Free Slam the Big Door by John D. MacDonald Page A

about potential and all. She said she’d told him that when she came into the money she’d had it taken out of the trust and put in an investment portfolio that was heavier in common stocks than the trust list had been, and it had been doing so good she certainly didn’t want to disturb it for any land deal. She told him her father wanted her to be comfortable her whole life long, and that was just what she planned to be. She told him she couldn’t help it if her mother was a damn fool about money. That didn’t mean she had to be too.”
    “They don’t get along so good? The girl and Jamison?”
    “Not good and not bad either,” Rob said.
    Purdy spat over the railing into the yard. “Boy, what did you find out about that funny-name foreigner staying there? He got any cash money?”
    “His name is Rodenska, Mike Rodenska. He’s a newspaperman. His wife died a little while ago. He’s got some money.”
    “Has he got enough?”
    “I think he’s probably got enough, if he wants to go in with Jamison. I don’t know if Jamison has talked to him or not.”
    There was a long and thoughtful silence. “That’s a risk I guess we got to take,” Purdy said. “I’ve just about dried up every other place Jamison could go for cash money. Course, might be we could hedge it a little. Boy, you keep on seeing that Debbie Ann, and see if you can make you a chancet to hint to that funny-name fella the land deal is sour.”
    Rob said thoughtfully, “Of course it wouldn’t be sour if Troy could get hold of…”
    “Boy,” Purdy said harshly. “One half percent of Twin Keys could be fifty thousand cash money.”
    “Oh, I didn’t mean anything by what I just said, Mr. Elmarr. Not a thing. I was just working up to something else I think should be considered. I was wondering what there is to prevent Jamison getting in touch with, or being contacted by, one of the big land syndicates, say from the East Coast. They could see the potential in a minute. And he could still get out with a nice profit.”
    J. C. chuckled. “Run into that before, Raines. Tell him about that time they come in and tried to grab a deal Wink was interested in, Corey.”
    Corey laughed softly. “You can’t make a deal that big quick and quiet. Wink found out long before it was going to be closed. So he started scrambling around. First thing you know the tract comes up for a zoning change and the Ravenna County Board of Commissioners tabled it for further study. Next thing somebody brings an injunction against the bay fill that was going on. Then it turns out maybe somebody got a little sloppy approving the title on the tract. With one thing and another, the Miami boys pulled out, and soon as Wink got it, all those little problems sort of got themselves ironed right out.”
    “I get the picture,” Rob said, swallowing. “By the way. Jack Connorly has been after Jamison to run for Commissioner in November.”
    “Honest to God?” Purdy said with blank astonishment. He rocked his chair down onto four legs, slapped his knees, and began to gasp with laughter. When he caught his breath he said, “That Connorly is pure horse’s ass, I swear. Gawd damn! Well, if he wants to make a big political figger out of Jamison, he better hustle his ass down the road, ’cause come November, Jamison is going to be back down to his proper size, building little bitty carports.” All amusement disappeared with an almost startling abruptness. “Anybody got anything to add?”
    “Just one little old thing I was saving, Purd,” J. C. said, fat little fingers laced across his stomach. “I got this in such a roundabout way, it isn’t worth trying to explain it. But it’s a good guess Jamison has got him another woman. Don’t know who she is, but she’s staying at Shelder’s Cottages on Ravenna Key, there on the bay side, just below Whitey’s Fish Camp. Don’t know if it will have any bearing on what we were talking about, but they say Jamison and Mary Kail