Wall of Glass Read Online Free Page A

from the snowpeas.
    The wineglasses were in the cabinet below the island’s counter. Rita took out two glasses, set them beside the wine bottle, then lifted the bottle and went at it with the corkscrew. It was a standard restaurant model, the kind with a lever that folds so the thing can fit neatly into a waiter’s vest, and on my best days, at the peak of my strength, it can reduce me to a babbling idiot. Turning aside, I got the butcher block chopping board down off the wall and began to slice snowpeas into two-inch-long sections with meticulous attention, as though I were the sous chef at the Peking Hilton.
    I heard a dull pop behind me as the cork left the bottle, then the gurgle and splash of pouring wine. I didn’t turn around. No big deal. Millions of people were opening wine bottles all over the country, right this very minute. And maybe a few of them were even doing it in wheelchairs.
    â€œI got a phone call today,” she said. “From Allan Romero.”
    I turned to her, taking the glass of wine she held out. “Thanks. And who might that be?”
    â€œHead of the claims department for Atco Insurance.”
    â€œAbout the necklace?” I sipped the wine. It tasted like turpentine. “Atco was the insurer?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHe’s a quick worker.”
    â€œHe read about Biddle in the paper and called Nolan, in Burglary, this afternoon. Nolan told him about your statement to Hector. Do you like the wine?”
    â€œIt’s great. So what did Allan Romero have on his mind?” I set down the glass and went back to the snow-peas. I was fairly certain I already knew what Allan Romero had had on his mind.
    â€œHe was curious whether you knew anything more than you told Hector.”
    â€œHector was curious about the same thing. You think my puckish charm is beginning to fade?” The snowpeas were done, all sliced into neat sections cut on the bias. I opened a cabinet door, located the stack of plates, slipped one off the top.
    Rita said, “And he’s willing to offer a finder’s fee for the necklace’s return.”
    â€œI gave Hector my word, Rita.” I dumped the cut snowpeas onto the plate and picked up the green pepper. “And a man’s gotta stand by his word. Code of the West.”
    â€œYou were born in Scarsdale.”
    â€œ West Scarsdale.” I rinsed the green pepper off under the faucet.
    â€œYou gave him your word that you wouldn’t go out looking for the necklace on your own. You didn’t say anything about accepting, or not accepting, a valid offer volunteered to you by the insurance company.”
    I sliced off the top of the green pepper with the paring knife. “Are you sure you haven’t spent any time with the Jesuits?”
    â€œIf Hector said it was all right, would you be willing to work on the case?”
    I turned to her. “Suddenly I have this feeling that I’m about to be sandbagged. You already talked to Hector, right?”
    She smiled. “About half an hour before you got here.”
    I sipped at the wine again. It tasted better this time. Maybe I was developing a taste for turpentine. “And he said?”
    â€œHe said he’d be delighted for you to do so.”
    â€œIn exactly those words?”
    Another smile. “I’m giving you the gist of it.”
    â€œBe a different gist if I’d been the one to talk to him.”
    She nodded. “Which is why I did.”
    â€œWhat’s Romero willing to pay?”
    â€œWe left it open. You’ve got an appointment with him tomorrow, at two. You can negotiate then.”
    â€œOn Sunday? Claims people don’t work on Sunday.”
    â€œRomero does.”
    â€œI don’t think I’m going to like this guy.”
    â€œI called Paul and had him put together a contract.” Paul Gallegos was our attorney. “You can pick it up before you see Romero.”
    â€œYou’ve had a