is?'
I smiled my sunny good-natured smile at her. I could melt polar ice caps with my sunny good-natured smile. She was no match for it.
'Marlene,' she said. 'Marlene Rowley. My husband is Trenton Rowley.'
'How do you do,' I said. 'My name is Spenser.'
'Of course I know your name,' she said. 'How do you think I got here?'
'I thought you looked up handsome in the phone book,' I said. 'And my picture was there.'
She smiled for the first time that morning.
'Well,' she said. 'Maybe you are a little bit handsome in a rough sort of way.'
'Tough,' I said. 'But sensitive.'
'Perhaps,' she said. 'Will you speak with Randy?'
'Right away,' I said.
2
Frampton and Keyes had offices on the second floor of a twostory building in downtown Beverly. It was one of those block-long brick buildings built before the Second World War when most of the bigger towns were discrete entities rather than suburbs of Boston. There was less open space than you found in the big Boston firms. More small offices, but no partitioned cubbies. In the small reception area was a four-footlong model of a clipper ship. There were paintings of ships on the walls. The magazines on the small reading table were devoted to golf and sailing.
A t the reception desk was a young woman with a big chest and a small sweater, who probably wasn't devoted to golf and sailing. She smiled at me happily as I came in. I suspected that she smiled at most men happily.
'My name is Spenser,' I said. 'To see Randy Frampton.'
'Concerning?' she said.
'I'm trying to establish if that's his first name or a descriptive adjective,' I said.
She looked at me and frowned for a minute and then smiled widely.
'That is most definitely his first name, Mr. Spenser. Is there anything else you need to see Mr. Frampton about?'
'Tell him Marlene Rowley sent me,' I said.
'Yes sir,' she said and smiled at me and her eyes were lively.
Randy Frampton, the managing partner, had a corner office. Randy was not very tall. His weight was disproportionate to his height. He had gray hair that needed cutting. His dark blue suit needed pressing and wasn't much better than the one I owned. His tie was yellow silk, and he wore a white broadcloth shirt with one collar point slightly askew. I couldn't see because he was behind his desk, but I suspected that his shoes weren't shined.
'So she decided to hire you,' Frampton said.
'Who wouldn't?' I said.
Frampton sighed a little.
'Marlene is sometimes erratic,' he said. 'Did she instruct you that everything goes through this firm?'
'Yeah,' I said. 'But I'm not sure she meant it.' Frampton smiled pleasantly.
'That sounds like Marlene,' he said. 'But I mean it. You and I need to be on the same page.'
'She was pretty clear that you took care of paying me,' I said.
'You'll submit your expenses, carefully kept, weekly, and we'll pay them weekly. When the investigation is complete, you'll submit your final bill. Shall we discuss rates?'
I told him my rates. He shook his head. 'I'm sorry, but that's out of line.'
'Sure,' I said.
'We'll need to negotiate that a little.'
'Nope,' I said.
'You won't negotiate?'
'Nope.'
'Then I'm afraid we can't do business,' Frampton said.
'Okay,' I said, and stood up. 'You want to tell Marlene, or shall I?'
'That's it?' Frampton said. 'No discussion? Nothing?'
'Marlene doesn't look like she'll be fun to work for,' I said.
'You require fun?'
'Fun or money,' I said.
