Page 45 of The Instruments of Darkness

“We operate on trust,” she said. “We can’t contact every attendee to ensure that the particulars they’ve submitted are accurate. It simply wouldn’t be feasible.”

“Just as long as the check clears. What was the attendance fee, five hundred dollars?”

“It included coffee,” she said icily.

“Unlimited, I hope. I’m not criticizing your registration policy, just making a point. You have no obligation to protect someone who has provided false information.”

“But I only have your word for that.”

I’d have tried to look hurt if I thought it might have helped. Instead, I shrugged and made heavy work of getting to my feet.

“Well, then, the next step is for me to return to Portland and inform Mrs. Clark’s attorney of your reluctance to divulge material that may be germane to the defense’s case, and your unwillingness to assist in an investigation into the whereabouts of a missing child. He will relay that intelligence to a judge as the basis for a subpoena, which will become a matter of public record. It never looks good for a company to appear to be hiding something, especially when it comes to the abduction of a little boy. I wouldn’t want to be forced to explain that position to the press.”

I didn’t bother pointing out to Delaney Duhamel that, since she was the spokesperson for a branch of the oil and gas industries, she was already mired in dirty waters as far as any question of reputation was concerned, though that didn’t mean her life couldn’t be made more awkward. But I was also aware that she was recording our interaction, and blackmail always sounded worse when played back in court.

Delaney Duhamel regarded me with disappointment. Men, that look seemed to say. First, they stiff you with a bum stone…

She killed the recording.

“Everything from this moment on is off the record,” she said.

“With respect, I wasn’t the one recording the conversation to begin with.”

She conceded this with a wave of a hand, like a dowager duchess wafting away the smell of poverty.

“Other issues have arisen out of recent forums,” she said.

“What kinds of issues?”

“Two sexual harassment suits, and one allegation of serious sexual assault, which is under police investigation. Some of these men are little better than animals in suits. The harassment allegations should be settled quietly, but the sexual assault case may go the distance.”

“In other words, you don’t need any more bad publicity.”

“It would be unwelcome. It might also cost me my position.”

“I can’t help but detect a note of ambivalence about the second part.”

Delaney Duhamel tilted her head, as though examining me from a different angle might explain this previously unsuspected level of perspicacity on my part.

“Protecting would-be rapists wasn’t part of the job description,” she said.

“In my experience,” I said, “companies prefer to leave that bit out. It discourages the better candidates, though it also helps winnow out the ones with a conscience.”

“You’re representing a woman accused of killing her child. How do you square that with your conscience?”

“Mine is very evolved,” I said. “Also, she didn’t do it.”

“You would say that.”

“Not if I didn’t believe it.”

“And do you suspect Mara Teller may be connected to the disappearance of the Clark boy?”

“Her consultancy could have hit the rocks before it even got started,” I said. “She might have decided to pursue an alternative vocation. She might even have found Jesus, or got sick and died. But none of those would explain why Mara Teller, to my eyes, may never have existed.”

Delaney Duhamel took in her office. Through the glass partition wall, she regarded the staff at their desks and the pictures of unsullied rivers, mountains, and valleys on the walls. Two older men in shirtsleeves passed through the lobby. Their shirts were pink and light blue respectively, but each had a white collar. Depending on one’s perspective, this was what passed for individuality in the corporate world, was nature’s way of marking the wearer as a complete jackass, or both.

“If the details she gave were false,” she said, “then what we have won’t be of much use to you.”