Тимоти Уилльямз - Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 126, No. 3 & 4. Whole No. 769 & 770, September/October 2005

“And the ads?” Angelo asked.

“She likes meeting new men. Maybe one after the next.”

“And sometimes maybe more?”

“Who knows.”

Rosetta asked, “Where did they meet?”

“A restaurant in Saltford, off the main road and down by the river,” Gina said.

“A private place?”

“Yes.”

“And not in Bath or Bristol,” Angelo said. “Between. Off the beaten path...”

“What did you agree to do for him, Gina?” Rosetta asked.

“I said we’d try to get the address and that the least we would do is deliver his letter for him.”

“No stalking, good.”

“And to get this address?” Angelo asked. “What do you think? Work from the phone number?”

“I had a different plan in mind,” Gina said.

“What plan?”

“Well, she is still advertising, right?”

“Salvatore!” Angelo and Rosetta said simultaneously.

Salvatore Lunghi was the only adult member of the family not to work in the family business. Salvatore was a painter. However, the economic realities of life as a painter meant that he undertook occasional work for the agency. Nevertheless, he retained his independence. They could ask if he wanted to work on a given job and he could say yes or no, even if it was often yes.

He was also the only member of the family not to live in the Walcot Street complex, giving up predictable comfort for a series of bedsits, often in lofts, although all with north light. But that fact, too, didn’t mean he avoided, say, family meals. In fact, he often brought guests, known collectively as his models.

However, this evening, as the phone rang, Salvatore was standing before an easel, lit by incandescent light. He did consider not answering, but he wasn’t seeing anything new for the canvas. The model for his painting was in his mind, not in the flesh. This made it harder. The human body was what moved Salvatore, each one so different. He worked best when he could react visually to the real thing. Unfortunately, he was between volunteer models and without the cash for a professional. “Yo?”

“Hey, big boy. Want to make some money?”

Serendipity. “You got a case that needs my magic?”

“If you’re not too busy to consider gainful employment,” Gina said.

“I... could be convinced to come out.”

“How would you like to be paid to take a woman out to dinner? An attractive woman in her thirties who isn’t fussy.”

Gina waited in the kitchen for her children to come home. Though David often stayed after the theoretical eight o’clock end of his Web-site class, he was also a growing boy. He got hungry. And for once Gina hoped that Marie would stay out later than she was supposed to on a school night without permission. That would leave some time with David on his own.

But as luck — or design, who ever knew with kids? — would have it, the children came up the stairs together. They both had paper bags marked with Schwartz’s logo.

“Look what I found monging about outside our front door like a lost puppy,” Marie said cheerily.

“Woof,” David said. “Hi, Mum.”

“Hi,” Gina said.

“So what do you think?” David said to Marie. “Do you think she would?”

“Your son is asking me for lovelorn advice,” Marie said. “Should I help him, or is he still too young?”

“Marie!” David said.

“Helping each other is at the heart of being a family,” Gina said. “All of us should definitely help each other.”

The children paused, just for a moment, to work out what their mother might be getting at. But when they failed and she didn’t follow up, they headed down the hall to eat in their rooms. The last thing Gina heard was David saying, “So do you think she would?”

When Gina and Angelo were in bed and alone at last, Gina said, “I think you’ll have to do the surveillance again tomorrow.”

“I figured,” Angelo said.

“Sal has to be flexible for the Deena woman.”

“I know.”

“I could cover you for a while. For the morning, say.”

Angelo considered. “Okay. Thanks.”

“But I want to do the office in the afternoon.”

After a pause, Angelo said, “Okay.”

“Because I want to close early. Like maybe half an hour.”

After a pause, Angelo said, “Why?”

“So I can catch David when he comes home from school.”

Angelo frowned. But David was in the house now, and had been since... “Why?”

“About Marie, her money.”

Angelo knew there was a problem about Marie and her money, but what did David...

“Forget it,” Gina said, tired of trying to engage her tired husband. “I’ll sort it out myself.”

When Salvatore rang the office in the afternoon, it was Gina who answered. “I’ve made contact with Deena Scott,” he said.

“Already?”

“I responded to her Chronicle ad this morning and left my number. She called about an hour later.”

“Must have liked the sound of your voice.”

“So what a treat she’s in for when she sees me in the flesh.”

“You’ve arranged a date?”

“Yeah. For dinner tonight. She apologized for seeming forward, but her busy schedule, you see...”

“It wouldn’t have been your busy schedule, now would it?”

“Me-ow.”

“Where are you taking her?”

“She suggested a place she knows in Saltford. Ever heard of the Cummerbund?”

“Only when our client told me that’s where she met him.”

“Must be a place where she feels comfortable meeting strangers.”

“Or she likes it because it’s out of the way.”

“You think?”

“There’s got to be some reason to eat in Saltford. I mean, with all the great restaurants there are in Bath, and in Bristol.”

Gina was in the kitchen when David arrived home from school. “Hi,” David said. Then, “What?” when he saw the stern expression on his mother’s face.

“Sit down, please, David.”

“What?” She couldn’t know about the cigarette behind the boiler room. Could she? No. It was only today, for crying out loud. Did he smell? Was that it? Could she smell it? He sat.

“Is there something you want to tell me, David?”

“No.” Well, he didn’t want to tell her. Could it be that someone at school saw him and Keven and Steve and called her, called all the parents? Oh God!

“Are you sure about that?”

David racked his mind for another possible offence. Carving his and Fiona’s initials in a tree by the canal came to mind. But that was months ago, in the summer hols. Besides, he didn’t really like Fiona much anymore.

“Because, David, I know for a fact that you know what Marie has been doing to make this money she has now.”

Marie? It was about Marie? What a relief.

“I can see by the smirk on your face that you know.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes,” his mother said. “You do.” It was clear that she was very displeased. But how could she be upset with him?

“No, I don’t,” David said, but even he could hear that the tone of his voice was less convincing this time. But if he told his mother, and Marie found out it came from him...

Gina sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “Just tell me, David. Now. It will save us all a lot of trouble.”

Us “all”? She was threatening to punish him somehow if he didn’t tell. But that wasn’t fair. And besides, if he told, Marie would tell Cassi and Jackie and Natasha and Aimee and his name would be mud with them all. And then there would be no chance at all that Jojo would go out with him, ever.

David jumped up. “Stop trying to bully me,” he shouted. “You’re always trying to make me your spy. Well, you ought to be your own spy, the business you’re in. And I’m not going to be your spy anymore and I don’t know anything anyway.”