Page 47 of Lion & Lamb

Transcript of encrypted message exchange between Veena Lion and Janie Hall

JANIE HALL: You busy, V.?

HALL: Okay, no response…I’ve got a lot to share here, so try to keep up.

HALL: Kidding!

HALL: You know how I’m always saying there are some things you’re never going to find on a computer? Well, I hit the streets and did some old-school journalism, just like in the old days (three years ago, when you hired me away from the Dying Tabloid That Shall Not Be Named). You’re not going to believe what I found.

HALL: I keep teasing and rambling in the hope that you’ll respond, but you must be busy, so here goes…

HALL: Archie Hughes wasn’t paying nightly visits to Maya Rain only. He had another gal pal (sorry; I cringed just typing those words) at another swank penthouse, this one in a condo in Old City. I interviewed the community relations manager. I also interviewed the guy who owns the comic-book shop across the street, and boy, was he happy to talk to me.

HALL: Comic Book Guy said he used to see Archie Hughes duck into the building from an entrance off an alley. He had a perfect view from the front window of his nerd emporium. He says he may even have a pic or two on his phone, because he bragged to his buddies. I’ll forward it as soon as he sends it to me. I think he’s trying to get me to go out for a drink with him in exchange for the photo; I’ll have to break his heart gently.

HALL: Suzanne, the CR manager for the building, was a bit more reticent at first. But she opened up a little once I dropped the strong hint that I worked for the DA. (Not a lie, right? I mean, I work for you, you’re currently working for Mostel…)

HALL: Anyway, I kept at her and she finally admitted Archie Hughes had been a frequent visitor to the penthouse. The current occupant of which is Rosalind “Roz” Cline. Somebody you might want to speak to. I’m thinking,Kept woman. But Suzanne didn’t want to speculate on that. Didn’t want to go anywhere near that, in fact.

VEENA LION: Good work, Janie.

HALL: There you are! Were you just letting me ramble on?

LION: You shouldn’t ever imply you work for the DA, because that’s not true. Find another way next time.

HALL: Sorry, V.

Chapter46

Transcript of conversation between Veena Lion and Suzanne Hingston, community relations manager of the Villas at Elfreth’s Alley

VEENA LION: Let me make myself clear. I work for District Attorney Eliott K. Mostel. So unless you and your management company want me to come back with a subpoena and a small army of investigators…

SUZANNE HINGSTON: We take our residents’ privacy seriously. And shouldn’t a police detective be interviewing potential witnesses?

LION: The district attorney’s office routine employs its own investigators.

HINGSTON: Well, you don’t even have a warrant. I know that much. I checked.

LION: Okay, fine.

HINGSTON: What are you doing? Oh, wait—doyou have a warrant in there? Listen, I’m not trying to start something with the DA or anything—

LION: Calm down. This is not a warrant. This is five hundred dollars cash. I’ll wait if you want to count it.

HINGSTON: I don’t need to count it.

LION: But you’re not taking it either.

HINGSTON: I’m seeing onlyhalfa warrant there.

LION: Ah. (Pause) You know, used to be I could buy some cooperation with only a quarter of a warrant.

HINGSTON: The timesthey are a-changing.

LION: Just make sure it’s a full warrant’s worth of information, Ms. Hingston.

HINGSTON: Thank you. (Pause) Her name is Rosalind Cline. She used to work as a hostess in one of those big casinos in Atlantic City. Don’t ask me which one, because I don’t know. All I know is she’s still back and forth to AC all the time. I think she’s there more than she’s here.

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