schoolâat Georgetown, acceptable but not stel-larâand lasted less than a month. He could still hear his old English teacher at Canterburyâone more time, acceptable but not stellarâtelling him that he just didnât have a knack for respectability.
Respectability
. He ought to go into one of these things wired sometime.
That
would blow the game to pieces in no time at all. He could just imagine the look on Charlotte Rossâs face when she heard her voice coming out of a little black box, screeching,
âIâm not going to have some goddamned car salesman spilling drinks on me all night just because heâs got his own foundation.â
Car salesman. Thatâs what Charlotte Ross called the Ford, who didnât have the right kind of money.
Ryall got his cell phone, and switched it on, and punched in the numbers for his office. He hated to say that he âdialedâ the cell phone, even though everybody did, because he so obviously
didnât
dial it. A dial was round. He listened to the ring and checked out his cuff links while he waited. They were good gold cuff links, engraved, from Tiffanyâs. In the position he was in, he could not afford to settle for the fake.
They
settled for it, though. It wasnât only Barbara Bush who wore faux pearls in the daytime.
The phone was picked up on the other end. âMarilyn?â Ryall said. âYou have a minute?â
âI thought you were supposed to be at that party.â
âThe car is due in about fifteen minutes. Donât worry. I wonât miss it. Did you do that thing I asked you to, about the records? You didnât call backââ
âI havenât had time to call back,â Marilyn said, sounding cross. âAnd yes, I did do it. I made triplicate copies too, in case you start losing them, which you always do. I donât know why you bother to do research, really. You can never hang on to anything for longer than a day or two at a time. Youâre really pathetic.â
âYes. Well. Iâm sorry to cause you so much distress. Did you happen to notice anything that was in the records?â
âNo. Why should I? Iâm not a gossip columnist, Ryall. I donât really give a damn what these people do. I donât think anybody does. I think the paper just keeps the column on because those people are investors, or something, and they like to get some publicity. I know I never read that stuff. Or
Town and Country
, either.â
âYes.â You had to be patient with Marilyn. She was a very good assistant. She kept the appointment book meticulously. She did whatever research she was asked to do. She answered the phone without sounding as if she wanted to bite somebodyâs head off. It was just that she was a ⦠cunt.
âI donât see what your problem is anyway,â she said. âI canât figure out if youâre obsessed with Anthony van Wyck Ross or with his wife. And neither of them are anything to be obsessed about. I mean, really.â
âAnthony van Wyck Ross is one of the most successful bankers on the planet,â Ryall said. âGet your head out of the social columns for a moment. Heâs got more money than God. He determines monetary policy for half the world. Oh, not officially, of course, officially weâve got all these government agencies. But in reality, thatâs how it works.â
âMaybe. Who cares? And what do you need his transcripts from Yale and Harvard Law School for? I mean, truly, even if there was some kind of huge scandal, who would care? Itâs not as if heâs Steven Spielberg.â
âYou donât think anybody would care if one of the most important men on earth was involved in something less than honest?â
âNo. I donât even think theyâd be surprised. Well, they might be interested if he killed his wife, or she killed him. I donât suppose you could arrange for
Major Dick Winters, Colonel Cole C. Kingseed