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"He probably didn’t count on Olive getting killed That’s gotta fit in somewhere," she said

We went into Andy ’s office Darcy watched with inter-est as I went through a systematic search It looked like his business files were still intact, but all of his personal effects had been reraph of his kids that had sat on his desk, his leather-bound appointment calendar, ad-dress book, Rolodex, even the fraotten some years before He’d left a studio portrait of Janice, a five-by-seven color head shot, showing bouffant blond hair, a heart-shaped face, and a pointed chin She did have a spiteful look about her, even grinning at the camera Andy had blackened one front tooth and penned in so her nostrils slightly, he’d created a piggy effect The ever- his opinion of his ex-wife

I sat in his swivel chair and surveyed the place, won-dering hoas going to get a line on hio and why take off like that? Had heto interrupt ht processes, such as they were

"You have a number for Janice?" I asked

"Yeah, at my desk You want me to call and see if she knohere he is?"

"Let’s do that Make up an excuse if you can, and don’t give anything away If she doesn’t know he’s skipped out, let’s don’t tip it at this point"

"Right," Darcy said She moved out to the reception area I picked up the file I’d brought and pulled out all the papers It was clear that Andy was in serious financial straits Between Janice’s harangue over the late support check, and the pink- and red-ri notices, it was safe to assume that the pressure was on I reread the various versions of his love letter to his inamorata That must have been quite a Christmas eve they’d had Maybe he’d run aith her

Andy ’s calendar pad still sat at the uppere of his blotter, two date sheets side by side, connected by arched clips that allowed the pages to lie flat He’d taken his leather month-by-month appointment book, but he’d left this behind Apparently heappointments on both places so his secretary could keep track of his whereabouts I leafed back through the week, day by day On Friday, December 24, he’d circled 9:00 PM and penciled in the initial L Was this his beloved? I worked h the last six ular intervals, with no pattern that I could discern

I went out to the reception area, taking the calendar pad and the file folder with me

Darcy was on the phone, in the athered

"Uh-hun Well, I wouldn’t know anything about that I don’t know hi you? I guess that’s true, but I don’t knohat good it would do you Look, I’ here waiting to use the phone Uh-hun, I’d appreciate that and I’ll let you knoe hear on this end I’ot to ht"

Darcy replaced the receiver and let out a deep breath "Good God, that woot an earful She’s po’d He was supposed to coht and pick the kids up and he never showed She was all set to go out and had to cancel her plans No call, no apologies, nothing She’s convinced he’s skipped town and she’s all set to call the cops"

"Wouldn’t do any good unless he’s beensev-enty-two hours," I said "He’s probably shacked up some-where with this bimbo he’s so crazy about" I showed Darcy the letters I’d picked out of his trash

It onderful watching her expression shift from amusement to distaste "Oh God, would you let him suckle your hmphm-hmph?"

"Only if I doused it with arsenic first"

Darcy’s brorinkled "Her bazookas e He couldn’t think what to compare ’em to"

I looked over her shoulder "Well, ’footballs,’ but he crossed that out Probably didn’t seem romantic"

Darcy shoved the papers back in the file "That was titillating stuff Oh, bad joke Nohat?"

"I don’t know He took his address book with hih the calendar pad and showed her the penciled initials scattered through the months I could see Darcy’s mental wheels start to turn

"Wonder if she ever called him here," she said "She must have, don’t you think?"