Right To Die - Jeremiah Healy by Jeremiah Healy Read Free Book Online Page B

that
you're not really speaking, and he's hurt."
    "How did you ever get him into the country'?"
    "I was able to work things out with immigration
before the dam broke in Spain. Manolo has stayed on with me ever
since. I even got him a driver's license, but please don't ask how.
He has no place else to go and nothing else to do."
    "How does your present husband feel about that?"
    "Tuck?" Andrus seemed amused and affected a
southern accent. "Tucker Hebert rolls with the punches, John."
Resuming her voice, she said, "Nothing bothers him, which is a
refreshing attitude to share once in a while. Tuck gets along fine
with Manolo. Besides, Manolo was already a part of my household when
Tuck met me."
    "At a tennis tournament?"
    "At . . . ? Oh, no. Well, yes. I guess so. It
was at Longwood Cricket Club, where they hold the pro championships
out in Brookline? But he wasn't playing actively anymore."
    "How does Tucker feel about your position on the
right to die?"
    Andrus tented her fingers, rested her chin lightly on
the fingertips and rocked her head back and forth. "lf you'll be
working for me, you can ask him."
    "You realize that I can't both bodyguard and
investigate at the same time."
    "Manolo's presence is all the 'bodyguarding' I
can tolerate, John. Understand this, please. I didn't like the idea
of Inés and Alec going to the police precisely because of my
position on the right to die. It cannot look as though I can be
bullied by crank notes into playing turtle. I will not dilute one
aspect of my approach to the cause, including tonight's debate."
    "Debate?"
    "At the Boston Public Library. Three of us
extremists will go hand to hand in front of a slavering crowd."
    "I'd like to see it."
    "Fine." She softened a little. "Because
of what happened to me with Enrique's death, I will not be stopped
until what should happen morally is what can happen legally. However,
I think that having you investigate is not inconsistent with that
goal. I believe we understand each other, even if we don't agree."
    "As long as you understand that if I do my job
right, the sender of these notes is going to realize you've hired me
to go after him."
    "That's fine. Let him think about being the
target for a while. And, if you catch him, so much the better."
    "I'll want a retainer of twelve hundred against
four hundred a day fee, plus expenses."
    "Only three days worth up front? You think
you're that good?"
    "No, but I think you're that rich you're good
for it."
    "Inés has the checkbook."
    "I'd also like to see some of your other hate
mail."
    "Inés keeps an alphabetized file. Steel
yourself."
    As I opened the door back into the anteroom, Manolo
was already on his feet, but this time facing a man about five feet
ten in a three-piece suit with lapels an inch out of fashion.
Fortyish, he had brown hair with a very narrow widow's peak and a
brown mustache, both hair and sideburns a little too long.
    The man held a fat manila folder near Inés Roja's
nose as he dripped sarcasm. "With all the world's problems
preying on her mind, no doubt Professor Andrus merely forgot that
she's a member of the Long-Range Planning Committee."
    "As I said, sir, I left a message for you that
the professor could not attend the meeting because of an emergency."
    The man acknowledged me with a scowl. "A
pressing issue no doubt. 'Should we pull the plug on Grandmama now or
wait till after she's stood treat for lunch?' "
    Roja said, "I will ask the professor to call you
as soon as possible."
    "Yes, yes, you do that, Inés. I'll no doubt be
in the dean's office, discussing nonteaching faculty responsibilities
and how to assure them."
    He turned and walked away, his toes splayed outward
like a duck's.
    Manolo sat down.
    Roja turned to me and said, "I am sorry."
    "Who was that?"
    "Professor Walter Strock."
    "He usually come on that way?"
    "He and the professor do not get along well."
More seriously, Roja said, "Is there anything I can do?"
    "Write me a check for twelve hundred dollars