The Bookman's Promise (2 page)

From the beginning there were differences to their most recent dinner party. For one thing I was no longer a cop, and the manner of my departure from the Denver Police Department might have chilled my relationship with any judge. I had roughed up a brutal thug, and the press dredged up my distant past, a childhood riddled with violent street fighting and close ties to people like Vince Marranzino, who later became one of Denver’s most feared mobsters. Never mind that Vince and I had only been within speaking distance once in almost twenty years; never mind that I had lived all that down and become, if I do say so, a crackerjack homicide cop—once you’ve been tarred by that brush it’s always there waiting to tar you again. By then there were rumors that Lee was on a short list of possibles for a U.S. Supreme Court nomination, and though it was hard to picture Lee and Ronald Reagan as political bedfellows, I had no real idea what Lee’s politics were. All I knew was this: if there was even a chance for him in the big teepee, the last thing I wanted was to mess that up. I had been front-page news, none of it good, for most of a week, but if Lee worried about his own image and the company he kept, I never saw any sign of it. He called and asked for my version of what had happened, I told him the truth, and he accepted that. “Not the best judgment you’ve ever shown, Cliff, but this too shall pass,” he said. “I’m sure you’re busy right now keeping the wolves at bay. As soon as this settles down, we’ll get together.”

But then I was gone to Seattle, and suddenly several months had passed since I’d seen them. I came home with a big stash, my Indian money; I book-hunted across the midwest with Seattle friends, and when I returned to Denver one of my first calls was from Miranda.

“Mr. Janeway.” Her icy tone sounded put-on but not completely. “Are you avoiding us for some reason? Have we done something to offend you?”

I was instantly shamed. “Not at
all
,” I said, answering her second question and avoiding the first. “God, you can’t believe that.”

“Then kindly get your ass over here, sir,” she said. “Friday night, seven o’clock, no tie, please, no excuses. Come prepared to liven up what promises to be a rather drab affair.”

“You wouldn’t know how to do a drab affair.”

“We’ll see about that. This one may be a challenge, even for a woman of my legendary social talents. One of Lee’s boyhood chums is coming to town. Don’t tell anybody I said this, but he’s not exactly my cup of tea. So, will you come help me make the best of it?”

“Yes, ma’am, I’d be honored.”

“It’s been so long since we’ve seen you I’ve forgotten your face. Are you married yet?”

I laughed.

“Going steady with anyone?‘

“Not at the moment.”

I knew why she was asking. Miranda loved informality, but at a sit-down dinner she was a stickler for a proper head count. “I’ve got the perfect lady for you on Friday,” she said.

I paused, then said, “Thank you for the invitation.”

“No, Cliff, thank
you
. I know why you’ve been so scarce, and I just want you to know we appreciate the consideration but it’s not necessary and never was. We’ve stopped by your bookstore any number of times but we’ve never been able to catch you.”

I knew that, of course: I had seen their checks in the cash drawer. “I’m always out hunting books,” I said.

“Apparently so. But Lee and I would be pretty shallow people, wouldn’t we, if we wrote off our friends at the first sign of trouble.”

“That was some pretty bad trouble.”

“Yes, it was, but it got you out of being a cop and into the book business. So it wasn’t all bad, was it?”

This was a smaller group than they’d had in the past, with only eight of us, including the Huxleys, at the table. Lee’s boyhood pal turned out to be Hal Archer, the writer and historian who had won a Pulitzer prize six years before, coming from far left field to snatch it away from several favored and far more academically endowed candidates. At the time I was glad he had won: I always pull for the underdog and I had truly admired his book. It was a dense account of two ordinary families in Charleston, South Carolina, during the four years of our civil war. Using recently found documents, letters, and journals, Archer had managed to bring them to life despite having to deal with a mountain of detail. He told, in layman’s words and with the practiced eye of an artist, how they had survived and interacted among themselves and with others in the shattered city. It was an epic story of courage and hardship in the face of a stiff Union blockade, an unrelenting bombardment, and three years of siege, and he told it beautifully.

