Sweet Fortune

Glenna, as far as I know. We were both kind of embarrassed about the whole thing.”
    “Had she gone back to school to get her doctorate at that point?” Hatch asked.
    Benedict shook his head. “No. But she talked to me about it while we were seeing each other. I told her to go ahead, and offered to help pay for it. Hell, David was just a little guy at the time and his old man was gone. Lloyd had worked for me here at Benedict. A damned smart accountant. But I knew Glenna and the kid didn't have any money. And Glenna was Jessie's aunt, for Christ's sake. And I'd slept with her. I dunno. I guess I just felt like I owed her something.”
    “I'll be damned,” Hatch said again.
    “I'll tell you one thing. I liked her better before she got that degree in psychology,” Vincent confided. “You know, I tried to sort of help David along now and then. But I don't think I did too good a job.”
    “Hey, he's graduating from college and he hasn't done any jail time. What more can you ask? I've known worse father figures.”
    Vincent's brows rose. “Yeah? Like who?”
    “My own,” Hatch said dryly. “A real SOB.”
    Vincent gave him a thoughtful look. “I'll bet mine could have given yours lessons. That is, if he'd stuck around long enough to bother—walked out when I was eight. Never saw him again.”
    Hatch nodded. “Sometimes it's better if a kid's father doesn't stick around.”
    “Yeah. Sometimes. But sometimes I kind of wished I'd had a chance to show the bastard I made something of myself. You know what I mean?”
    “I know what you mean,” Hatch said.

    Hatch did not know whether to be worried or furious when he rang Jessie's buzzer at eight that evening and got no answer. He tried leaning on the button for a while but it was useless. If she was upstairs in her apartment, she was not answering the summons.
    He walked back toward his car and stood looking up at the darkened window of her bedroom. On a hunch, he decided to drive to her office.
    Ten minutes later he found a parking place on the street in front of Valentine Consultations. One glance told him that the lights were off in the upstairs office.
    It occurred to him that she was deliberately avoiding him. He was mentally going through a list of places where she might possibly be at that hour when he remembered Alex Robin. The first step in tracking Jessie down was to ask Robin if he'd seen her that afternoon. Hatch got out of the Mercedes and went to the front door of the office building.
    The door was locked but he was close enough to see the faint green glow in the crack of the blinds. He raised his hand and pounded heavily on the outer door.
    A moment later Jessie appeared in the doorway. “What in the world? Oh, it's you, Hatch.”
    He eyed her from head to toe, taking in the tight faded jeans and silver-studded denim work shirt. As he studied her in pointed silence, she nervously combed her hair back behind her ears with her fingers.
    “You weren't at home,” he said finally.
    She stepped back from the door. “Alex and I are busy. If you want to be entertained, you'll have to go somewhere else.”
    “Damn. I should have known. You gave that printout to Robin, didn't you?” Hatch moved into the hall and strode toward the door of the inner office. Jessie hurried after him.
    Alex was hunched over his terminal. He did not bother to look up. “Hey, Hatchard. Sorry about what almost happened to your Mercedes.”
    “It was a near thing,” Hatch admitted gruffly.
    “Know how you must have felt. Going to get an alarm?”
    “It's on order. For all the good it will do.”
    Alex nodded. “Ain't that the truth? Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Want to show you something.”
    “I don't think Hatch is interested in what we've found,” Jessie said stiffly.
    Hatch threw her a grim glance. “Want to bet?” He turned back to Robin. “Well? What have you got?”
    “DEL has two major data bases. One is a financial program and the other is this climate-forecasting thing.” Alex stabbed a button on the keyboard. “Take a look.”
    Hatch watched as rows of numbers moved across the screen. “A spread sheet. You're into the financial data base?”
    “One of the programs, at least. There's a lot of information here,” Alex said slowly. “Maybe even enough to help us figure out where the money's really going. I could use some professional advice.”
    “Dammit, I'm not going to help you follow that trail. I told Jessie I want her out of this