Never would have looked way over here, Wheeler said. I owe you one.
Ill say.
Hows that?
Wait a minute, Keller said. Dont I know you? Arent you Benjamin Wheeler?
Wheeler smiled in acknowledgment. Then a frown creased his forehead. You look familiar, he said. Do I know you?
Not exactly, Keller said, reaching for him. But you can call me Al.
42
It used to be, he said. He reached for the catalog, found the right page. Here we go. Originally a territorial division of the Cape of Good Hope Colony, Griqualand West was declared a British Crown Colony in 1873 and together with Griqualand East was annexed to the Cape Colony in 1880.
So thats where? South Africa? He nodded. Do you have stamps from Griqualand East?
They didnt issue stamps for Griqualand East.
Just Griqualand West.
Right.
She studied the album page. They all look pretty much the same, she said.
Theyre all stamps from Cape of Good Hope, he said, over-printed with a G .
For Griqualand West.
I think thats probably what they had in mind. Some of the overprints are red and some are black, and there are lots of different variations in the G .
And every variation is a different stamp to collect.
I guess it doesnt make much sense.
Its not supposed to make sense, she said. Its a hobby, and you have to have rules, thats all. Some of the G s are upside down.
They call that an inverted overprint.
Are they worth more than the others?
It depends, he said, on how scarce they are.
It would, wouldnt it? Im really glad youve got your stamps back.
At the golf course, hed had a long walk back to the Cadillac, and was afraid someone with a badge might have taken an interest in it by then. But the car was where hed left it, and he got in and drove to the mall. He parked at one end of it, made a quick call to Dot, then wiped the interior of the car and made sure to take his jacket with him when he left it.
The multiplex movie theater was at the other end of the mall, and he walked there and bought a ticket for a movie about penguins in Antarctica. Hed seen it before, and so had Dot, but it wasnt the sort of film that was spoiled if you knew how it ended. He took a seat in the last row and got caught up in the action right away, barely noticing when someone took the seat beside him.
It was Dot, of course, and she offered him some popcorn, and he took a handful. They sat there, neither of them saying a word, until the entire tub of popcorn was empty.
I feel like a spy in an old movie, she whispered. You saw this already, didnt you? Well, so did I. Is there any reason we have to watch the
rest of it?
She got up without waiting for an answer, and he followed her out. Every last piece of popcorn, she said, tossing the tub in the trash bin. Except for the old maids. What? Youre not familiar with the term?
I never heard it before.
Because they never got popped. Well? Were all set?
All set. The cars parked in a good spot, and itll probably be a day or two before anybody notices it. I left the shotgun in the trunk.
Is that what you used to
No, it would have been awkward and messy. I used the revolver, and then I left it in Wheelers hand.
You left him holding it?
Why not? Thatll be puzzling, a man with his neck broken and a gun in his hand, and then when they match the gun to the slugs in Taggert, itll give them something to think about.
Retribution in Portlands dark underworld.
Something like that.
I got us on an early flight tomorrow, and we have to change planes twice. With the time change, its going to take the whole day to get to Albany.
Thats okay.
I reserved a rental car, and two rooms in a motel a quarter of a mile from the airport. Well drive to the storage place in Latham first thing Wednesday morning, and then you can drop me back at the airport.
And youll fly back to Sedona.
With a few more changes en route. Ill tell you something, Keller, Im too old for this shit.
Youre not the only one.
When I get home Im going to stay put. Make a big pitcher of iced tea and sit out on the terrace.
And listen to Bell Rock.
Ding Fucking Dong. And on that subject, did you have any trouble with Big Ben?
The hardest part was following him around all day. He and everybody else got to ride those little carts. I was the only person on the whole course who was walking.
Thank your lucky stars, Keller. Thats why youre in so much better shape than he is. Did he know who you were?
He recounted the final exchange. But Im not sure it meant anything to him, he said. Something came into his eyes, but it may just have been that he could see what was coming.
The Grim Reaper, swinging a sand wedge. And Taggert?
Just a matter of doing it, he said. The man was in the trunk of his car with his leg broken. You couldnt call him a hard target.
Unless your mind got in the way.
My mind?
You know, after he cooperated and all.
He cooperated because he had to. He thought it might buy him a little more life, but there was never any question of letting him off the hook. How could we risk that?