Mike picked up my tote from the ground, took a firm hold on my elbow, and guided me up the incline to the gate agent’s desk. “She needs your boarding pass.”
I handed it over and watched her cross out some numbers and reenter a new designation on the seat assignment. She gave it to the Special Services representative, who asked us to accompany her onto the plane. Instead of turning right and wading through the scores of coach passengers engaged in the battle to squeeze their carry-on luggage into the overhead bins, she pointed us to the left. “You’re up ahead in first class, seats 2A and 2B. Hope you enjoy the flight.”
“I’m afraid to ask who you bribed to get this done. You didn’t show anyone your badge and demand an upgrade, did you?” At least I was smiling again. “Or did some poor stewardess have to put out for this exchange?”
“You’re such a skeptic, Blondie. I thought it would be a nice surprise. Remember Charlie Bardong?” Charlie used to be a lieutenant in the District Attorney’s Office squad and was now a private investigator. We both knew him well. “His wife runs Special Services at American. I called her this morning and she said if there were any empty seats it wouldn’t be a problem. Cheer up, Coop. A few cocktails after takeoff, I’ll forget I’m airborne and you can forget about Lew-”
“Drew.”
“Whatever his name is. I keep telling you, don’t go seeing ghosts where there aren’t any. We got enough confusion already.”
There were only twelve seats in the first-class section of the 767, half of which were empty. I took the one by the window, emptied some magazines from my tote, put on the slippers from the complimentary travel pack, and settled in with my pillow and blanket at the ready. Mike ordered me a Dewar’s and himself a double Jameson’s, making good on his plan to transfer my affection to Irish whiskey.
By the time the plane reached our cruising altitude, all I could see was the darkened sky and the occasional lights of another aircraft speeding by below us. We were on our second round of drinks and the assortment of warmed nuts, mulling over our options for the microwaved dinners. The liquor was relaxing me and I was losing the edge of my annoyance about the circumstances of my introduction to Drew. There would be plenty of time to focus on all that after we got home to New York. I was happy to be six miles above the earth, out of the range of beepers and sky-pagers. I liked my flying isolation booth.
Mike talked to me nonstop during the meal service. He relived old cases and escapades with ex-partners, unsolved murders, and victims whose corpses had never been identified or claimed. By the time the icecream sundaes and brandy were served, it was close to ten o’clock and I was snuggled into the reclining chair, somewhere east of Greenland.
“If you could be anybody in the world, who would it be?”
“What?”
“Don’t you ever do that? Just take yourself out of your own skin and pretend you could be someone else?” Mike asked. “Tell me three people-dead or alive-that you’d like to have been. Sheer fantasy, no goody-two-shoes stuff. Don’t give me Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer or Jonas Salk or Clara Barton. Just for fun, who would you change places with if you could?”
My legs were drawn up in the seat, under the blanket, and I cradled the Courvoisier with both hands while I thought of my answers. “First choice-Shakespeare.”
“For you? Never would have guessed it. I figured you for great clothes but not cross-dressing.”
“I can’t imagine any one mind creating all of those remarkable writings-the language, the themes, the images, the range of words and ideas. Maybe I’d rather have been Mrs. S.-simply lie there at night and let him come home and read to me the lines he’d worked on all day. Just be the inspiration for that incredible poetry. I don’t think anyone has ever used the language more magnificently.”
“You like it all? I mean, you’ve read all his plays?”
“Not all, but my favorites over and over again. Mostly the tragedies and histories. But, of course, the histories are usually tragedies, too. I adore his tragedies.” I picked my head up from the pillow and looked across at Mike. “Something wrong with me, you think? That I like tragedies so much? And murder mysteries, and the kind of job that I have-?”
“You’re just coming to that conclusion now?”
“Some days it seems more obvious than others, I guess. Who’s your choice?”
“Neil Armstrong. First man to walk on the moon. The idea of being a pioneer in an entirely new world and-”
“Time out.” I pressed a finger on the cushioned arm pad and imitated the sound of a TV game show penalty buzzer. “Bad answer. You’re terrified of flying-you can’t be an astronaut.”
