Let Me Call You Sweetheart

70 Saturday, November 4th

Jason Arnott lay sleepless most of the night, wrestling with trying to decide how to treat the call from Assistant Prosecutor Kerry McGrath, even, as she so delicately put it, in an “unofficial” capacity.

By 7:00 A.M. he’d made up his mind. He would return her call and, in a courteous, civil, but distant tone, inform her that he would be delighted to meet with her, provided it would not take too long. His excuse would be that he was about to leave on a business trip.

To the Catskills, Jason promised himself. I’ll hide out at the house. Nobody will find me there. In the meantime, this will all blow over. But I can’t look as though I have anything to be concerned about.

The decision made, he finally fell into a sound sleep, the kind of sleep he enjoyed after he had successfully completed a mission and knew he was home free.

He called Kerry McGrath first thing when he woke up at nine-thirty. She picked up on the first ring. He was relieved to hear what seemed to be genuine gratitude in her tone.

“Mr. Arnott, I really appreciate your calling, and I assure you this is unofficial,” she said. “Your name came up as having been a friend and antiques expert for Suzanne Reardon, years ago. Something has developed about that case, and I’d very much appreciate an opportunity to talk to you about the relationship you saw between Suzanne and her father, Dr. Charles Smith. I promise, I’ll only take a few minutes of your time.”

She meant it. Jason could spot a phony, had made a career of it, and she wasn’t a phony. It wouldn’t be hard to talk about Suzanne, he told himself. He frequently had shopped with her the way he shopped with Vera Shelby Todd yesterday. She had been at many of his parties, but so had dozens of other people. No one could make anything of that.

Jason was totally amenable to Kerry’s explanation that she had a firm commitment to be picked up at one and would so much appreciate visiting him within the hour.