“What for?” Devlin let Eileen slip out of his arms.

“I’m looking out for you, schmuck. I want Kevin to see how important you are to me.”

“I thought I wasn’t a suspect…”

“In Kevin’s book, everybody’s a suspect. He told me once that he’d frisk the Pope for silverware. When I asked him why, he said he knew what was in his own heart. Kevin’s on duty all the time.”

“As long as he doesn’t discover the idea that relief is just a swallow away.”

“Four packs a day,” John said. “Cigarettes are already rotting Kevin’s gums.” John hung up.

Eileen came into the bathroom while Devlin was still drying himself.

“You must be moanin’ inside with scrapes as deep as those.”

“All that’s bothering me physically is that I haven’t had a chance to do my exercises since Sunday.”

“Missing a day or two won’t hurt you. Are you going to drive me into the city?”

“Do you want to go in so early?”

“I want to call me father. It’ll be teatime over there. People asked a lot of questions yesterday, and I didn’t get any work done. My boss wanted to know if you had been working with Jack Brennan. Can you believe it?”

The same story Liz Becker had told him. Eileen’s boss was a corporate attorney just back from a business trip to China. Eileen made close to fifty thousand a year, more than Devlin. “Tell him I haven’t had any contact with any of the Brennans in fifteen years.”

“I know that. He heard some story at lunch—”

“That’s what I want to know. Where did he have lunch? And with whom?”

“The Four Seasons. With other lawyers.” A-list gossip. Where did the alleged top people pick up such stuff? Everybody loved mystery and intrigue; everybody would stretch disbelief for a really juicy rumor. Who had the ears of high-living corporate lawyers? Norberto Torres liked to be seen at the Four Seasons. The story was wonderful propaganda, hinting of mystery and ancient plots.

“Do pass along what I said, okay?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’ll tell him to straighten out his mates, too. People can be very childish in these matters. I’ve seen it before.”

“Your mind is working on this.”

“Oh, yes. It won’t do any good simply to react without thinking.”

Now he remembered the young Hispanic who had showed up here last night. “Eileen, there are wheels still turning here, to paraphrase John. It may be necessary for both of us to avoid familiar haunts for a while. I know you’d prefer to stay at the cousin’s in Bayside, but you might be safer at John’s place.”

“What about you?”

“Me, too.”

“And you want to leave it like that? You’re not going to tell me more?”