He turned to Milo. “Please. Do your utmost. If something happened to Merry, I’d never get over it. She wasn’t on my personal staff, she worked for the entire firm, but we were—I suppose she considered me more available than the other partners. More prone to offering positive feedback. And Jens would know that, so if he’s trying to get to me—I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Any special perks for Ms. Santos beyond merit dinners?” said Milo.

Fellinger blinked. Thick shoulders gathered around his bull-neck. “If you’re implying some sort of inappropriate relationship, you’re way off base, Lieutenant.”

“Doing my job means asking questions, Mr. Fellinger.”

“Fine. And the answer is no.”

“So there’d be no reason beyond your getting along with Ms. Santos for Williams to use her against you.”

Fellinger looked down. “Perhaps he resented—look, Lieutenant, I’m a red-blooded American guy but I understand boundaries.”

I thought of his hand on Ursula Corey’s ass. Maybe Milo was thinking the same thing when he didn’t respond.

Fellinger said, “Why in the world you’d want to waste time attacking me—”

“Richard Corey told us you and Ursula were—”

“Having an affair? Nonsense.”

“Corey’s totally off base?”

“About a romantic affair? Absolutely.”

Milo stood there.

Fellinger scratched the side of his broad, flared nose. “Were we screwing occasionally? Yes, we were. But that was pure recreational sex and it only happened after Ursula and Richard were separated irrevocably. In my mind, that doesn’t violate any boundaries whatsoever, because there was no power inequality between Ursula and myself. If anything, she had the upper hand.”

“The checkbook.”

“No need to be vulgar, Lieutenant. But yes, she was the client and I served at her convenience. So we had sex, big deal. I’m assuming we’re all adults here.”

“Last I checked, sir. But you can see why we’d want to clarify.”

“I’m afraid I can’t.” Fellinger huffed. “If that idiot said Ursula and I were romantic, he was being delusional. Ursula was a red-blooded woman and I saw no reason not to indulge her. Frankly, if Richard could get it up in the first place, Ursula wouldn’t have been compelled to look elsewhere. I’ve worked on their case for five years and, to be brutally honest, Richard’s a washout in every way you can imagine.”

“When we spoke to you the first time, you seemed less disapproving of him.”

“I was being gracious,” said Fellinger. “Being professional. There was no reason to—in any event, what does any of this have to do with the issue at hand? I called you here about Merry. You need to look for her.”

“How did Richard and Jens Williams get along?”