Howd you manage to get them all out of there? Those books are heavy.
No kidding theyre heavy. I found a bag in the closet that held six of them his wheeled duffel, he thought and I got the doorman to give me a hand, and he brought a luggage cart they keep in the basement, and between us we got everything into the trunk of my car. Oh, and I took your computer, too, but youre not getting that back. Unless you want to look for it at the bottom of the Hudson.
Between the two of us, he said, were hard on rivers. He picked up his iced tea and took a long drink of it. This is all tough for me to take in, he admitted. Let me make sure Ive got it straight. The stamps
Are in a climate-controlled storage locker in Albany, New York. Well, actually, its in Latham, but you probably dont know where that is.
Albanys close enough. And everythings there? My
whole stamp collection is intact, and I can go there and pick it up?
Anytime you want to. I probably should go with you, to make sure they dont give you a hard time. We could fly to Albany tomorrow, if thats what you decide you want to do.
I get the feeling, he said, that it wouldnt be your first choice.
Well, Id like to spend a few days and see New Orleans. But after that its your call. Youll have your stamps back, and youll have two and a half million dollars just in case the construction business goes sour. You can just sit back and enjoy yourself.
Or?
Lord, did I finish that last glass of tea? Im going to have some from your pitcher, if you dont mind.
Go right ahead.
Ill regret it, when I have to get up once an hour to pee, but if thats my greatest regret Id say Im in good shape. Keller, I think were both pretty safe at this point. The cops seem to think youre dead or in Brazil or both, which is about what I thought until my phone rang the other day. And I dont know what our friend Al thinks, but at this point he probably has other matters that get the greater part of his attention. He knows Im dead, and if youre still on his list youre way down toward the bottom of it. So theres nothing we absolutely have to do.
But?
She sighed. Oh, she said, Im sure its the sign of a defect of character, and theres probably a seminar I could take to address the issue, and if there is you can bet someones offering it in Sedona. But what do you figure are the odds Ill ever take that seminar?
Slim.
There you go. Keller, I cant help it. I really would like to get even with that son of a bitch.
It was driving me crazy, he said, that he was alive and you werent.
Same with me, that he was alive and you werent. Now it turns out were both alive, and were both millionaires, and we should probably let it go at that, but
You want to go after him.
You bet I do. And you?
He drew a breath. I think Id better go talk to Julia, he said.
33
When he picked Dot up she wore a different suit, with a skirt instead of pants, and her hair was different. I had to cancel my little Vietnamese girl in Sedona, she said, so I asked the concierge, and wound up with a local product who couldnt stop talking. But I like what she did with my hair.
Keller brought her into the house and introduced her to Julia, and stepped aside and waited for something to go wrong. By the time they sat down to dinner, after Dot had had the grand tour of the house and said all the appropriate things, he realized nothing terrible was going to happen. Both women were too well brought up.
Julia served pie for dessert, pecan this time, from the little bakery on Magazine Street, and they all had coffee, which Dot chose over iced tea. Throughout the evening Julia had referred to him as Nicholas, and Dot hadnt called him anything at all, but as he was pouring her a second cup of coffee she called him Keller.
I mean Nicholas, she said, and looked across at Julia. Its a good thing I live a thousand miles from here, so you dont have to sit around on pins and needles waiting for me to drop a brick in front of company. Have you ever done that, Julia? Called him Keller?
When he was driving her back to the Intercontinental, she said, Thats a real lady you found yourself, Keller. Im sorry, Ill be a long time getting used to any other name for you. Youve been just plain Keller to me for a long time now.
Dont worry about it.
But why did she blush when I asked if she ever called you Keller? Jesus, Keller, now youre the one blushing.
The hell I am, he said. Just forget it, okay?
Okay, she said. Mea fucking culpa, and consider it forgotten.
Do I ever forget and call you Keller? I turned red as a beet.
I dont think she noticed.
Oh? I doubt theres a great deal that goes unnoticed around your friend Dot. I like her. Though shes not quite what I expected.
What did you expect?
Someone older. And, well, on the dowdy side.
She used to be older.
Hows that?
Well, she seemed older, and dowdy too, I guess. She never wore makeup, and she sat around in housedresses. I think thats what you call them.
Watching TV and drinking iced tea.