Hit List - Lawrence Block [73]
“He died?”
“For our sins,” Dot said, “or for his own, more likely. Either way, it leaves you with nothing to do out there. Other hand, who says you have to make a U-turn? I’ll bet you can find somebody to rent you a car.”
“They were all set to reinstate the reservation.”
“Well, reinstate it, if you want. Have some lunch, see the sights. You’re where, Orange County? Go look at some Republicans.”
“Well,” Keller said. “I guess I’ll come home.”
“It’s a good way to miss jet lag,” Keller said, “because I was back where I started before it could draw a bead on me.”
“How were your flights?”
“All right, I guess. Pointless, but otherwise all right.”
They were on the open front porch of the big house on Taunton Place, sitting in lawn chairs with a pitcher of iced tea on the table between them. It was a warm day, warmer than it had been in Southern California. Of course he’d never really felt the temperature there, because he’d never stepped outside of the air-conditioned airport.
“Not entirely pointless,” Dot said. “They paid half in advance, and we get to keep that.”
“I should hope so.”
“They called here,” she said, “to call it off, but of course your flight to California was already in the air by then. They said something about a refund, and I said something about they should live so long.”
“A refund!”
“They were just trying it on, Keller. They backed down right away.”
“They should pay the whole thing,” he said.
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, the guy’s dead, isn’t he?”
“By his own hand, Keller. His own belt, anyway. What did you have to do with it?”
“What did I have to do with Klinger? Or Petrosian?”
“May they rest in peace,” Dot said, “but they’re our little secret, remember? Far as the clients were concerned, you showed them the door, sent them on their way. With Palmieri, you were up in the air when he decided to check out the tensile strength of a one-inch strip of split cowhide. Don’t look at me like that, Keller. I don’t really know what kind of belt he used. The point is you were nowhere around, so how are they going to figure it was your doing?”
“Something you said last time,” he said. “About how my thoughts are powerful.”
“Oh, right, I’ll quick pick up the phone and sell that to the client. ‘My guy closed his eyes and thought real hard,’ I’ll tell him, ‘and that’s why your guy decided to hang himself. It’s a suicide, but we get an assist.’ How can they possibly say no?”
“They cut the deal,” Keller said doggedly, “and next thing you know the guy’s dead.”
“Probably because he knew somebody was coming for him and he didn’t want to wait.” She leaned back in her chair. “For your information,” she said, “I tried on something similar. ‘You wanted him dead and he’s dead,’ I said. ‘So we should get paid in full.’ But it was just a negotiating technique, a counter for them asking for their initial payment back. They laughed at me, and I laughed at them, and we left it where we knew we were going to leave it.”
“With us getting half.”
“Right. Keller, you didn’t really expect the whole thing, did you?”
“No, not really.”
“And does it make a difference? I mean, are you stretched financially? It seems to me you’ve had a batch of decent paydays not too far apart, but maybe it’s been going out faster than it’s been coming in. Is that it?”
“No.”
“Or maybe there’s some stamp you were counting on buying with the Palmieri proceeds, and now you can’t. Is it anything like that?”
“No.”
“Well, don’t leave a girl hanging, Keller. What is it?”
He thought for a moment. “It’s not the money,” he said.
“I hope you’re not going to tell me it’s the principle of the thing.”
“No,” he said. “Dot, remember when I was talking about retiring?”
“Vividly. You had enough money, and I told you you’d go nuts, that you needed a hobby. So you started collecting stamps.”
“Right.”
“And all of a sudden you couldn’t afford to retire anymore, because you spent all your money