McNally's Chance by Lawrence Sanders Read Free Book Online Page A

asked.
    “You looking for work, Archy?”
    “No. Just an interested citizen.”
    Al again removed the stogie from his mouth, shrugged, and explained,
    “Bianca worked for a rich broad who married a guy twenty years her junior and drowned a few months after the marriage. Bianca thinks the guy did her in.”
    “What do the police think?”
    “Granted, the circumstances looked a little queer, but we checked it out and ruled it an accident. When she moved in next door and learned I was a cop she started hounding me to reopen the case.”
    “On what grounds?” I questioned.
    “Female intuition,” Al barked. “There’s no reason to reopen the case because there never was a case to begin with.”
    “What makes you so sure?”
    “Motive,” Al stated. “The guy had no reason to murder his bride unless you think having twenty years on him was just cause.”
    I was beginning to enjoy this. There is nothing like a little bit of intrigue to stir the creative juices. I wondered if I could interest Sabrina Wright in this plot with a few variations, to be sure. The young He would become a young She and the old She would become an old He. But I had the feeling the new transgender heroine would not end up with her heart’s desire, namely, the spoils of marriage to the old and the wealthy. And I was right.
    “He doesn’t benefit from her will?” I guessed.
    “You got it. She made a will leaving everything, which is plenty, to the children’s wing of St. Mary’s hospital and didn’t change it after her marriage. He gets to keep the Jag she gave him for a wedding present.”
    “So what’s Bianca’s gripe?”
    “Revenge, that’s what. The marriage cost her a cushy job. Companion to the rich dame. Nice digs, three squares a day, and a regular paycheck every week. She rented the trailer when her lady boss got herself a new companion of the opposite sex.”
    As interested as I was in Bianca Courtney’s plight, I was more interested in escaping the Palm before Al began to wonder what we were doing there if not to speak with his neighbor. If I wanted to hear more I could always invite Al to lunch at the Pelican and get him to talk while he devoured a hamburger, fries, and Bass ale, at my expense.
    “Well, I.. .” Binky began before I nudged him toward the car and away from Al Rogoff.
    “Good seeing you, Al.” I cut Binky off. “Call me and we’ll get together for lunch.”
    Poor Binky was bursting to tell his news but with a gentle pressure on his arm, I kept increasing the distance between him and Al Rogoff.
    “See you,” Al said, hoisting his garbage bag and heading for the disposal area.
    Just as we got the car doors opened I heard Al shout, “Hermioni Rutherford? She’s with the real estate outfit that runs this place.”
    I waved at Al and tried to get into the car, but it was too late. He retraced his steps, garbage and all, demanding to know why we were talking to Hermioni Rutherford.
    The moment of truth had arrived and there was no place to hide. “Binky has taken a lease on this trailer,” I said. “Number eleven-seventy, just like the Bath and Tennis.”
    “Oh no,” Al moaned.
    “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” I reminded Al before he vented his wrath.
    “Yes,” Binky agreed, thinking no doubt of Bianca Courtney.
    With Binky safely in the car I walked up to Al and whispered, “There are worse things in life than having Binky Watrous for a neighbor.”
    “Name two,” Al challenged, waving the shopworn stogie in my face.
    Looking at my watch I said I didn’t have time at the moment but would think of a few, perhaps even three, before hell froze over. Moving purposefully past me and coming up to the car window, Al looked in and advised Binky, “We have a rule around here, buddy. Don’t come knocking when the trailer is rocking.”
    Exit Al Rogoff, and not a moment too soon.
    As he drove out of the Palm Court, Binky wondered aloud, “Don’t come knocking when the trailer is rocking? What do