“Lara, don’t get angry with me. I’m on your side.”
“Then do something. You’re my lawyer. Get me the hell out of this.”
“No. Everything is fine,” Lara told Townsend.
“Good. I understand that you and Philip are going to the mayor’s dinner Saturday night.”
“Yes.” She had wanted to turn down the invitation at first, but Philip had insisted.
“You need these people. You can’t afford to offend them. I want you to go.”
“Not without you, darling.”
He had taken a deep breath. “All right. I’ll go with you. I guess it’s time I stopped being a hermit.”
Saturday evening Lara helped Philip get dressed. She put his studs and cuff links in his shirt and tied his tie for him. He stood there, silently, cursing his helplessness.
“It’s like Ken and Barbie, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“There you are, darling. You’ll be the most handsome man there.”
“Thanks.”
“I’d better get dressed,” Lara said. “The mayor doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
“I’ll be in the library,” Philip told her.
Thirty minutes later Lara walked into the library. She looked ravishing. She was dressed in a beautiful white Oscar de la Renta gown. On her wrist was the diamond bracelet Philip had given her.
Philip had difficulty sleeping Saturday night. He looked across the bed at Lara and wondered how she could have falsely accused Marian of stealing the bracelet. He knew he had to confront her with it, but he wanted to speak with Marian first.
Early Sunday morning, while Lara was still asleep, Philip quietly got dressed and left the penthouse. He took a taxi to Marian’s apartment. He rang the bell and waited.
A sleepy voice said, “Who is it?”
“It’s Philip. I have to talk to you.”
The door opened and Marian stood there.
“Philip? Is something wrong?”
“We have to talk.”
“Come in.”
He entered the apartment. “I’m sorry if I woke you up,” Philip said, “but this is important.”
“What’s happened?”
He took a deep breath. “You were right about the bracelet. Lara wore it last night. I owe you an apology. I thought…perhaps that you…I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
Marian said quietly, “Of course, you would have believed her. She’s your wife.”
“I’m going to confront Lara with it this morning, but I wanted to talk to you first.”
Marian turned to him. “I’m glad you did. I don’t want you to discuss it with her.”
“Why not?” Philip demanded. “And why would she do such a thing?”
“You don’t know, do you?”
“Frankly, no. It makes no sense.”
“I think I understand her better than you do. Lara is madly in love with you. She would do anything to hold on to you. You’re probably the only person she has ever really loved in her life. She needs you. And I think you need her. You love her very much, don’t you, Philip?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s forget all this. If you bring it up to her, it won’t do any good, and it will only make things worse between the two of you. I can easily find another job.”
“But it’s unfair to you, Marian.”
She smiled wryly. “Life isn’t always fair, is it?” If it were, I would be Mrs. Philip Adler. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“At least let me do something for you. Let me give you some money to make up for…”
“Thank you, but no.”
There was so much she wanted to say, but she knew that it was hopeless. He was a man in love. What she said was: “Go back to her, Philip.”
The construction site was on Chicago’s Wabash Avenue, south of the Loop. It was a twenty-five-story office building, and it was half finished. An unmarked police car pulled up to the corner, and two detectives got out. They walked over to the site and stopped one of the workers passing by. “Where’s the foreman?”
He pointed to a huge, burly man cursing out a workman. “Over there.”
The detectives went over to him. “Are you in charge here?”
He turned and said impatiently, “I’m not only in charge, I’m very busy. What do you want?”
“Do you have a man in your crew named Jesse Shaw?”