Bookman's promise

But she couldn’t get past the idea of it. “What if it wasn’t him?”

“That’s pretty unlikely, under the circumstances.”

“But what if it wasn’t? I don’t even know how the house caught fire at this point.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Cliff…what if you’re wrong?”

“Then I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.”

“Don’t make a joke of it, please. This is too awful to joke about.”

“It’s him or me, Koko. Think about that.”

“What about the others?”

“They don’t matter. They’ll fold up like a house of cards when Dante’s gone.”

Suddenly her eyes opened wide. “Oh my God.”

“What?”

“I just remembered. I think I did something stupid tonight.” She closed her eyes and muttered what sounded like a curse. “I told my friend where I am.”

“Did you tell her not to tell anybody?”

“I didn’t think of it.” She put her hand over her eyes. “I didn’t think!”

Almost a full minute passed.

“Oh, I am so stupid!”

“It’s okay, Koko,” I said softly. “We’ll work with it.”

CHAPTER 27

The telephone rang at seven-fifteen. I rolled over on the bed, thanked the desk man for the wake-up, sat up, leaned over my knees, and stared at the phone. First thought of the day—call Denver. It would be like calling pest control for a rat problem. Call Denver from Charleston and a rat would die in Baltimore tonight.

I was first amazed by the detachment I felt and then by its slow reversal. It was as if only now had I begun to see the consequences, not for Dante but for me. To get this far, to be sitting here looking at that phone, I must have stepped naively indeed through the first half of my life and never thought about what such acts make of the men who do them. I had spent a lifetime on the right side of the law. Could I really be thinking now of becoming a cold- blooded killer? Never mind the reasons or the justifying. Never mind that someone far away would pull the trigger or that I had killed men myself in more forgivable ways. Make this one call and I’d be going all the way over to the dark side: I’d be an animal, just like him. And I knew that Dante, one of the real dark men, had seen this weakness in me that night at Treadwell’s. For all my tough talk, he was betting I’d never make that call, and in the end it would just be him and me.

I shaved, took my shower, and dressed well. I combed my hair for Erin’s sake.

It’s a beautiful day, I thought as I stepped out into it. Not too hot, not too much Charleston humidity. I left Koko a note and let her sleep. She needed it and her presence would only inhibit whatever was about to happen with Erin.

I stood at a traffic light on Market Street and thought about Dante. The light changed and I walked across Meeting and down the street to the Mills House.

Erin was at a table in the corner, looking through the News and Courier. She folded the newspaper and put it away as I came in. I sat across from her, waiting for her lead. The waitress hadn’t even brought my coffee when she said, “Lee wants to talk to you.”

“Okay. Any idea what’s on his mind?”

“He’s thinking of opening a bookstore on East Colfax and he wants your advice.”

I laughed politely. “Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.”

“We’ll call him in a little while.” She looked at her watch. “It’s still only six forty-five back there. In the meantime you can eat your breakfast and talk to me.”

“I won’t complain about that. Is this going to be a business talk or pleasure?”

“All business, I’m afraid.”

I snapped my fingers. “Alas.”

She regarded me with quiet amusement, then said, “As you guessed, we are involved with Archer in a delicate negotiation for a book Lee wants. We’re afraid your sudden appearance will complicate things and might make it impossible for us.”

“Well, so far Archer has no idea I’m here.”

“We’d like to keep it that way.”