Lawrence Sanders - McNally's risk

"Discretion?" he demanded, looking sternly at Rogoff.

"As usual," Al said.

Father then described the letters Smythe-Hersforth had written Shirley Feebling during a time the two apparently had been enjoying a steamy affair. Later the client had a change of heart, but the woman insisted he honor the proposal of marriage he had made in writing. If not, she vowed to sell his letters to any interested tabloid.

"Uh-huh," Rogoff said. "How much was she asking?"

"Archy?" papa said. "You take it from here."

"I went down to Lauderdale to see her," I told the sergeant. "I had just the single meeting and left my business card. She absolutely refused to discuss a cash settlement. She wanted to marry him and that was that."

"Where is the guy now-do you know?"

"His office says he left Monday morning for a bankers' convention in New Orleans and won't be back until Thursday."

Al had been making brief notes on all this in a fat little notebook he carried. Now he slapped the cover closed and bound it with a wide rubber band. He said casually, "Archy, you got any idea who might have clobbered the woman?"

I had learned to lie convincingly by age four. "Not a glimmer," I said.

"Sergeant," father said, "if inquiries by the Fort Lauderdale authorities prove-as I am certain they will-that Smythe-Hersforth was in New Orleans at the time of this unfortunate woman's death, I will deeply appreciate any assistance you may provide in retrieving our client's personal letters since they obviously will be of no further interest or import in the official investigation."

All that was said in one sentence. It's the way my old man talks.

"I'll see what I can do, sir," Rogoff said, rising, and the two men shook hands.

The sergeant was driving a police car that night, not his personal pickup truck, and I walked him outside. He paused to light a cigar and blow a plume of smoke toward the cloudless sky.

"Nice weather," he observed.

"You don't find it a trifle warm?"

"Nah," he said. "I like the heat. It keeps the juices flowing."

"And how are they flowing on the Hawkin homicide?"

"They ain't," he admitted. "We're going through the drill, talking to everyone. It's what I call an NKN case: nobody knows nothing."

"A double negative," I pointed out.

"The story of my life," he said. Then suddenly: "How about you? You got anything?"

"A crumb," I said. "Mrs. Jane Folsby has left the Hawkins' employ. For reasons the deponent knoweth not."

"Yeah?" he said. "Can't say I blame her for getting out of that nuthouse. Go to bed, sonny boy; I only wish I could. And remember what I said about your business cards. Will you, for God's sake, stop passing them out? Every time you do, someone gets whacked and I have to put in more overtime."

I watched him drive away, reflecting that his warning came too late. The last card I had distributed went to Theodosia Johnson. It was not a comforting thought. I went back inside. The door to father's study was shut, which meant he was deep in Dickens and port. So I trudged upstairs, finished scribbling in my journal, and prepared to crawl into the sack.

I cannot say my mood was melancholy, but neither was it chockablock with joie de vivre. I have never been a victim of presentiments, but that evening I must confess I had a sense of impending doom.

The only way I could calm my quaking spirits was to remind myself firmly that seriousness is a sin. I happen to believe that our Maker is the greatest farceur in the universe. And so sleep came only with the blessed remembrance of the sentiment: "Long live the sun! And down with the night!"

I thought it might be Pushkin. But then it might have been just Archy McNally. No matter. I slept.

And awoke on Wednesday morning revivified, alert, and wondering why I had been in such a funk the previous night. After all, I was alive, reasonably young, in full possession of my faculties (others might disagree), and inhabiting a world that offered such glories as lamb shanks braised in wine and tiramisu with zabaglione sauce. There was absolutely no reason to despair.

I knew exactly what I must do, but of course I had overslept and didn't arrive at my office in the McNally Building until a bit after ten o'clock. Oversleeping, I realized, was becoming a habit I seemed unable to break, and it occurred to me that I might have contracted trypanosomiasis. I have never been to Africa, but a chum of mine, Binky Watrous, had recently spent a weekend in Marrakech, and it was quite possible that, unknowingly of course, he had brought a tsetse fly home with him. It was troubling.

The moment I was behind my ugly desk I phoned Jack DuBois, my pal at the Royal Palm Way bank handling Hector Johnson's checking account.

"Jack," I said, "you told me that when Johnson made his initial deposit with a cashier's check from Troy, Michigan, he presented a driver's license as ID and supplied the names of two Fort Lauderdale residents as references."

"That's right."

"Could I have the names and addresses of the references, please?"

He groaned. "Archy, it seems to me I'm doing all your work for you."

"Jack, there's no such thing as a free lunch."

"Lunch?" he cried indignantly. "You promised me a dinner."

"I was speaking metaphorically," I soothed him. "You shall have your dinner complete with appetizer, soup, entree, dessert, and whatever else your ravenous hunger and thirst demand. Now let's have the names of Johnson's references."

"Wait a sec while I call them up on my screen," he said. "We've got new software and it's a doozy. When are you going to get a computer, Archy?"

"Give me a break," I pleaded. "I can't even operate a battery-powered swizzle stick."

Eventually I received the information requested. Hector Johnson's two references were J.P. Lordsley and Reuben Hagler. I studied their addresses and reckoned that if I left immediately, I could manage a relaxed drive to Fort Lauderdale, enjoy a leisurely snack, check out both individuals, and be back in time for my daily dunk in the sea.

But it did not happen. My phone jangled ere I could depart, and a feminine voice inquired, "Archy McNally?"

I recognized that coo, and my heart leaped like an inflamed gazelle. "Theo!" I said. "How nice to hear from you."

"I do hope I'm not interrupting," she said. "I know how busy you must be."

"Work-" I said. "It's a four-letter word and I try to avoid it."

"Let me help," she said, her voice positively burbling. "You did offer to show me your home, you know, and it's such a lovely day I was hoping to persuade you to take a few hours off."

"Splendid idea!" I practically shouted. "And as I recall, lunch was also mentioned. Still on?"

"Of course. Daddy is using our car this afternoon, so could you pick me up?"

"Delighted," I said. "Half an hour? How does that sound?"

"I'll be waiting for you, Archy," she said softly and hung up, leaving me to interpret her final words in several ways, not all of them honorable.

I was happy I had worn dove gray slacks and my navy blue blazer adorned with the Pelican Club patch: a pelican rampant on a field of dead mullet. I also sported tasseled cordovan loafers (no socks) and a mauve cashmere polo shirt, the cost of which had made a severe dent in my net worth.

Thankfully the heat and humidity of the previous day had dissipated and it was a brilliant noontime with a cerulean sky brushed with horsetail clouds, and a sweet ocean breeze moving the palm fronds. I should have been elated by the anticipation of spending a few enchanting hours with Madam X, but I must admit two questions dampened my euphoria.

One: If the Chinless Wonder was correct in stating that he was to become the fiance of Theodosia Johnson-and commissioning her portrait certainly proved the sincerity of his intent-why did she seem so eager to enjoy a luncheon with yrs. truly? She had to be aware that Chauncey was out of town, and her cozying up to another man in his absence was a mite off-putting.