‘What do you mean-if they could find You? What are you going to do?”
Greenberg made no move to leave.
“Nothing earth-shattering. Merely continue making those inquiries . . . of
a minor nature. That’s the way the statement from your employers phrased
it, wasn’t it? Loring said it. Somewhere out there is the other half of
that paper. I’m going to find it.”
‘You listen to me firstl I doet deny you have a right . . .”
“You don’t denyt” Matlock turned on the federal
TnE mATLocK PAPER Ai
agent His voice was controlled but vicious. ‘rlat’s not good enough. That’s
negative approvall I’ve got several big rightsi They include a kid brother
in a sailboat, a black son of a bitch named Dunois or whatever you call him,
a man by the name of Lucas Herron, and that girl in therel I suspect you and
the doctor know the rest of what happened to her last night, and I can
guessf Don~t talk to me about a right!”
‘In principle, we agree. I just don’t want your ‘rights’ to land you next
to your brother. This is a job for professionals. Not an amateurl If you
work at alL I want you to work with whoever takes my place. That’s
important. I want your word on it.”
Matlock took off the top of his pajamas and gave Greenberg a short,
embarrassed smile. “You have it. I doet really see myself as a one-man
ranger team. Do you know who’s taking your place?”
“Not yet. Probably someone from D.C. They won’t take a chance on using a
Hartford or a New Haven man. . . . The truth is . . . they doet know who’s
been bought. He’ll be in touch. I’ll have to brief him myself. No one else
can. I’ll instruct him to identify himself with … what would you like?”
“Tell him to use your proverb. Vhen the old men 10 themselves, the cities
are dying.'”
‘You like that, don’t you?”
‘I don1 like it or dislike it It’s simply the truth. Isn’t that the way it
should be?”
“And very applicable. I see what you mean.*
“Very. ”
‘Jim, before I go this afternoon, I’m going to write out a telephone number
for you. It’s a Bronx number -my parents. They won’t know where I am, but
I’ll check with them every day. Use it if you have to.”
“Thanks, I will.- 3L62 Robert Ludlum
“I want your word on it.*
‘You have it.” Matlock laughed a short laugh of gratitude.
“Of course, under the circumstances, I may just be on the other end of
the line if you do call.’
“Back in private practice?”
“Ibe possibility is less remote than you think.”
15
Between his two classes, Matlock drove to the small brokerage office in the
town of Carlyle and emerged with a check for $7,312. It represented his
total investment in the market, mostly from royalties. The broker had tried
to dissuade him; it was no time to sell, especially at current prices. But
Matlock had made up his mind. The cashier reluctantly issued the check.
From there Matlock went to his bank and transferred his entire savings into
his checking account. He added the $7,312 to the slip and looked at the sum
total of his immediate cash value.
It came to $ljL,5o3..72.
Matlock stared at the figure for several minutes. He had mixed feelings
about it. On the one hand, it proved solvency; on the other, it was a
little frightening to think that after thirty-three years of living he was
able to pinpoint so accurately his net financial worth. There was no house,
no land, no hidden investments anywhere. Only an automobile, a few pos-
sessions of minor value, and some published words of such a specialized
nature that there would be no significant commercial rewards.
Yet by many standards, it was a great deal of money.
164 Robert Ludlurn
Only nowhere near enough. He knew that. It was why Scarsdale, New York, was
on the da3es schedule~
The meeting with Sealfont had been unnerving, and Matlock wasn7t sure how
much more his shattered nerves could talm The cold fury of CarlyWs
president was matched only by the depth of his anguish.
The bewildering shadow world of violence and corruption was a world he
could never come to gdps with because it was not within the realm of his
comprehension. Matlock had been startled to hear Sealfont say, as he sat in
his chair staring out the bay window overlooking the most beautiful lawn on
the Carlyle campus, that he might well resign.
“If this whole sordid, unbelievable business Is true –and who can doubt
It-I have no right to sit in this chair.*
“rhaes not so,” Matlock had ailtwered. “If ifs true, this place a going to
need you more than ever befbm”
“A blind man? No one needs a blind man. Not in this offic&*
Not blind. Unexposed.-
And then Sealfont had swung around in his chair and pounded on the top of
his desk in an enormous display of strength.
Why here?l Why herePI-
As he sat in front of Sealfonies desk, Matlock looked at the pained face of
Carlyle’s president. And for a second he thought the man might weep.
The trip down the Merritt Parkway was made at high speed. He had to race;
it was necessary for him It helped take his mind off the sight of Pat
Ballantyne as he had seen her a few mmutes before leaving. He had gone from
Sealfones to the hospital; still he haddt been able to talk with her. No
one had yeL
TnE mATLocK rApm 3.65
She had awakened at noon, hed been told. She’d gone into severe hysterics.
The doctor from Litchfield had administered further sedatives. The doctor
was worried, and Matlock knew it was Pat’s mind he was worried about The
nightmare of terror inflicted upon her body had to touch her brain.
The first minutes with his parents at the huge Scarsdale house were
awkward. His father, Jonathan Munro Matlock had spent decades in the
highest spheres of his marketplace and knew instinctively when a man came
to him without strength.
Without strength but with need.
Matlock told his father as simply and unemotionally as he could that he
wanted to borrow a large sum of money; he could not guarantee its
repayment. It would be used to help-udtimately help-young people like his
dead brother.
The dead son.
“How?” asked Jonathan Matlock softly.
‘I can’t tell you that.” He looked into his fathe?s eyes and the
irrevocable truth of the son~s statement was accepted by the father.
‘Very well. Are you qualified for this undertaking?-
‘Yes. I am.”
“Are there others involved?’
“By necessity, yes.”
“Do you trust them?”
“I do.”
“Have they asked for this money?”
‘No. They doet know about it.”
‘Will it be at their disposal?’
‘No. Not that I can foresee…. III go further than that. It would be wrong
for them to learn of it.”
“I’m not restricting you, I’m asking.”
‘Thaes my answer.’
166 Robert Ludlum
“And you believe that what yoere doing will help, in some way, boys like
David? Practical help, not theoretical, not dream stuff, not charity~”
“Yes. It has to.”
“How much do you want?”
Matlock took a deep breath silently. ‘Fifteen thousand dollars.”
‘Wait here.”
Several minutes later, the father came out of his study and gave the son an
envelope.
The son knew better than to open it.
Ten minutes after the exchang&–and Matlock knew it was an exchange-he
left, feeling the eyes of his parents as they stood on the enormous porch
and watched him drive out through the gates.
Matlock pulled into the apartment driveway, shut off the lights and the
engine, and wearily climbed out. As he approached the old Tudor house, he
saw that every light he owned was tamed on. Jason Greenberg wasn’t taking
chances, and Matlock assumed that some part of Greenberg’s silent, unseen
army was watching his place from varying distances-none too far away.
He unlocked the door and pushed it open. There was no one there. At least,
not in sight. Not even his cat.
“Hello? Jason? … Anybody here? les Matlock.’
There was no answer and Matlock was relieved. He wanted only to crawl into
bed and sleep. He’d stopped at the hospital to see Pat, and the request had
been denied. At least hed learned that “. . . she is resting and her
condition is deemed satisfactory.” That was a step up. That afternoon she’d
still been on the
THE MATLOCK PAMM 3.67
critical list. He would see her at nine in the morning.
Now was the time for him to sleep-peaceably if possible. Sleep at all
costs. There was a great deal to do in the morning.
He went into his bedroom, passing the still unrepaired sections of wall and
window as he did so. Carpentees and plasterer’s tools were neatly stacked