First Drop Read Online Free PDF

left the Merc at a jaunty angle on the front driveway and rushed up the steps to the double front door almost before I’d time to grab my bag out of the back of the car. I had to jog to catch her up just as the door was opened by an unsmiling Hispanic maid.
     
    Gerri hurried past the woman without a second glance. I nodded, tried a tentative greeting and was rewarded by a fleeting smile. I’ve always thought you can tell a lot about somebody by the way they treat other people’s staff.
     
    A well-built black man in neatly-pressed slacks, a blue Oxford shirt and loafers with tassels on the front met Gerri in the cool tiled circular hallway. A double staircase curved around the sides of the walls and the domed glass ceiling was thirty feet above our heads.
     
    “What the hell is going on, Chris?” Gerri snapped at the man before he could open his mouth. “I’ve just had a phone call telling me it’s all over the goddamn press.”
     
    “I’m sorry, boss,” the man said, eyes widening with surprise at the sudden onslaught. “We only just got the news ourselves.” His gaze skimmed towards me a couple of times as he spoke, but Gerri didn’t bother to introduce us.
     
    “How’s Keith taking it?” she demanded.
     
    “Well, I guess you could say he’s kinda upset right now,” the man said, picking his words with care.
     
    Gerri sighed noisily. “OK, where is he?”
     
    Chris waved a hand towards a pair of glass doors behind him. “Out back in the lanai, by the pool.”
     
    She headed out, the whole exchange having been carried out without her actually breaking stride, so that Chris had to shift into rapid reverse to stay with her. Unsure whether I was supposed to follow or not, I stayed right behind her, lugging my bag with me. It seemed like the safest place to be.
     
    The back of the house was as breathtaking as the front. A paved terrace swept down to an expanse of lawn so big it should have had herds of wildebeest grazing on it. Clusters of palm trees were grouped at the edges of the grass and then you were straight out onto the waterway.
     
    The pool Chris had mentioned was off to the left and the lanai, I surmised, was the giant mosquito net structure over the top of it and joined onto the far wing of the house. The pool itself was fed by a waterfall at one end and lined with pale turquoise tiles. An array of slatted wooden sun loungers was arranged around the sides of it, their teak faded to a soft-sheen silver by the constant blazing sunshine. Even with the breeze coming up off the water, the heat had a mass all of its own.
     
    There were two men by the pool, but neither of them seemed to be enjoying the amenities. One was tall with artistically greying hair and a very good tan. He was dressed in shorts and a knitted shirt with a designer label, and deck shoes with no socks.
     
    The other man was younger, on the scrawny side, with a wispy moustache and beard, and little wire-rimmed spectacles with badly matched clip-on sunglasses over the top. He was wearing a cheap-looking Hawaiian shirt, swimming shorts, and plastic flip-flops. He was also carrying a small net on the end of a long pole. Until the three of us got close enough to hear the conversation they were having, I assumed he was just there to clean the pool.
     
    “I’m real sorry, Mr Pelzner,” the grey-haired man was saying, “we don’t know how it happened.”
     
    “How can you not know how it happened for Chrissake, Lonnie!” the bearded man snapped. “What in hell’s name do I pay you for?”
     
    There was a small doorway set into one side of the lanai. As Gerri pushed it open the hinge squeaked and both men looked up sharply. I could almost see Lonnie’s muscular shoulders relax when he recognised Gerri and realised he was about to be rescued. Then they tensed again as he caught the thunderous expression on her face.
     
    “Gerri!” the bearded man yelled, throwing the net aside and striding to meet us – as far as