McNally's Bluff Read Online Free PDF Page B

improbable. “She could have gone via an upstairs window,” I said, “and may be just outside in need of help.”
    Tilly screamed her scream and raced to the French doors. I immediately grabbed Hayes and told him to call the police before going off on any wild-goose chases. Then I addressed our audience who had been watching the show with unwavering interest, observing that most of them still wore their name tags. In light of what was happening the name tags looked more foolish than festive, like party hats on New Year’s Day morning.
    “Mr. Hayes is calling the police,” I told them, as if they hadn’t been listening. “I don’t think anyone should leave until the police arrive and take statements. If you get restless you can search the house and if there are any flashlights in the utility closet have a look around the grounds—but not alone. No one should go out alone.”
    Stepping forward, Laddy Taylor volunteered, “I’ll lead a search through the house.” Now where did he emerge from? I wondered. Had he left the room and returned, or had I just not noticed him when we came in from our hunt for the goal? “Fitz and I will lead a group outside,” Joe Gallo called out.
    “I’m with you,” Vance quickly volunteered.
    “And me,” Penny joined in.
    “Marge and I will lead a group,” Mack Macurdy said. “Joe and I will see about flashlights and anyone caring to join us just fall in behind when we leave. We’ll take separate routes to cover the grounds faster.”
    And all three rings were in full swing.
    The police arrived in the person of Lieutenant Oscar Eberhart, with whom I have crossed paths while doing my job of protecting the good names of Palm Beach’s bad people. He came with a retinue of four officers, including Sergeant Al Rogoff, a personal friend and colleague of yrs. truly. Al and I do not make a display of our relationship when in public and on occasions such as this merely nod in greeting.
    “Do you ever miss a party in this town, McNally?” was how Eberhart greeted me.
    “Do you ever miss a chance to crash a party on the Boulevard, Lieutenant?” Eberhart is far from subtle in his aspirations to a more lofty social status in this town. I’m sure that if the call had come from any location other than the prestigious Ocean Boulevard, he would have dispatched a patrol car to see what was amiss.
    “I was invited by...”
    “Me,” Hayes said, suddenly popping up before us like a jack-in-the-box. “I’m Matthew Hayes. My wife’s disappeared. We’ve looked everyplace. People are searching the grounds and...”
    “Into thin air, she went,” Tilly cried, “just like that. Poof! Into thin air.”
    Eberhart looked down at Hayes and, fearing he would laugh, I took him aside and told him to take Al and the other men into the hall and I would join them there.
    “What the hell is going on?” Hayes complained.
    “I know Lieutenant Eberhart and his men,” I said, “and I think it would be best if just one of us explained what is going on.”
    “I’ll come with you,” Hayes insisted.
    “If you don’t mind, Mr. Hayes,” Eberhart said, “I’d like to learn what happened from an objective observer like Mr. McNally. You’re a bit distraught right now, but I will get to you directly.”
    “You hired me, remember?” I added to bolster Eberhart’s point. “Now let me do my job and you do yours. Get everyone together, including the catering crew, and have them wait here until the police have been brought up to date.”
    Given a mandate to command, Hayes forgot the police and happily mounted his drum, barking orders. Old habits die hard.
    In the hall, the boys were, as I had feared, having a laugh. “Is that the Amazin’ Matthew Hayes?” Eberhart exclaimed. “He’s two feet high.”
    “Quiet, he’ll hear you,” I lectured. “His wife has flown the coop.”
    “So I gathered. What do you know about it, McNally?”
    I told my story, beginning at the beginning, when Marlena