Hugger Mugger

FIFTY-ONE

THE READING ROOM is actually a house, a large white Victorian next to the track, with a wide veranda where people can eat and look disdainfully out over the hedge at people who, not being members, cannot come in. I wasn't a member, but apparently Penny Clive was, and the mention of her name was entirely sufficient to compensate.

I was alone. Susan had decided to sleep in until nearly seven, and run before she ate breakfast. It was a decision she made nearly every day. I didn't mind. I never went to work with her either. I was the first to arrive. I noticed that there was only one other place set when they seated me on the veranda. A black waiter in a white coat poured me fresh orange juice, and a cup of coffee, and departed. I looked disdainfully over the hedge at the people going by. Penny arrived after I had finished the juice and half the coffee. I stood. But I wasn't quick enough to get her chair. The maоtre d' had it out and slid it gracefully in under her as she sat. Penny smiled at me across the table.

"Good morning," she said.

Undimmed by Susan's presence, Penny was in full luster. She wore a dress with a floral print of blue, white, and red. Her wide-brimmed straw hat was red with a blue band.

"You must have the hand melon," Penny said. "It's a local legend. The melons ripen every August while the track is in session."

"Sure," I said.

The waiter brought us two hand melons. They looked remarkably like cantaloupes.

"Wasn't that something yesterday," Penny said to me.

"Hell of a horse," I said.

"Angel rode him perfectly too."

"Do you know that Dolly has hired me to look into the death of your father?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

"Yes."

"How do you feel about it?" I said.

I had, after all, ridden all the way out here alone with a shrink.

"I am very disappointed."

"Because?"

"I like Dolly, but she is exploiting our tragedy for her own benefit."

"By investigating your father's death?"

"By claiming her son as an heir."

"You reject that?"

"Entirely."

I ate some hand melon. It tasted very much like cantaloupe.

"Do you know where your sisters are?"

"They preferred not to come to Saratoga this year. This is really a business trip and they really aren't very interested in the business. All of us find the social whirl a bit too much."

"Yeah, me too," I said. "Did anyone tell you they've left the house in Lamarr?"

"Left the house?"

Either she was very good, or she really didn't know.

"Un-huh."

"You mean moved out?"

"Yep."

"Why? Where did they go? Are they all right?"

"They're fine. I think you need to talk with Delroy. He may not be keeping you fully informed."

"I…" She stopped and closed her mouth and sucked her lips in for a moment.

"I'll ask him," she said.

We finished our hand melons, and the waiter whisked them away and another waiter put down a corn muffin for me, and a soft-boiled egg with whole wheat toast for Penny. The egg was in a little egg cup and accompanied by a little spoon. I gestured for more coffee and got it immediately. I added some milk and sugar and had a sip and sat back. I wasn't even sure quite what I was trying to do, talking with Penny. And I didn't really know quite how to go about whatever it was I was trying to do. It wasn't a new feeling. I spent half my professional life in that situation. Actually, I spent a good portion of my unprofessional life in that situation too. When all else fails, I thought, try the truth.

"Ever since I came back into the case," I said, "I've been stonewalled. Security South won't let me near you or your sisters. I finally insisted a few days ago on seeing your sisters and I found them husbandless, apparent prisoners in their own house, oddly disoriented. I took them out and placed them with their husbands at a location known to me and not known to Security South."

Something stirred behind Penny's face that made me pretty sure she hadn't been told. It was only a little something. She had great self-control.

"You had no right to do that," she said.

"Could you explain why they were being held as they were?"

"They were not being held, Mr. Spenser. They were being protected."

"From what?"

She shook her head slowly.

"I don't have to talk to you."

She was right, but I didn't think supporting her opinion would do me any good. Having nothing to say, I stayed quiet and waited.

"I love my family," Penny said. "I loved my father especially. His death has been a tragedy for me. I have tried to protect us all from its impact. From the sometimes gratuitous scrutiny that follows upon a death. I am still trying to protect us from that."

"Do you want his murderer caught?"

"In the abstract, yes. But I feel that Jon and the police are adequate to that task, and what I want more than anything is peace-for me, for my sisters."

"Did you have anything to do with the separation of your sisters and their husbands?"

Penny stared at me. Her face showed nothing. She seemed to be thinking of something else.

"Do you have a relationship with Jon Delroy?" I said.

Penny looked tired. She shook her head again. Even more slowly than she had before.

"I find it hard not to like you, Spenser. But… I'm afraid this conversation is over."

She stood. The waiter leapt to hold her chair. She walked off the veranda and out of the Reading Room without another word and without looking back at me. On the assumption that offering to pay, as a nonmember, would be a vile breach of etiquette, I stood after she had disappeared and walked out as well.