”
    “No. We’re on the same side. Besides, this conversation is privileged as attorney work product.”
    “I’m not recording.” Brinkman folded his hands in his lap as if waiting for her to spill some beans, as though he already knew what had happened to Jim Strong.
    She told herself, watch out, he’s an investigator. “I’m a lawyer. Paranoia is unavoidable.”
    “I’m glad Philip retained you. I remember you from the events around the time of his son’s disappearance. You were in the avalanche he caused, I read about that. And your husband. That was terrible. I’m very sorry.”
    “Thank you. So you were investigating the embezzlement at Paradise?”
    “That’s right.”
    “I’m curious. Did you advise Philip to go to the police regarding the theft from the capital account, when he asked you to handle it privately?” Nina said.
    “Of course. He said it would ruin his business, and I had to keep it quiet. And as we both know, Jim Strong disappeared off the face of the earth over two years ago. I looked for him then, all over the world. I was stunned to see this affidavit. Like you, right?”
    Nina nodded.
    “Stunned. I hadn’t caught up with him, and now he was coming out of the woodwork in Porto Alegre of all places, in the southern part of Brazil, not too far from Argentina. I know that city. He picked a sensible place to disappear. The local government will turn a blind eye to a well-behaved foreigner with a little money.”
    “I believe you won’t find him there.”
    “You sound so sure.” He was studying her harder than she was studying him and not bothering to hide it.
    She shrugged. “Did you obtain proof he was embezzling from the resort?”
    “There were accounting discrepancies, and soon afterward, one day the whole capital account was emptied. That same day, Jim Strong seems to have left the area. That’s pretty good circumstantial evidence he was involved. But, and this has continued to bother me, I couldn’t find his mark anywhere. Couldn’t find the money trail. It’s one of my few failures, actually, which is why I’m gung ho about having the chance to follow up now.”
    “But you’re convinced he had that money when he disappeared, aren’t you?”
    To Nina’s surprise, Brinkman answered, “I’m not positive. I don’t know if he had a well-thought-out plan. He was in a highly emotional state, decompensating you might say, during the days before his disappearance. I’m not at all sure he was even sane. I think if he committed the thefts, that it was an opportunistic crime.” Brinkman got up and stood by the door, where Sandy would be getting her earful. “This will surprise you, but I was zeroing in on someone else for the embezzlements. I thought it possible that someone else knew Jim Strong was gone and proceeded to take advantage of the chaos. It was an online theft, you know, a matter of passwords.”
    “But who on earth are you talking about?” Nina asked. “I thought—Philip said—”
    “Oh, he’s sure it was Jim. He also seems sure Jim is alive. But I think—can you keep a secret?”
    “My job in one word.”
    “And how about you?” Eric said, getting up and throwing open the cracked door to reveal Sandy.
    “Come on in and join us, Sandy.” Nina couldn’t help but crack a smile. Sandy came in and sat down.
    Eric smiled at her, too. “To continue, then, I was working on the theory that Marianne Strong, Philip’s daughter-in-law, and her half brother, Gene, stole the money.”
    “Was there evidence of that?”
    “Opportunity, primarily. Motive. Knowledge. But, no, I never managed to make the linkage. I’m not sure of that now. It would have been easy for anyone with the password to do it. And Philip was bad with passwords. He had written it in his address book, which he left on his kitchen table most of the