“Oh, good grief!” she exclaimed, exasperated with herself and blushing. “Mr. Morse, I am sorry—I have more than one case going at a time, and I just assumed you were calling about one I just wrapped up. Yes, I would like to ask you about Rod Calligan, if there’s anything at all you can tell me. But I don’t have a lot of time.”

“Shoot, that’s all right, it is your nickel,” Morse replied. “Just what are you looking for?”

“Information about the way he operates,” she said with caution. “I’m a private investigator, and I’m looking into an accident on one of his sites.” That was ambiguous enough; nothing that Calligan could take exception to if he got word she was asking around about him.

“Huh.” Morse was silent for a moment. “I go head-to-head with Calligan on a lot of bids, and I do have to tell you, miss, that he’s a sharp one. Never makes a bad move, businesswise. Even when it looks like he’s making a mistake, it always turns out he made the right move.”

Interesting. Especially in light of all the real-estate failures lately. “What about his crews. Do you have any idea how he gets along with his employees?”

Silence for a moment. “Rides his boys pretty hard, makes sure every minute on the clock is a minute of work. I can meet and match his bids, though, and I can guarantee I don’t have the kind of labor problems he does.”

“Labor problems?” she asked, trying to prompt him without sounding like she was doing so.

“Who’ve you been talking to?” Morse countered. “I could tell you better if I knew.”

A shrewd man; she had the notion that he wanted to know if anything he said could get him into trouble.

“Some of his employees,” she said absently, trying to get down the apple without sounding like she was eating. “I may talk to some other people who aren’t working for him right now.”

“Well, miss, like I said, he’s kinda hard. There’s some folks that just don’t like him being that tight on the clock, and they kinda got a problem with that. Are you working with that fella name of Sleighbow that called me?”

She decided she might as well loosen up a little. If Sleighbow had sent this man to her, it was probably safe to be a little less obtuse. “Yes, actually,” she replied.

“Well, I got some of Calligan’s people here, they’re Indians—they don’t think too highly of the man. They said he’s got an attitude about things they feel pretty strong about.” He sounded as if he was feeling her out. “Pardon my asking, miss, but are you Indian?”

“Yes,” she said, figuring it wouldn’t do any harm. “Why?”