Final Option

policeman asked her some impertinent questions, and she’s terribly offended. She’s called Bob Frackman in the mayor’s office. She says that until they send out another policeman, she’s not answering any more questions.”
    “She shouldn’t be wasting the cops’ time with this shit,” I said, struck not for the first time by the incredible pigheadedness of the very rich.
    “You have to understand that Pamela is very used to being accommodated in all things,” explained my colleague.
    “And whatever the police are asking her is going to be nothing compared to the heat she’s going to draw in the media until they find out whoever did this. Ken, you’re her friend. Do all of us a favor and persuade her to cooperate with the police.”
     
    Ruskowski waited for me in the pantry. “Where’s pencil neck?” he asked.
    “He went to talk to Mrs. Hexter.”
    “It doesn’t take much to get his nose out of joint.”
    “It’s not Kurlander’s nose, it’s Mrs. Hexter’s. It seems that some of your questions upset her.”
    The homicide detective made a noise that might have been a laugh. “I just asked her when she last had sex with her husband.”
    “That would do it,” I replied.
    “It’s a routine question,” replied Ruskowski. “The answer tells you a lot about a relationship. To your knowledge, were Mr. and Mrs. Hexter happily married?”
    “I couldn’t say. I didn’t know them very well. They seemed to be. I mean, you’d see their picture together everywhere, smiling from the society pages. And they were still married, which says something. Futures traders usually go through wives as fast as they go through money. The Board of Trade has a dance every year called the Harvest Ball, and you can usually count the number of first wives there on one hand.”
    “So, do you have any idea who might have wanted him dead?”
    “Not specifically, no.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “How much do you know about futures markets?“
    “Not much.”
    “Futures are what is called a zero-sum game,” I said. “For every winner, there is a corresponding loser. Every dollar one person earns is lost by somebody else. Bart Hexter had been winning in the market pretty consistently for thirty years. You don’t do that without making a few enemies.”
    “But you don’t know of anyone who bore a grudge against Hexter, someone who might have threatened him or attacked him in the past?”
    “No, I don’t.” I said. “I have to notify the exchanges of his death.” I looked at my watch. “Are you trying to keep this away from the media?”
    “The district attorney is going to make an announcement at two o’clock, but it’s just a matter of time before some sap leaks the story. This is going to be a fucking red ball case. Do you know why cops call them red balls?”
    “I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
    “Because when you’re working on one you feel like you’ve been sucked into the center of an ever-expanding ball of flames that’s being fanned by everyone from the governor on down. It can bum pretty hot until you bring in the killer. The point I’m trying to make, Miss Millholland, is that you’d better not fuck with me on this. If you do, I’ll pull you right into the fire with me.”
     

CHAPTER 3
     
    Futures contracts are traded all around the world-—in Singapore and Sydney, in Tokyo and New York—but the big leagues are in Chicago, on the trading floors of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It is here, in the frenzied trading pits of the CBOT and the Merc, that world prices are set for agricultural commodities like com, soybeans, and cattle; metals like gold and platinum; financial instruments like treasury and municipal bonds; and foreign currencies like deutschemarks and yen.
    A futures contract is simply an agreement to buy or sell a specified amount of a certain commodity at a date in the future for a price agreed upon today. Originated as a way for farmers to lock in prices for their goods, futures are still an important source of liquidity for agricultural producers. For example, for most of the year, a farmer growing soybeans has his assets tied up in his crop. If he needs money before the harvest, how is he going to get it? Banks require collateral, but who knows what price soybeans are going to fetch five months down the line? Banks, after all, are not in the business of gambling on fluctuations in crop prices.
    But the trading pits at