Dick Francis's Gamble - Felix Francis [63]
“How could you tell?” I asked.
“We checked yours against the sample set you gave me, and I arranged for Mr. Kovak’s to be taken from his body.”
I wished I hadn’t asked.
“So where do you go from here?”
“I think I had better take another look at those lists,” he said. “And I want to see those MoneyHome receipts. I’ll arrange to have them collected from your office.”
“I may not be in the office this week,” I said. “Can you collect them from my home?” I thought for a moment. “In fact, I have two receipts here but the three from last week are still at Herb’s flat.”
“I may need to go and see Mr. Kovak’s sister. I’ll call you back later when I know my movements.”
“Sherri,” I said.
“What?”
“Sherri,” I repeated. “Sherri Kovak. Herb’s sister. They were twins.”
“Oh,” he said.
Somehow, being twins made it worse.
Claudia and I went out to dinner at Luigi’s, a local Italian restaurant, and managed to spend the whole meal talking without once mentioning the “C” word.
We both skirted around it on purpose, like a game, but it did mean we discussed all sorts of other things, many of which we had bottled up over the past couple of weeks.
“My mother sends her love,” I said.
“Oh thanks,” Claudia replied. “How is she?”
I wanted to say she was in need of grandchildren, but I didn’t. My mother would have to take her chances on Tuesday with the surgeon’s knife, like the rest of us.
“Fine,” I said. “She loves her little cottage, and she’s been busy with the local village historical society.”
“Perhaps we can go down and see her together,” Claudia said. “After.”
After the operation, she meant.
“I’d better call Jan Setter in the morning and tell her we won’t be able to make the opening night on Wednesday.”
“You go on your own,” Claudia said. “You’ll enjoy it.”
Sitting next to Jan in a theater all evening, with her hands wandering all over me in the darkness? No thanks.
“No,” I said. “I’ll tell her that neither of us will be there.”
Claudia smiled at me. I knew it was what she really wanted.
“It saved me buying a new dress anyway.”
We laughed.
That was the closest we came all evening to discussing her surgery, and presently I paid the bill and took my girl home to bed.
She had to go into the hospital the following evening, ready for the procedure on the Tuesday morning. Hence our lovemaking was passionate and full-on, as if we both realized that this might be our last time together with Claudia as a fertile woman.
11
At nine a.m. sharp on Monday morning I called Patrick in the office.
“Am I forgiven yet?” I asked him.
“Gregory’s not here today,” he replied. “He’s been away for the weekend and isn’t back until tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday. I think it best if you stay away a while longer.”
I wasn’t going to argue. Not having to be in the office over the next couple of days suited me very well.
“Can I now use the remote-access facility?” I asked. “Just to check that I’m not missing something that should be done today.”
The system allowed us to attach reminder notices to client files—for example, to alert us to a maturing bond or a rights issue so that we didn’t miss an opportunity to invest the client’s money most favorably.
“Of course,” Patrick replied.
Things had clearly mellowed over the weekend.
“So shall I plan on being in again on Wednesday?” I asked.
“Thursday might be better,” Patrick said, seemingly a little undecided. “I’ll speak to Gregory over lunch on Wednesday.”
“Thursday it is, then,” I said. “Unless I hear from you sooner.”
“Right.” Patrick seemed rather distracted. “There is a bit of a backlog with both you and Herb not being here. Diana and Rory will just have to cover everything until Thursday. I’ll ask them to stay late.”
I smiled. I bet Rory wouldn’t like that. There was no extra money for doing overtime in our job.
Detective Chief Inspector Tomlinson had called on Sunday evening to say he was traveling down from Liverpool and to ask if could I meet him at Herb Kovak’s flat at eleven the following morning. Yes, I’d said, I could.