Shallow Graves

eclectic assortment of lamps, which were always illuminated because the window awning had been frozen in the down position for a year. The room was decorated with one yellowing ficus tree, some primitive paintings of houses one broker’s daughter had done in grade school and a huge roll-up map of Cleary and environs, which made the town look more impressive than it ever could in person.
    Ambler twisted the survey several ways and studied it. None of the positions cheered him up.
    Wex Ambler was a tall man—six four. Lean. In his early fifties. He was thin on top, with a few renegade tufts of fine hair going in different directions. He had a long face and he continually reminded himself to keep his chin high; otherwise his neck flesh became a small wattle. He played golf, he jogged two miles a day and was a member of the town council.He believed (one of the few things he had in common with most of the rest of the local population) that he was the wealthiest man in Cleary. He owned Fox-wood, the one apartment complex in town, and was the most successful real estate developer in this part of the county. (Real estate and death of a rich relative being the only ways people in Cleary could come by real money.)
    Meg’s co-broker of the day, a horsy, blond woman named Doris, was ticking off items on her to-do list with a tiny flick of a mechanical pencil. “Ah, huh,” she said with each accomplishment. Meg fired a look of irritation at the self-congratulations—Doris missed it completely—and she turned back to Ambler.
    “They’re not . . .” Ambler searched for a word. “Progressive.”
    Meg laughed, her expression saying: You just figured that out about Cleary?
    She knew that Ambler had told a number of people—his ex-wife, his associates, even virtual strangers—that his life goal was not to amass a huge reservoir of money. What he loved was the entrepreneurial process itself. It didn’t matter what he did, as long as the challenge was there. The process held more intrigue and excitement than the capital gains held satisfaction.
    Still, he told her now, “The difference to me between three-quarter acre lots and two acres . . .” He looked up, calculated. “. . . is about eight million dollars. Total. For all lots.”
    “But that’s pretax,” she said seriously, frowning. She was trying to joke.
    Ambler wasn’t amused. “A variance’ll take forever.”
    Meg said, “It’s the best land north of the city. It’s—”
    “Meg.” Doris interrupted her jotting. “There. That’s him. Didn’t squash him so bad, looks like.”
    She looked up and watched a thin man in jeans walk down Main Street.
    “Is that. . . ?” Meg asked.
    “Yup,” Doris said.
    Ambler’s eyes followed him. “Who?”
    Doris turned to him with an excited face. “Didn’t you hear? The man from the movie company. Meg ran into him in her car.” She smiled at Meg and continued to tick away on her list.
    But Ambler said, “I know. I heard. I heard you went to his hotel room.”
    Meg blinked. Doris’s head shot up. She stopped ticking.
    Ambler shook his head. “I meant his hospital room.”
    Meg’s eyes flared. “I went to see how he was.”
    Doris said, “You didn’t tell me that.”
    Meg said, “Did you hear about his partner?”
    “No,” Doris asked.
    “The accident?” Meg continued.
    “What accident?” Ambler looked at her.
    “I don’t know much about it. Just that he was smoking dope and it blew up. Killed him.”
    “My God,” Doris said, “the fire in the park?”
    “That was it, yeah.”
    Ambler said nothing. He stared out the window.
    Doris said, “Tough luck, honey. You know, Mr. Ambler, last week, after those boys showed up, all Meg was talking about was trying to get an audition. . . .”
    “Doris,” Meg barked.
    Doris said to Ambler, “Meg did some modeling in Manhattan, you know. She was in Vogue and Self a couple times. Woman’s Day.”
    “I think I knew that,” Ambler said.
    Doris continued, girlishly. “I know you were trying to get an audition, but—”
    “Enough!”
    “—running him over’s a hell of a way to do it.”
    Meg mouthed Bitch at Doris, who blinked and retreated to her ticks.
    Ambler’s eyes left hers and he looked out the window, staring across the street. Meg noticed this. She zeroed in on Pellam, who stood in front of Marge’s, opening a Styrofoam coffee cup.
    He said, “What’s he doing here?”
    Meg answered, “They were looking for places to