Angel smiled and handed him sixty cents.
“I’ll take a look,” she promised.
Inside the diner, Angel carried her bagel and coffee to a sunny table by a window. She sipped the coffee slowly, wincing when the hot ceramic touched her bruised lip. She slathered the bagel with butter and cream cheese. Then she opened the newspaper to the personals and lifted the dripping pastry to her lips.
Chapter 2
Sun streamed through the window behind the desk, backlighting the occupant and throwing his visitor into stark relief. A ray glinted off the younger man’s tie clip and danced across the bare desktop.
“So?” the voice behind the desk growled a challenge. He tossed a folded newspaper to his employee. “Sit down.”
He waved the young man toward a deep leather chair. Cool blue eyes skimmed the circled ad.
“Yours?” he asked.
The older man nodded.
“Your legal liability on this would be through the roof,” the lawyer spoke apologetically. “I’m sorry, Jimmy, but you can’t do it.”
“Your job is to figure out how I can, Richard. Write a contract or something.”
“Jimmy, be reasonable.”
“I’m forty-two in two months. What have I got?”
“Close to half a billion dollars,” the younger man offered.
“A little over,” Jimmy shrugged. “What did you do last night, Richard?”
“Me?” The lawyer hesitated then continued. “I left the office at about nine. I went home and watched the news and went to bed.”
“Exactly. What did you eat for dinner?”
“Stouffer’s lasagna,” Richard grinned.
“We’re too solitary, Richard. When was the last time you had a date?”
“I don’t date.”
Jimmy observed the flush that ruddied his lawyer’s cheeks and remembered the quagmire from which he had plucked his most valuable employee.
“But we’re not talking about me, Jimmy,” Richard continued. “You date.”
“I don’t date, Richard, I liaise. Social climbers and sycophants, those are the women I meet.”
“You have a niece and a nephew.”
“Twice removed and living in Toronto,” Jimmy huffed.
“You have your brother Danny.”
“That’s true. You’re right. I have a brother. Don’t you ever want your own woman, Richard?”
“Jimmy,” the lawyer ignored the question, then hesitated.
“It’s okay. Spit it out.”
“You can get any woman you want, Jimmy. Just crook your finger.”
“I don’t meet nice normal women, Richard. I want a woman who won’t particularly care about the money.”
“An ad in the paper won’t get you somebody you’re going to want, Jimmy.”
“So, give me a choice.”
“Go to church.”
Jimmy snorted. “You know what they say about rich men and camels. The nuns wrecked me for good, Richard. I’m not going to church.”
“You can’t kidnap a woman for twelve nights.”
“How is it kidnapping if I pay her $120,000?”
“I don’t think you can ‘buy’ a normal woman like you want, Jimmy.”
“I buy every woman that I meet. You don’t date a guy with half a billion dollars unless you want to be bought.”
“I don’t see how this ad is going to help.”
“Maybe it won’t,” Jimmy admitted. “You want to know the truth?”
Richard nodded.
“I got drunk last night and I phoned the New York fucking Times. I just made up the ad on the phone to the girl.”
“And…”
“So, I’m gonna do it. You figure out how to protect me, protect my money.”
“Okay.” The younger man lifted his hands in defeat. “Let’s look at some logistics.”
“Now we’re talking.” Jimmy rubbed his hands on the knees of his pants. “Get that legal brain in gear.”
“I figure at least a thousand responses.”
“Ten thousand.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed. “What’s the circulation of the New York Times?”
“Ask Danny.” Jimmy pushed a button on his phone. “Find Danny.”
“How do you want to narrow it down to a reasonable number? I assume you want to interview, what, ten?”
“Make it twenty. Hire a firm to read the letters. No, you read them.”
Richard grimaced.
“I don’t pay you $300 an hour to make faces, Richard.” He looked across as the door to the office swung inward on silent hinges. “Come on in, Danny.”
Richard stood and offered his chair to Jimmy’s brother. Danny looked ten years younger than his thirty-two years. If Jimmy had inherited the brains of the family, Danny had gotten the looks. He was tall and firmly built, with lean muscles that filled out his hand-tailored suit. A single lock of dark blonde hair fell strategically across his forehead. He ignored the lawyer and sat on the corner of Jimmy’s desk. Richard reclaimed his chair.
“Circulation of the New York Times, Danny,” Jimmy stated rather than asked.
“One million twenty-nine thousand two hundred eighty-seven on Monday through Saturday. One million six…”
“How the hell did you know that, Danny?” Richard interrupted. Jimmy smiled.
“Read an article in Newsweek,” Danny replied, his words clipped and precise. “Total is accurate as of September 30, 1996.”
He picked up the folded section of the New York Times from Jimmy’s desktop.
“What do you think of…” Richard’s words petered out as he caught the frantic silencing motion of Jimmy’s hand. Danny watched the by-play impassively.
“Can’t wave me off, Jimmy,” he told his brother. “Have to know the rest of the sentence.”
“I put an ad in the paper,” Jimmy explained. “Nothing serious.”
“‘Rich man wants companion for 12 nights.’” Danny quoted. “‘Attractive normal female. Never married. No children. Over thirty years old. No prostitutes.’”
Richard chuckled and shook his head.
“How did you know…” Jimmy began, his face red.
“Just knew,” Danny shrugged. “If one out of every two readers is a woman, and one out of every 100 women answers the ad, you will get 5146 responses.”
“Jesus,” Jimmy shook his head. “Maybe only one in a thousand will answer. Richard, you can fly to New York and pick out the best ones.”
“I’ll arrange for the responses to be shipped here to Vancouver,” Richard amended, “and I’ll work with the secretaries…”
“No,” Jimmy interrupted. His voice was calm but edged in iron. “No one outside this room.”
“I’ll help you, Richard,” Danny offered.
The lawyer’s eyes rolled. He caught Jimmy’s glare and adjusted his expression to bland acceptance. Jimmy sat for a moment in silence.
“Good,” he decided. “Richard, you skim out the crazies. Give any possibles to Danny.”
“But…” Richard ventured tentatively.
Jimmy shook his head.
“Going now,” Danny announced and walked quickly out the door, closing it precisely behind him.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to let Danny get involved in this?” Richard’s voice was low even though the door had shut with a solid thud.
“He’s not the brightest tack on the board,” Jimmy admitted, “but he has a real sixth sense. You remember the Borden merger?”
“One hundred twenty-three million and change in three months.”
“Danny’s idea.”
“What?”
Jimmy nodded. “Besides, he has total recall. He can recite back any letters I want to hear.”
“He’s your brother,” Richard gave in. “Does he ever…”
“Show interest in women?” Jimmy finished the sentence. “Yeah. Keep your eye out for someone for him. Yourself too.”