The Erection Set Read Online Free PDF Page A

trust fund didn’t come from the goodness of his heart.”
    He picked up his coffee cup and held it in front of his mouth. Over the rim his eyes were birdlike, with a strange intensity. “I think maybe it did, now that I know the whole story. Your grandfather had his own peculiar code. You were the sucker, you could have blown the whistle on his scurrilous nephew and made the family a laughingstock and have been justified in doing so. On your own volition you chose not to. That was when he began to like you. I think it was a great misfortune that you saw little of him from that time on. Does anyone else know about this?”
    â€œSure. My mother before she died. She thought it was kind of funny. And there was the gardener your skinny-dipping Dubro finally married. You see, he knew me better. The real funny part was that at that time when Dennie was ripping off his first piece, I had been through a dozen women. I was far from a virgin. There wasn’t even a chance of me hitting that little twist because I knew damn well she had the clap. All I did was stand back, take my lumps and wait for the pee pains to hit Dennie. It was worth the wait.”
    I waited while Leyland Hunter finished his coffee and set the cup down. Finally he said, “Then I take it that going back is not a personal vendetta?”
    â€œAll I want is my ten grand,” I told him. “That is, if I can get past the morals clause.”
    â€œBy your own admission, an impossibility.”
    â€œYeah, but if there’s one for me, there must be one for the others too, isn’t there?”
    â€œAn astute observation. However, their lives have always been under careful and constant scrutiny. They have a proven, up-to-date record that will stand the cold light of investigation.”
    I laid a five-dollar bill down on top of the check and stood up. “Hunter, my friend, you are old enough to be my grandfather, but there are still some things you have to learn. Everybody’s got something to hide.”
    â€œEven you, Dog?”
    â€œWhen I bury my bone,” I said, “I bury it deep.”
    â€œNobody can dig it up?”
    â€œThey have to fight me first.”
    â€œAll this for ten thousand dollars?”
    I shrugged and lit a butt.
    We walked across town and back to Hunter’s office in the tower on Thirty-fourth Street. From the elevator starter to the receptionist on his floor, we got the same looks, some bemused, some incredulous. Leyland Hunter never wore the same suit twice in any month, and here he was showing up disheveled and happy along with another randy mutt and there wasn’t any doubt about where we had been or what we had done. The maiden lady behind her desk whipped off her glasses, dropped them in her confusion, tried to hide her embarrassment in a stuttering “good morning” and when we were inside the old man said in a low growl, “She don’t know it, but what I got is just what she needs.”
    â€œHell, friend, I didn’t mean to turn you into a lecher type. ”
    â€œYou didn’t. I’m beginning to think I always was. I just never had time to perfect the art.”
    â€œNever too late,” I said.
    His eyes twinkled as he eased into his big chair behind the desk. “Well spoken, Dog. Now I’ll quit giving to those damn high-handed charities and put my excess money into hands that can truly justify their existence. Incidentally ... what was her name?”
    â€œCharmaine.”
    â€œLovely creature. Would I need your, er—endorsement for another engagement?”
    I grinned at him and he grinned back. “Now, what’s on your mind, Counselor?”
    Leyland Hunter leaned back in his chair, tugged his tie open a little bit farther and let the air of his profession seep back into his face. “Do you know how often I tried to locate you, Dog?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œAt least every year,” he said.
    â€œWhy