Scam

was how she might vote. If she were to vote for you, would that put you over?”
    “Oh, not at all,” Dunbar said. “As I say, there’s the Greenberg girl. Her holdings are bigger, and who knows how she’ll vote.”
    “Could she put you over?”
    “Again, no. The four of us—her, Cranston, me, and Marty—are larger holders than anyone else, but it’s still not a majority. In the end, it’s the proxies will decide.”
    “So, Cranston was right.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “That it could make a difference. Say none of you vote for him. You, Marty, and Cranston all vote for yourself. Who knows how the Greenberg girl votes, but say it’s not him. If he had a chance of being elected—and I’m only saying if—someone could kill that by embarrassing him so the stockholders changed their proxies.”
    “It’s conceivable, yes,” Dunbar said. “But, I tell you, there’s no way he had that many votes.”
    “But he might have thought he had.”
    “So what?” Dunbar said. “What difference would it make what he thought. If someone was trying to ace him out of the election, they must have thought he could win.”
    “Good point,” I said. “And who might think that?”
    “What?”
    “Who might think Cranston had a chance to win?”
    “No one,” Dunbar said. “That’s the whole point. I knew he didn’t, and so did Marty. The only one who might think that would be the Greenberg girl, and what’s she got to do with it?”
    “Oh? Why might she think that?”
    Dunbar held up his hand. “Please. Don’t put words in my mouth. I don’t think she’d think that. I only say she could think that because she doesn’t know any better. Me and Marty know better because we know. She knows nothing, so she could think anything she likes. But I gather she has little interest in the business at all.”
    “Un-huh,” I said. “Are you married?”
    Dunbar frowned. “What’s that got to do with it?”
    “I’m not sure. Are you?”
    “No, I’m not.”
    “What about Marty Rothstein?”
    “He’s not married either. Why?”
    “Cranston Pritchert was set up with a girl in a bar. That works in his case because he’s married. But you and Marty Rothstein, same situation, no big deal. You’re single. You pick up a girl in a bar and no one bats an eye.”
    “Yeah. So?”
    “So, maybe Cranston Pritchert was set up because he was the one it works on. Not because he had more shares, or more backing, or was the most likely candidate to be elected, but simply because he’s married, so in his case, it works.”
    Dunbar thought that over. Exhaled noisily. “Jesus Christ,” he said. He squinted at me sideways, cocked his head. “You know something?”
    “What’s that?”
    “You’ve almost got me convinced you didn’t do it.”

34.
    M ARTY R OTHSTEIN WASN’T PLEASED TO see me either. “I thought you were in jail,” he said.
    “I rolled doubles.”
    “What?”
    “That’s how you do it. Roll doubles, or have a Get out of jail free card.”
    Rothstein frowned. “It isn’t funny.”
    “No, it isn’t,” I said. “It’s bad enough the guy’s dead. Getting framed for his murder is just the icing on the cake.”
    “Oh, so now you were framed?”
    “No, I’m guilty, Rothstein. I killed Pritchert, and I’m up here with an eye to wiping out the company.”
    “Why are you so hostile?”
    “Am I? I hadn’t noticed. I guess getting framed for murder doesn’t put me in a great mood.”
    “Well, I didn’t do it.”
    “Well, who did?”
    “What?”
    “Come on. Help me out, here. If you didn’t frame me, who did?”
    “Don’t be absurd.”
    “There’s nothing absurd about it. I have an edge on the cops in the fact I happen to know I didn’t do it. I’m lookin’ for who did. I figure whoever framed me is probably the killer. You have any ideas on that?”
    Rothstein tipped back in his chair. “I could call security and have you thrown out.”
    “You could, but it would make you look bad. It’s the type of thing my lawyer could ask you on the witness stand.”
    “What?”
    “If the case ever went to trial, it’s the type of thing my lawyer could bring out. To show bias, you know. The fact you wouldn’t answer my questions and had me thrown out.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “I’m talking about the murder of Cranston Pritchert, which is what I’m investigating. I didn’t happen to kill him, and I want to find out who did. I have some questions. If you