“Yes. And Mrs. Brewster from across the street. She saw me running for Al and came right over. She put butter on Binky’s hand.”
One hoped that was the only place she put the butter. “A little salt and pepper and you could have had Binky for breakfast.”
“We’re all going to Patty’s Pancake Palace for breakfast. Sergeant Rogoff is driving.”
The episode gave new meaning to the term trailer trash, and Ma Perkins’s Pancake Palace had to be a pit stop for semis. I must remember to tell Binky not to go snoozing when the waffle iron is oozing.
“You certainly had a morning, Bianca. Would you like to step out with me tonight? A movie, perhaps? Dinner? A midnight stroll on the beach?”
“No, thanks, Archy. I’m seeing Brandon tonight.”
And just who is Brandon?” I demanded.
“The basketball player. Remember? A mile high and an inch wide. He’s driving up from Coral Gables just to see me.”
“What happened to the girl who pulled the winning straw?”
“That was over ages ago. I have to go, Archy; Sergeant Rogoff is beeping for us.”
If at first you don’t succeed…
I went back downstairs and asked Ursi, “What are you doing tonight, Ursi?”
“Nothing much, Archy. Just getting ready for the homecoming. Are you going out?”
“No, Ursi, I am not. I decided to stay home and thought we might celebrate our last evening alone. If you prepare the feast, I’ll raid the master’s wine cellar.”
Tine, and how good of you to give up a Saturday night, Archy.”
“My pleasure, Ursi. My pleasure.”
Twenty
The Leopard Lounge afforded me a chance to don khakis and a safari jacket I had purchased from Abercrombie amp; Fitch before they broke camp on Madison Avenue. I eschewed my pith helmet on the grounds that the jacket said it all and wore instead a more serviceable waterproof tan porkpie.
Sabrina came dressed as a celebrity incognito. Kerchief, enormous dark glasses, and a Burberry trench. Consequently, she was instantly recognized by the lounge lizards. “Did you expect to shoot a leopard, Mr. McNally?” she said as she joined me.
In spite of the flippancy it was clear that the events of the past week had left their mark on the lady. She wore no makeup. Her mouth was drawn, her flawless complexion pallid, and when she removed the glasses I could detect fine lines around those dark eyes, which seemed to have lost their luster. Gone, too, were the theatrical trappings that had so impressed me at our first meeting. The Pink Lady became a Bloody Mary and the exotic black-tipped cigarette was replaced with a Marlboro sans the foot-long onyx holder.
The lady was here on business and she lost no time in getting down to the nitty-gritty. “So you know,” she said when we were served our tomato and vodka.
“More than I care to,” I answered.
“This mess is a result of my hiring you, isn’t it?”
“I beg your pardon, Ms Wright, but this mess is a result of you baring your soul to your daughter and her determination to come down here looking for her father.”
“But had I not contacted you, no one would know what Gillian is up to.”
I didn’t like the accusation and set the record straight. “The wheels were set in motion before I met you. The day before, to be exact. That line in Lolly Spindrift’s column saying you were down here looking for the man that got away was the catalyst. I even suspected you of giving Lolly the lead.”
She inhaled deeply and when she exhaled I sneaked a whiff and checked one of the many safari jacket pockets for my English Ovals. I had left them at home. Her Marlboros lay on the table like a temptress in church but, like a good acolyte, I ignored them.
“Me?” she cried. “Why would I do such a foolish thing?”
“I honestly don’t know. It just seemed to me that everything that could go wrong went wrong from the moment you got here. I was looking for the director and your name came up. Who else knew you had arrived at this hotel when you did and asked for your husband?”
“My travel agent in New York knew when I was arriving, and so did everyone at the hotel who saw me arrive and heard me ask for Mr.
Silvester. Let me assure you, I did not make that call. I came down here to prevent what is happening, not encourage it.” Venting her frustration, she extinguished her cigarette with a series of rapid jabs at the ashtray. “The last time we spoke I asked you why Tom Appleton had thought to call you and you refused to tell me. Will you now?”
“First, tell me how you knew it was Appleton. I never mentioned his name.”
With an annoying wave of her hand she said, “Because he was the first to call me and he told me he had just spoken to you.”
“Have they all contacted you?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“And have you seen them?”
Two down and one to go.”
“Which one?” I prompted.
“None of your business, Mr. McNally.”
I had talked to Harry Schuyler last night. He admitted calling Sabrina and said she had agreed to meet him. I suddenly realized the ambiguity of the disclosure. It could mean they had yet to meet or had already done so. I had never thought to ask him so now I could not name the single holdout by the process of elimination. Sabrina made no mention of Harry’s physical condition and I did not volunteer the information. The guy had a right to confide or not to confide in whom he pleased.
So who was it? On that rainy afternoon in the trendy Leopard Lounge it was all a silly guessing game and one I was weary of playing.
“Okay,” I said. “I had no idea how to go about finding your husband, so I passed the word around that I was working on your behalf to locate your daughter. I said you wanted to prevent Gillian from eloping with a guy you had no use for. I figured anyone who knew anything about Gillian or Silvester might get in touch with me.”
“And they did, didn’t they?” she laughed. Amazing, but the lady never lost her sense of humor. It was an enviable trait.
“First there was the item in Lolly’s column which had all your former flames believing you were after them. When I got into the picture they contacted me to find out if it was true.”
“The fools,” she uttered with contempt.
“Yes, weren’t they? But they were very frightened, Ms Wright, and they still are. I told them as much as I knew because there was no reason not to, but I made a point of saying you were here to stop Gillian and that you were determined to keep your half of the bargain. But I must say, Ms Wright, by the time I got to Harry I was astounded. I trust there are no more.”
“Thank you for speaking on my behalf, Mr. McNally, and there are no more, take my word for it.”
The waiter was suddenly hovering over us and not until then did I notice Sabrina had made short work of her drink. “We’ll have two more,” I ordered.
Sabrina picked up the pack of cigarettes and offered one to me. I refused but only after a moment’s hesitation. I struck a match and held it for her. “They are very desperate men, Ms Wright.”
“And thirty years ago I was a very desperate young girl from Brooklyn who came down here on spring break looking for a rich husband. Are you shocked?”
“Hardly. This town is full of young women, and young men, aiming for the same thing. Most of them, like you, miss the mark.”
“Miss? I don’t know about that, Mr. McNally. Three shots in the dark and one direct hit ain’t bad where I come from.” She let out that throaty laugh, and what could I do but join in? Sabrina Wright might be down, but she wasn’t out.
“I’ll admit I spread myself rather thin, but when you get the nod from an Appleton, a Cranston, and a Schuyler, you don’t say no. And how those boys flaunted their pedigree and their wealth. Me, me, me, my, my, my, and I, I, I, was the extent of their conversation, but as Larry Hart said, horizontally speaking, they were at their very best. Would you believe it was once around the block for each of them?”