Aces and Knaves

between the houses in front of us.
    Elma offered us coffee or tea; I chose herb tea. Arrow took coffee. No children were in evidence. She told us she was planning for Ned's funeral service on Tuesday. She spoke with what must be a Scottish lilt, but it was barely detectable. When I apologized for interrupting her she said that the plans were pretty well set. His body had been returned to Los Angeles so there would be a casket.
    In turn, I told her what I knew about Ned's death, including what Pat Wong's uncle had said about him being set up with the cocaine.
    "Ned was a lot of things, but he wasn't a drug dealer," Elma said, vehemently. "The police searched the house from top to bottom and found not a trace. Not a trace!"
    She showed some of the fire that must have kept the police from running wild through the house. She appeared to be ready to handle questions about the future of Dionysus.
    I said, "Elma, you and Richard together now own a majority of the stock of Dionysus."
    Elma looked at me with her green eyes, fully alert, but she didn't say anything.
    "This means you two control the company."
    "I know what it means," she said, softly.
    Based on Arrow's description of her financial acumen, I hadn't been sure. And I wasn't sure how to proceed. I said, "Have you heard of a man named James Buchanan?"
    Again she stared at me, not saying anything. I thought I'd drawn a blank. This was encouraging because it meant that Buchanan hadn't contacted her. But slowly her expression changed, from alertness to something incomprehensible. She said, "What does James Buchanan have to do with this?"
    "He wants to gain control of Dionysus," Arrow said.
    "How do you know?" Elma still spoke softly, but with intensity.
    "He is head of a company that invests in other companies," I said. "Sometimes he is content to be a minority stockholder; in other cases he takes control. He has been buying the stock of Dionysus. We know because he has to file reports with the SEC—the Securities and Exchange Commission. And because he told us."
    "We think he wants to get control of Dionysus," Arrow said, "so that he can replace Richard."
    Elma didn't say anything for a while. She appeared to be far away. After a full minute had gone by, she asked, "What does James look like now?"
    This question caught both Arrow and me by surprise. We exchanged glances. Finally, Arrow said, "He has gray hair, but he still looks youthful. He has a zest for life."
    "James always had a zest for life. Maybe too much so."
    "So you know him," I said.
    "I...knew him. Many years ago." Again Elma appeared to be somewhere else, but then she snapped back to the present. "So you think James is likely to contact me?"
    "We think so," Arrow said. "If he can convince you to vote your stock for him, that's his best chance for gaining control of Dionysus."
    "So James needs me," Elma said with a little smile. "That's a switch." She looked at Arrow and me. "Arrow, since you've been so helpful to me, and Karl, since you are Richard's son, I owe you both an explanation of my involvement with James."
    Having dropped that bombshell, Elma heightened the tension by going to the kitchen to refresh our drinks. My stomach did flips. I asked Arrow, "Are we in trouble?"
    "I don't know," she said, frowning. "This is the first I've heard of anything between Elma and James."
    Elma came back with a plate of cookies. I immediately stuffed two into my mouth and was working on a third before I realized what I was doing. I deliberately set the partially eaten cookie down on the napkin in front of me.
    I watched the freckles on Elma's nose as she sat back down in a large armchair, wondering what secrets they had seen. She took off her shoes and drew her legs up underneath her. She had freckles on her legs, too. I like freckles.
    "Once upon a time," Elma said, "I was a girl living in northern Scotland, in the village of Wick. There were two boys—friends of each other—also living in Wick. They were a few years older than I was. Their names were James Buchanan and Ned Mackay."
    Elma paused and took a bite of a cookie, while Arrow and I surreptitiously glanced at each other. Elma appeared to be collecting her thoughts. "When I was old enough to notice boys I set my cap for James. James was...how shall I say it? I think flamboyant is the best description for him. He was popular and he liked to take risks. He bet on things. But he managed to get the odds in his favor and he won most of his bets.
    "Girls