Archer had published only historical fiction before turning out this riveting true account, but even then I considered him a major talent. I had read him years earlier and had earmarked him at once as a writer who would never waste my time. He had a towering ability to make each word matter and he never resorted to showy prose. He made me live in his story; his work was everything I had always loved about books. With all that going for us, why did I dislike him so intensely the moment I met him?

Such a strong negative reaction often begins in the eyes. Archer’s eyes were dismissive, as if his superiority had been recognized much too late by fools like me and he had paid a damned stiff price for my ignorance. He was right about one thing: it is fashionable to adore an icon after he has become one, but it’s also easy for a writer to become a horse’s ass when fame and riches are suddenly thrust upon him. It was screwy to think that Archer had instantly made me the point man for all the years he had worked in obscurity, and I wanted this impression to be wrong because I had always liked his stuff. But it held up and deepened throughout the evening.

He was the last to arrive, forty-five minutes late. Miranda showed him in at a quarter to eight, accompanied by a pretty young woman she introduced as Erin d’Angelo. I saw Ms. d’Angelo make a gesture of apology to Lee when Archer wasn’t watching, but it was brief and his response was even more so. Miranda was unruffled at the delay in dinner: it would be perfect, I knew, because it always was at her house. She knew her guests and planned for their little quirks accordingly, and that told me yet more about Mr. Archer and his ways. A man who will keep an entire dinner party waiting for most of an hour has a pretty good opinion of himself.

Archer took center stage at once when he arrived; even Lee stood back with what I thought was a look of quiet amusement while his old friend held court. There was some talk about a new book coming but Archer turned that quickly aside, implying that whenever it came, it would certainly be important but he couldn’t talk about it now. A national booksellers association was having its annual meeting in Denver that year and the great man was in town to speak at the banquet, receive an award, and do local media appearances. Ms. d’Angelo was his escort, one of those super-competent people provided by publishers for writers on tour, and occasionally for writers between books if they are important enough and their business is somehow career-related. The Pulitzer had locked in Archer’s importance for the rest of his lifetime, and so he got Ms. d’Angelo to drive him—not forever, I hoped for her sake.

Her name suggested an Irish-Italian clash of cultures but to me she looked only like the best of America. She might have been a freshman college student straight from the heart of the country, a professional virgin with taffy-colored hair, a lovely oval face, and big eyes that radiated mischief. “She’s actually a thirty-year-old lawyer,” Miranda told me during a quiet moment in the kitchen. “She’s extremely bright and as tough as she needs to be.”

“What does that mean?”

“She could go very far in law is what it means. Sky’s the limit, if she wanted to.”

“That sounds like pretty deep exasperation I hear in your voice.”

“Yeah, it is. It’s really none of my business, but Erin’s like the kid sister I never had and she’s been like a daughter to Lee. She lived with us after her father died and we love her like family. We want the best for her and she could have it all. She’s got a great legal mind; she could climb the heights and make a ton of money while she’s at it.”

“Maybe she just wants a quieter, gentler life.”

“I should have known I’d get no sympathy from you. You couldn’t care less about money.”

“Long as I’ve got enough to keep my act together.”

“Erin’s father was like that. Until one day when he really needed it and didn’t have it. Knock wood and hope that doesn’t happen to you.”

“Hope what doesn’t happen?”

“Oh, don’t ask. It’s a story with a bad ending and I never should have brought it up.”

I didn’t say anything. She gave me a sad look like nothing I had ever seen from her. “D’Angelo and Lee were partners very early, a pair of idealistic young eagles right out of law school. Mrs. D. had died. I was a silly adolescent worshiping Lee from afar and Erin was just a child.”

She wavered, like maybe she’d tell me and maybe she wouldn’t. “I really shouldn’t have gotten into this,” she finally said. “Do me a favor, forget I said anything about it.”

