Shallow Graves

Vietnamese?“
    “Yes, but like I told you before, Mau was more interested in my family life than she was in talking about her own.“
    “Larry, her father was—is, Joseph Danucci.“
    The confused expression, trying to place the reference.
    I said, “Her grandfather is Tommy Danucci.“
    The mouth came open. “The gangster?“
    “The same.“
    “No shit?“
    Like I’d just told him Tom Selleck wore a toupee.
    “No shit, Larry.“
    “You’ve got to tell me, this is really on the level?“
    I couldn’t understand his attitude. “It is.“
    The laugh that turned into a giggle. “ God-damn. I’ll go to lunch for a month on this one.“
    “Huh?“
    “The hook, John. The cachet of it. I was boffing a Mafia Princess. This is the best story I’ve heard in a year.“
    I stood to go. “Just so the Danucci family doesn’t hear it.“
    The smile shrank only a little. “We really don’t travel in the same circles.“

    I covered the five blocks to the Lindqvist/Yulin agency in ten minutes. As I pushed open the yellow, six-panel door to their reception area, George Yulin was just putting down the phone and standing to see who it was.
    “John?“
    “Right. That wasn’t Larry Shinkawa by any chance?“
    Yulin looked at the receiver. “No. Why, are you trying to reach him?“
    “Just did. You have a couple of minutes?“
    The grizzled hah looked stylishly unkempt, the eyes remembering I could bring him money. “Certainly. Certainly, come into my office.“
    The same hodgepodge of magazines and photos were spread around his desk and director’s chairs. He cleaned one off for me, but this time sat on the edge of his desk.
    Yulin said, “Have you finished your investigation?“
    “Not quite. Still a few loose ends.“
    An uneven grin. “I hope I’m not one of them?“
    Trying to mend our relationship after the scene at the house in Brookline. “When I was here the last time, you showed me a card with some phone numbers on it.“
    “Right. Mau Tim’s casting card.“
    “The first number was her uncle’s, you said.“
    “Yes.“
    “Do you remember if you were able to reach her there frequently?“
    Yulin clearly had no idea where I was going. “Well, it has been almost a year, I think, since she started with us, and of course, at the beginning, I wouldn’t have been trying to call her that often.“
    “You remember what times of day or night you did reach her there?“
    Yulin shrugged. “Probably late afternoon, when a shoot might come in on short notice and I needed somebody I knew was free. By the time Mau started to hit, she was at Oz Puriefoy’s.“
    “How do you know that?“
    Another shrug. “Just the sense of hearing his voice more often when I was trying to reach her.“
    “More often than hearing her uncle’s voice?“
    Yulin looked at me. “Yes, I suppose so.“
    I took a chance. “Tell me, George, should your number have been on that card, too?“
    Yulin seemed to think about how to play it, then smiled, even winked. “Once upon a time.“
    “Mind elaborating?“
    “Well, I’m not one to brag, mind you, but occasionally some of the younger ones—not the underage ones, no, never—but the newer models appreciate an... older hand at the tiller?“
    “You ever in Mau Tim’s apartment?“
    A stiffening. “The one on... where she was killed, you mean?“
    “That’s what I mean.“
    “Why, no. I told you that before. It was—the times we saw each other, it was at my place.“
    “The house in Brookline?“
    “Oh, no. That was later. I mean, I was still living in my condo here in town then.“
    “So you never saw any keys Mau Tim had for other apartments in her building.“
    More stiffening. “No.“
    “Never used the key Sinead kept here to get in the front door of their building there?“
    “Of course not.“
    “How about Erica?“
    “Erica?“
    “Yes. Did she ever use that key?“
    “Not that I know of.“ Yulin tried to get back to conversational. “What does this have to do with anything?“
    “You know who Mau Tim’s uncle is, George?“
    “Some lawyer in a big firm. Look, I aheady—“
    “Know who her father is?“
    Yulin started to look exasperated. “Let me take a wild guess. Her uncle’s brother?“
    “Because of the last name.“
    “Yes.“
    “Actually, ‘Dani’ is kind of a stage name. Like ‘Mau Tim.’ “
    A deep sigh. “And therefore?“
    “I understand that Mau Tim was thinking about trying her luck in New York.“
    Yulin seemed