Chapter 20 Chapter Nineteen

The words kept swirling in Diana Stevens' head: I am Ron Jones.I just want to let you know that I received your paperwork and made the changes as you requested...we cremated your husband's remains an hour ago. How could a funeral home make such a mistake? Had she, in her grief, called and asked them to cremate Richard? Totally impossible.And she doesn't have a secretary.Both assumptions are baseless. Someone at the funeral home had misunderstood and confused Richard's name with another body of a similar name that was in the funeral home.They sent a jar with Richard's ashes in it.

Diana stood transfixed, staring at it.Richard is really in there? ...his laugh is also in it? ...the arms that once held her tightly...the lips that pressed against her face...the brain that used to be so bright and funny...the voice that used to say "I love you"...all his dreams and passions, and Is everything else in this little jar? Diana's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the phone. "Mrs. Stevens?" "yes……" "Tanner Kingsley's office. Mr. Kingsley would be honored if he could make an appointment with you and ask you to come and meet him."

That was two days ago, and Diana was stepping through the KIG gates, towards the reception. The receptionist said, "Can I help you?" "My name is Diana Stevens. I have an appointment to see Tanner Kingsley." "Oh, Mrs. Stevens! We all feel sorry for Mr. Stevens. What a dreadful thing. Terrible." Diana swallowed. Tanner is talking to Rita Taylor: "I'm going to meet two people. Scan them all." "Yes, sir." He watched the assistant leave. The inliner rang: "Mrs. Stevens is here to see you, Mr. Kingsley." Tanner pressed a button on his desk's electronic control panel, and Diana Stevens appeared on the TV screen on the wall.Her blond hair was pulled back in a bun, and she wore a white and navy pinstriped dress and a white shirt.Pale.

"Please come in." He watched Diana walk through the office door and stood up to greet her. "Thank you for coming, Mrs. Stevens." Diana nodded, "Good morning." "Please sit down." Diana took a seat across from his desk. "Needless to say, we all regret the tragic murder of your husband. You can rest assured that whoever the murderer is, he will be brought to justice as soon as possible." ashes... "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions." "Speaking." "Does your husband often discuss his work with you?"

Diana shook her head. "Frankly, no. It's a separate part of our shared life because it's so technical." Downstairs in the monitoring room in the lobby, Rita Taylor turned on the voice recognizer, accent analyzer, and TV recorder, and was recording the scene in Tanner's office. "I know how difficult it is for you to discuss this," Tanner said, "but what do you know about your husband's connection to drugs?" Diana stared at him with wide eyes, unable to speak a word in astonishment.It took a long time to catch my breath: "What—what are you talking about? Richard will never have anything to do with drugs."

"Mrs. Stevens, the police found a Mafia threatening note in his pocket, and—" The idea that Richard had anything to do with drugs was unthinkable.Does Richard have a secret life that she doesn't even know about?Impossible, impossible, impossible. Diana's heart began to pound and she felt blood rush to her face.They killed him to punish me: "Mr. Kingsley, Richard didn't—" Tanner's voice was full of sympathy, but it was also decisive: "I'm sorry to make you feel bad, but I am determined to find out what happened to your husband." I am the bottom, Diana thought drearily.I am the person you are looking for.Richard died because I testified against Altieri.She began to gasp for air.

Tanner Kingsley watched her.He said, "I'm not keeping you, Mrs. Stevens. I can see how excited you are. We'll talk about it later. Maybe you'll remember something. If you think of something useful, I hope you call Give me a call, I'd be very grateful." Tanner reached into a drawer and pulled out an embossed business card. "It has my personal cell phone number on it. You can reach me day or night." Diana took the card.It just had Tanner's name and a number on it. Diana stood up, her legs trembling. "My apologies for putting you through this. In the meantime, if there's anything I can do for you—any urgent issues you have, I'm here to help."

Diana could barely speak. "Thank you—I—thank you." She turned and walked out of the office, numb. When Diana arrived in the anteroom, she heard the woman behind the desk talking to someone: "If I were a superstitious person, I'd think someone was cursing KIG. Now it's your turn, sir, Mrs. Harris. We all listen Shocked at the news of his death. To die like that is simply horrific." These ominous words sounded familiar to Diana.What happened to the woman's husband?Diana turned to see who the receptionist was talking to. It was a gorgeous African-American woman in black slacks and a turtleneck sweater.A large emerald band and a diamond wedding ring adorned her finger.Diana felt suddenly compelled to speak to her.

As Diana started to move closer to her, Tanner's secretary came in: "Mr. Kingsley wants to see you now." Diana watched Kelly disappear behind Tanner's office door. Tanner stood up to greet Kelly. "Thank you for coming, Mrs. Harris. Did the flight go well?" "It went well, thank you." "What would you like to drink? Coffee or—?" Kelly shook her head. "I know what a difficult time this is for you, Mrs. Harris, but I need to ask you a few questions." In the monitoring room, Rita Taylor watched Kelly on the TV screen and recorded the scene.

