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Occasionally ahe still had that essentially worthless collection that had filled so much of his time and turned his head into such a wonderland of trivia But it never occurred to him to try to recapture those days They were part of his youth, and they were gone

Then, when the oldclear that he was beginning to lose it big-ti retirement He had some money saved up, and while it had amounted to less than 10 percent of what he’d eventually have in Dot’s online account, he’d h

But ould he do with his ti out at the senior center? Dot pointed out that he would need a hobby, and a bunch of childhoodhe did was buy a ide collection, 1840-to-1940, just to get himself started, and before he knew it he had a shelf full of albums and a subscription to Linn’s and dealers all over the country sending hily substantial portion of his retirement fund, so it was just as hen the olddirectly with Dot

When he thought objectively about his sta that the whole enterprise was nuts He was spending the greater portion of his discretionary inco except what he and other like- to pay for thereater portion of his free ti done so, tothem neatly and systematically in albuetting thee, this in spite of the fact that he never intended for any eyes but his to see them He didn’t want to display his stamps at a show, or invite another collector over to have a look at theht there on the shelves in his apartment, where he and only he could look at them

All of which, he had to admit, was at the very least irrational

On the other hand, when he orking with his sta He was expending considerable concentration on as essentially an uni his spirit required When he was in a bad ot him out of it When he was anxious or irritable, his stamps took him to another realm where the anxiety or irritation ceased to matter When the world seemed mad and out of control, his stamps provided a ic prevailed

If he wasn’t in the mood, the stamps could wait; if he was called out of town, he knew they’d be there when he got back They weren’t pets that had to be fed and walked on a regular schedule, or plants that needed to be watered They demanded his entire and absolute attention, but only when he had it to give

He wondered so too much money on his collection, and perhaps he was, but his bills were always paid and he wasn’t carrying any debt, and he’d soed to accumulate two and a half million dollars in investments, so why shouldn’t he spend what he wanted to on stamps?

Besides, decent philatelic material always increased in value over time You couldn’t buy it one day and sell it the next and expect to come out ahead, but after you’d owned it awhile it would have appreciated enough to cover the dealer’s markup And what other pastime worked that way? If you owned a boat, if you raced cars, if you went on safari, how et back? What, for that matter, was your net return on bottles of Cristal and lines of cocaine?

And so he’d returned to New York for his sta else to come back for, and ample reason to stay away If he was a person of interest to the police, in addition to entering his apartht very well have posted somebody to watch the place on the slih to return

If the cops weren’t waiting for his in Des Moines weren’t willing to sit back and let nature take its course They’d proved that in White Plains, because it wasn’t the old man’s chickens that had come home to roost, it was the turkeys on Al’s team who’d shot Dot dead and burned the place down around her

They ht have already known his name, and where he lived If not, they’d have asked Dot, and he could only hope she’d answered right away, and that two quick bullets in the brain were all the punishment she’d been forced to endure Because she’d have talked sooner or later, anyone would, and in this case sooner was better than later

But maybe nobody had the place staked out, not the cops and not Al’s boys, either Maybe all he had to do was figure out a way in and out without being spotted by the doorman

It would probably take ood-sized albu in thewith his eyes on the screen, was to load up the oversize wheeled duffel that he’d bought on QVC a few years ago He had never used it, it held faron any trip, business or pleasure, but the pitchhthe’d picked up the phone and bought the daet four albums in it for sure, and possibly five, and the handle and wheels would enable hio back for another load -- two trips ht do it, or three at the most