Both of which she still does, he said, but I guess she gets out more, and shes lost a lot of weight, and she buys nice clothes now, and gets her
hair done. Its dyed.
Im shocked, darling. Shes very flippant and sarcastic, but underneath it all shes very much the lady. When I was showing off the house, she kept pointing out things like the window seat that reminded her of her house in White Plains. She must have loved that house, and yet she was tough-minded and decisive enough to burn the place down.
She didnt have much choice.
I realize that, but it still couldnt have made it easy. I wonder if I could do that.
If you had to.
When all is said and done, its just a house. And you could always build me a new one, couldnt you? With an open-plan kitchen and ceramic tile in the bath.
And central air.
My hero. Didnt you say they found a body in the wreckage?
He was ready for this. She left her false teeth behind, he said. Which they could identify from dental records. I never even knew her teeth werent her own, so the possibility never occurred to me.
Oh, that explains it. Nicholas? She put a hand on his arm. I was afraid Id be jealous, even if it was never that kind of relationship in the past. But her whole vibe with you is somewhere between big sister and Auntie Mame. You know what the elephant was?
The elephant in the living room?
That we walked around and didnt mention. What youre going to do now.
I dont really have to do anything.
I know. Youve got your stamps, or at least youre going to have them, and youre going to have a lot of money, too. And we can just go on living this life, which is exactly the life I want to be living
Me, too.
and not worry about money, and just be comfortable and happy.
And?
And never really feel comfortable eating in the French Quarter. If you went after them, would you know where to look?
Not really.
Des Moines?
I dont know if any of them live in Des Moines. Its a sure bet Al doesnt. Ive got a Des Moines phone number, the one I called every day to find out if it was time to take out that poor mope who never did anything besides water his lawn. I wonder if he has any idea how close he came to getting his ticket punched.
You dont think that phone number would lead anywhere?
No, he said, or they wouldnt have given it to me. But as far as I can tell, its all weve got.
I wonder, she said.
In the morning she drove him and Dot to the airport. Keller had thought they would take a cab, but Julia wouldnt hear of it. Dot headed inside with her suitcase, to give them a moment, and Julia got out of the car to kiss him good-bye.
She said, Be careful, you hear?
I will.
Ill tell Donny you were called away. Family business, Ill tell him.
Sure. He studied her. Is there something else?
Not really.
Oh?
Its nothing, she said. Itll keep.
34
Why would I dial it?
I see your point. If its the number they gave you, its not going to lead anywhere. Dial it anyway.
Why?
So we can rule it out, and youll have more room in your wallet for all the money youve got in the Caymans.
He took out his cell phone, opened it, closed it again. If its a live number, and I call it
Is that the phone you called me on in Sedona? The one where not even you can say what the number is?
Well, yes, but
Dial the number, she said, and if the guy with the hair in his ears picks up, well throw the phone out the window.
Coo-wheeeet!
Thats what I thought, she said, but now we know for sure. What else do we know? I talked to Al a couple of times on the phone. Not for very long, and he didnt say much, but I might recognize his voice. Enough to pick him out of an auditory lineup, if there was such a thing.
I just wish we had a place to start.
So do I. He called me out of the clear blue sky, you know. Never a word about how he heard of me, who gave him the number. But he had to have heard from somewhere, and he didnt just dial numbers at random. He knew my number and he knew my address. The first FedEx envelope full of money, he didnt have to ask me where to send it. He just sent it.
So somebody who knows you also knows him.
We dont know that, Keller. Somebody who knows me talked to somebody who knows him, and we dont know how many extra somebodies may have gotten into the act. And the old man was running that show a long time, and never changed his phone number once in all those years.
So there are a lot
of people out there who could have had the number.
And there could be a long chain between the first one and Al, and all youd need is one broken link along the way and you wouldnt get anywhere. She frowned. Still, if I ask enough people, somebody might know something. You think its a different name every time he picks up the phone? Call me Al, call me Bill, call me Carlos?
Or hes a creature of habit and never got past Al.
That would make it easier for him to remember who he was supposed to be. One of the few things I brought along from White Plains was my phone book, and there are a lot of numbers I could call. The more people I talk to, the better the chance that one of them will know what Im talking about. Of course thats only the half of it.