“Can’t she fill a room, though?” Ross said with awe and pride.
Kat’s children came home from the Sinnats. Kat filled their plates and said they could stay up until nine-thirty if they played quietly in Roy’s room, and didn’t spill any food in there. Jimmy guessed that Kat was serving the small buffet sooner than she had planned. Jackie needed food and coffee.
“The trouble with us,” Jackie said as they were all eating, “we’re too damn nice. Even you, Wing. Perfect little gennlemen. What have we got left? A couple army types, you and me, Kat, a darling art gallery type, little Wally — our Madison Avenue South — and who else? Oh. Fat Doris. You know, it comforted me having Di on the squad. I thought he was the one with cojones, but he turns out to be a capon.”
“Down, Jackie!” Kat said firmly.
“What? What’s the matter?”
“You don’t know all the facts or all the reasons or how Di feels. Maybe you’d do the same thing. How can you tell?”
Jackie looked at her with one eyebrow tilted abruptly. “Sweet Katherine,” she said. “Sweet, gentle, forgiving, understanding Katherine.”
“Now, honey,” Ross said.
“The thing,” Jackie said, “is to see him in proper perspective. Okay? He could fool around with our little project as long as it didn’t cost him anything except time and money.” She turned her bright stare toward Jimmy. “The wise old owl that doesn’t say a word turned out to be a pretty stupid bird.”
“Am I supposed to say something significant?” he asked.
“You could give it a try.”
“I said it last week when I was talking to Kat about this. I said people were going to play rough.”
“And so are we!” Jackie said, banging her plate down.
“Fight, team, fight,” Ross said.
Jackie stood up and looked solemnly at her husband. “Funny man,” she said, and walked out of the house.
“Should you... go with her?” Katherine asked, worried.
“She’s okay,” Ross said. “Good groceries, Kat. Oh, she’ll hike around with steam coming out of her ears. She gets sore. She works it off. She’ll be back.”
They finished eating. Jimmy helped Kat take the dishes out to the kitchen. Jackie came back, as noisy as before, with Burt Lesser in tow. “See what I got!” Jackie said. “A hunk of the opposition. He was home alone, helpless and apologetic.”
Burt Lesser acted as though it was some sort of party game, as if he were the permissive, good-humored trophy in a scavenger hunt. He wore a pale blue coverall suit with short sleeves and a tricky brass buckle and his initials in dark red on the breast pocket.
“Well, well, well,” he said, and took out a handkerchief and took off his heavy glasses, huffed on the lenses, and stood wiping them, looking at them all with an uncertain yet jolly look, his oval fleshy face naked without his glasses, and his belly thrusting the brass buckle forward with a look of comfortable arrogance.
Kat went to him quickly and said, “Burt, you know you’re welcome here any time. We didn’t send Jackie out to bring you back.”
“Cowards,” Jackie said. “Sit right there, Burt boy. This is an inquisition. We’re getting tough. We’ve got some questions to ask.”
Burt sat on the couch. He put his glasses on and looked hesitantly at Jimmy Wing. “I’m not in a position to make any official statement.”
“This is off the record,” Jimmy said, “whatever you say, Burt.”
“Get him a drink, Kat,” Jackie said. “Then you all sit down. I’ll be Perry Mason.”
Jackie stalked slowly back and forth in front of Burt Lesser, scowling, darting fierce looks at him from time to time. She was the only one who didn’t seem to sense the awkwardness of the situation.
“Now then,” she said, “are you the president of the Palmland Development Company?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Is it the purpose and intent of this company to fill Grassy Bay and make a lot of money?”
“Uh... to make a lot of money for everyone. Yes indeed.”
“You were not in favor of the Grassy Bay fill two years ago, Mr. Lesser. Is that true?”
“I wasn’t in favor of it. I didn’t... uh... actively oppose it, but I wasn’t in favor of it either. But this is a different situation.” He smiled at Kat and Ross and Jimmy, the smile of someone who is going along with a joke and wants to be appreciated.
“What’s so different about it?”
“Several things, Mrs. Halley. Several important things. We’re in a little business slump in Palm County, and we weren’t two years ago. This could be a tremendous shot in the arm. Also, having local people in control of it assures a real tasteful development. We don’t want to foul our own nest, you might say. Palmland Isles will be a credit to the area in every sense of the word.”
“Is that what you’re calling it? Ugh!”
“In every sense of the word. And we shall place all possible contracts and orders right here in Palm County. I have close contact with all the businessmen in the area, Mrs. Halley. I can assure you that the support for Palmland Isles is overwhelming. I think that you people are... uh... doing a disservice to the community by trying to oppose it.”
Jackie paced for a few silent moments. She stopped, whirled, pointed her finger so energetically at Burt that it made him flinch. “You have the feeling that this project will go through?”
“Oh, yes! There’ll be a clear majority in favor of it.”
“And you think we are wasting our time and energy?”
“I guess you could put it that way.”
She moved closer to him and lowered her voice. “Then answer this, Mr. Palmland Lesser! If you are so bloody sure of winning, why is your side pulling dirty despicable tricks on us, like blackmailing Dial Sinnat into pulling out?”
Jimmy saw that Burt Lesser was genuinely shocked and astonished.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know the details. But you probably do.”
Burt Lesser flushed. “I don’t like your tone of voice, Jackie. I don’t know anything about Dial Sinnat and I don’t know anything about blackmail. That’s a damned dangeous word to throw around unless you know what you’re talking about, and I’m not sure you do.”
Jackie stared at him. “Now just one cotton-pickin’ minute, Mr. President!”
Lesser stood up. “I’m a little tired of this game.”
“Somebody on your team is playing dirty,” Jackie said sternly. “If you don’t know about it, you should. And if you don’t believe me, ask Kat here, or Jimmy, or phone Tom Jennings. Who have you got on your team who’d pull such a stinking trick?”
Jimmy saw the momentary uncertainty on Burt Lesser’s face. It disappeared quickly. “You know the five of us who have majority interests in this project, I’m sure. As far as the others who are on our team, as you prefer to call it, I can name Martin Cable, Ben Killian, Gerold Tucker, Willis Bry... in fact a long list of the influential men in this area. Every... uh... worthwhile project attracts support from all... uh... segments of society. I can’t be responsible, or be held responsible, if somebody in favor of the bay fill gets too anxious.” He turned to Kat. “Thanks for the drink, Katherine.”
“Well,” Jackie said thinly, “you better check out your folks, because if they get too anxious, some of our people might get too anxious too.”
“Is that some sort of a threat?” Burt asked her coldly.
“It’s a promise, pal.”
Kat said, “Burt, I’m sorry that this—”
“I know it isn’t your fault, my dear. No harm done. See you tomorrow morning, Jimmy. Goodnight, Ross. Jackie, I think you make a mistake in combining alcohol with your... civic activities.”