Swan Dive

insurance from Roy , we have enough money now I don’t have to sell the drugs.”
    ”Hanna, there is no insurance.”
    I wanted to say it that way, directly and suddenly, to see her reaction. Her heart seemed to stop, but her eyes stayed steady. She swallowed and said, ”No insurance?”
    I told her what Stansfield told me.
    She hung her head. ”Such a little boy. My God, my God, I cannot pay to bury him.”
    I waited a moment, then said, ”Hanna, I’m sorry, but I really have to know about the drugs.”
    She looked up, very tired. ”I don’t know to help you.”
    ”Any idea at all where they’d be?”
    ”The nurse maybe. She might know better than me. When Roy and me were together, he used to carry them around in his case.”
    ”His briefcase?”
    ”No. Roy had a lot of the... video things. He carried the drugs around in the case for the camera to fit in.”

    As I drove back into Boston, I tried to draw a profile of my mugger, at least by minimum physical requirements. Hanna had the strength to send Roy through the window, and a questionable alibi. Firefighters, even retired ones like Kelley, are strong as bulls, but Sheilah said her father was with her for dinner. Lawyer Paul had the muscle and sophistication, if not the inclination, to stage it, but Chris covered him. Felicia Arnold might have been able to force things with my gun, but Marsh would have tried to rush her rather than take a chance with a twelve-story drop. Maybe strength wasn’t a factor at all. Whoever rapped me left me where I fell, and maybe Roy just tripped. So much for the process of elimination.
    I took the Central Artery, skirting downtown on the harborside, and got off at South Station. I followed Summer Street into L Street to Nancy Meagher’s address.
    I rang her buzzer, the top one of the three-decker. I heard her coming down the stairs. When she recognized me, she said over her shoulder, ”It’s all right, Drew.” The door to the second-floor apartment clicked shut.
    ”Still have Drew Lynch as house security?”
    ”Yes. You could have called first.”
    ”I wanted you to be able to tell the cops I dropped in without warning.”
    She turned and started climbing the stairs. Maybe I should have said ”without welcome” instead. I trailed behind her into the kitchen.
    Nancy said, ”Drink?”
    ”Yes. This remind you of anything?”
    ”What?”
    ”You and me. The last time you thought I’d done something wrong.”
    She paused with the glass she had taken down from the cabinet over the sink. ”The last time I thought you’d done something wrong you’d killed a man.”
    ”That was then. This time I was set up.”
    She pulled open the freezer door and plopped two ice cubes into the glass. ”Pity the police don’t agree with you.”
    ”C’mon, Nancy —”
    The glass crashed into the sink, shattering, as Nancy wheeled around. ”Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare try to explain this away. We had a date, remember? You were coming by to pick me up. Well, I waited, and no call from the guard downstairs. So I tried your office. Nothing. Condo. Nothing. Then I waited some more. John’s the kind who always shows, Nancy . The kind who always comes through.”
    ” Nancy —”
    ”Then I thought, my God, he’s had an accident. I tried the hospitals, Boston City , Mass General, even Beth Israel though it was the wrong direction. Then I got mad. Then I went home. Then I don’t hear from you, I hear from a homicide cop—”
    ”They said not to call you.”
    ”You were set up? I was set up, John! I was set up to be some kind of alibi you decided to discard.” She put her hand to her mouth.
    ”Is that what you think?”
    ”That’s what the cops think.”
    ”Not my question.”
    Nancy said, ”What happened?”
    ”Can we go into the living room? I don’t need the drink.”
    ”I do.”
    She built two cocktails and we carried them to the front of the apartment. She sat on the couch, legs and arms crossed. I took a floor cushion.
    ”No Renfield?”
    ”He’s downstairs. Mrs. Lynch has taken a liking to him.”
    Nancy ’s tone said no more pleasantries. I told her everything I could think of about what had happened. Halfway through she uncrossed her legs. Near the end, she dropped her arms, too.
    ”John, why would somebody go through all that trouble to mark you as Marsh’s killer?”
    ”I don’t know. There are plenty of people who have ! pretty direct motives for wanting him dead. I assume I was just a