The Sphinx Read Online Free PDF Page B

very mysterious, you know?
Very... what can I say? ...remote. I get the feeling there’s something strange
about her that I ought to know.”
    Maggie sighed
again. “You mean, she gave you the brush-off and you want some inside dope
that’s going to assure your seductive success?”
    “Oh, come on,
Maggie it’s not like that at all. She lives in this huge house outside of town,
with walls around it like Fort Knox, and there are wild dogs running around in
the grounds that could tear a man’s leg off with a single bite.”
    “Maybe the
Semples have a valuable art collection or something. Did you see the house
itself?”
    “I wasn’t even
allowed past the gates. She has this kind of chaperone, called Mathieu. He’s a
mute, and he looks like Jack Palance playing Dracula. When I faintly and meekly
suggested that I might be allowed in, I was given the rebuff of the century.”
    “You? Faint and
meek?”
    “I can be faint
and meek when I want to. The trouble was, the whole place was off limits, no
matter what kind of line I came out with. All I want to know is, what goes on
there? I mean, Lorie Semple’s a terrific-looking girl, and believe it or not I
would like to get to know her better, but mainly I’m just curious.”
    “Do you think
it could ever happen again?” Maggie asked wistfully.
    “Do I think
that what could ever happen again?”
    “Us. You and
me. The couple most likely to succeed. Isn’t that what they said in the
yearbook?”
    “Maggie... I’m
a young man. I have my whole life ahead of me.”
    “If you think
that thirty-two’s young, you ought to remember that it’s only eight years away
from forty.”
    He swallowed
whiskey. “Okay, call ‘me in eight years’ time. But meanwhile, will you just do
this one favor for me?”
    “What do you
want to know?”
    “I want to know
the Semple telephone number. I also want to know if Lorie ever goes out, and if
she does, where she goes and how she spends her time. I would particularly like
some photographs of the Semple estate, and some background on Jean Semple’s
death. Oh, and see if you can dig up anything on Mrs. Semple, Lorie’s mother.
It seems that she’s quite a dragon in her own quiet way.”
    Maggie finished
jotting down what he wanted. “How Boon do you need this, as if I didn’t know?”
    “How about
tomorrow?”
    “Tomorrow’s
Sunday.”
    “That’s all
right–it won’t interfere with your regular work. I’ll be ‘round at Walter’s,
office most of the morning. Why don’t you come by with, the stuff, and I’ll
take you to lunch.”
    “That a
promise?”
    “God’s honor.
You think I’d tell you lies on the Sabbath?”
    “No more than
usual. By the way, what are you eating?”
    “Nothing. What
do you mean?”
    “You sound like
you’re eating something,” she said.
    He touched his
sensitive tongue. “Oh, that. No, I’m not eating anything. I just have this
troublesome mouth, ulcer, that’s all.”
    “Okay, Gene.
See you tomorrow. Don’t forget, now. Lunch.”
    “Bye, bye, my
darling Maggie.”
    He laid down
the phone. He knew it was Insensitive to ask Maggie to look up Lorie Semple’s
background, and he felt more than a little guilty about it, but she was the
only person he knew that could do.it thoroughly, discreetly, and fast. If he
asked Mark Wellman to do it, or any of the other male members of his political
staff, he knew that the story of the bitten tongue and the lost shoe would be
buzzing around Washington in fifteen minutes flat. As it was, his name was
probably already being romantically linked with Lorie’s, and that was going to
make his investigations less than, easy.
    He tried to
decide if he wanted another drink. He was beginning to feel tired and his body
was beginning to ache, and in the end he wearily undressed and took a long
shower, standing under the gushing water and thinking about Lorie Semple. In
his mind, he ran through the whole evening again, from the moment when he
stepped up to