The Hellfire Club Read Online Free PDF Page B

unlikely relative of Maria. Nora gathered that she had produced him some ten years before when Alden had begun to talk about hiring someone to answer phones, open doors, run errands. Jeffrey had clever eyes and a graceful, guarded manner that did not preclude playfulness. Some days he looked like a thug. Nora watched him offer the wine to Davey, turn away to twist the bottle into the ice, and return to his post at the edge of the terrace. In a close-fitting dark suit and black shirt, Jeffrey was having one of his thug days. Daisy reminded her of her private theory about Jeffrey by saying, “You’re usually more . . . original . . . than
that
,” and tapping her fork on the table in rhythm with her words.
    Jeffrey had been hired to cover for Daisy.
    “I’m not finished, my dear.”
    “Then please, please enlighten us.”
    Alden smiled universally at the table. His perfect teeth gleamed, his white hair shone, a flush darkened the smoothly tanned broad face. In a blazer and snowy shirt, the top button opened over a paisley ascot, with bright, expressionless eyes and deep indentations like divots around his mouth, Alden looked just like the kind of person who hired someone like Jeffrey. Nora realized how much she disliked him.
    “Think of how many copies the
Westerholm News
is selling. People who never looked at it in their lives are buying it now. And this isn’t true just of our rinky-dink little paper. The tabloids in New York jump up and salute every time another lady is slaughtered in her bed. And do you think the security system business in Fairfield County is having the usual August lull? What about the handgun business? Not to mention fencing, yard lights, and locksmiths? How about television reporters, the photographers from
People
?”
    “Don’t forget publishers,” Nora said.
    “Absolutely. What’s your best guess on how many books are being written about Westerholm at this minute? Four? Five? Think of the paper that will go into those books. The ink, the foil for the covers. Think of the computer disks, the laptops, the notebooks, the fax machines. The
fax paper.
The
pencils.
”
    “It’s an industry,” Davey said. “Okay.”
    “A darn bloody industry, if you ask me,” said Daisy. Nora silently applauded.
    “So was World War Two,” said Alden. “And so was Vietnam, Nora, if you’ll forgive me.”
    Nora didn’t think she would.
    “Ah, if looks could kill—but did or did not unit commanders have a certain amount of shells they were supposed to fire on a daily basis—not officially, I mean, but pretty specific anyhow? Didn’t we use up a tremendous amount of uniforms and vehicles over there, didn’t we build bases and sell beer and buy tons of food? Wasn’t somebody manufacturing body bags? Nora, I know I’m flirting with danger, but I love it when your eyes flash.”
    He was flirting with her, not danger. She looked across the table at her husband and found him gazing at the napkin in his lap.
    “Gee, I love it when your eyes flash, too, Alden,” she said. “It makes you look so young.”
    “Actually, Nora, you’re the oldest person at this table.”
    For both her husband’s sake and Daisy’s, Nora forced herself to relax.
    “You were tempered in ways the rest of us were not, and that’s why you’re so beautiful! I’ve admired beautiful women all my life, beautiful women are the saviors of mankind. Just being able to see your face must have pulled a lot of guys through over there.”
    She opened her mouth, closed it, and looked back at Alden. “Aren’t you sweet.”
    “You must have had a great effect on the young men that passed through your hands.”
    “I think your viewpoint cheapens everything,” Nora said. “Sorry. It’s disgusting.”
    “If I could snap my fingers and make it so that you’d never gone to Vietnam, would you let me do it?”
    “That would make me as young as you are, Alden.”
    “Benefits come in all shapes and sizes.” He distributed a smile around