‘Go ahead.’
‘He wanted a presence here on the cheap. There was a house nobody wanted because it should be a teardown, but he wanted it, and now he’s got it, and he isn’t doing anything with it.’
‘No?’
‘No. There’s a general contractor Mr Roderick was going to hire, to do the renovation work. I called him this afternoon, and Mr Roderick hasn’t got around to starting the work yet. Says he’s still dealing with his architect.’
‘Maybe he is.’
‘What architect? There’s nobody there. The place is empty. Nothing’s happening at all.’
‘Architects are slow sometimes,’ he said.
‘Particularly when they don’t exist.’ She finished the wine in her glass, looked at his, poured herself a second. Before drinking, she said, ‘Now you show up, and you want to know about Roderick, but you don’t want Roderick to know about you.’
‘You watch too much television,’ he told her.
‘Yes, I do,’ she said. ‘And I drink too much. And I worry too much. And I live with my mother and my sister. I’m divorced, and I don’t want that son of a bitch back, and I don’t need any other son of a bitch to take his place, in case you were wondering, but I want more than this.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘I want more than driving obnoxious fat cats around to show them empty houses, fending off gropes from ninety-year-olds wearing white ascots oh, yes, white ascots, and they’re all wonderful dancers sitting at my goddam desk out there every day, waiting for my life when my life is over.’
‘Now you’re watching too much daytime television,’ he told her.
‘I would if I didn’t have to work.’ Her glass was empty again; she refilled it and said, ‘I look at you, and I say, what does this man want? He playacts to be somebody that belongs here, but he doesn’t belong here. And Roderick doesn’t belong here. So who are these people and what do they want?’
‘You tell me,’ Parker said.
‘Palm Beach has only got one thing,’ she told him. ‘Money.’
‘Sun and sand,’ he said. ‘Parties. Charity balls. Shopping on Worth Avenue.’
She laughed. ‘I’d like to see you shopping on Worth Avenue,’ she said. ‘I really would. You could buy a white ascot.’
‘I might.’
‘Daniel I’m going to call you Daniel, because I have to call you something, so, Daniel, what Ineed, to get out of here, to get a running jump on a new life, is money. And what you are here for, and what Roderick is here for, is money.’
‘You want me to give you some money,’ he suggested.
‘Oh, Daniel,’ she said, and shook her head. ‘Dan? No, Daniel. Daniel, I don’t want you to giveme money. Do you really think I’m stupid? Do you really think I don’t know why you parked a block away and didn’t want to be seen with me in a public place?’
‘Why’s that, Lesley?’
‘Because if I’m a problem,’ she said, and sat tip straight, and looked evenly at him, ‘you intend to kill me.’
‘Lesley,’ he said, ‘while you’re watching all this television, I think you’ve also been smoking some weed.’
She brushed that aside. ‘I’m being serious,’ she said. ‘I want to earnthe money. Do I go to you, or do I go to Roderick? I’ve met you’
‘And Roderick isn’t here,’ he pointed out. ‘At least you tell me he isn’t here.’
‘So here’s what I’m telling you now,’ she said. ‘Whatever you have in mind, robbery, I suppose, or maybe a kidnapping, kidnap one of these dowagers here, whatever it is, you need somebody who knows the territory.’
‘You.’
‘Why not me? I sell real estate, I’ve been in probably a third of the important houses around here, and I know the rest. I know the town, I can answer questions, and I can tell you what questions you’re forgetting to ask. Roderick doesn’t have anybody local, and I think you and Roderick are competitors, so if you have me you have an advantage over him.’
He watched her, thinking about what she was saying, who she was, what she wanted.
She gave him another level look; she didn’t show any nervousness at all now. ‘To even find Roderick,’ she reminded him, ‘you had to come play that roundabout game with me. And all it did was make me suspicious. How many people do you want wondering about you?’
‘None,’ he said.
‘It’s too late for none, but I can help you limit it to one.’
He picked up his glass and sipped from it. She watched him, and then said, ‘One thing. I’m not talking about sex.’
He looked at her. ‘I didn’t think you were.’
She said, ‘I find it a strain just to talk with you. I certainly don’t ever want to take my clothes off in front of you.’
