The Four Corners of the Sky_ A Novel - Michael Malone [54]
That he should offer her this “advice” on how to live her life was so preposterous, she couldn’t even respond.
“You there, sweetheart?”
“…Your buddy, Rafael Rook, says you’re ‘going fast.’”
“Raffy told you that?”
“Is it cancer?” she asked.
“What’s the difference? Okay, tell me the numbers written in the cap.”
Her mouth set stubbornly the way it had as a child. “Why should I?”
He laughed cheerfully if without much volume. It had always infuriated her that life struck him as funny. “Because you’ve got me at your mercy, Annie. It’s ‘Add and Subtract’ time, like we used to play in the car. You still can remember a bunch of numbers? I never could. It amazed me the way you did it. You could remember anything. Tell me the numbers.”
Annie was angrily poking her finger at the ornate family motto carved into the square newel post at the foot of the stairs, where a peregrine falcon held a scroll in its talons on which Gothic letters spelled Peregrinus ego sum.
“Yes, I can still remember numbers,” she told him.
“Bet you’re still a damn good poker player.”
“Yes, I am.”
He coughed. “Okay. What’s your price to tell me those numbers? You could say…” He chuckled. “It’s life or death.”
“Then you should go to the police.”
“Come on, tell me. I’ll owe you. There’s got to be something you want.”
“From you?”
“Think about it.” He was quiet.
Annie thought about it.
And then all at once she knew that there was in fact something she wanted and that there was a deal she could make with him. She wanted information that she’d long ago put away hoping for, telling herself the knowledge was in any case useless, impractical, unnecessary. She said, “Okay, there’s something I want from you.”
“Good.”
“If I come to St. Louis, I’ll tell you the numbers if, only if, you’ll tell me how to find my mother. And don’t tell me she was Claudette Colbert either. That’s what I want. That’s the only reason I’m coming. My mother.”
“…I don’t know where your mother is, or how you could find her. That’s the truth.” His cough was rattling. “But if you come, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Annie took a slow breath. “Okay, you give me enough information so I can find out about her. Her name, is she married, does she have other kids? And when I find out everything you know, then I’ll tell you the password.” She glanced at her watch. “I can get the King to Lambert in about five or six hours if I start now. Just don’t die before I get there.”
Again he chuckled with that old infuriating ease. “For the love of Mike, you grew up one tough lady. I’m trying my best here…My game’s a little off.”
“Are you calling from your own cell phone?”
He said he was and gave her a number.
“And stop using Clark’s name. Where are you?”
He said she should stay away from the Royal Coach too. He’d had a “slight screw up” there. Meet him in the Admirals Club at Lambert–St. Louis International Airport as soon as she could manage. He’d wait for her there, as long as it took. But if something should happen to him, just in case, remember this: King, Queen, Sam.
She interrupted. Did he know the Miami police were trying to arrest him in a fraud investigation? That the FBI was involved?
“That’s the least of it, honey. Okay, Admirals Club. Sooner’s better than later.” Again, he seemed unable to breathe easily.
“How sick are you?”
His laughter sounded tight, as if it hurt. He quoted, “‘I am peppered, I warrant, for this world.’”
“You stop it, just stop it!”
“Oh sweetheart, old times. Happy Birthday, Annie. For the record, you really were born on the Fourth of July...You see Flight for Freedom? Great movie. The flying part, I mean...Rosalind Russell, she’s an aviator. And she’s got this line, something like, ‘Dad always used to say, when you’re safe...you’re dead.’ It’s true. Fly to the future, Annie. The future’s always there.” He hung up.
Annie slowly replaced the receiver. She was still staring