Good Behavior by Donald E. Westlake Read Free Book Online Page A

reading the encyclopedia cover to cover that I hardly noticed. I came out onto Fifth Avenue and reached for a cigarette, and then I said, ‘Wait a minute. I got six hours on it.’ So I gave it up.”
    â€œWell, that’s pretty good,” Dortmunder said. “Probably a smart idea, too. And I guess that’s why you snapped at me before.”
    â€œI didn’t snap at you!”
    â€œOh, right,” Dortmunder said. “Tell me about Frank Ritter.”
    May took another deep breath. “Well, he’s rich,” she said, “but you probably figured that.”
    â€œI did, yes.”
    â€œHis grandfather was rich, and his father got richer, and now Frank Ritter’s got richer than that. What he owns—” She gestured at the shopping bag of Xeroxes. “—I’ve got a lot of stuff in there about what he owns, and it’s mostly banks. But a lot of other stuff, too. Like, somebody starts a new oilfield somewhere, and then Frank Ritter becomes a partner in that company, and then one of his banks loans them the money to get started, and then they hire his construction company to do the drilling and everything, and they hire his laboratory to do the tests, and they hire his security company for the guards and all, and they lease some planes from his plane-leasing company—”
    â€œI’m beginning to get the picture,” Dortmunder said.
    â€œThen there’s a couple of South American countries,” May went on, “a couple of the little ones.”
    â€œWhat about them?”
    â€œWell, I’m not sure exactly how it works,” May said, “but I think Frank Ritter owns them.”
    â€œOwns countries? You can’t own countries.”
    May shook her head and reached for a cigarette, but there wasn’t one there, so she pretended she was just scratching. “What happened was,” she said, “one of his banks loaned these countries a lot of money. Then the countries went bankrupt and couldn’t pay the money back, so some people from the bank and the engineering company and the security company all went down there—”
    â€œIn a plane from the plane-leasing company, I suppose,” Dortmunder said.
    â€œI guess. Anyway, they all went down there to help the countries reorganize their priorities, and they’re all still down there, so I guess Frank Ritter owns those countries.”
    Dortmunder shook his head. “Now I’m up against a guy owns countries.”
    â€œSomebody put him up to be Secretary of the Treasury down in Washington a few years ago,” May said, “but the Congress turned him down. One Congressman, they quoted him in Newsweek , he said, ‘Conflict-of-interest is Frank Ritter’s middle name.’”
    Dortmunder sighed. “This is some fella,” he said. “He’s rich, he’s powerful, he owns countries, he has his own army and air force. If this guy wants to ground his daughter, I guess he figures he might as well just go ahead and do it.”
    â€œShe’s the youngest of seven children,” May told him. “Elaine Gwen Ritter is her real name. She’s got three brothers and three sisters, and they all work for the father. The oldest brother runs the Avalon State Bank here in the city, and one of the sisters with her husband runs the magazine company, and like that.”
    â€œHe’s got a magazine company, too?”
    â€œHe’s got all kinds of companies, John,” May told him. “I guess the daughter Elaine was supposed to grow up and marry a guy who’d fit in with everybody else, and then go to work for her father. Frank Ritter owns so many things, spread out so much, he likes to have relatives running the different parts. So I guess from his point of view, here’s a daughter that isn’t pulling her weight.”
    Dortmunder shook his head. “I don’t know, May,” he said. “The more I