Hooligans

“In one night?”

She laughed again. “Well, it?s a start.”

Bolts of lightning were duelling around us and the full fury of the storm lashed rain under the awning.

“Let?s get inside,” I said.

“Not till you promise.”

“Promise what?”

“When you leave here you?ll come out to Windsong.”

“I have to make a stop on the way,” I said, thinking about DeeDee Lukatis. I wondered whether Doe

knew that her ex-lover was dead. If she did, she was handling it very well. I decided that if she didn?t

know, somebody else could tell her.

“How long?” she demanded.

“An hour.”

“Don?t be late,” she said, wheeled away, and dodged back inside.

I waited for a minute or two before going back in. It was a futile gesture. Babs was watching intently

from across the room, like the linesman at a tennis match. I nodded and smiled my way back to her.

“It?s not what you think,” I said.

“Please,” she said, rolling her eyes, “you don?t have to tell me a thing. I have two perfectly good eyes

in my head.”

“Don?t make it sound like some damn intrigue,” I said.

“Darling, I just love intrigue. It?s what makes life worth all the trouble.”

61

MIRROR TRICKS

Before I left the hotel, I stopped by my room and called Sam Donleavy. He was pushed for time, he

explained, since Dutch would be calling shortly, but he assured me that he would locate the book and

bring it to lunch the next day. I said that was just fine. Then I dug the company car out of the hotel

garage.

A familiar black Pontiac was crouched under the trees in front of DeeDee?s house when I got there.

The Stick answered my ring.

“Just the two of you here?” I asked.

“Yeah, I brought over some dinner. Lark needed a little relief. She?s stretched out there taking a nap.”

“That bench is worse than the rack,” I said.

“She was too tired to notice.”

“How?s DeeDee?”