“Sure.”

“Promise.”

“I promise, Miranda. I will never breathe a word to anybody— not that I have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“It’s not important now. If Erin ever brings it up, fine. I’d just rather it didn’t come from me. She’s a great girl and we’re very proud of her. What’s not to be proud of? She got perfect grades all through college and look at her now, working in a big downtown law firm.”

“What’s she doing schlepping writers around? Can’t be much money in that.”

Exasperation returned in a heartbeat. “See,
that’s
what I’m talking about. She’s been doing that since her days at the DU law school, and she won’t give it up. Suddenly she’s tired of law. Now what rings her bell is lit-tra-ture. She’s even been writing a novel, God help her, in her spare time.”

“I can’t imagine she’s got any time to spare.”

“She works by day and drives by night, writes when she can. Are you interested, Cliff?”

“I don’t know—would you want me to be?”

Miranda gave me a long, wistful look. “You’re a good guy, Janeway, and I mean that. But I’m afraid you’d only reinforce all her bad ideas.”

The woman she had invited as my opposite was certainly nice enough—a ravishing redhead named Bonnie Conrad—and we spent much of the evening, when we weren’t listening to Archer, in a pleasant exchange of views on world events. But my eyes kept drifting back to Erin d’Angelo, who provided such a cool presence at Archer’s side. Once she caught me looking and her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she had picked up a whiff of my thought and found it as welcome as a fresh dose of herpes. Then she must have seen the beauty of my inner self, for she smiled, and in the heat of that moment all I could think was,
Oh, mother, what a wonderful face
.

Rounding out our party were Judge Arlene Weston and her husband, Phil, a plastic surgeon who had carved up some famous Hollywood noses before moving to Denver in the sixties. It was Phil who brought up the Supreme Court. “Arlene says you had an interview with Reagan.”

“You’re not supposed to talk about that, sweetheart,” Arlene said. “It’s bad luck to bring it up before the fact.”

“I don’t think it matters much,” Lee said. “It was just a visit, certainly not what I’d call an interview. Tell you the truth, I’m still not sure what started it all.”

“Somebody gave him your name, that’s pretty clear. Must’ve been a hell of a recommendation from one who’s very close to that inner circle.”

“Maybe he’s looking for a pal to come in on slow afternoons and keep him company while he watches his old movies,” Phil said, joshing.

“All his afternoons are slow,” said Archer.

“Whatever it was, it’s pretty hard for me to take it seriously at this point,” Lee said.

“I don’t see why,” said Bonnie. “You’d make a great justice.”

“That’s not how they choose them,” Archer said. “Politics is what counts in that game, not legal acumen.”

“Hal’s right about that,” Lee said. “I imagine it’s the same in academia. The good teachers get lost in the shuffle, while those who play the game get ahead.”

“And the same in books,” Archer said. “Them that sits up and barks gets the awards.”

“I never saw you barking for anybody.”

“Maybe the Pulitzer committee’s above all that,” Archer said. “Or maybe I just got lucky.”

“Maybe you’ll both get lucky,” Arlene said. “Wouldn’t that be something? A Pulitzer prize winner
and
a Supreme Court justice from that one graduating class in college.”

“High school, actually,” Archer said. “Lee and I have known each other forever.”

“We graduated from a tiny high school in Virginia,” Lee said. “Our graduating class had twenty-two boys and twenty-two girls.”

“Isn’t that romantic?” Miranda said. “I just love that.”

“That’s because you got somebody’s guy,” Arlene said. “You’re so
evil
, Miranda.”

“Yep. I love to think of the poor, weeping wench, doomed to a life without Lee.”