“I just want to be the guy who takes the first step on the moon. I didn’t say anything about flying B-52s or-”
“Not fair. There’s only one way to get to the moon and you would be completely and totally ineligible. Too long a flight, no alcohol. Next idea.”
“Okay.” He mused before going on. “This one changes from time to time, depending on whose biography I’m reading. Usually, it’s the Duke of Wellington. Great military strategist-genius in planning Waterloo. Some days, though, it’s Napoleon. Before Waterloo. That’s when I get fickle-right around 1815. Sometimes it’s even Hannibal, taking those elephants over the Alps. You get the point-a great general, leading his troops into battle. Die with my boots on and all that. Who else for you?”
“No surprise. A ballet dancer.” I looked at my watch. “Right now, someone is sitting inmy seats at American Ballet Theater sighing over Kathleen Moore’s performance. It’s an art that allows no imperfection-the audience can see every slip and misstep and off-balance move. I’d love to have that grace and elegance. Natalia Makarova-she’s the one I’d most like to be. But I’m fickle, too. I could be Ferri or Kent or Moore. Dance like a dream and lose myself in the music.
“You know, even in ballet I like the tragedies best. Should I be worried?”
“Too late for that. D’you ever dance leading roles, I mean, when you were in ballet school?”
“Queen of the Wilis. That’s my fate. Never Odile, not Coppelia, no Princess Aurora for me.”
“What are the Wilis? Never heard of ‘em.”
“They’re the maidens who died of unrequited love, in Giselle. Lines and lines of ‘em, in long white tulle skirts, flitting all over the stage. They spend most of the second act dancing you heartbreakers to death. I’ll take you to see it sometime. Suits my personality to a tee. And your next?”
“Joe DiMaggio. I sometimes think Babe Ruth or The Mick, but, then, Joe had all the great baseball moments plus Marilyn Monroe. He’s still such a classy guy. Heroes of the All-American sport, ‘til the strike screwed it up. Actually, I was there at the Stadium for Game Six of the Series when the Yankees won it. I would have jumped into the shoes of any one of them-Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter. I’d have sold my soul to the devil to have been Wade Boggs circling the stadium on the rear of that horse after all the years he waited just to get to a Series. What a moment.”
“Don’t forget Andy Pettitte. Now, that is a fox. You turn yourself into Andy Pettitte or Derek Jeter and I could get very interested.”
“Last call. Ultimate fantasy. Who’ll it be?”
“No contest for me. Tina Turner.After Ike, let me make that part of it perfectly clear.”
“Now you’re talking, Blondie. Great casting.”
“Remember the Private Dancer Tour-‘85? Tina coming down that staircase suspended from the ceiling in Madison Square Garden? A mane of hair, an endless stretch of legs, a microskirt, and four-inch heels-strutting to the tune of ’What’s Love Got to Do with It?‘ Not holding on to anything for a hundred steps or more on her way down, never missing a beat. I would have killed just to be one of her backups that night. Nina sent me a tape of the concert and I just pop it in the VCR to watch that one number whenever I think I need an antidepressant. Three minutes and I’m cured. I wanna be Tina.”
“You did a damn good imitation of
her-for a white girl-the evening of Battaglia’s roast. I thought he was gonna lose it when he saw you prancing down the staircase from the private dining room into the lobby at ‘21.’ ”
“Jeez, remember that? I thought he had left already. I never dreamed he’d see me.”
“You may have a shot at this one, Coop. The only broad in the world with legs as good as Tina’s is your old lady. All we gotta do is work on your voice.”
“And your third?” I asked, smiling.
“A great director, movies. Probably Hitchcock, Spielberg, Truffaut. That’s the kind of creative talent I’d like to have. Bring stories to the screen and give them life-entertain billions of people forever and forever. Sagas, epics, plots with imaginary creatures or escapist themes. Maybe I could be Carlo Ponti.”
“He directs? I thought he’s a producer.”
“Whatever. At the end of the day, he still gets to crawl into bed with Sophia Loren, which wouldn’t be a bad part of the deal.”
