a second was unable to speak

She stopped, and Ray waited for the resolution. "What's the point?" he asked. "The Judge said it was a shame, said the kids should've kept the money quiet and split it. After all, it was the property of their father." "Sounds fair to me." "He hated inheritance taxes. Why should the government get a large portion of your wealth just because you die? I heard him grumble about it for years." Ray took an envelope from behind his rocker and handed it to her. "That's twenty-five thousand in cash." She stared at it, then looked at him in disbelief. "Take it," he said, inching it closer to her. "No one will ever know." She took it and for a second was unable to speak. Her eyes watered, and for Claudia that meant serious emotions were at work. "Thank you," she whispered, and clutched the money even tighter. LONG AFTER she left, Ray sat in the same chair, rocking in the darkness, quite pleased with himself for eliminating Claudia as a suspect. Her ready acceptance of twenty-five thousand dollars was convincing proof that she knew nothing of the much larger fortune. But there was no suspect to take her place on the list. Chapter 23 The meeting had been arranged through a Virginia law alumnus who was now a partner in a New York megafirm, which in turn was counsel to a gaming group that operated Canyon Casinos across the country. Contacts had been made, favors exchanged, arms twisted slightly and very diplomatically. It was in the delicate area of security, and no one wanted to step over the line. Professor Atlee needed just the basics. Canyon had been on the Mississippi River, in Tunica County, since the mid-nineties, arriving in the second wave of construction and surviving the first shakeout. It had ten floors, four hundred rooms, eighty thousand square feet of gaming opportunities, and had been very successful with old Motown acts. Mr. Jason Piccolo. a vice president of some sort from the home office in Vegas, was on Piccolo was in his early thirties and dressed like an Armani model. Barker was in his fifties and had the look of a weathered old cop in a bad suit.