Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark Read Free Page A

switched from hostile to ingratiating. Danny preferred hostile. Nevertheless, it was an unusually perceptive comment.
    â€œWhat makes you think that, Mr. Renalto?”
    Lyle smiled. “Your face. Unless, of course, it’s just me, personally, whom you dislike.”
    Danny said nothing. Lyle went on.
    â€œYou’re not alone, you know. My father hated lawyers with a passion. He was crushingly disappointed when I graduated law school. I come from a seafaring family, you see. As far as Pa was concerned, it was the United States Naval Academy or nothing.”
    Danny thought, Why’s he telling me this?
    The elevator arrived. Danny stepped inside and pressed G but Lyle stuck an arm out to hold the doors. His film-star features hardened and his cat’s eyes flashed in warning. “Angela Jakes is a close friend of mine. I won’t have you hounding her.”
    Danny lost his temper. “This is a murder inquiry, Mr. Renalto, not a game of twenty questions. Mrs. Jakes is my key witness. In fact right now, she and her maid are my only witnesses.”
    â€œAngela didn’t see the man. She told you that already.”
    Danny frowned. “I thought Mr. Jakes was a close friend of yours too. I’d have thought you’d want us to find his killer?”
    â€œOf course I do,” snapped Lyle.
    â€œOr perhaps you weren’t quite as close to Andrew Jakes as you were to his wife. Is that it?”
    This seemed to amuse Lyle Renalto. “For a detective, I must say you’re a pretty poor judge of people. You think Angel and I are lovers?”
    â€œAre you?”
    The attorney smirked. “No.”
    Danny desperately wanted to believe him.
    â€œThis is a triple felony, Mr. Renalto,” he said, removing the attorney’s arm from the elevator door. “Rape, robbery and murder. I strongly suggest you do not attempt to obstruct my investigation by coming between me and the witness.”
    â€œIs that a threat, Detective?”
    â€œCall it what you like,” said Danny.
    Renalto opened his mouth to respond but the elevator doors closed, denying him the last word. Judging from his twitching jaw and the look of frustration etched on his handsome face, this wasn’t something that happened very often.
    â€œGood-bye, Mr. Renalto.”
    Â 
    F IVE MINUTES LATER, BACK ON W ILSHIRE Boulevard, Danny’s cell phone rang.
    â€œHenning. What have you got for me?”
    â€œNot much, sir, I’m afraid. Nothing in the pawnshops, nothing online.”
    Danny frowned. “It’s still early days.”
    â€œYes, sir. I also checked out Jakes’s will.”
    Danny brightened. “And?”
    â€œThe wife gets everything. No other family. No charitable causes.”
    â€œHow much is everything?”
    â€œAfter taxes, around four hundred million dollars.”
    Danny whistled. Four hundred million dollars. That was quite a motive for murder. Not that Angela Jakes was a suspect. The poor woman could hardly have raped and beaten herself. Even so, Danny thought back to the words Angela had murmured repeatedly to herself last night: I have no life.
    With four hundred million in the bank, she certainly had a life now. Any life she wanted.
    â€œAnything else?” he asked his sergeant.
    â€œJust one thing. The jewelry. A little over a million bucks’ worth was taken from the safe and Mrs. Jakes’s jewelry box.”
    Danny waited for the punch line. “And…?”
    â€œNone of it was insured. Seven figures’ worth of diamonds, and you don’t add it to your homeowner’s policy? Seems strange, don’t you think?”
    It did seem strange. But Danny’s mind wasn’t focused on Andrew Jakes’s insurance oversights. “Listen,” he said, “I want you to run a check for me on a guy named Lyle Renalto. R-E-N-A-L-T-O. Says he was Old Man Jakes’s lawyer.”
    â€œSure,” said Detective Henning.