Read Online Yellow Dog Contract by Ross Thomas - Free Book Online

Arch Mix?”
    â€œI like your moustache. Is it new?”
    â€œIt’s two years old.”
    â€œIt makes you look faintly like Fredric March. A young Fredric March, of course.”
    â€œCome on, Slick.”
    He reached inside his blue blazer, brought out a silver cigarette case, politely offered me one, which I refused, took one for himself, lit it, and then smiled and said, “Audrey told you of my interest, of course.”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œWell, you might say I have a professional interest in what happened to Arch Mix.”
    â€œI thought you’d retired.”
    â€œFrom the agency, dear boy, but not from life. I started up my own little consultancy about a year ago. Yes, I suppose you wouldn’t know about that because we haven’t seen each other in almost two years, isn’t it?”
    â€œAbout that.”
    â€œI got your Christmas card. Did you get mine? Yours was really quite clever.”
    â€œRuth did it.”
    â€œHow is that charming woman?”
    â€œFine.”
    â€œRemarkable woman.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHowever does she stand the isolation?”
    â€œShe has me.”
    â€œYes, she does have you, doesn’t she, and the goats, too, of course.” He made it sound as if the goats were her salvation.
    â€œLet’s get back to Mix,” I said.
    â€œWell, dear boy, I suppose I really should ask why you would even care that I’m interested in what happened to Mr. Mix.”
    â€œRoger Vullo is going to pay me a lot of money to tell him what I think happened.”
    â€œJust for your thoughts on the matter?” He had picked up immediately on the think I had used, which was another good reason to call him Slick.
    â€œJust for my thoughts,” I said.
    â€œLittle Roger,” Slick said in a musing, almost dreamy tone. “I knew his daddy quite well, you know.”
    â€œI didn’t.”
    â€œYes, we served in the OSS together. Little Roger wasn’t born then, of course.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI understand he has set up a foundation of sorts to look into all kinds of interesting things.”
    â€œConspiracy,” I said. “He sees it everywhere.”
    â€œWell, they do seem to be burgeoning everywhere.”
    â€œConspiracies?”
    â€œNo, dear boy, organizations or foundations or committees or what have you that have been set up to poke about in them. Most of the time they seem to be dead set on casting my former masters as the villain in each piece.”
    â€œThe agency has always been blameless, of course.”
    Slick smiled. “I prefer to think of us as having been a bit careless here and there.”
    â€œMix,” I said. “Let’s get back to him.”
    â€œYes. Let’s. Well, after I retired I was really at loose ends so I talked to some old friends who suggested that I might set up my little consultancy. Which I did.”
    I looked around the living room. “Where?”
    â€œRight here. I fixed up one of the spare bedrooms into quite a nice little office. In fact, I found a rolltop desk in Leesburg that was an absolute steal. My office has rather a charming 1904 air about it.”
    I drank some of my beer and then took out my tin box and started rolling a cigarette. “Try not to spill any, dear boy,” Slick said. “I’ve just vacuumed.”
    I didn’t spill any. “What do you consult on, Slick?”
    â€œShall I be modest?”
    â€œDon’t even try.”
    â€œWell, during my years of service I acquired a certain amount of expertise that a number of old friends seem to think most highly of. They recommend me to firms and organizations and even individuals who are having a spot of trouble.”
    â€œGive me an example.”
    â€œI’ll give you two. They were both cases of industrial espionage. Some Germans were the culprits in one, which concerned pharmaceuticals. The Japanese were