twinkled devilishly. 'I know that seems preposterous, looking at me now.'
'I'm sure-'
'No, no, I'm an old bag. Anyway, when it came time to settle down- well, it's my great regret. On the other hand, I don't burden anyone.' She examined her tea. I had little doubt that every word she'd told me was true, yet said with absolute calculation, too. The lonely old woman act. I didn't quite buy it, either. Subtract thirty years from her, and you'd have a very formidable fifty-three-year-old businesswoman- a negotiator, tough, precise, perceptive. So the woman I was looking at was that woman, plus thirty more years' experience.
'Now then,' she said. 'What can I do for you?'
'What do you know about the Rainey farm?'
'Fine piece. Eighty-something acres. North road frontage, some elevation to the west, very few low areas. Probably could use some regrading in spots. The bluff is not perfectly stable- they've lost a good fifty feet over the last hundred years, probably needs some kind of stabilization. Potatoes for the first part of the twentieth century. Had the blight in '66 and switched to cabbages and flowers, switched crops a few times. Nursery trees for a while, then something else. Russell Rainey was a lovely man. I knew him well. It's a very fine piece of land.'
'Was Russell Rainey the father of Jay Rainey?'
She shook her head vehemently. 'No, no. Grandfather.'
'Where's the father?'
'Somewhere very, very hot,' she clucked. 'I hope.'
'Did you sell the land for Jay Rainey?'
She looked at me. 'It was a private sale.'
'But didn't you have some kind of contact with the buyer, a Mr. Marceno?' I pressed.
'I'm an old woman, Mr. Wyeth. I fall asleep in my chair. I have one eye that's weak, my feet cramp up at night, and I take a lot of heart pills. It's frankly hard to remember what I've done one day to the next.' She stirred her tea. 'And you know, even though I'm just a country girl who learned to sell a bit of land here and there, I've met a lot of people in my time. I've met businessmen and movie stars and two senators and three governors and buckets of congressmen on the island, all kinds of people. I met the Shah of Iran when he came here for medical treatment. I met Joe DiMaggio and General Westmoreland and Jackie Gleason. So, you see, Mr. Wyeth, I've learned that people who know their business state their business. Sooner rather than later. It's a habit of successful people. Here you've let me blather on about so many things. And I don't know why you're here.'
'I'm Jay Rainey's lawyer, Martha. I live in the city. I examined the contract of sale for him for the farm and told him not to do it. It all looked funny to me. He did it anyway. Now, Jay is in- he's got a problem and the buyer is putting big pressure on him.'
'Wants to undo the deal? He can't. Why? It's a beautiful piece.'
'No, there's something buried in the land and Marceno is anxious to know what it is.'
'And he wants to get the soil ready to plant?'
'Exactly. He's putting in Merlot vines and won't be getting any usable yield for three years.'
'I know the game,' she said.
'And I suppose you know Marceno as well?'
She casually retrieved the biography of the Duke of Windsor and turned a page. Her hair was rather thin on the top of her head.
'I'm on the right team here, Martha, okay? Marceno said he talked with a broker from this agency saying another buyer had come forward and would buy the property if Marceno's deal fell through. I'm figuring he was talking to you.'
She flipped another page.
I took a half step forward. 'Was there another potential buyer?'
'The world is full of potential buyers.'
'You were just pressuring him, then?'
Now she looked up at me. 'Yes.'
'Why? Why'd you do it?'
'Why'd I do anything?' she cried. 'Because it was Jay's chance to be free! All these wine companies are so big! They can pay to dig up a little sand and truck it away. There's been enough pain in that family. How is Jay, Mr. Wyeth?'
'He seems-' She'd changed the topic, I realized. 'He seems fine.'
'Oh, that's very good. I saw him a few months ago… he seemed a little tired… He was the most, most beautiful boy. A perfectly beautiful boy, very good at football and baseball as I remember… This was more than fifteen years ago.' She closed her book. 'His father farmed that piece. Didn't do too well. Not a nice man, not in any way. But Jay got his size from him. Mother was lovely, though, saved him from his father. She poured herself into him. Taught him everything. Jay was charming and did very well with the summer girls, you know. Never boastful. Yes, I knew his mother. Sweet. But sad, you know. Wanted more children. Nervous woman. Tired of terrible fights with her husband. But she had Jay, she was just so proud of him, he was her prize. Consolation for her husband.'
Mrs. Hallock uttered this last word as if she were unexpectedly tasting a small bitter object on her tongue. 'The accident must have just unnerved her, see. That night… she lost her bearings. The husband'- that tone again-'was no good, didn't stand up, just drank himself away.'
'The accident-?'
Martha looked at me hawkishly. 'Known Jay long?' she asked.
'No. Just a short time.' Three days, I didn't say.
'Oh, I see.'
'You mentioned an accident?'
'I shouldn't have. I'm not the one to discuss that. It's his business.' She dropped her hands to the arms of her chair and gripped them. 'It was very nice of you to visit me, Mr. Wyeth. And I'm sure things will get resolved smoothly. That piece of land's got nothing but three feet of loam over who knows how many hundred feet of beautiful sand below that. It's perfect acreage and I'll give the new owner a call to remind him of that.'
But I wasn't quite ready to evaporate. 'You seem to know Jay and his family pretty well, Martha,' I said. 'And it appears you were the agent on the sale of his property. As such, you have a responsibility to the buyer as well as to the seller. I think you know this even better than I do. The buyer has contacted me with the accusation that something was covered up out there, right before the sale went through. Hours before, Martha. As it turns out, there's good reason to think that. The buyer is a busy guy. Making frivolous complaints is not worth his time. He's going to pursue this until he has satisfaction. As it is, he's probably going to sue Jay to get compliance. Let's hope you're not named, either.'
'Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Wyeth.'
'I'm going to call you tomorrow to see if you have more insight into how this problem can get fixed.'
'Maybe I'll still be alive to take your call.'
I don't like getting mad at old women- generally they have enough problems- but she hadn't been much help. We glared at each other, and then I left.
On the way out of the offices, I saw Pamela. 'Thank you,' I called behind me.
She glanced over her shoulder. 'I doubt you mean that.'
'A tough case.'
'Anyway, see any properties that interest you?' She pulled off her headset. 'But I guess that's not why you're here.'
'No.' I put my hand on the door to go. 'Any advice?'
'You could try finding her nephew, he usually knows what's going on.'
This didn't much interest me. But I'd be polite. 'Who's that?'
Pamela wrinkled her nose. 'A nasty little man. Gives me the creeps. Everybody calls him Poppy.'
Back in the city, I returned the van, and on my way to the steakhouse passed some guy hawking cell phone deals. I walked in the shop and signed up for the cheapest deal they had.
'I heard these things give you brain cancer,' I joked, fondling the little device.
The clerk, a short black guy with sad eyes, considered the statement. 'I believe that's true,' he said. 'I think