"Are you close with your husband?" Tanner asked. "Very intimate." "Can you say he's been honest with you?" Kelly looked at him confused. "There are no secrets between us. Mark is the most honest and aboveboard person I've ever known in my life. He—" Kelly found it difficult to continue speaking. "Does he often discuss his work with you?" "No. The work Mark does is very—complicated. We don't talk much about it." "Do you and Mark have many Russian friends?" Kelly looked at him in bewilderment. "Mr. Kingsley, I don't know what these questions are—"

"Has your husband ever told you that he's going to make a big deal and make a lot of money soon?" Kelly was getting more and more angry: "No. If that's the case, Mark will tell me." "Did Mark talk about Olga?" Kelly was suddenly filled with ominous premonition: "Mr. Kingsley, why are you asking these questions?" "The Paris police found a note in your husband's pocket. It mentioned a payment for some kind of intelligence, signed 'Love you, Olga.'" Kelly sat motionless, jaw-dropping: "I—I don't know—" "But you said just now that he had nothing to say to you?" "Yes, but—" "Based on what we have so far, it's clear that your husband had an affair with that woman—" "No!" Kelly stood up. "This is not Mark we're talking about. I tell you, there are no secrets between us." "Except for your husband's secret cause of death." Kelly felt suddenly dizzy. "Please—please forgive me, Mr. Kingsley. I don't feel well." He immediately apologized. "I understand. I want to help you as much as I can." Tanner handed her his embossed business card. "You can contact me at any time at this number, Mrs. Harris." Kelly nodded, speechless, and walked out of the office blindly. Kelly's mind was in a mess as he left the building.Who is Olga?Why did Mark mess with the Russians?Why would he—? "Excuse me. Is that Mrs. Harris?" Kelly turned around: "Yes?" A beautiful blonde woman stands outside the building. "My name is Diana Stevens. I want to talk to you. There's a coffee shop across the road and we—" "I'm sorry. I—I can't talk to you right now." Kelly started walking on. "It's about you sir." Kelly stopped abruptly and turned around: "Mark? What about him?" "Can we find a secluded place to talk?" In Tanner's office, the secretary's voice came from the inliner: "Mr. Heyhout is here." "Please come in." Tanner greeted him a moment later: "Good afternoon, John." "Good? It's been a terrible afternoon, Tanner. Seems like everyone in our company has been killed. What's going on?" "That's exactly what we're trying to find out. I don't believe the sudden deaths of three of our company's employees are purely coincidental. Someone's trying to discredit the company, but they'll be caught and stopped. The police have agreed to cooperate with us, my men The murdered employee is being tracked down. I want you to listen to the tapes of two interviews I just recorded. They are Richard Stevens and the widow of Mark Harris. Can I play it?" "Let's go." "This is Diana Stevens." Tanner pressed the button, and the scene of his conversation with Diana Stevens appeared on the screen.There is a coordinate in the right corner of the screen that depicts the ups and downs of Diana's tone of voice as she speaks. What do you know about your husband's connection to drugs? What - what are you talking about?Richard would never have anything to do with drugs. The image of the coordinates remains stable. Tanner pressed the fast-forward button: "This is Mrs. Mark Harris. Her husband was pushed or fell from the top of the Eiffel Tower." An image of Kelly flashed on the screen. Did Mark talk about Olga? Mr. Kingsley, what on earth are you asking for? The Paris police found a note in your husband's pocket.It mentioned a payment for some kind of information, signed "Love you, Olga." I - I don't know - But you said just now that he had nothing to say to you? yes, but— Judging from what we have so far, your husband is clearly having an affair with that woman— Will not!This is not the Mark we're talking about.I tell you, there are no secrets between us. The coordinates on the Accent Analyzer are balanced.Kelly's image disappeared. "What's that line on the screen?" John Hayhot asked. "Accent Analyzer, a CVSA computer voice stress analyzer, records the subtle vibrations in the speaker's voice. If the subject is lying, the subtle vibrations in the frequency of the voice are increased. This is state-of-the-art technology. No wires required, just like a measuring instrument Liar. I'm sure both women are telling the truth. They must be protected." John Hayhot frowned. "What do you mean? Protect them from what?" "I think they're at risk because they have more information than they're aware of. They're all very close to their husbands. I'd say at one point, their husbands probably said something that was a tell-tale, at the time They ignore it, but it is stored in the memory bank. When they start thinking, they have the opportunity to recall. Once they do, their lives are in danger, because those who killed their husbands are likely to be planning to kill them. I want Make sure they don't get hurt." "You want to send someone to follow them?" "That was yesterday, John. Today it's electronics. I've put Stevens' apartment under surveillance—cameras, phones, microphones—everything. We're doing everything we can to schedule all our All technology at our disposal is there to watch over them. If someone tries to launch an attack, we'll know immediately." John Heyhot pondered for a moment: "What about Kelly Harris?" "She lives in a hotel. Unfortunately, we can't go into her suite to make arrangements. But I have a watch post in the lobby, and if there is any trouble, they will deal with it." Tanner hesitated for a moment, "I want KIG to offer a reward of five Millions of dollars to help arrest—” "Wait a minute, Tanner," protested John Heyhot, "it's not necessary. We'll work it out—" "Okay. If KIG can't solve it, I will personally offer a bounty of five million. My name and this company are indistinguishable." His tone became tougher, "Whoever is behind the scenes, I want him to stay put and wait for death .”