solved. If you’re guilty, he’ll get you. By the way, are, you guilty?”
“Thanks for asking.”
“Free for lunch?”
“When?”
“I was thinking I better get you tomorrow. Visiting people in prisons depresses the hell out of me.”
“Working nights you probably want a late lunch, right?”
“About two o’clock. Can you make it?”
“Sure.”
“If you have necktie, we can go to Locke-Ober’s.”
“Where’s that?”
“You’ll never find it. It’s in an alley. Just ask the taxi driver for Locke-Ober’s. Want me to spell it?”
“I’ve got it.”
“There are two dining rooms, Fletch. Upstairs and downstairs. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
“Okay.”
“Stay loose, kid. Please don’t knock anyone else off without calling the
“Bye, Jack.”
The third call came while he was eating the hash.
“Fletcher. Darling.”
It was Countess de Grassi. The Brazilian bombshell. Sylvia. Andy’s stepmother.
“Hello, Sylvia.”
“You didn’t return my call, Fletcher.”
“What call? Where are you?”
“In Boston, darling. I called earlier and left a message.”
“Oh, that Mrs. Sawyer,” Fletch said.
He took the message off the desk, crumpled paper, and threw it hard against a drape.
“I’m at the Ritz-Carlton.”
“You can’t afford the Ritz-Carlton, Sylvia.”
“I’m the Countess de Grassi. You can’t expect the Countess de Grassi to stay in, what do you call it, fleabag.”
“However, the Ritz-Canton will expect the Countess de Grassi to pay her bill.”
“You’re being very unkind, Fletcher. This is none of your business.”
“What are you doing here, anyway, Sylvia?”
“What did Angela tell me? You came to Boston to visit your family in Seattle? Even I have a map, Fletcher. I came to visit your family in Seattle, too.”
“Sylvia, what I’m doing here doesn’t concern you even a little.”
“I think yes, Fletcher. You and Angela are, how do you say, pulling some game on me.”
“What?”
“You aim to deprive me of what is rightfully mine.”
“What are you talking about?”
“First that terrible thing happens to Menti darling, and then you two conspire about me.”
“As the grieving widow, aren’t you supposed to be in Rome? Or Livorno?”
“You and Angela plan to rob me. Cheat me. Menti would be so mad.”
“Nonsense.”
“You come over to the hotel right now, Fletcher. Tell me it’s not true.”
“I can’t, Sylvia. I’m miles from the hotel.”
“How far? How many miles?”
“Eighteen, twenty miles, Sylvia. Boston’s a big city.”
“Come in the morning.”
“I can’t. I’m tied up.”
“What does that mean, you’re tie-up?”
“I have appointments.”
“Lunch, then.”
“I have a lunch date.”
“Fletcher, I come here to catch you. I’ll call the police. They’ll listen to the Countess de Grassi at the Ritz- Carlton Hotel.”
“I’m sure they would. Sylvia, did Menti ever tell you you’re a bitch?”
“You’re a son of a bitch, Fletcher.”
“That’s no way for a Countess to talk.”
“I can say worse things in Portuguese and French.”
“I’ve heard them. All right. I’ll come to the hotel.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow. Late afternoon. Six o’clock.”
“Come to my room.”
“I will not. I’ll meet you in the bar. Six o’clock.”
“Six-thirty I call the police if you’re not here.”
“Don’t use their business phone. It upsets them.”
“What?”
“Shut up.”
The rest of the hash he flushed down the toilet.
Eleven
“Look what some son of a bitch did to my truck!”
Fletch, dressed in jeans, sweater, and boots, led the manager of the auto body repair shop through the door.
Now that he knew he was to be followed, Fletch had unbolted the kitchen door and used the back stairs. Actually, the back alley had been a shortcut to the garage on River Street.
He drove the smeared van to the auto body shop feeling as conspicuous as a transvestite at a policemen’s ball.
The manager’s eyes read “FEED THE PEOPLE.” He shook his head slowly.
Hands in his back pockets he walked slowly around to the “ADJUST!” side.
The sun appeared between clouds.
“There’s more on the top, too,” Fletch said
Coming back, the manager stood on tiptoes and stretched his neck to see the top.
“Have to paint the whole thing.”
“Shit,” Fletch said.
“Little jerks,” the manager said. “‘Feed the people,’ but screw whoever owns this truck.”
“Yeah,” Fletch said. “Me.”
“You got insurance?‘
“Sure.”
“Want to check your coverage?”
“Got to have the truck,” Fletch said, “whether insurance covers it or not. Can’t use it this way.”
