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He'd laughed. "You should have heard me in my teens."
Ted Winters' voice was so well-bred. Alvirah knew he hadn't had to work on it. The three of them had a nice talk on that subject.
Alvirah checked her microphone to see that it was securely in place in the center flower of her sunburst pin and delivered an observation. "Voices," she declared, "tell a lot about people."
She was surprised to hear the phone ring. It was only nine o'clock New York time, and Willy was supposed to be at a union meeting. She wished that he'd quit his job, but he said to give him time. He wasn't used to being a millionaire.
It was Charley Evans, the special features editor of the New York Globe. "How's my star reporter?" he asked. "Any problems with the recorder?"
"It works like a charm," Alvirah assured him. "I'm having a wonderful time and meeting some very interesting people."
"Any celebrities?"
"Oh, yes." Alvirah couldn't help bragging. "I came from the airport in a limousine with Elizabeth Lange, and I'm at the same di
"Are you telling me that Elizabeth Lange and Ted Winters are together?"
"Oh, not exactly together," Alvirah said hastily. "In fact, she wouldn't go near him at all. She was going to leave right away, but she wanted to see her sister's secretary. The only trouble is Leila's secretary was found dead this afternoon in the Roman bathhouse."
"Mrs. Meehan, hold on a minute. I want you to repeat everything you just said, very slowly. Someone will be taking it down."
Nine
At Scott Alshorne's request, the coroner of Monterey County performed an immediate autopsy on the remains of Dora Samuels. Death had been caused by a severe head injury, pressure on the brain from skull fragments, contributing cause a moderately severe stroke.
In his office, Scott studied the autopsy report in reflective silence and tried to pinpoint the reasons he felt there was something sinister about Dora Samuels' death.
That bathhouse. It looked like a mausoleum; it had turned out to be Sammy's sepulcher. Who the hell did Min's husband think he was to have foisted that on her? Incongruously, Scott thought of the contest Leila had run: Should the Baron be called the tin soldier or the toy soldier? Twenty-five words or less. Leila bought di
Why had Sammy been in the bathhouse? Had she just wandered in there? Was she pla
Min and Helmut had both stated that the bathhouse should have been locked. But they'd also admitted they had left it in a hurry yesterday afternoon. "Mi
Sammy's death had been caused by the injuries to the back of her head. She had toppled backward into the pool. But had she fallen or been pushed? Scott got up and began backing across his office. A practical, if not a scientific test, he decided. No matter how dazed or confused you are, most people don't start walking backward unless they're backing away from someone, or something…
He settled at his desk again. He was supposed to attend a civic di
On the drive back to the Spa, two words flashed in his mind.
Fallen?
Pushed?
Then as the car passed the Pebble Beach Lodge, he realized what had been bothering him. That was the same question that was bringing Ted Winters to trial on a murder indictment!
Ten
Craig spent the rest of the afternoon in Ted's bungalow going through the bulky package of mail that had been expressed from the New York office. With a practiced eye he skimmed memos, reviewed printouts, studied projection charts. His frown deepened as he read. That group of Harvard and Wharton Business M.B.A.s Ted had hired a couple of years ago were a constant irritant to him. If they had their way, Ted would be building hotels on space platforms.
At least they had had the brains to recognize that they couldn't try to go around Craig anymore. The memos and letters were all addressed to him and Ted jointly.
Ted got back at five o'clock. Obviously the walk hadn't relaxed him any. He was in a foul mood. "Is there any reason you can't work in your place?" was his first question.
"None except that it seemed simpler to be here for you." Craig indicated the business files. "There are some things I'd like to go over."
"I'm not interested. Do what you think best."
"I think 'best' would be for you to have a Scotch and unwind a little. And I think 'best' for Winters Enterprises is to get rid of those two assholes from
Harvard. Their expense accounts amount to armed robbery."
"I don't want to go into that now."
Bartlett came in pink-faced from his afternoon in the sun. Craig noticed the way Ted's mouth tightened at Bartlett 's genial greeting. There was no question Ted was starting to unravel. He drank the first Scotch quickly and didn't protest when Craig refilled it.
Bartlett wanted to discuss the list of defense witnesses Craig had prepared for him. He read it off to Ted-a glittering array of famous names.
"You don't have the President on it," Ted said sarcastically.
Bartlett fell into the trap. "Which president?"
"Of the United States, of course. I used to be one of his golf partners."
Bartlett shrugged and closed the file. "Obviously this isn't going to be a good working session. Are you pla
"No, I'm pla
Craig and Bartlett left together. "You do realize this is getting hopeless," Bartlett told him.
At six thirty Craig received a call from the agency he'd hired to investigate the eyewitness, Sally Ross. "There was some excitement in Ross's apartment building," he was told. "The woman who lives directly above her walked in on an attempted bur-glary. They caught the guy-a petty thief with a long record. Ross didn't go out at all."
At seven o'clock, Craig met Bartlett at Ted's bungalow. Ted wasn't there. They started toward the main house together. "You're about as popular as I am with Teddy these days," Bartlett commented.
Craig shrugged. "Listen, if he wants to take it out on me, it's all right. In a way, I brought this on him."
"How do you figure that one?"
"I introduced him to Leila. She was my date first."
They reached the veranda in time to hear the newest witticism. At Cypress Point, for four thousand dollars a week you get to use some of the pools. For five thousand you get to use the ones with water in them.
There was no sign of Elizabeth during the "cocktail" hour. Craig watched for her to come up the path, but she did not appear. Bartlett drifted over to the te
He knew Syd wouldn't have minded taking a swing at him. Syd considered him to be, like all the parasites in Ted's world, the bottleneck to Ted's largesse. Craig considered himself more of a goalie -you had to pass him to score.