Chapter 44

* * * *

On the appointed date and time, I arrived in Great Falls and rang the doorbell. Novotny answered the door, checked my ID, and then led me toward the back of the house.

“Mrs. Mann is waiting in the sitting room.”

I was tempted to say, “Groovy.” but of course I didn’t.

“Mrs. Mann, Quinton’s friend, Harriman Patterson.”

“How do you do, Harriman?”

It took me a second to remember that was Patterson’s name. I was tempted to ask her to call me Skip, even though that was almost as bad. I murmured something innocuous in return, all the while studying her surreptitiously.

She was a little woman, about five foot four—well, compared to my six foot three that was little—and she was wearing a tweed skirt suit of soft pinks, blues, and grays. Around her neck was a silk scarf that emphasized the color of her eyes, making them deeper and bluer than any I’d ever seen.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured when she saw my camera. “I don’t permit pictures of my home.”