Sure. But some problems are cropping up with the merger, Bone said, showing a thin smile. The road might not be as smooth as it looked. Even if it happens, once youre running a place, you can usually go someplace else, and run that. Its the breakthrough to the top that counts.
Sloan talked to you about your relationship with Marcia Kresge.. . Id think that might have been a dangerous relationship for somebody trying to get to the top, Lucas said.
Eh… its easier in a private company. You dont have to deal with elections and all your insane bureaucratic rules. I doubt Dan would have cared; he probably would have been amused. Marcia wasnt any more of a potential problem for me than Miss Fuzzy Sweater is for you. Besides, thats all done.
All done?
Yeah. Bone seemed mildly embarrassed and turned to look out at the street again. You met my assistant, Kerin Baki.
The glacial blonde.
Yeah. When the whole scramble started, after Kresge was killed, she started working to get me the top job. She did everything right: pretty much managed the whole show. And when I asked her what she wanted out of it, she saidshe wanted a favor from me. But she wouldnt tell me what it was until after I got the job.
And you got it.
Yeah. So after things settled down a little, when Audrey McDonald was arrested, I got her in my office and asked, Whats the favor?
Baki had been a little uncomfortable when he pressed her, Bone said, but finally sat down and outlined what she wanted. Basically, she was tired of living alone. She wanted to find a man who was as smart as she was, who worked as hard as she did, and had similar interests. That was difficult.
What she wanted from me, Bone said, as Lucas started smiling, is, she wanted me to take her around just as a friend, as an associateand introduce her to guys I knew in the banking and investment communities who might be candidates.
Just as a friend, Lucas said.
Yeah. Mr. Bone, she said, I dont have a chance to meet many people like that, socially, because Im always here. And I know this sounds a little cold and a little calculating, but I dont have many more years to go if I want to have children and a normal home life, Bone said, mimicking Bakis precise soprano. And she pushed her glasses back up on her nose, which is about the only thing thats ever been wrong with herher glasses slide down.
Yeah, Lucas said. Shes, like, vulnerable. I said okay, Bone said. I could understand that. So I took her around to a couple of places, a couple of outside meetings she wouldnt normally have gone to, and she made quite an impression on a couple of guys. I got some calls asking about her status… I told her about them, and she was pretty interested.
You chump.
You know how the story comes out?
Lucas knitted his hands across his chest and said, Let me guess. You decided to take her out for a dinner…
Dinner meeting.
And then you have to take her home afterwards.
I just went up for a minute; Id never seen her place.
And you didnt come out for a while.
Quite a while.
And the glacier melted.
You might say that… And shes told me Ive seen the last of Marcia Kresge, Bone said. She also mentioned a couple of other women that I had no idea she knew about.
What about the kid thing?
Bone shrugged. I always thought, maybe, you know, with the right woman. ..
THE PHONE RANG, AND BONE STOOD UP. I GOTTA go, he said, but Lucas held up a finger: Hang on a second. He answered the phone, Hello?
Lucas, this is Del. Del was on a cell phone; his voice sounded like he was shouting through a hollow log, with a roar in the background.
Yeah. Whats going on?
Aw, Im calling from the plane…
Engine roar. Thats right, Lucas said. Cancuґn. I forgot. Have a good time.
If anybody comes asking for me, tell em ten days, would you? Del shouted.
Sure.
Nobodys come asking yet?
Not to me, Lucas said. Should they?
Cant hear you too good. See you in ten days, Del shouted. And hung up.
LUCAS LOOKED AT THE PHONE, PUZZLED, THEN HUNG up and said to Bone, We play a little ball at the Y on Wednesday nights, bunch a cops, a few lawyers. Sort of a cross between basketball and hockeyyou know, no harm, no foul. If Kerinll let you, youre invited.
Yeah, thatd be nice, Bone said. Maybe Isleyll be around in a year or so. They shook hands, and Bone said, See you.
HE WENT OUT THE DOOR, BUT TEN SECONDS LATER was back: Uh, theres some people here to see you, he said.
What?
Some… people, Bone said.
Lucas, frowning, stepped out in the hallway. He wasnt sure until later of the exact number, which was twenty-four, but he knew at a glance that there were a lot of them.
Old ladies.
Gathered like a flock of curly-haired, white-fleeced sheep, each clutching a purse and what seemed to be a brand-new gym bag. One of them, a sweet-looking grandmotherly woman with a trembling chin, said, Weve come to turn ourselves in.
In? Lucas asked. And Bone said, Gotta go. And left.
Were the opium junkies, the grandmother said, and the other women nodded. Del said our best chance for leniency was to come down and surrender to you.
Sonofabitch, Lucas said. He looked in at his phone as the grandmother recoiled; Del was probably halfway to Mexico.
I beg your pardon? she said, clutching the gym bag more tightly.
Nothing. Stay right here, Lucas said. Dont move. Ill be right back.
He trotted down to the chiefs office. No, Rose Maries gone, the secretary said. She seemed to be biting the insides of her cheeks.
Where?
The secretary had to struggle a bit to get it out: Cancu-ґn.
Lucas looked at her, a hard look, and she put her hands to her face. He turned on his heel and headed down toward Violent Crimes. He imagined he heard explosive laughter coming from the chiefs office just before the door closed behind him.
In Violent Crimes, Loring was sitting on an office chair, peeling a green apple with a penknife. Seen Frank? Frank Lester was the other deputy chief.
Nope.
How about Sherrill?
Nope. They left. Together.
Together?
Yeah. They said they were going to Cancu ґn.
You sonofabitch, Lucas said hotly.
What? Loring asked, surprised. What?
You know what.
No, I dont know what. He really seemed confused. On the other hand, he lied well. What?
