"With wives and relatives and cops and lawyers chasing along behind."
"Certainly. If money and organization weren't used beforehand. Finders' fees—call them something else. Life support teams and copters equipped for them always standing by, near the worst concentrations of dangerous traffic. Contributions to highway patrol relief funds, thousands of release forms ready to sign, lavish payment to the estate of the deceased—oh, at least a million dollars. Oh, yes, nearly forgot—I've got an odd blood type and any transplant is more likely to take if they don't have to fiddle with swapping blood. There are only about a million people in this country with blood matching mine. Not an impossible number when you cut it down still further by age span—twenty to forty—and good health. Call it three hundred thousand, tops. Jake, if we ran big newspaper ads and bought prime time on video, how many of those people could we flush out of the bushes? If we dangled a million dollars as bait? One megabuck in escrow with Chase Manhattan Bank for the estate of the accident victim whose body is used? With a retainer to any prospective donor and his spouse who will sign up in advance."
"Johann, I'm durned if I know. But I would hate to be married to a woman who could collect a million dollars by ‘accidentally' hitting me in the head with a hammer."
"Details, Jake. Write it so that no one can murder and benefit by it—and suicide must be excluded, too; I don't want blood on my hands. The real problem is to locate healthy young people who have my blood type, and feed their names and addresses into a computer."
"Excuse me, Mr. Smith, but have you thought of consulting the National Rare Blood Club?"
"Be darned! I am growing senile. No, I hadn't, Eunice—and how do you happen to know about it?"
"I'm a member, sir."
"Then you're a donor, dear?" Smith sounded pleased and impressed.
"Yes, sir. Type AB-Negative."
"Be darned twice. Used to be a donor myself—until they told me I was too old, long before you were born. And your type—AB-Negative."
"I thought you must be, sir, when you mentioned the number. So small. Only about a third of one percent of us in the population. My husband is AB-Negative, too, and a donor. You see—well, I met Joe early one morning when we were both called to give blood to a newborn baby and its mother."
"Well, hooray for Joe Branca! I knew he was smart—he grabbed you, didn't he? I had not known that he was an Angel of Mercy as well. Tell you what, dear—when you get home tonight, tell Joe that all he has to do is to dive into a dry swimming pool... and you'll be not only the prettiest widow in town—but the richest."
"Boss, you have a nasty sense of humor. I wouldn't swap Joe for any million dollars—money won't keep you warm on a cold night."
"As I know to my sorrow, dear. Jake, can my will be broken?"
"Any will can be broken. But I don't think yours will be. I tried to build fail-safes into it."
"Suppose I make a new will along the same general lines but with some changes—would it stand up?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"You said it yourself. Senility. Any time a rich man dies at an advanced age with a new will anyone with an interest in breaking it—your granddaughters, I mean—will try to break it, alleging senility and undue influence. I think they would succeed."
"Darn. I want to put Eunice down for a million so she won't be tempted to kill her AB-Negative husband."
"Boss, you're making fun of me again. Nasty fun."
"Eunice, I told you that I do not joke about money. How do we handle it, Jake? Since I'm too senile to make a will."
"Well, the simplest way would be an insurance policy with a paid-up single premium...which would cost, in view of your age and health, slightly more than a million, I surmise. But she would get it even if your will was broken."
"Mr. Salomon, don't listen to him!"
"Johann, do you want that million to revert to you if by any long chance you outlive Eunice?"
"Mmm...no, if it did, a judge might decide to look at the matter—and God himself doesn't know what a judge will do these days. Make the Red Cross the residuary. No, make it the National Rare Blood Club."
"Very well."
"Get it paid up first thing in the morning. No, do it tonight. I may not live till morning. Get an underwriter—Jack Towers, maybe—get Jefferson Billings to open that pawnshop of his and get a certified check. Use my power of attorney, not your own money, or you might be stuck for it. Get the signature of a responsible officer of the insurance company; then you can go to bed."
"Yes, Great Spirit. I'll vary that; I'm a better lawyer than you are. But the policy will be in force before night—with your money, not mine. Eunice, be careful not to kick those hoses and wires as you go out. But tomorrow you needn't be careful—as long as you don't get caught."
She sniffed. "You each have a nasty sense of humor! Boss, I'm going to erase this. I don't want a million dollars. Not from Joe dying, not from you dying."
"If you don't want it, Eunice," her employer said gently, "You can step aside and let the Rare Blood Club have it."
"Uh... Mr. Salomon, is that correct?"
"Yes, Eunice. But money is nice to have, especially when you don't have it. Your husband might be annoyed if you turned down a million dollars."
"Uh—" Mrs. Branca shut up.
"Take care of it, Jake. While thinking about how to buy a warm body. And how to get Boyle here and get him whatever permission he needs to do surgery in this country. And so forth. And tell—no, I'll tell her. Miss MacIntosh!"
"Yes, Mr. Smith?" came a voice from the bed console.
"Get your team in; I want to go to bed."
"Yes, sir. I'll tell Dr. Garcia."
Jake stood up. "Good day, Johann. You're a crazy fool."
"Probably. But I do have fun with my money."
"So you do. Eunice, may I run you home?"
"Oh, no, sir, thank you. My Gadabout is in. the basement."
"Eunice," said her boss, "can't you see that the old goat wants to take you home? So be gracious. One of my guards will take your Gadabout home."
"Uh... thank you, Mr. Salomon. I accept. Get a good night's sleep, Boss." They started to leave.
"Wait, Eunice," Smith commanded. "Hold that pose.
Jake, pipe those gams! Eunice, that's obsolete slang meaning that you have pretty legs."
"So you have told me before, sir—and so my husband often tells me. Boss you're a dirty old man."
He cackled. "So I am, my dear... and have been since I was six, I'm happy to say."
2
Mr. Salomon helped her into her cloak, rode down with her to the basement, waved his guards aside and handed her into his car. Shotgun locked them in, got in by driver-guard and locked that compartment. As she sat down Mrs. Branca said, "Oh, how big! Mr. Salomon, I knew a Rolls was roomy—but I've never been in one before."
"A Rolls only by courtesy, my dear—body by Skoda, power plant by Imperial Atomics, then Rolls-Royce pretties it and backs it with their reputation and service. You should have seen a Rolls fifty years ago, before gasoline engines were outlawed. There was a dream car!"
"This one is dreamy enough. Why, my little Gadabout would fit inside this compartment."
A voice from the ceiling said, "Orders, sir?"
Mr. Salomon touched a switch. "One moment, Rockford." He lifted his hand. "Where do you live, Eunice? Or the coordinates of wherever you want to go?"
"Oh. I'll go home. North one one eight, west thirty-seven, then up to level nineteen—though I doubt that this enormous car will fit into the vehicle lift."