“What?” Castleton said.
“There’s no wallet. There’s a change purse with money, but no wallet.”
Castleton looked at Danby. “Phil?”
Danby shrugged. “Then she didn’t have one. I assure you, her purse has not been touched.”
“There’s your answer,” Castleton said.
“I have to check with my client,” Steve said.
He walked over to the desk, picked up the phone, called the office and had Tracy put Kelly Blaine on the wire.
“Did you get it?” she asked breathlessly.
“Mr. Castleton and I have reached an agreement. I have your clothes and purse.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“There’s one problem. I checked the purse. Your keys are in it, and your change purse and your day’s pay. But your wallet isn’t.”
“That’s all right, I left it at home.”
“Fine,” Steve said. “See you soon.”
Steve hung up before she could ask any questions. He turned back to Milton Castleton. “All right, Mr. Castleton. We have a deal.”
4
Kelly Blaine certainly looked different when she emerged from the inner office where Steve Winslow and Tracy Garvin had left her to dress. Of course, Steve had only seen her in a grungy overcoat before, but still the change was amazing. She had taken the time to fix her makeup and comb her hair. As a result, the face that looked as if it could be attractive
So was the figure. Her clothes, though discrete and conservative, covered a full-breasted, slim-waisted body that dressed differently could only be described as voluptuous.
Steve Winslow smiled. “‘Well, Miss Blaine, you do look better.”
She smiled back. “I can’t thank you enough. The whole thing was such a nightmare. I can’t believe it’s over.”
“Well, it is. Signed, sealed and delivered. I’ve had Miss Garvin draw you up a check.”
“Check?”
“Yes. Mr. Castleton naturally made the settlement out to me as your attorney. As I told you, I’m retaining a third as my fee. I’ve had Miss Garvin make you out a check for the balance.”
Steve nodded to Tracy, who picked up the check from the desk and handed it to Kelly. She took it, folded it, started to stick it in her purse.
“You’d better look at it,” Steve said.
“Why?” she said. She stopped, unfolded the check. Her eyes widened. “Oh, my god!” She stared at the check a moment, then looked up at Steve. “This check is for thirty-three thousand dollars.”
“Thirty-three thousand and change. That’s your share of the settlement. My share’s sixteen thousand and change. The settlement was fifty thousand.”
She stared at him. “I told you to settle for eight.”
“I know. I’m a bad boy.”
She shook her head. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Well, it’s done.”
“Yeah, but you could have blown the settlement.”
“If I had, you could sue me for malpractice. As it is, you take the money and run.”
Kelly Blaine looked at the check again. “Thirty-three thousand dollars.”
“Yeah,” Steve said. “I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t just that I wanted a bigger fee or that I wanted the money for you. I was just pissed off at the smug son of a bitch for what he did to you, and I wanted to bash him one.”
“I see,’” Kelly said.
“What’s the matter?” Steve said. “You don’t look happy.”
Kelly Blaine blinked. “I don’t know. It’s just … I guess I’m just a little stunned.”
She took one more look at the check, then folded it, jammed it into her purse and pulled the drawstring shut.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t mean to seem ungrateful. It was terrific work. Unbelievable. I don’t know how you did it. But if you’ll excuse me, I gotta get home, relax, get this out of my mind.”
She smiled at Steve, nodded to Tracy, then turned hurriedly and let herself out the door.
Steve Winslow and Tracy Garvin watched her go, then turned and looked at each other in puzzlement.
Considering she had gotten everything she came here for and more, Kelly Blaine did not look one bit happy.
5
Mark Taylor couldn’t stop laughing. “I love it. What a concept. ‘Miss Coosbaine, take a letter.’ I mean, Jesus Christ.”
“It’s not funny, Mark.”
Mark Taylor shifted his bulk in Steve Winslow’s clients’ chair and took a sip from the paper cup of coffee he was holding. “Sure, sure. It’s not funny at all. Perfectly routine. I get a naked client once or twice a week. Tell me, what did she look like?”
“She looked good.”
“I’ll bet. Taylor chuckled. “I wonder if that would work in
“You’d better watch out, Mark. You let Tracy hear you talk like that, you’ll be in deep trouble.”
Taylor shrugged. “I’m always in trouble with Tracy one way or another. First place, she won’t date me. Second place, she fancies herself a private detective-she’s always trying to one-up me. I don’t see her as a private detective somehow. I see her more as a typist.”
“Jesus, Mark.”
“Okay, okay,” Taylor said. “But you gotta admit it’s funny. Anyway, if you got a settlement, I got a bill.”
“What do you mean, if I got a settlement? I ever ask you to work on a contingency basis?”
“No, but we’re friends, and I’m not gonna stick you. This Castleton phone number thing-getting his unlisted number- well, that’s a service and I can charge you for it. But as it happens, I’ve had occasion to look it up before and we had it in the rolodex. If you got a settlement and can afford to pay me for passing on the information, fine. If you didn’t, I’d feel bad charging you for telling you something I already knew.”
“The point is moot, since I made the settlement. What do you usually charge for an unlisted number trace?”
“Two hundred bucks.”
“Fine. I’ll have Tracy make you out a check.”
Taylor’s eyes gleamed. “She gonna type it?”
“Fuck you, Mark.”
“Hey, lighten up. You gotta admit the whole thing’s funny.”
“It is and it isn’t. You never met my client. This is a nice young woman. Someone this shouldn’t have happened to. It’s funny in the abstract, but when you start thinking of her as a person, it’s not funny at all.”
“Right. And it’s not funny when someone dies, but somehow, eventually it always is.”
