Flinch Factor, The Read Online Free PDF

enough time before she got home.
    I told them about my morning, which I’d spent at the offices of Moran Renovations. Nick’s sister had arranged it all. She met me at the office and introduced me to the secretary-receptionist, a pleasant fortysomething woman named Linda who was in the process of closing down the operations.
    Linda had been the only other full-time employee of the company and had worked there for almost five years. Nick had a large group of preferred subcontractors and craftsmen that he would hire for particular jobs. On any given day he might have four different painters at four different sites, and three plumbing subcontractors working at three other sites.
    I said, “The police talked to Linda the day after they found the body. They asked the usual questions—whether there’d been any recent disruptions or changes in his behavior or the business. She’d noticed nothing like that. She’d never seen him use any drugs. Though he kept a case of beer in the office fridge, he usually drank only on Friday afternoons, and rarely more than a bottle. Although he didn’t talk to her about his private life, she had no reason to believe he was gay.”
    â€œDid he have a computer?” Benny asked.
    â€œIn his office. He didn’t have one at home. He didn’t use the office one much. Linda told me that days could go by without him even turning it on. I booted it up and poked around some. He didn’t use the calendar feature. She kept all his appointments on one of those day planners that he’d take with him. I checked his email. Not much, and nothing that interesting.”
    â€œWho did he email?” Benny asked.
    â€œA few of his subcontractors seemed to prefer to schedule jobs by email or to send invoices that way. He mostly forwarded them on to his secretary, who would print out the bills and write the job schedules into his day planner.”
    â€œNo emails to boyfriends?” Benny asked.
    â€œNope. And none to girlfriends. Or family. I checked his Sent folder, his Deleted folder and his Saved folder. Nothing personal.”
    â€œWhat about the Internet?” my mother asked.
    â€œNot much there, either. I made arrangements for one of my tech guys to analyze the hard drive, but I didn’t find anything promising. He just wasn’t a big computer user. He had a high-speed Internet connection, but that was mainly for his secretary’s use. I went online and checked his history of Website visits. Pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. Home Depot, Mapquest, plumbing suppliers, Google, a few used car sites.”
    â€œNo male porn?” Benny asked.
    â€œNo porn period. He did go to some fishing sites. And hunting sites. Places like Bass Pro and Cabelas.”
    â€œDid he have a cell phone?” my mother asked.
    â€œSame story. Had one but didn’t use it much. His secretary said most days he either forgot to charge it or he’d leave it at home. He mostly used pay phones and his customers’ land lines.”
    â€œLet’s pause for a recap,” Benny said. “No Internet porn. No salacious emails. No records of cell phone calls to male escort services. Unless I missed something, you’ve told us nothing that could even charitably be described as interesting, much less juicy.”
    â€œTrue,” I said.
    â€œSo?” Benny replied. “What else you got?”
    I smiled. “For starters, how about a surveillance video of a naked gay housepainter?”
    Benny laughed. “Are you shitting me?”
    â€œDo you think I could make that up?”
    â€œA surveillance video?” my mother asked.
    â€œThe man’s name is Bobby Clay,” I said. “He was one of Nick’s painting subcontractors. Apparently, he preferred to paint in the nude, although Linda didn’t know when exactly Nick learned about his painter’s quirk. Since Bobby was usually alone in the houses he painted, it