Read Keller 05 - Hit Me for Free Online Page B

bidding on them. He felt as though he’d just fought a prizefight, or run a marathon, and all he’d done was raise a forefinger and keep it raised until he was the only bidder left.
    The hammer price was $16,500, and he’d have to pay a 15 percent bidder’s premium on top of that, plus whatever sales tax the state of Texas felt it deserved. Close to $20,000 for a homely little square of paper, but it was his to have and to hold, his to protect in a black-backed plastic mount, his to place in his album alongside the $200 reprint to which it looked essentially identical.
    In the elevator he felt a twinge of buyer’s remorse, but by the time he was in his room it had dissipated, leaving him with a warm glow of accomplishment. He’d had to hang in there, had to keep his finger in the air while other bidders in the room gave up and dropped out, then had to hold on until the phone bidder finally gave up and let go. It was a rare stamp, and other people wanted it, but the whole point of an auction was to see who wanted something the most, and this time around it was Keller.
    He called Julia from his room. “I got the stamp I wanted, and it’s a beauty. But I had to spend more than I expected, so I’m going to skip the afternoon session and hit the road early. I’ll break the trip somewhere, and I should be home some time tomorrow afternoon.”
    She told him the latest cute thing Jenny had said, and a little gossip about the young couple who’d moved into the old Beaulieu house, and when the conversation ended he switched phones and called Dot, and this time she answered.
    “I tried you yesterday,” he said, “and then I was going to call first thing this morning but it slipped my mind, and I was all caught up in the drama of a stamp auction.”
    “With all the pulse-pounding excitement thereof.”
    “What I wanted to tell you,” he said, “is it’s all taken care of, and it couldn’t have gone better.”
    “Is that so.”
    “Double bonus,” he said.
    “Oh?”
    They were using a pair of untraceable phones, but even so he felt it best to be cryptic. “The primary is down,” he said, “and the secondary objective is fully implicated.”
    “Do tell.”
    He frowned. “Is something wrong?”
    “From a dollars-and-cents standpoint,” she said, “I’d have to say there is. There’s not going to be a bonus, let alone a double bonus.”
    “But—”
    “As a matter of fact, we can forget about the second half of the basic fee. You know, the portion due upon completion of the assignment?”
    “But the assignment was completed.”
    “I’ll say.”
    “Dot, what’s the matter?”
    “You got up this morning, had a cup of coffee—right so far?”
    “I had breakfast,” he said, mystified. “And then I went to the auction room.”
    “Read the paper while you ate your breakfast?”
    “No. I joined this fellow and we got to talking.”
    “About stamps, I’ll bet. Good breakfast?”
    “Yes, as a matter of fact, but—”
    “And then you went to the auction room.”
    “Right.”
    “And bought some stamps, I suppose.”
    “Well, yes. But—”
    “The Dallas morning newspaper,” she said, “is called the Dallas Morning News, and don’t ask me how they came up with a name like that. You can’t beat Texans for imagination. Go buy the paper, Keller. You’ll find what you’re looking for right there on the front page.”

Eight
    H e picked up the lots he’d won, paid for them, and packed them along with his other belongings in his small suitcase. He checked out of the Lombardy and drove off with his suitcase next to him on the front seat. Traffic was light, and he didn’t have any trouble finding his way to the interstate. He headed for New Orleans, and found a country music station, but turned it off after half an hour.
    He broke the trip at the same Red Roof Inn, used the same credit card. In his room he wondered if that was a good idea. But the trip was a matter of record, and one he had never