“Predictable. Why did I think there’d be anything unusual about any of your fantasies? These are actually more tasteful than I expected any of them to be.”
Mike and I had taken each other’s minds off our respective concerns for a little while. We were farther away from home than either of us cared to be during an ongoing investigation and no closer to answers than we had been from the start. Sheep never worked for me, so I closed my eyes and tried to count Wilis until I drifted off to sleep.
22
ONCE WE HAD CLEARED IMMIGRATION AT Heathrow, we searched the signs held by gray-uniformed drivers waiting near the doors until we found a printed plaque marked CLIVEDEN. Mike waved to the gentleman holding it in the air, who moved toward us to introduce himself and take the luggage we were carrying. He quickly escorted us out to the roadway where a sleek black Jaguar sedan was parked on the far side of the passenger drop-off area.
Arthur, as he was called, placed the bags in the car’s trunk, then opened the rear doors for Mike and me.
“Not too shabby, Coop. I think I’m gonna like it here. Your car, Arthur?” Mike asked, as the driver settled himself behind the wheel.
“Hardly, sir. It’s all we have at Cliveden, sir. Jaguars.” Pronouncing the name, as the Brits do, with three distinct syllables.
It was daybreak as we started the half-hour ride to the hotel, the only one in Britain that is also a Stately Home. Rush-hour traffic heading into London surrounded us on the A4. But when we turned off the motorway as we neared Buckinghamshire, the fields, woods, and slate roofs of the countryside and villages gave us the sense that we had gone back a century or two in time.
Arthur was giving us a history of the estate as he cruised the Jag around narrow curves on ancient lanes barely wide enough to let another car pass. Cliveden, he told us, was built in 1666 by the Duke of Buckingham. Almost four hundred acres of land-housing the main buildings, composed of bedroom suites, dining rooms, and newly added meeting rooms, plus exquisite formal gardens and natural parklands-perch above the Thames in splendid style. The property remained at the center of Britain ’s political and social intrigue as its ownership passed through several dukes, one Prince of Wales, and then on to the Astor family before its acquisition by the National Trust in the 1980s.
“Pretty fancy place for a conference center,” Chapman said.
Arthur grimaced into the rearview mirror. “We’re a hotel, sir. And a very special one at that. Once a year the Home Secretary takes it over for this do. Sometimes the Prime Minister comes and a few nobs from abroad. Hardly worth our while, sir.” Arthur looked again, just to reassure himself that we were not in that exalted category. “We’ll get a few of our regulars after you go. End of the month we’ve got a wedding-one of the royals. Then the season gets going with Ascot and Wimbledon and all that.”
“If you decide you want to stay on, let me know. I’m sure Battaglia’d find room in the budget,” I said to Mike as Arthur slowed the car to turn in through the colossal double gate that marked the entrance. We circled the large sculpted scallop shell ringed by cherubs that stood at the start of the tree-lined drive and rode the last stretch of graveled path up to the majestic main building of Cliveden.
Several footmen appeared at the sound of the car crunching on the stones and coming to a stop-each one dressed in striped trousers, a morning coat, and white gloves. We had pulled in under the porte-cochère and our doors were opened by two of the eager staff.
The third young man, bespectacled and shorter than I by a head, bowed in my direction and shook Mike’s hand as he welcomed us to Cliveden and told us his name was Graham. He gave us a brisk introduction to the hotel, explaining that the Cliveden tradition was to treat us all as “house guests” rather than customers. No registration, no signing for meals or services, no keys for the rooms or locks on the doors.
“Your office phoned ahead with all the arrangements, Mrs. Cooper. We’ve substituted your name for Mr. Battaglia’s where appropriate, and I’ve alerted all the staff to that change. I’m sure, madam, that you’ll be quite comfortable. Let me see,” he said, walking back to his antiquebureau plat inside the doorway, “you’ll be in the suite reserved for Mr. Battaglia. The Asquith. We only have thirty-seven rooms, of course, and they’re all filled at the moment with the gentlemen who are attending your conference.”
Nothing so crass as rooms with numbers here. Each of the suites was named for a titled or celebrated family who had visited Cliveden throughout its history.
