Final Option

mother’s just been arrested.”
    “Aah, they’re gonna let her go. There’s no way that Pamela killed him.”
    “Why do you say that?” I asked, interested.
    “I know Pamela. She’d never shoot him. Too messy. The woman was a neat freak. You’d go over to the house for a drink, and she’d be ringing for the maid to come and pick the crumbs out of the carpet while you were still sitting there. Besides, why would she have to kill him? The lady was loaded. If she was sick of Bart, all she had to do was pack up and split. With Bart’s temper I’m surprised she hadn’t hit the road years ago. But then there’s no accounting for taste.”
    “Speaking of taste, you must know a Hexter employee named Victoria Lloyd.”
    “Sure, I know Torey,” Savage answered cautiously. “She’s a runner. Worked at Hexter about two years.“
    “Do you know if she and Hexter were having an affair?” I asked.
    “Yeah.” replied Savage, his face clouding. “They were doin’ the old horizontal hula. You see stuff like that all the time. An old guy like Hexter discovers he can still get it up, and pretty soon he’s believing that this young babe wants him for his wonderful self, not his money. What a sap.”
    “So if you don’t think his wife killed him. who did?” I asked.
    “I don’t know. Maybe it was his crackpot daughter— you know, Mad Margot. She hasn’t been playing with a full deck for a long time. Maybe it was just some poor schmuck dentist from Dubuque who lost his life’s savings in the markets. Who knows?”
    “So you don’t think it’s whoever is behind Deodar Commodities?” I ventured.
    “Deodar Commodities?” demanded Carl Savage incredulously. “Oh, come on, Deodar Commodities is just a front account for Hexter. You bill how much an hour and you still haven’t figured that out yet? Jeez, what do they pay you for?”
     
    “Let me see if I get this straight,” I said to Carl Savage after he’d already explained it once. “Deodar Commodities is just a shell company that Hexter traded through in order to disguise his presence in the markets. Why was he trying to systematically exceed position limits?”
    “You don’t get it, do you? That’s why this CFTC thing is all bullshit. Hexter didn’t want to do anything to attract attention to Deodar.”
    “So then what’s the point? What was he trying to hide from the CFTC?”
    “Bart wasn’t trying to fool the CFTC with Deodar, he was trying to fool Pamela.”
    “Pamela?” I demanded. “Why would he try to fool Pamela?”
    “Because Pamela was born wearing a green eyeshade, that’s why. That broad kept track of every penny. She was the kind of cheap you get when you’re either incredibly poor or very rich. Pamela used to send the maid to the grocery store with coupons. Bart came in one day just seething. It seems the little woman had decided to save some money and start using generic toilet paper. Jesus, was Bart steamed." Savage smiled at the recollection. “Bart was just the other way. He’d tip his caddy a hundred bucks. He loved it. It was like the Rolls Royce. He wanted the whole fucking world to know that he’d made it and had it to spread it around. Deodar Commodities was how Pamela and Bart could live together. Pamela used to go through the company books, for God’s sake. Deodar was how Bart got his poker money. That’s what I’m saying. Why would Pamela want to kill him? She already had him by the balls. If anything, you’d think it would be the other way around. If anybody shot anybody, you’d think it would be Pamela who got it between the eyes.”
     
    “While you were in with Mr. Savage your mother called,” reported Cheryl. “Since you were unavailable, she yelled at me instead. It seems she’s very upset that Pamela Hexter has been arrested, and she wants to know what you’re going to do about it. She’d like you to call her.”
    “Thanks. If you’ll take all my calls from her I’ll double your salary.”
    “No thanks.”
    “Did anybody else call?”
    “Nobody who can’t wait.” Cheryl handed me the other message slips. “These don’t include the reporters who called. Seems you’re famous. That guy from the Star called me again. He’s now offering me five grand if I can get him some good dirt on Hexter. I told him no, but I hinted that I might be able to get you to pose nude for less. He wasn’t interested.”
    “Mother’s right. I’m not very photogenic.”
    “Oh, and Stephen called.