“It sounds like you knew Gordon better than almost anyone,” Ajax went on, massaging her ego the same way he’d massage her thigh if they were in bed. “So you may know something that would help us catch whoever did this.”

“I don’t know anything.”

“Well, you called him a monster. What does that mean?”

Penny began to backtrack. “I just meant he was ruthless. Hard as nails. Lawyers have to be tough, you know. That’s their job. But the things he said to those women, the questions he asked. It was awful.”

“Did any of them get angry?”

“Sure. They all did. I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t want someone grilling me about my sex life like that.”

“Did you hear anyone make threats?”

“Not specifically. Not in the room. But it got pretty heated sometimes.”

I took over the questions again. “Penny, you said Erica suspected you of having an affair with Gordon, but she was wrong about that. Do you know if he was having an affair with anyone else while he was here?”

“I have no idea, but I wouldn’t be surprised. All the paralegals are women. So’s the other secretary working on the case. We’re all young and cute. That’s part of the job description if you work for Gordon.”

“Did you ever see him with any local women?” I asked.

“No. He worked sixteen hours a day. He hardly ever left the house. Some of us would go hang out at the bar in the evenings and on weekends, but Gordon never did. I mean, back in Milwaukee, he’d usually go out and have a drink and blow off steam with us. Not here. I don’t know . . .”

Her voice drifted off.

“What?” I asked.

“Gordon was on edge about something. The whole time he was here, he was angry and restless. He took it out on us. I mean, he’s always demanding, but this was worse. This case really seemed to get to him.”

“Do you know why?” Ajax asked, frowning.

“No.”

“He didn’t say anything about it?”

“Nothing. Not to me, anyway.”

“You worked with him for two years. What was he like as a lawyer?”

“I told you. Tough. Ambitious. He was the firm’s fixer. If a client had a problem, he made it go away. That was why he made partner so fast—two years before any other associate. But there was something different about this case.”

“What?”

“Well, for one thing, he tried to hand it off, rather than take it on himself. That was unusual. I heard him say the case was a loser and he wanted some other partner to take the first chair. I figured he was concerned that a big judgment against our client would hurt his reputation. But he couldn’t get out of it, because the mine insisted on him.”

“How was the case going?”