Graham told one of the footmen to get our luggage from the car and take it up to the Asquith suite. He gestured in Mike’s direction, “And if there is anything at all I can do foryou, Mr. Cooper-”
“Chapman,” Mike snapped. “I decided to keep my maiden name, Graham. It’s Chapman.”
He picked up his bag without waiting for any help and started into the building. I was laughing as I followed him into the Great Hall, realizing for the first time that no one had expressly mentioned that the room assignment for Battaglia and spouse should not simply have been reissued to Cooper and spouse.
“What, hurt your feelings, Mikey? Don’t like being Mr. Cooper? Or are you scared of being alone with me in the dark?”
“MisterCooper? A guy’d have to have balls of steel to want that job title. Let’s check out the room, Blondie.”
The footman holding my bags was waiting for us. “The lift is this way, madam. The Asquith suite is on the first floor. Mind your step.” He led us across the hallway and under the staircase to a small elevator that rattled its way slowly up to the next landing.
Our suite was at the end of a narrow corridor reached by passing rooms named for Westminster, Curzon, Balfour, and Churchill. When the door opened and Mike noticed the twin beds standing several feet apart, he murmured in my ear, “Only the English. Typical.”
The spacious bedroom was tastefully decorated in a pale shade of green with ivory trim and had an adjoining sitting room with a writing desk and chaise as well as a large bathroom. There was a stunning view of the rear of the property with its parterre gardens and trimmed box hedges and miles of riding paths leading down to the Thames.
It was almost nine o’clock by the time we unpacked. But it was still the middle of the night at home and we were both frustrated by our inability to call to speak with Maureen and to check our offices for updates. There were no faxes or messages waiting for us so we had to assume that nothing had developed in either of the cases.
“Want to check out the grounds?” Mike could function on less sleep than anyone I knew.
The luncheon and afternoon conference in which I would be participating started at one o’clock. I didn’t want Battaglia to get any bad reports about my presentation so I figured it was smarter to work on my notes. “I’m going to clean up, rest, and change for my speech.”
“I’m taking a walk. Been sitting still too long. See you later, Lady Asquith.”
I refreshed myself with a hot shower, then, wrapped in an oversized white terry robe wit
h the Cliveden crest embroidered on its lapel, sat on the bed to work. The break revived me, despite the lack of sleep, and I was almost dressed and ready to leave the room by twelve-fifteen when Mike called me from the front desk.
“Are you receiving?”
“I’m just about ready to go down to the lobby.”
“Thought I’d shower and change if you were out of the way.”
I finished brushing my hair and putting on earrings as Mike came in. I gathered my notes and told him I’d meet him in the dining room for the luncheon. I took myself downstairs and through the expanse of the Great Hall, drawn to John Singer Sargent’s famous portrait of Lady Astor, the American-born Nancy Langhorne, who had become the first woman to take a seat in Parliament in 1919. The painting dominated the room and I sat at the desk below it to review the remarks I would be delivering on Battaglia’s behalf.
Once done, and noting that it would soon be 7A.M. in New York, I picked up the telephone and asked the operator to connect me with a number in New York City, billing the charge to my suite. When the switchboard answered at Mid-Manhattan Hospital, I gave the receptionist Maureen’s room number.
“What is the name of the patient to whom you wish to speak?”
I gave her Maureen’s name, and when I heard no response I spelled the surname for her.
“Let me put you on hold, ma’am.”
Several minutes passed until a voice returned to tell me that the patient I was trying to reach had been discharged from the hospital. It was only Thursday and my recollection was that she was not to be released for another twenty-four hours. I was relieved that someone had made the decision to take her out of harm’s way.
The time difference was already proving to be a nuisance. I wanted to say hello to Maureen and knew that no one in a hospital could sleep long past six when the clanging of breakfast trays and bedpans roused everyone except the comatose. Now that she was at home I would place that call to her later on. It was a bit too early to hound Joan, still the middle of the night for Nina in Los Angeles, and I was determined not to speak with Drew until I knew what had driven the timing of our meeting at Joan’s apartment.
Likely To Die Page 26
