Cast in Stone Read Online Free PDF Page A

grow up.' See if that works."
    I
surprised myself again. "You could have done it differently."
    She
pivoted and walked past me to the west wall. I figured she was going
to show me the door. Wrong again.
    "I
was young," she said quietly. "I only knew what I wanted
and what was in my way. In those days, I didn't think much further
ahead than that. I was— what's the word?" She studied a
diamond-encrusted knuckle. "Smitten, I guess. I'd never seen
anything like him in my life. I mean, he wasn't my first or
anything."
    She
turned to face me.
    "I
was an early bloomer. They'd been after me since I was twelve. First
my uncle Jack, then anything else that could walk or crawl—but
nothing like Heck."
    "He
was special," I agreed.
    The
moment seemed to grant me a reprieve.
    "Heck
and I hadn't talked much lately. He'd been sleeping on board."
    "On
board what?"
    "The
Lady Day."
    "I
didn't realize you still had her."
    "Oh,
well, we couldn't sell never-never-land, now could we?" The
bitterness crept back into her voice. "Hell, we borrowed money
at absolutely criminal rates when we expanded the business, rather
than sell the clubhouse. He wouldn't even use the damn thing as
collateral. He and Nicky were gonna—" She hugged the chart
tighter. "They've warned him. They've fined him. They've
threatened to take away his berth."
    "Who's
warned him about what?"
    "Sleeping
on board. There's no living aboard anymore. The city put a stop
to that years ago."
    The
Lady Day was built to fish. She had berths all right and a galley and
the obligatory head, but nobody in their right mind was ever going to
mistake her for a five-star hotel. Whatever demons had driven Heck
from a warm spot next to Marge to the sparse shelter of the boat must
have been serious indeed.
    "I'd
like to help," I offered again.
    Marge
wandered over and leaned on the steel restraining rails of the bed.
She gazed absently at Heck as she spoke.
    "You
know, he always kept track of you, Leo. He's got that famous picture
of you and the two . . . er . . . two working girls, in the fountain
in front of the Four Seasons, framed on his office wall."
    That
particular incident not being the highlight of my career, I didn't
know what to say.
    "He's
got an envelope in his desk with all these clippings about you and
your cases. All the times you made the papers. I found it the other
day when I was going through the desk trying to straighten things
out. That's when I thought maybe ... I don't know."
    "I'd
like to help." Third time's the charm, right? "I'd consider
it a privilege to do anything for Heck that I can."
    "What
about working for me? Would that be a privilege?" she asked.
"The way things are"—she put a hand on Heck's chest—"it
looks like. . . temporarily at least, you'd be working for me, not
for Heck."
    She
patted him gently.
    "You
and I will have to work it out as we go along," I said.
    She
turned and looked me in the eye for a long moment. Her gaze had the
same unsettling effect on me that it had twenty-three years ago. This
time, I was the one who turned away.
    "Fair
enough," she said.
    I
pulled my notebook from my back pocket and turned around. She was
seated in the heavy blue chair next to the bed. I clicked my pen.
    "Where
to start?" she said to no one in particular.
    Usually,
by the time people come to me, they've told their story numerous
times and have it down to a science. Detectives aren't anybody's
choice for a first resort. Marge's manner suggested the opposite. I
had the feeling that I was the first person who was going to hear
whatever was to follow. As she spoke she looked at the unmoving Heck
as if at any moment he would rise up and save her from this painful
duty.
    "Nicky
had—" I thought she was going to balk again, but instead she
plunged ahead. "Nicky was diagnosed with cancer about eighteen
months ago. Bone cancer." She hesitated. "For a while, it
looked like he was going to lose a leg. Then they said they had it
under control. Then, he needed to go for