I don’t know who I was expecting to see when the massive door opened, but it wasn’t William Hughes. His dark skin contrasted well with his red summer shirt and white ducks. He didn’t look happy to see me.
“Is there something I can do for you, Mr. McCain?”
“I’d like to see David Raines.”
“Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Raines is seeing anybody today.”
“Having sex all day, are they?”
“I’ve got things to do. And I’m sure you do too. So let’s not waste any more time. I’ll tell David that you called. He may get back to you. Good day, Mr. McCain.”
“Who is it, William?”
I watched her emerge from the deep morning shadows that cast the staircase into brooding relief. She wore an outfit of puce sleeveless blouse and matching walking shorts. White Keds covered her feet.
She saw me before William spoke my name.
“It’s all right, William. I’ll talk to him.”
“He asked for David.”
“I’ll handle it, William.” She drew up next to him and touched his arm in an affectionate way. “It’ll be all right.”
He looked at me and smiled. “You finally won one, McCain.”
“My lucky day, I guess.”
“Luck has a way of running out.” He returned her touch. “Just be careful, Linda. He likes to think he’s tricky, and sometimes he is.”
As his footsteps retreated, she said, “You two know each other. It’s one surprise after another this morning.”
“Meaning Roy Davenport?”
The lovely face tightened. “Maybe you can help me-or help my husband, I should say. William said that you wanted to talk to David anyway. He’s on the veranda having coffee.” She paused. “He won’t be happy to see you. He’ll barely speak to me. He’s obviously in some kind of trouble. I’m sure you’ve heard all the gossip about the differences we’ve had in our marriage. What nobody ever says is that I still love my husband very much. And I want to help him.”
She didn’t wait for my answer. She blazed a trail through the house to a flagstone veranda where Raines sat beneath an umbrella’d table overlooking the exquisite green grounds of the estate. The drink in front of him was dark with bourbon.
“What the hell’s he doing here?” he said when we approached the table.
“I asked him to talk to you-since you won’t talk to me. I’m afraid for you.”
“And this bastard’s going to help me? God, Linda, use your brain for once.” His face was red from drink and his eyes pinched and pink from lack of sleep. “I’ve already told you this is something I can handle. Roy’s dead. Don’t I have a right to be shocked?”
“Yes, of course. But there’s something you’re not telling me.”
I didn’t want to slog through the soap opera any longer. “I wanted to ask you about a certain letter, Raines. That’s why I came out here. Somebody I know heard you and Davenport arguing about it one night.”
He surprised me. Instead of fury he tried scorn. “Did Pauline take care of you while you were with her? I’ll bet she’s taken care of enough men to fill a football stadium.”
“David, there’s no need to be vulgar.”
“Well, it’s true. I could never figure out why Roy kept that slut around anyway.”
It was still somewhat cool out here. The robins and jays and sparrows in the trees sang sweet and loud. And to the east I could see the quarter horses run inside the fenced-in land Lou Bennett used for his animals. Be nice to just sit here and read and doze off in one of the comfortable lounge chairs scattered across the veranda.
“Are we finished now, McCain? You came out here ready to scare me with some bullshit Pauline told you. I’m sorry she didn’t come through for you. Roy said she’s quite good.”
“For God’s sake, David. Have some respect for me if you don’t have any for yourself.”
“Oh, don’t worry. This is the kind of talk McCain here traffics in. He’s a cheap little lawyer in a cheap little business. Ask any of the established men in this town. He’s a joke and I don’t want him dirtying up our home.”
Enjoy it while you can, asshole, I thought. I didn’t want to embarrass Linda Raines any more than she was already. But someday I’d have my shot at him. Someday soon.
“Why don’t you show me out, Mrs. Raines?”
“Yes, of course.”
“The judge has lost several friends because of you, McCain. They’re afraid she’ll pick up your stench some day and give it to them. I can smell it on the air already.” He addressed this to the glass in his hand rather than to me.
Linda Raines had tears in her eyes. This time I didn’t trail her. This time she slid her arm through mine and led me through the house as if I’d been wounded. But she was the one who’d been hurt, and I suspected she’d been hurt many times before.
“He isn’t really mean. He just has moods. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s all right.”
“Were you serious about this letter?”
No point in frightening her even more. “Maybe he’s right. Maybe it’s just a story. Pauline does like to drink a lot.”
“I’ve been around them a few times, Roy and her. She’s not my type, but I felt sorry for her, the way she’s treated. Roy certainly didn’t mind humiliating her in front of other people.” I don’t think she caught the irony of her own words.
At the door she said, “The lawyers we know here, they’re all David’s friends. If I ever needed advice-”
I found a card and scribbled my home phone on the back. I handed it to her. “I’d put this where David can’t find it. I don’t think he’d be very happy about it.”
“No,” she said, her beauty momentarily ruined by worry and confusion. “No, but then there are a lot of things David isn’t very happy about.”
Lynn Shanlon was carrying groceries from her Dodge station wagon to the stoop in back of her house. When I pulled into her drive, she had a quick smile for me and then kept on with her work. Being a gentleman of the old school-at least when it didn’t take too much energy on my part-I grabbed the last two sacks and carried them to the stoop myself.
“I’ll be happy to give you a hand getting them inside.”
“That’s all right. I have to lock Grace in her room first. She’s the little gray cat. She always tries to get outside. I get tired of seeing my pets hit by cars, so I don’t let them out any more. If I keep opening the back door, Grace’ll be out of here in a flash.” She pointed to the top step, where there was room enough for two adults to park themselves. “You want to sit down and have a cigarette while I get us some coffee?”
“Sure. You do your grocery shopping pretty early, don’t you?”
“This way, I beat the crowds. Lots of things on sale today. This is what you do when you work at the courthouse and have a mortgage to pay off. I’ll be right back.”
Her tidy blue skirt allowed me a closer look at her comely legs with all their freckles. The white blouse draped her small sweet breasts. She watched me watch her for a moment and smiled. Before she went inside, she mussed my hair and said, “You men. That’s all you ever think about, isn’t it?” Then: “Well, at least you’re cute. You should see some of the mastodons that come after me.”
“Mastodons” kept me amused the whole time she was gone. And as she handed me my mug, she said, “So what’s so funny?”
“‘Mastodons.’”
“Oh, right.” She sat down next to me on the step. “Karen and I saw this movie when we were young called The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. It was supposed to be a horror movie, but we both felt sorry for the beast when they killed him at the end. I guess we sort of identified with him. We always considered ourselves sort of freaks. I had really terrible complexion problems, and poor Karen had her limp. But anyway, after we saw that movie we both got interested in dinosaurs. We were told it was very unladylike, but we didn’t care. We gobbled up everything we could find. So mastodons and creatures like that became part of our normal vocabulary.” She laughed. “God, did that sound dumb. Pretty interesting conversation to listen to, right?”
“Very interesting, actually. Two pretty young girls becoming fascinated with dinosaurs.”