Double Take

her hair, “It’s not. Now, try not to make yourself nuts with this. You can eavesdrop on all my conversations that sound interesting.”
    “Dillon, call your father-in-law now. Please. If it could be clean and fast—that’d be great, it would be best for Dix, for all of us.”
    “I hesitate to do this without Dix’s permission, Ruth.”
    “You know he’d want you to, Dillon. Please, for all of us. This is so important, and not only to me.”
    Savich gave her a long look, checked his Mickey Mouse watch. “It’s about seven o’clock on the West Coast.” He nodded her to a chair, pulled out his cell, and dialed.
    “Sherlock residence.”
    “Good morning, Isabel. This is Dillon Savich. How are you?”
    “Agent Savich! What a pleasure to hear your voice, sir. I’m surely fine, thank you. How’s my baby?”
    “She’s fine, Isabel, keeps me in line.”
    “How’s my baby’s baby boy?”
    “Sean’s the only one who runs right over her.”
    Isabel laughed. “Good, good. I’ll bet he’s a perfect little boy. Let me get judge Sherlock.”
    Sherlock’s father was on the line in an instant. “This is a nice surprise, Savich. Nothing’s wrong, I hope.”
    After reassuring his father-in-law and asking after his mother-in-law, Evelyn, Savich gave him a concise rundown of the players and the very unusual problem. “I know you haven’t met Dixon Noble, but he’s a good man, Corman, had it really hard since his wife disappeared more than three years ago. He’s doing a fine job of raising his two sons. He’s a no-nonsense sheriff, sharp, dedicated, tough as a bulldog. You’d like him. So you know this Thomas Pallack and his wife Charlotte?”
    “Sure. Thomas has been active in local and national politics for a good ten years now. I think he originally hails from Southern California, one of those fancy beach places, Malibu, if I remember correctly. He was in with the Hollywood set, which, I’d say, has been the ruin of many a good brain. I know he was active in L.A. politics before he got involved on the national level. As I said, he moved up here maybe ten years ago. Maybe there was a falling out, I don’t know, or maybe it was simply that he wanted to reheadquarter up here. He made all his money in refineries and oil exploration, but he’s diversified now, got his fingers in lots of things, including several software companies in Silicon Valley. He didn’t marry until about three years ago—yep, lots of rumors about that, but no, I never thought he was gay.
    “I only see him socially, usually at one of his endless stream of fundraisers. Everything’s political with Thomas, and I don’t want to punch him in the nose in front of his new wife, plus he’s up there, nearly seventy, I think. Since he knows I’m not about to back any of the candidates he’s pushing, we’ve had this longstanding agreement—no political harangues and no requests for money from me, except for charities we both support.
    “I haven’t met his wife, Charlotte. I did hear she was from money, back East, Boston, maybe, but don’t quote me. Just an impression. Would you like me to invite them to dinner, Savich? Maybe get to know Charlotte Pallack a bit?”
    “Another question first, sir. Does Evelyn know them?”
    “I’m not sure. I’ll ask her in about five minutes—at the breakfast table.”
    “Thank you, and please give her my best. I’ll have MAX check Charlotte Pallack myself, see if MAX can’t find out exactly who she is and what she was doing before she married Thomas Pallack. Oh yes, please keep this confidential. Hey, maybe Dix Noble could dine with you and the Pallacks? Is that possible?”
    “Excellent idea. That would put all his questions to rest immediately. I’ll call Thomas right now, see if he and Charlotte are free tonight or Saturday night. How’s that?”
    “I think we’ll all owe you. Just a moment—” He asked Ruth, “When is Dix supposed to hit SFO?”
    She said, “Around three o’clock this afternoon, their time.”
    Savich said to Judge Sherlock, “I’ll call Dix when he arrives in San Francisco, tell him the plan.”
    “Why don’t you tell him to come on over to the house? He can stay with us. That’ll make his presence at the dinner all the more natural. What do you think?”
    “Thank you, Corman, great idea, and since Dix is a good friend of ours, it would be very nice for you to put him up.”
    “Savich, did you hear about this attempted murder of Julia Ransom?