White Fire

35

Betty Brown Stafford Kermode, sitting in the living room of her house at the top of The Heights, a piñon fire roaring in the fireplace, hung up the princess phone. She sat very still for some minutes, staring out the picture window at the mountains, considering the problem. Her brother-in-law, Henry Montebello, sat in a wing chair on the opposite side of the fire. He was dressed in a three-piece suit, a hand-knotted bow tie of dark paisley setting off a crisp white shirt. He was examining his nails with an air of patrician boredom. A weak winter sun filtered in.

Kermode considered the problem for another minute. And then she picked up the phone again and dialed Daniel Stafford.

“Hello again, my dear,” came the dry, sardonic voice. Kermode did not particularly enjoy talking to her cousin Daniel, but “liking” and “caring” did not figure in the bonds that held the Stafford family together. Those bonds were made of money, and all family relationships were defined by it. As Daniel was not only the head of the Stafford Family Trusts, with assets of two billion dollars, but also one of two managing partners of the family investment company, with assets under management of sixteen billion dollars, she considered him close to her. Very close. It never occurred to her to wonder whether she actually liked the man or not.

“Am I on speakerphone?” Stafford asked.

“Henry is here with me,” Kermode replied. She paused. “We have a problem.”

“If you’re referring to the new fire, thank heaven it didn’t occur in The Heights. This is wonderful, in fact — the impact on The Heights is now much diluted. What we need is a third fire even farther afield.” A dry chuckle followed.

“That’s not amusing. In any case, I’m not calling about that. I’m calling because that girl — Corrie Swanson — made the connection between the Kermodes and the Staffords.”

“That’s not exactly a state secret.”

“Daniel, she got into the Griswell Archive and hit a trove of documents related to the mines, mills, and smelter operations going way back. All the way back.”

A silence. And then she heard her cousin swear genteelly on the other end of the line. “Anything, ah, more than that?” His voice was suddenly less flippant.

“No. At least, not yet.”

More silence. “How good a researcher is she?”

“She’s like a damn terrier, sinks her sharp little teeth in and never lets go. She doesn’t seem to have made the connection yet, but if she keeps digging, she will.”

Another long silence. “I was under the impression that the germane documents had been removed.”

“A mighty effort was made, but the archives are a complete mess. Anything might have slipped through.”

“I see. Well now, this is a problem.”

“Did you dig up any dirt on her and the others, as you promised?”

“I did. This fellow Pendergast has a checkered history, but he’s untouchable. Bowdree’s something of a war hero, with a raft of citations and medals, which makes her a tricky target. Except that she got a medical discharge from the air force.”

“Was she wounded?” Kermode asked. “She looked healthy enough to me.”

“She spent a couple of months at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Her actual medical records are sealed, and the air force protects those files like the dickens.”

“And the girl, Swanson?”

“She’s a little hellion. Grew up in a trailer park in a dreadful little town in Kansas. Parents were low, low working-class, split up after she was born. Mother’s a raging alcoholic, father a ne’er-do-well, once accused of robbing a bank. She herself has a juvenile record as long as your arm. The only reason she got as far as she did is because this Pendergast fellow took her under his wing and financed her schooling. No doubt there’s a quid pro quo there. The problem is, as long as Pendergast is around she’ll be hard to get at.”

“The chief of police tells me he left for London last night.”

“That’s lucky news. You’d better act fast.”

“And do what, exactly?”

“You’re perfectly capable, my dear, of taking care of this problem before that FBI agent returns. I might just remind you what is at stake here. So don’t play games. Hit hard. And if you decide to hire out, only hire the best. Whatever you do, I don’t want to know about it.”

“What a coward you are.”

“Thank you. I’m quite willing to concede that you’re the one in this family with the high testosterone, dear cousin.”

Kermode pressed the SPEAKERPHONE button with an angry jab, ending the phone call.

Montebello had remained silent throughout the conversation, his attention seemingly focused on his well-manicured nails. Now, however, he looked up. “Leave this to me,” he said. “I know just the person for the job.”