Final Option

make their own mozzarella and roast garlic in wood-burning ovens. But I had learned from experience never to question Elliott’s judgment, especially when it came to food.
    I found him standing at the jammed bar holding two glasses of red wine.
    “Salut,” he said, handing me one. “Thanks for meeting me here. I’ve been in a meeting at Elkin Caufield’s office since ten o’clock. We didn’t even take a break for lunch, and I’m just starved.” He loosened his tie with one hand as he spoke.
    “Are you working on the Hexter case?” I asked. Elliott took me by the elbow and led me to the far corner of the bar, where two stools had opened up.
    “I confess, after you called me last night, I took the initiative and offered my services to Caufield. I’ve done quite a bit of work for him in the past, but when you’re in business for yourself, you can’t let these opportunities slip by.”
    “So what’s the lowdown?” I asked.
    “Ten-second summary? The cops think she cooled her old man in a fit of jealous rage. She says she didn’t do it.”
    “What kind of case do the cops have?“
    “Circumstantial, but strong. It seems that all of the Hexters’ servants who live in are Guatemalan and go to eight o’clock mass at a church downtown. They always leave at the same time, six-thirty Sunday morning. Pamela and Bart were home alone. None of the servants saw either Mrs. or Mr. Hexter that morning, but the cook said that she heard the two of them arguing around five-thirty when she went into the kitchen to turn on the coffee.”
    “Did she hear what they were arguing about?”
    “No. Just angry voices. The newspaper is usually delivered around six-forty-five, so Hexter had to get it himself on Sundays. The morning of his death his wife says she isn’t sure of the exact time he left. Anyway, Hexter got in his Rolls and went out to get the paper and didn’t come back.
    “According to some of the cops I’ve talked to, the police have two witnesses who heard the shot—a woman walking her dog on Parkland Road, and the guy who lives two doors down who was out jogging. Both of them said they heard a shot a few minutes before seven. The runner said he saw a cyclist on Parkland Road who might have heard it, too, but I don’t think the cops are looking too hard for him since both the jogger and the dog lady agree on the time.
    “Anyway, Pamela said that she came into the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee, and waited for her husband to come back with the newspaper, which they were in the habit of reading together. She said that after fifteen or twenty minutes, she became alarmed. She went into her bedroom and changed into a warm-up suit. When he still hadn’t returned she got into her golf cart and went out looking for him. Do all rich people ride around their property on golf carts?” Elliott asked.
    “It is the accepted mode of transportation in Lake Forest,” I replied. “I’m surprised that Hexter didn’t use it.”
    “According to his wife he never did. It made him feel like a pansy—best thing I’ve heard about him so far. Also, if he took the car, he didn’t have to get dressed. Anyway, Pamela said she was worried because her husband had a history of heart trouble. I guess he had a major heart attack two years ago that left him with a condition that screwed up his heart rhythm. As a result, he’d occasionally suffer blackouts. So she went out looking for him. She said when she saw the car in the ditch she immediately assumed that her husband had suffered a heart attack. She says she opened the car and grabbed him before she realized what had really happened. She says that once she saw that he was dead, she went into shock. She claims to have sat in the golf cart for some time before finally going back to the house. When she got inside she realized that she had gotten blood on her. She took off the sweat suit and rinsed off in the shower. She said that all during this time it was as if she was in a daze. Once she was clean and changed into dry clothes she called an old friend named Ken Kurlander, who I gather is a partner at your firm. Kurlander told her to call 911. The call was logged in at seven-fifty-three.
    “In terms of the physical evidence there’s not much. The only fingerprints in the car were Hexter’s and Pamela’s. There were some footprints near the car that the cops took casts of, some were identified as belonging to you and some to Pamela. There were a couple