Vertical Burn - Earl Emerson [76]
They were headed for a Holidays for the Children charity ball, a benefit that was sponsored in part by the fire department. As a volunteer coordinator, Diana was invaluable not only as a hard worker but because of her family’s social connections throughout the Puget Sound area. In its seventh year, the event was becoming an institution in Seattle.
The party took up the entire seventy-fourth floor of the Columbia Tower. The event didn’t officially start until eight, but already several dozen people stood around admiring the decorations or gazing out the windows at the fog. Another half-dozen people scampered around on last-minute errands. On the floor were artfully arranged tableaus of brilliantly colored autumn leaves, cornstalks, sheaves of wheat, and candle-lit carved pumpkins of all sizes.
“Okay,” Diana said. “I need to make sure everything’s set. Back in ten minutes. Food’s over there.”
“Do I look that hungry?”
“Ravenous.”
“I get you anything? Green eggs and ham, perhaps?”
She laughed and disappeared.
Outside, only a few pink and purple vestiges remained from the sunset. The jagged ridges of the Olympic Mountains defined the horizon. Lights blinking, a helicopter cruised across the city.
Finney bought a hundred dollars’ worth of raffle tickets for a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture, knowing his cat, Dimitri, wouldn’t suffer a Dale Chihuly in the house for twenty minutes before knocking it over.
At the far end of the room the band was tuning up, each member made up like a famous musician from the fifties or sixties. Perfect for this crowd, Finney thought, mostly middle-aged, affluent, and nostalgic. First up was a Frankie Valli tune.
When Diana found him, she said, “I should have taken yesterday off. I’m beat. There were supposed to be two of us making all the last-minute preparations, but Angie’s suffering a personal crisis. Last Wednesday her fiancé announced he’s gay. I guess I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“I don’t even know Angie.”
“No, but she gets embarrassed for anybody to know. She thinks it’s a personal failure on her part.”
“Is that why you didn’t have a date until late?”
“Because I was afraid you would turn gay on me?”
He laughed. “No. Because you were jammed up doing the work of two people?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s why. Last year I didn’t have a date. It was a mistake, because once this thing starts, it more or less runs itself, and I found myself standing here gabbing with a succession of elderly married couples. Almost no singles come.” They were quiet for a few moments, unable to do anything but eavesdrop on a shrill conversation nearby. “You forgot about the party, didn’t you?”
“I’m afraid I did.” He smiled, discomfited by her candor. “You always just say what you think?”
“Usually. I do what I want, too.” She stepped forward, cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him on the lips. It startled him enough that he didn’t fully participate until it was nearly over, a mistake of timing he regretted immediately.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“The good-night kiss.”
He smiled. “I don’t get one later?”
“Who knows?” She laughed and glanced around the room. “I think we’re going to have a pretty good crowd. We had a lot of volunteers from the department this year.”
“What about Oscar Stillman?” Finney asked. “Or Jerry Monahan? Either of them take any interest in this? Reese?”
“Are you kidding? Reese’s contribution will be to show up just long enough to circle the room and allow everyone to shake his hand and congratulate him on becoming chief. I don’t think Jerry Monahan’s ever spoken to me, and Stillman’s favorite charity is the tip jar at the Déjà Vu.” The latter was a strip club just off Aurora in downtown. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason.”
39. TRAMPLING THE ELDERLY, THE INFIRM, THE HANDICAPPED
Slowly the room filled