Run Before The Wind by Woods Stuart

Author:Woods, Stuart [Woods, Stuart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2011-07-07T23:12:33+00:00

macadam IGNORED the hangover. He rose at eight, later than he used to, but still managed thirty situps and twenty pushups. The legs might not be quite what they were, but the biceps were still firm and the belly flat. He looked younger than his fifty-six years.

He had cereal for breakfast, read the Daily Mail, then dressed in one of his half-dozen three-piece tweed suits. MacAdam fancied himself something of a gentleman and dressed rather like a detective inspector in an Alfred Hitchcock film. It was a trademark.

He made the bed, then stepped into his parlor office pulling the curtains that separated it from the bedroom. The large oak desk was neatly arranged, and the leather furniture was dusted; the cleaning lady had been in the day before. He opened the curtains and peered out. He could see South Kensington tube station just down the street. An occasional ring of the cash register could be heard from the wine shop downstairs.

He was open for business promptly at nine, though the morning passed without a ring of the doorbell or the telephone. He checked in with his answering service; not much, some debt collections to do and an anxious husband wondering if his wife had been caught with the boyfriend yet. He would attend to those later in the day.

He spent the morning reading a new paperback about making a killing in the stock market. He was conservative with most of what he had tucked away, but now and again he took a flyer. He hadn’t done badly.

The letter arrived by messenger precisely at noon. Alfred MacAdam, who had permitted himself to be called “Blackie,” but not “Tar,” in his days on the force, was unaccustomed to receiving assignments in such a fashion, his clients preferring not to commit their problems to writing. Mind you, this client didn’t give away much. There were 120 sterling in twenty-pound notes, an airline ticket, and a brief note, typed, but not signed: “Sir, with apologies for the brief notice and awkward arrangements, I would like to discuss with you a matter that might require several days of your services. If you can make yourself available under the circumstances please come to the above address at 10.30 p.m. this evening for a meeting of perhaps 30 minutes duration. I enclose an air ticket, 100 pounds to be applied to a mutually agreed-upon fee, and 20 pounds for incidental expenses. ” There was an address and flat number. No mention of what to do with the money and ticket if he should decide not to come.

Whoever had sent the note had been pretty confident of his interest.

He could simply pocket the money, cash in the ticket and be nearly 200 to the good; still, he was intrigued. Whoever could afford to send 120 to a stranger had more to put behind it.

On the airplane he declined a drink, though. God knew, he could have used it. If this client were as important as he might be, booze on the breath would not be good.

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