been hearing about this all week.'
'Peggy's trying awfully hard to curry favor with the board, Elden. Don't you think?' Julie asked. She had a way of speaking her mind, of speaking the truth, that put you on the spot. 'How's the art world?' Tegg asked her, attempting to steer her clear of his wife's ambitions. 'Dodging the question, are we?' she replied.
One of the kids broke open the pfflata right then, sparing Tegg an embarrassing moment. Peggy most certainly was trying to win favor with the board. Julie knew it. Everyone knew it. But it wasn't the type of thing you talked about! He had personally paid to fly in the winner of the Milano Festival to sing two arias here today. The string quartet, also brought in specially, had wowed Aspen last August. It had cost him a fortune! If this didn't impress the board, nothing would, except perhaps the donation he was planning to make.
With the prospect of the heart harvest now on the immediate horizon, Tegg faced the difficult decision of what to do with the enormous sum of money it would generate. He could 'buy' his wife a seat on the opera board, or he could 'buy' himself a transplant practice in Brazil. He knew whom to pay off; he knew which wheels to grease. Elden Tegg, M.D., F.A.C.S. Her dream or his? Could he leave all this behind?
He excused himself and hurried over to the children who were collecting the candy that had spilled. His son, Albert, and his daughter, Britany, ran up to show him their take, offering it like pirates' treasure. A bunch of the children gathered at his feet, excited eyes sparkling. They wanted another pihata, another game. It gave him great pleasure to bring the children this kind of joy, to include them in the event this way. How could you possibly benefit animals without involving children? The two seemed fundamentally linked.
Tegg signaled his veterinary assistant, the plump d officious Pamela Chase, and turned the children over to her. Pin the Tail on the Zebra was next. Last Year some Democrats had complained about using a donkey.
Everywhere he went people called out softly, 'Wonderful party!'
'Terrific event!'
'Having a great time, Elden!' He felt like Santa Claus, pleasing so many people at once.
He glanced out the door in time to see a collieelsie was her name-paraded on leash around the circle. As Dr. Elden Tegg, he had healed a gunshot wound to Elsie's humerus. Scanning the field of contestants, he recognized several animals as patients of his. He knew each by name, knew each case history in detail; in a way, he regarded them as members of his own family. He hoped that Elsie won something-if for no other reason than to prove his own expertise with a scalpel. In another vet's hands, she would have been a three-legged dog today.
His wife's nervous voice came from behind him. 'It's going beautifully, don't you think?' He turned and kissed her. 'Splendidly. The food is excellent. You've done a wonderful job.'
'We might consider using these same caterers at our party next week. If we could get them. What do you think?'
I/Itts a great idea.' This, he knew from the hopeful glint in her eye, was what she wanted to hear, so this was what he told her.
She kissed him lightly, as an excuse to whisper into his ear.
'Be nice to the Feldsteins. He's had prostate cancer, you know?'
'Alan has?' He relied on Peggy to keep him up on such things. How she kept it all straight was anybody's guess.
She reminded, 'Alan is very close with Byron. He has his ear.'
The aging Byron Endicott, who ran a multinational shipping company, was City Opera's chairman and someone Peggy would have to win over in order to be invited onto the board. 'So, basically, what you're saying,' he teased, 'is I should avoid asking Alan what it feels like to be reamed with something slightly larger than a penlight.'
She winced and chased a waving hand aimed at her from the crowd.
Tegg headed straight to Alan Feldstein. 'Feeling better, Alan?
Hmm?'
'They got it all, I'm told. Nothing like the big C to get you thinking, I'll tell you that.' He studied Tegg and said confidentially, 'You're a doctor. How much of what you tell your patients is B.S.? I don't believe half of what my doctor tells me.'
'my patients have four legs. We don't enter into a lot of conversation.'
'I suppose not.'
'Have you seen Byron this afternoon?'
'I don't believe he's here,' Alan Feldstein said, stretching his neck. He added, 'if you had a wife that young, would you be here?'
'Well, at least we know your operation was successful,' Tegg whispered quietly to the man. Feldstein grinned. Tegg bailed out while he was still ahead.
He was on his way to check how Pamela was handling Pin the Tail on the Zebra when he spotted a leather jacket out of the corner of his eye. Maybeck pretending to be one of the public spectators of K dog show.
Tegg did his best to contain his anger. He brushed off several attempts to snag him, cut outside the tent, and walked over to stand beside the man, facing in the direction of the dog show. 'What are you doing here?' he asked. 'Connie found an AB-NEGATIVE in the database,' Maybeck said softly, screening those horrible teeth from sight with his hand. 'Ninety-five pounds. Single. She ain't been an active donor in over two years, but she's in the phone book- lives in Wallingford.Tegg experienced that weightless feeling in his stomach of being in an elevator that was falling too quickly. It was one thing to consider performing a heart harvest, another thing entirely to actually set it in motion. 'Can you deliver?' Tegg inquired. They had never attempted a kidnapping. 'This ain't pizza we're talking about.'
'Don't toy with me, Donald,' Tegg said, knowing how the man disliked the use of his proper name. 'Are there any other AB-negs?' Tegg asked rhetorically, knowing AB-negative accounted for less than four percent of the population. He was one himself. They were extremely lucky to have found even a single match. 'None.'/ 'Age?'
'She'd be. Maybeck attempted to add in his head. It bothered Tegg it should take him so long. 'About twenty-six.'
'That's very good.'
'Why you think I'm here? I know it's good.'
'Look into it. Find out if it can be done.'
'We can do it. I already got it figured. I been watching her place. Back door is fucking perfect for this.'
Tegg didn't trust his assessment. Maybeck was more than likely blinded by the possible money. What wouldn't he risk for that? 'But I'm gonna need your help.'
'My help?' Tegg asked.
'You're the one who's going to get her to open the door for us.'
Us? Tegg was thinking. Their relationship was symbiotic: Tegg needed a flunky, a go-between with the runaways and with Connie Chi at Bloodlines; Maybeck liked the idea of large amounts of cash for relatively little work. But us? Tegg seldom thought of them as any kind of team. It was an arrangement, was all often an unpleasant one at that. 'I'm telling you, Doc. I got it all worked out. We go for it tomorrow morning.'
Tomorrow? Tegg wanted this chance at a heart. But how badly?
How far was he willing to go? He glanced at his watch; he would have to make arrangements with Wong Kei. Could he arrange a meeting for later tonight?
it started to sprinkle. Rain would put a quick end to the dog show.
Maybeck said, 'One phone call from you to this girl, Doc, and she's not only going to let us into her home, but she's going to make sure no one else is there. You want me to tell you about it?'
Tomorrow? Tegg was still thinking. 'I'll call you,' he said, turning and walking away. Then he changed his mind and headed toward his Trooper parked alongside the Pro Shop. He could use the cellular to call Wong Kei.
He could put this in motion immediately.
Dr. Ronald Dixon had something to tell him, and it pertained to Daphne's investigation-Boldt knew that much from the way Dixie had phrased the unexpected invitation to this dinner show.
The entrance to Dimiti's jazz Alley is, appropriately enough, down an alley, opposite a parking garage. Boldt parked his seven-year-old Toyota and crossed the alley, feeling out of place. He was accustomed to The Big joke's sticky floors and chairs with uneven legs. This place was aimed more at the BMW crowd.
Dixie's wife had allegedly been called to an emergency session of the local Girl Scout chapter, freeing the
