The Viper

As he was arranging everything in chronological order, he thought of an additional date that might be meaningful. He took out his phone and called Howard Manx of NorthGuard Insurance.

The man answered immediately and brusquely. “Manx.”

“This is Dave Gurney, still working on the Lerman-Slade murder—”

Manx interrupted. “You found anything useful to me?”

“Nothing that you can use to claw back the insurance payout, if that’s what you mean. But I’m convinced that the official version is wrong.”

“Good. What do you want?”

“I’m trying to put some key events in order. Can you give me the date Lenny Lerman applied for his million-dollar policy?”

“Hold on.”

Sound of keys tapping. Manx sniffling, coughing, clearing his throat. More keys tapping.

“October 20 application date. Effective date October 30. That tell you anything?”

“If it turns out to be significant, you’ll be the first to know.”

Gurney added the two dates to his list and printed out a hard copy.

Lerman’s visit to Clearview Office Suites:September 07

First visit to the Capital District Office Park:September 12

Second visit to the Capital District Office Park:September 25

Third visit to the Capital District Office Park:September 27

Start of his depression:End of September

Trip to the Franciscan Sanctuary:October 10

Four-hour disconnection of his phone’s GPS locator:October 19

Insurance application:October 20

First call from the anonymous phone:October 23

Lerman learns Slade’s secret from “Jingo”:October 24

Lerman decides on $1MM extortion amount:October 27

Emergence from depression:End of October

Second call from the anonymous phone:November 02

Dinner with Adrienne and Sonny:November 02

Third call from the anonymous phone:November 05

Lerman’s first call to Slade:November 05

Lerman quits Beer Monster job:November 06

Fourth call from the anonymous phone:November 12

Lerman gives Slade 10 days to get $1MM:November 13

Fifth call from the anonymous phone:November 22

Lerman’s final call to Slade:November 23

Lerman’s trip to Slade’s lodge:November 23

Gurney made his way slowly through the list, weighing the possible meanings of the time relationships. He was well aware of the mind’s tendency to leap from temporal association to causality in order to create coherence. It would be easy to assume that Lerman’s visits to the Capital District Office Park had caused his depression, and that his plan to blackmail Slade had ended it. That might be true, but the devil was in the details, and the details were unknown.

Just as intriguing were those calls Lerman received from an anonymous phone and their proximity to certain events described in his diary. One explanation would be that Lerman was receiving instructions from a collaborator.

Perhaps the collaborator was the “Jingo” that Lerman named in his diary as the source of his information about Slade. But why was there no further mention of him? And why no mention at all of the anonymous phone calls?

Gurney wondered if Lerman’s failure to mention those calls was related to another omission—the four-hour disconnection of his phone’s GPS locator.

“Are you watching the time?”

Madeleine was standing in the den doorway, dressed for work, her voice more critical than curious.

“The time?”

“For your neurology appointment.”

LANSON-CLAVIN NEUROLOGY ASSOCIATES was on the top floor of a colorless four-story building in Albany. The mostly glass structure was set on pillars above a parking lot.

Dr. Lyn Clavin was a pale, thin-boned woman with straight brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. A white lab coat added to her chilly image. She walked into the small examining room with a blue file folder in her hand and, without acknowledging Gurney, sat at a small metal desk with her back to him, opened the folder, and began scanning through it.

Finally, she swiveled around and faced him, flashing a perfunctory smile that left so little trace he wondered if he’d imagined it. She looked down at the folder in her lap.

“David Gurney?”

“Yes.”

“Date of birth?”