Bad Business

39

Matters of the Heart held its Friday mixer on a rainy night in a ballroom at the Balmoral Castle Hotel in Canton. We went in my car.

"You think I'll meet Mr. Right?" Cecile said as I slowed in front of the hotel.

"We here investigating," Hawk said.

"But won't I have to sleep with a few?" Cecile said. "Make it look real?"

"No sacrifice too great," I said.

I t was raining hard. I parked under the pseudo porte cochere to let them out.

"Aren't we early," Cecile said.

"Need to be here 'fore anyone else," Hawk said. "So Spenser get a look at the guests."

"So can't we wait here?"

"Need to look around," Hawk said. "Let him know the setup."

"Well," Cecile said, "I suppose it's good, if Mr. Right shows up, he'll find me waiting."

They got out and went into the hotel. I pulled away and went around the porte cochere and parked in the front parking lot, where I could still see the hotel entrance. In five minutes my cell phone rang.

"Balmoral Castle appear to be leaking," Hawk said.

"Leaking?"

"They got barrels around, and plastic sheeting hung so's to funnel the rain into the barrels."

"Wow, the perfect setting," I said. "Where's the mixer?"

"In the back end, enter from the lobby."

"Any other likely entrances?"

"Nope. Anyone coming gonna have to come in through the lobby."

"O'Mara there?"

"He already inside with the DJ, couple of assistants."

"No guests."

"Just me and Cecile," Hawk said.

"Anyplace for me?"

"Yeah. Pub. Off the lobby, sit at the bar and you can see the door to the room. Big sign on an easel."

"I can see who turns out for the event," I said.

"If you alert," Hawk said.

"A challenge," I said.

"Better go easy at the bar," Hawk said.

I was wearing a light raincoat and a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap. I got out of my car into the rain and walked to the hotel with my collar turned up and my cap pulled down and my hands in my pockets. Inside, the lobby was a warren of barrels and plastic sheeting, which was having limited success in keeping the lobby dry. The rug squished with each step I took. Happily the Castle Bar was dry. I sat on a barstool and looked across the lobby at the entrance to a function room where a large sign said MATTERS OF THE HEART in red letters.

I ordered a beer, and ate some peanuts. I saw three women in summer dresses go into the function room. I ate some peanuts. A tall blond woman with an aggressive chest and tight white pants stalked into the function room. Two stunning Asian women, who might have been Vietnamese, entered in cropped pants and striped jersey tops. Cecile went in. Hawk came into the bar and sat on a stool beside me. I ate some peanuts. Hawk ordered a gin and tonic. We sat and watched the women drift in.

"I'm beginning to see why you might not have been invited," I said.

"You seen a man yet?"

"No."

A t eight o'clock on the button, Darrin O'Mara appeared momentarily in the doorway. I put my hand up to my forehead and rubbed it gently as if I were tired. My forearm shielded my face. Darrin closed the double doors. Hawk sipped his drink. I nursed my beer. From the ballroom I could hear the faint sound of music playing.

"They dancing with each other?" Hawk said. I shrugged and ate some peanuts.