Silver Linings

pirate stronghold. It hasn't changed all that much.”
    “Yeah. Interesting.” Hugh was silent for a moment, running possibilities through his head. “You ever find Gibbs? The guy who was Rosey's partner?”
    “Nope. No trace. Looks like he's skipped.”
    “Probably for good reason. Must have found out what happened to his friend. Sounds like the next step is to try to track down some of Cormier's former house staff. See if we can get one of them to talk. Find out if they saw anything the day Cormier was killed.”
    “My guess is that they're all going to be suffering from amnesia. Assuming we can even find one or two of'em.”
    “If we can find one, we can make him talk. Keep working on it, Silk. I'm going to try something from this end.”
    “Like what?”
    “Ever heard of computers? Information networks? Worldwide data bases?”
    “Where the hell are you going to get hold of a computer with enough information to help us find out something about Cormier's killer?”
    “I'm sitting on top of one of the most sophisticated computer networks in the world, Silk. Call me when you get a handle on something.”
    “Right.”
    “By the way,” Hugh said, “Mattie's scheduled your opening for tomorrow evening. There's going to be champagne and all kinds of free eats. They do that kind of thing up big around here.”
    “Damn. Wish I could be there. Sounds like my kind of party.” There was a pause on the other end of the line. “She really think my stuff is going to sell?”
    Hugh was amazed at the degree of uncertainty in Silk's voice. It wasn't like the big man to be uncertain of anything. “She says you're going to make her rich.”
    “Damn,” Silk said again in tones of great wonder. “When I think of how I had to ram those canvases down Miles's throat in order to cover my tab here at the Hellfire, I could just spit. He'll have to beg for'em now, by God.”
    “Revenge is sweet.”
    “Ain't it just?”
    Hugh hung up the phone and took his boots down off the desk. He got to his feet, went over to the small refrigerator, and removed the bottle of juice Mattie had brought with her that morning.
    The two secretaries that had been assigned to Hugh looked up inquiringly as he strode through the outer office on the way to the elevators.
    “See ya,” said Hugh.
    “What shall we say concerning your estimated time of return to the office, Mr. Abbott?” Gary asked just as Hugh reached the door.
    “Tell 'em I'll be back in a while.” Hugh went out into the corridor and punched the elevator call button. Secretaries who tried to set schedules and run a man's life were a nuisance. He knew the two he had were among the best in the business, but they annoyed him as often as not.
    Hugh was doing his best to learn how to manage a staff, however, because he figured that sooner or later he would be hiring office help for Abbott Charters. He sure as hell did not want to keep doing all the filing himself, and he could not trust Derek or Ray or Silk to do it. Their idea of file management was to toss everything that wasn't edible or spendable into the nearest wastebasket.
    “What in the world have you got in that bottle?” Charlotte Vailcourt asked when Hugh sauntered through her office door a few minutes later.
    “Bug juice. Mattie made it.” Hugh set the bottle on Charlotte's vast slate desk. “Want some?”
    “Another one of her high-energy, antistress concoctions, I presume?” Charlotte eyed the juice warily.
    “Yeah. I haven't tried this particular formula yet, but if it's like the others I've tasted, we'll be lucky to survive.” Hugh went over to the black lacquer wet bar across the room and found a couple of glasses in the cupboard.
    “Why do you keep drinking her ‘bug juice,’ as you call it, if you can't stand the stuff? Why not just toss it into the nearest flowerpot?”
    Hugh shrugged as he came back across the room and poured two small glasses full of the juice. “It's not that bad. I've had worse things to drink.” He swallowed the entire contents of his glass in one long gulp and grimaced. “But I can't recall just when.”
    Charlotte grinned as she sipped tentatively at hers. “I suppose the fact that she goes to so much trouble to elevate your health consciousness is a sign of how much she cares about you.”
    “That's what I tell myself when I'm eating pasta and veggies instead of a nice bloody steak.” Hugh sank down into a black leather and chrome chair.
    His gaze went briefly to