sure he’s not just some con man?”
“Captain Johnson is quite reputable,” Forrestal said.
Mantz said, “I’ve heard of this guy, Nate. Johnson’s on the up and up.”
“What we want,” Dimity said to me, “is for you to go along.”
“Me? Do I look like a sailor?”
Forrestal said, “Yes. But that’s not the point.”
“Nate,” Dimity said, “I need a representative on that ship. Someone who can make sure the captain does his job, thoroughly earns his two thousand dollars….”
I said to Mantz, “I thought you said he was on the up and up.”
Dimity pressed on: “I can’t, in good conscience, spend the Foundation’s meager funds on a preliminary expedition without sending along a representative of our group.”
Shaking my head, I gulped down some rum and Coke and said, “You know, I don’t speak a whole lot of South Sea Island languages.”
“You’ve survived in the Chicago jungle,” Forrestal said.
“Nate,” Dimity said, “I need a man who’s physically and mentally tough. You
There was that past tense again.
“…and you know the right questions to ask. If by chance, some delicate or dangerous situation arose, you could handle yourself…or so I’ve been told by those I’ve spoken to.”
“Why don’t
His expression mingled chagrin and regret. “I can’t leave my business for a month…. We’ll pay you twenty-five dollars a day and all expenses.”
“That would wind up costing you close to a thousand bucks,” I said. “The Foundation got that in its coffers?”
“No,” Dimity admitted. “I’m paying for this myself. I can afford it.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I certainly can!”
“I don’t mean I don’t think you can afford it, Elmer. I mean, I don’t think this is a job for me.”
He frowned and said, “I will guarantee you one thousand dollars.”
“It isn’t the money,” I said, and for a change it wasn’t. I didn’t think the government would want me taking part in this, not after they bought me off and had me sign that agreement. But on the other hand, fucking Forrestal was sitting across from me….
“Why don’t you sleep on it?” Forrestal suggested.
“Yes, Nathan,” Margot said, “you have two nights paid for here at the hotel, and your train tickets don’t take you back till Wednesday. We can meet for lunch tomorrow.”
I considered that.
Then I said, “All right. I’ll sleep on it. But I’m warning you, Elmer, Jim…Margot. I don’t think I’m your man.”
“Fair enough,” Dimity said, smiling as though I’d already accepted the job.
“I need to be going,” Forrestal said, and he rose.
Everyone else at the table got to their feet too, and I shook Forrestal’s hand—oddly, his grip was damn near limp, this second time—and he flinched me his tight non-smile and left.
Dimity said, “I need to get going, as well. Margot will contact you about time and place for luncheon tomorrow.”
“Fine,” I said, shook his hand, and he strutted out.
Mantz, Margot and I sat back down.
“That guy thinks ‘no’ is a three-letter word,” I said.
“He’s devoted to Amelia’s memory,” Margot said admiringly, apparently not recognizing the death sentence of her words.
Mantz put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Hey, I’d invite you to the house tonight, but I’m afraid Terry and I have plans. You think you can find supper in this town, by yourself?”
“He doesn’t have to be by himself,” Margot said. “I don’t have plans.”
I looked at the cute kid with her cherry-red lips and bright blue eyes. “That’s pretty brazen. You gonna twist my arm if I spend the evening with you?”
She laughed, and it was nicely musical; brunette curls bounced under the white beret. “We’ll swear off any discussion of the subject. No Amelia Earhart Foundation. Not even any Amelia Earhart.”
“Okay,” I said. “It’s a date.”
15
Margot, it seemed, lived in a Roosevelt Hotel apartment, which also served as the Foundation’s Hollywood base; the official office was in Oakland, home of Dimity’s company.