I said nothing during this light exchange, and it went on for a while before the inevitable swing to books came, at around ten-thirty. “So,” Miranda asked privately at one point, “how do you like Mr. Archer?” I told her I had always loved his books and prepared to let it go at that. The Westons left in the next hour, and then we were six. Miranda had sensed the spontaneous hostility between Archer and me, and now she did her heroic best to overcome it. “Cliff has been a big,
big
fan of your books forever, Hal,” she said, but this only made things worse. Archer’s comment, “How very,
very
nice of him,” was a startling breach of etiquette, too pointed and caustic even for him. He barely saved himself with a weasely “of course I’m kidding” smile, but the private look that passed between us told the real story. How dare I pass judgment, good, bad, or indifferent, and who the hell needed my approval anyway?

Normally at this point I would take off my kid gloves and bring up my own verbal brass knucks. I almost said,
And listen
, Hal,
that was even
before
I knew what an accomplished asshole you are
…
now I’ve got two things to admire you for
. I would have said this with my pleasantest smiling-cobra demeanor, and then, into the shocked silence, I’d have had to say,
Yes siree
, Hal,
you’re way up there on my list of favs, right between Danielle Steel and Robin Cook
. Damn, I wanted to say that. I wanted to say it so badly that I came
this
close to really saying it. In my younger days I’d have let it rip instantly, in any crowd. I caught the eyes of Erin d’Angelo, who still seemed to be reading my mind from afar with a look of real mischief on her face.
Go ahead, say it, I dare you
, her look said. But I had my host to consider. I gave a little shake of my head, and Erin rewarded me with a soft laugh that no one could hear and only I could see.

Then she mouthed a single word and pulled me into the screwiest, most extended repartee I have ever had with a stranger. I couldn’t be sure, but the word looked like
coward
.

I gave her my Tarzan look, the one that said,
A lot you know, sister, I eat guys like him for breakfast
.

She made a show of her indifference. Glanced at her nails. Looked away at nothing.

I stood up straight, my face fierce with my savage cavemanhood.

I had the feeling she was laughing at that; I couldn’t be sure. In another moment, people would begin noticing what idiots we were, and I looked away, cursing the darkness.

Round one to her, on points.

We were in the library by then and Bonnie was ogling the books. Suddenly Archer said, “My goodness, Lee, don’t you ever show anyone your real books?” Lee seemed reluctant, as if this would be much too much ostentation for one evening, but the cat was out of the bag and down the stairs we all went. We came into a smaller room that was also shelved all around, the shelves glassed and containing books that were clearly from another time. Archer stood back while the rest of us marveled at pristine runs of Dickens, Twain, Kipling, Harte, Hawthorne, Melville, so many eminent Victorians that my head began to spin as I looked at them. There wasn’t a trumped-up leather binding in the room, and the sight of so much unfaded original cloth was gorgeous, inspiring, truly sensual.

“This is how my book fetish started,” Lee said. “I inherited these.”

“From his good old grandma Betts,” Archer said. “Ah yes, I remember her well, what a dear old gal. Show them the Burtons, Lee.”

And there they were, the greatest works of their day. With Lee’s permission, I took each book down and handled it carefully. Archer talked about Burton as we looked, and his own zeal lit a fire that spread to us all. He seemed to know everything about Burton’s life, and at some point I figured out, at least in a general sense, what the new Archer book was going to be. You can always tell with a writer: he gets that madness in his eyes whenever his subject comes up.

The room had gone quiet. Then I heard Erin’s soft voice.

“There aren’t any men like that anywhere in the world today.”

I gave her a challenging look. She rolled her eyes. I said, “He’d go crazy today,” and she cocked her head: “You think so?” I said, “Oh yeah. Ten minutes in this nuthouse world and he’d be ready to lie down in front of a bus.” She said, “On the other hand, how would a man of today, say yourself as an example, do in Burton’s world— India, Arabia, or tropical Africa of the late 1850s?” I said, “It’d sure be fun to find out,” and she looked doubtful. But a few minutes later she slipped me a paper with a telephone number and a cryptic note,
Call me if you ever figure it out
.