"Sorry I was here?" she asked.
"Been the same thing. I would have had to go with my instinct. And it said no dice."
"She's very pretty."
"And rich. And talented."
"Hmmm!" she said. The file made little rasping sounds. I sipped my drink. "Mr. McGee, sir? Which really surprised you most? Her showing up or me showing up?"
"You. Definitely. Looked down from the sundeck and saw you standing there and nearly choked to death." I reached an idle finger and hooked it into the back of the wrapped and tucked towel. One gentle tug untucked it and it fell, pooling around her. She slowly straightened her long, slender, lovely back. She reached and picked up her drink and took half of it down, then replaced it.
"May I assume you are quite serious, Mr. McGee?"
"It is crummy weather out there, and you have an extraordinarily fine back, and you were pleasantly bitchy about Miss Pearson, so I am serious, my dear."
"Shall I bother to finish these last three fingernails?"
"Please do, Mrs. Holton."
"I shall try to finish them, Mr. McGee. I think it would be good for my character, what little I have left."
So I listened to the busy little buzz of the nail file and admired her, and sipped the drink, and thought about the way she had looked that day I had watched her spray-painting that old blue metal chaise.
And then I heard the wind-blown January rain move in from the sea and across the beaches and the boat basin and roar softly and steadily down on the weather decks of my houseboat.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John D. MacDonald was graduated from Syracuse University and received an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Dorothy, had one son and several grandchildren. Mr. MacDonald died in December 1986.
Other Books by John D. MacDonald
All These Condemned
April Evil
Area Of Suspicion
Ballroom Of The Skies
The Beach Girls
The Brass Cupcake
A Bullet For Cinderella
Clemmie
The Crossroads
Deadly Welcome
Death Trap
The Deceivers
The Drowner
The Empty Trap
The End Of The Night
The Executioners
A Flash Of Green
The Girl, The Gold Watch & Everything
Judge Me Not
A Man Of Affairs
Murder In The Wind
The Neon Jungle
On The Run
One Monday We Killed Them All
The Only Girl In The Game
Please Write For Details
The Price Of Murder
Slam The Big Door
Soft Touch
Where Is Janice Gantry?
Wine Of The Dreamers
And in the Travis Mcgee Series
01 The Deep Blue Good-By
02 Nightmare In Pink
03 A Purple Place For Dying
04 The Quick Red Fox
05 A Deadly Shade Of Gold
06 Bright Orange For The Shroud
07 Darker Than Amber
08 One Fearful Yellow Eye
09 Pale Gray For Guilt
10 The Girl In The Plain Brown Wrapper
The End
