“And you told Charla that?”
“Yes.”
“And told her what you’ve been doing for a living?”
“I guess I did.”
“And you’ve gone all these years without even trying to make any guesses about your uncle?”
At the moment Betsy Alden irritated him. “I may act like an idiot, but I have average intelligence, Miss Alden. My uncle left that cellar all of a sudden. And how many high school teachers become international financiers?”
“So he found something that gave him an edge.”
“An edge over other people, so he gave a lot of the money away. Maybe it was conscience. At least it made him feel better.”
She nodded rather smugly. “And so Charla is terribly interested in that letter. Isn’t it obvious?”
“But she can’t — I can’t get it for a year.”
“Mr. Winter, any explanation of how one little man could terrorize Charla and her group, fleece them, and end up worth fifty-million dollars is worth a year of effort. And by the end of the year she can have you in such captivity, you’ll turn the letter over to her without even opening it, and whinnying with delight at the chance to please her in some small way.”
“You have a dandy opinion of me.”
“I know Charla. I’ve seen her at work.”
“Where do you come in? What do you want? Do you want the letter?”
“All I want, believe me, is some leverage. I don’t care how or where I get it, but I want to be able to pressure Charla into fixing it so I can go back to work where I belong. She brought pressure down on me.” She stabbed Kirby in the chest with her finger. “And if I can use you to get her off my back forever, I would be a very happy girl. And at the same time I might be doing you a favor, like keeping you from sinking into a swamp.”
“Do you hate her that much?”
“Hate is complex. This is a simple emotion. Contempt. She’s really quite easy to understand. Her only motivation is greed. Greed for money, power, pretty things, admiration, sensual pleasure. She likes to use power, Winter. So does Joseph, but she’s captain of that team.”
“He’s your uncle?”
“Hardly. She calls him her brother, but he’s more a sort of half brother-in-law. And not what you’d want to call a wholesome relationship. But they do seem so charming, don’t they? It makes them a deadly team.”
“I keep feeling that you are dramatizing this. I just can’t believe they—”
“Wait a minute. I just thought of something. You are his only living blood relation. And it was in the papers, so Charla must know that. So in addition to whatever is in the will, won’t you get his personal papers and records?”
“I guess so. I hadn’t thought about it.”
“Believe me, Charla will. And Charla has. Now don’t you dare turn anything over to her.”
“What do you think I am?”
“Don’t be angry. We know there’s something she wants, badly. So we have to find out just what it is she wants. Once we find out what it is, then you can decide whether you want to sell it to her, whatever it is. If you do, let me be your agent. I’ll get you more than anybody else could.”
“People keep moving too fast lately.”
“I’m essentially rougher than you are, Kirby Winter. I’m a graduate student of the school of Charla. You move into the Elise. If you start dragging your feet now, they may change tactics.” She scribbled an address and a phone number and handed him the piece of paper. “When you find out anything definite, get in touch with me here. It’s a little apartment I’ve borrowed from a hokey friend. He’s on one of his annual tours of duty in New York. He goes up there and does commercials so he can afford to live down here and write plays. He’s sick with love for me. Look, Kirby. You don’t have to like me and you don’t have to trust me. What are you losing so far? And call me Betsy.”
“Losing nothing, so far. Possibly my mind. Nothing important though.”
“Play along and play it very cozy, and when you do find out what they’re after, then you can decide whether or not to get in touch with me. Okay?”
“Okay, Betsy.”
Her eyes changed. “When people don’t push me around, I’m nicer than this, really.”
“And I’m less confused, as a rule.”
“I don’t know anything about your tastes — or your opportunities, but the less you give away to Charla, the more you’ll get of her.” She looked slightly uncomfortable. “Just don’t let it dazzle you, Kirby. Just keep remembering she’s one of the world’s great experts on — horizontal persuasion. Keep your head, and we can make her pay and pay and pay.”
“If there’s anything to sell.”
“If she wasn’t convinced there is, she wouldn’t be here.” She patted his arm and stood up quickly. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you. Wait five minutes before you leave.”
Chapter Four
There were nine messages in his box at the Hotel Birdline in downtown Miami. They all requested that he return the phone calls of Mr. D. LeRoy Wintermore, of Wintermore, Stabile, Schamway and Mertz, the law firm which handled Uncle Omar’s personal matters — as opposed to the captive attorneys who handled the corporate affairs of Krepps Enterprises and all the other interlocking corporations.
Wintermore was a fragile snow-crested old man with, as Kirby had once heard his Uncle Omar say, a skeptical attitude toward all established institutions, including the law.
Kirby packed his two suitcases of personal gear before phoning Wintermore. It took him seven minutes. He phoned the number on the most recent slip and found he had reached D. LeRoy Wintermore at his home. It was Sunday, of course, but it did not feel like Sunday.
“Dear boy!” Wintermore said. “I was fretful about you. When you found what — uh — dispensation Omar had made, you seemed a shade surly.”
“I wasn’t exactly ecstatic. I don’t think I’m greedy especially, but after all, there is supposed to be fifty-million kicking around some place.”
“Possibly it was his intention to improve your character, Kirby.”
“I have more than I can use now.”
“At any rate, there seem to be a few minor difficulties to be ironed out. They want you at a high level conference at the Krepps offices tomorrow morning at ten.”
“They?”
“Your uncle’s elite corps of earnest executives. I shall be there too, by request, and if it appears that you need legal representation, I shall be ready to stand at your side. Fearlessly.”
“What’s up?”
“I have no idea, but they seem to have the impression there was some sort of collusion going on between you and Omar. Hidden assets. Something idiotic. They seem agitated. And something else has disturbed them. Since last Wednesday, every one of Omar’s houses and apartments has been thoroughly ransacked.”
“Really?”
“And they seem to want to connect it all up with whatever mysterious services you performed for Omar.”
“Did he ever tell you what my work was?”
“Dear boy, I never asked.”
“Mr. Wintermore, even though the only things mentioned in the will are the watch and the letter, won’t I get all Uncle Omar’s personal records and papers?”
“In the normal course of events, you would.”
“But now I won’t?”
“Omar had a rather serious warning of his heart condition three months ago. He came to my office and took personal material from our files and left us just the basic essential documents. I asked him what he was going to do with the papers he took. He said he was going to burn them. He smiled rather broadly and said he was going to burn everything. And then he took a silver dollar out of my left ear. He was extremely clever with his magic tricks. It is my understanding he did burn everything, except for one case of documents now in the main vault at Krepps Enterprises. A lovely man, dear boy. Lovely. But with a secrecy fetish. And the executive staff over there seem to find you infected by the same disease.”