Free McNally's Chance by Lawrence Sanders Page A

she finished being finished she returned to a famous mother and a stepfather who resembled the ski instructor in Lausanne, who had introduced her to the arts of sex and the slalom.
    “Sabrina is headstrong and adamant when it comes to getting her way,”
    Silvester was saying. “She’s always dictated to Jill rather than reason with her and poor Jill was ready to make the break. Sabrina’s disclosure gave the girl just the excuse she was looking for to act on her own. There is nothing like a worthy cause to justify our actions.
    Jill’s quest is her own Holy Grail.
    “I thought if I could keep mother and daughter apart until I had a chance to talk to Jill it would save a confrontation between the two that would settle nothing. My error was to call Sabrina and tell her I had located Jill and Zack. She insisted on coming down immediately.”
    “She didn’t tell me that,” I thought aloud.
    Silvester’s shrug said that was a given. “Knowing Sabrina was practically on her way here the minute I said I had located Jill, I checked out of the Chesterfield and into here with Jill and Zack, without telling Sabrina. My purpose was to keep the warring parties from hand-to-hand combat until I had some time alone with Jill. I’d reconciled the two before and hoped I could do it again.”
    “And have you?” I asked.
    Silvester shook his head. “No. Jill is more determined than ever to find her father.”
    Our lunch arrived and Silvester eyed his mound of mashed potatoes suspiciously. “I should have had the tossed green salad.”
     
    Having no such scruples, I asked the waiter to bring me a beer to go with the meal. “Dig in,” I told Silvester. “It’ll put lead in your pencil.”
    “My pencil, Mr. McNally, is not wanting.” As if to prove it he went at his shepherd’s pie with gusto.
    Tell me, do you know who Gillian’s father is?”
    Without skipping a beat he responded, “Cross my heart and hope to die, I don’t. Sabrina will take the secret to her grave.”
    “And when did you learn that Sabrina was Gillian’s natural mother?”
    Not looking me in the eye, he stated, “At the same time Jill got the news.”
    I wanted to know if he had shared in the champagne toast, but the guy was embarrassed enough at the disclosure, and I saw no reason to add insult to injury. I wondered what other secrets Sabrina Wright kept from those she loved and, no doubt, so did they. As far as I was concerned the case, which I didn’t want from the beginning, was closed.
    I would bill Ms Wright for twenty-four hours, plus expenses, and leave her and her kin to sort out their differences while running up a tab at The Breakers your average Joe might mistake for a telephone number. But I did want a few answers before I left the clan to their fate.
    “Will you tell me how you got my name?” was number one on my list.
    Silvester waved his hand as if shooing a pesky fly. “Of course.” He gave me a name that sounded vaguely familiar and went on to say, “We were at college together. He’s from these parts and in our junior year he got himself into a bit of a jam during the Christmas break. A little booze, a little pot, a fast car, and an underage girl in the passenger seat is the way it went, I think. His father hired you to patch things up and he returned to school singing your praises. I never forgot your name or the fact that you owned a collection of silk berets in a variety of pastel shades.”
    I recalled my silk-beret period with a nostalgia I’m sure Picasso must have felt for his blue period. This link brought to mind my former client and his son. Good people and it was the boy’s first offense, which is why I agreed to help him. “What did he do after college?”
    “Wall Street,” Silvester answered. “I called him to see if you were still in business down here. He contacted his father and that’s how I got your number. I told Sabrina I was going to enlist your help, but as it turned out that wasn’t necessary.