"I hate to tell you, Bobby, but that's never an excuse.
M
When you get to that point, you punch in all the adrenaline you've got, because that's when you're vulnerable.. .. It's strange though, isn't it? The ncos centered in on Phyllis Cranston."
"Why, is it strange? She's unstable, and instability is milk and honey to those wanting to penetrate."
"And her boss?"
"I don't see the connection."
"It's there, my friend, oh, Lord, there."
"If it is," said Durbane, staring at Latham's unfocused eyes, "it's made with a pair of pliers. Concentrate on the two of them; hit the alcoholic and squeeze the greedy, ambitious superior. One or the other will break without your spreading yourself around."
"Thanks to you, Bobby, the first didn't. Now let's go after the second. Reach Phyllis's boss and tell him you've talked to one of my people who's covering for me. Say my assistant agreed to check with a few bankers if he'll give you the name of this developer."
"I don't understand-"
"If he doesn't give you a name, we'll know he can't. If he does, we'll know who's behind him, who's programming him."
"I can do that right now," said Durbane, picking up his phone and dialing the attachFs office.
"Phyllis, it's me, Bobby. Let me speak to the pinstriped idiot-and, Phyl, it has nothing to do with you.. .. Hello, Bancroft, it's Durbane in the comm center. I just spoke 'to Latham's head investigator, and although he's busy as hell, he figures he can make a couple of calls for you to some banking types. What's the name of this real estate broker who wants you to invest? .. . I see, yes, I see. Yes, I'll tell him that. I'll get back to you." Durbane hung up while writing on a notepad.
"The name's Vaultherin, Picon Vaultherin" with a company of the same name. Bancroft said to tell your office that his consortium has exclusive rights to roughly twenty square miles of choice property in the Loire Valley."
"Isn't that interesting," said Drew, turning his head and gazing @t the wall.
"There's been talk for years that a lot of those old chateaus are falling apart and nobody can afford to put them back together. Also, that developers are foaming at the mouth to buy up land and build dozens of mini estates at enormous profit.
I might put in a few dollars myself, or at least steer my son-in-law to look into it."
"Your son-in-law?" asked Latham, turning back to the comin center chief.
"Never mind, it's too embarrassing. You wouldn't know who he is any more than I would if he weren't married to my daughter."
"I'll leave it alone."
"Please do. How do you want to move on this Vaultherin?"
"I'll take it to Witkowski, who'll give it to Moreau at the [email protected] We need a background check on Vaultherin .. and also a sweep of those exclusive rights in the Loire Valley."
"I don't know, I'dust like to explore it. Someone may have made a mistake.. .. And remember, Bobby, I never came down here. I couldn't, I'm dead."
It was nine-thirty in the evening, the embassy kitchen having delivered an excellent dinner for Karin and Drew to the ambassador's living quarters. The stewards had set the dining room table, complete with candles and two bottles of outstanding wine-one red at room temperature (for Latham's thick, rare bifteck)and the other a chilled Chardormay (De Vries's filet of sole almondine). Daniel' Courtland, however, had not joined them, on orders of his government, for it was understood that Colonel Stanley Witkowski would appear and projected strategies be discussed that the ambassador could not be privy to. Deniability was again the order of the day.
"Why do I get the idea that this is my final meal before being executed?" said Drew, finishing his last slice of blood-rare beef and drinking from his third glass of Pommard wine.
"It will be if you continue to eat like that," replied
Karin.
"You've just consumed enough cholesterol to clog the arteries of a dinosaur."
"Who can tell anymore? They keep switching. Margarine's good, butter is terrible .. . butter is better, margarine's worse. I'm waiting for a new medical analysis that says nicotine is a cure for cancer."
"Moderation and variety are the answer, my darling."
"I don't like fish. Beth could never cook fish right. It always smelled like fish."
"Harry liked fish. He told me your mother broiled it beautifully, with sprinkles of dill."
"Harry and Mom were in a conspiracy against Dad and me. He and I would go out