Kane and Abel (Kane & Abel 1)

'I hope we'll see each other again soon,' he said, lying., 'I hope so, too,' she said, aware that he did not mean iL He closed the door behind her and walked over to the phone by his becL 'Which mom was Miss Melanie Leroy booked into?' he asked.

Them was a momenespause; he could hear the flicking of the registratio ni cards.

Abel tapped impatiently on the table.

'There's no - one registered under that name, air,' came the eventual reply. 'We have a Mrs. Melanie Seaton from Dallas, Texas, who arrived this evening, sir, and checks out tomorrow morning?'

'Yes, that will be the lady,' said Abel. 'See that her bill is charged to me.'

'Yes, sir.'

Abel replaced the phone and took a long cold shower before preparing for bed. He felt relaxed as he walked over to the fire to turn out the lamp that had illuminated his first adulterous act and noticed that the large coffee sLiin had now dried on his Persian carpet.

'Silly bitch,' he said out loud and switched off the light After that night, Abel found that several more coffee stains appeared on the Persian carpet during the next few months, some caused by waitresses, some by other nocturnal visitors, as he and Zaphia grew further apart.

What he hadn't anticipated was that she would hire a private detective to check on him and then sue for a divorce. Divorce was almost unknown in Abel's circle of Polish friends, separation or desertion being far more common. Abel even tried to talk Zaphia out of her desired course, only too aware it would do nothing to enhance his standing in the Polish community, and certain it would not advance any social or political ambitions he had started to hanker after. But Zaphia was de - termined to carry the divorc& proceedings to their bitter conclusion. Abel was surprised to find that the woman who bad been so unsophisticated in his triumph was, to use George's words, a little demon in her revenge.

When Abel consulted his own lawyer, he found out for the second time just how many waitresses and non - paying guests there had been during the last year. He gave in and the only thing he fought for was the custody of Florentyna, now thirteen, and the first true love. of his life. Zaphia agreed after a long struggle, accepting a settlement of five hundred thousand dollars, the deed to the house in Chicago, and the right to see Florentyna on the last weekend in every month.

Abel moved his headquarters and permanent home to New York and George dubbed him the Chicago Baron - inexile, as he roamed America north and south building new boteN only returning to Chicago when he had to see Curtis Penton.

27

The letter lay open on a table by William's chair in the living room. He sat in his dressing gown reading it for the third time, trying to figure out why Abel Rosnovski would want to buy so heavily into Lester's Bank, and why he had appointed Henry Osborne as a director of the Baron Group.

William felt he could no longer'take the risk of guessing and picked up the phone.

The new Mr. Cohen turned out to be a younger version of his father. When he arrived at East 68th Street, he had no need to introduce himself; the hair was beginning to go grey and thin in exactly the same places and the round body was encased in an exactly similar suit. Perhaps, it was in fact the same suit. William stared at him, but not simply because he looked so like his father.

Tou don't remember me, Mr. Kane,' said the lawyer.

'Good God,' said William. 'The great debate at Harvard. Nineteen twenty...'

'Twenty - eight. You won the debate and sacrificed your membership of the Porcellian.'

William burst out laughing. 'Maybe we'll do better on the same team, if your brand of socialism will allow you to act for an unabashed capitalist!

He rose to shake hands with Thaddeus Cohen. For a moment, they both might have been undergraduates again.

William smiled. 'You never did get that drink at the Porcellian. What would you like?'

Thaddeus Cohen declined the offer. 'I don't drink,' he said, blinking in the same disarming way that William recalled so well. '... and I'm afraid I'm now an unabashed capitalist, too.'

He turned out to have his fathers head on his shoulders mentally as well as physically, and had clearly briefed himself on the Rosnovski - Osborne file to the finest detail before he faced William. William explained exactly what he now required.

'An immediate report and a further updated one every three months as in the past. Secrecy is still of paramount importance.' he said, 'but I want every fact you can lay your hands on. Why is Abel Rosnovski buying the bank's sham? Does he still feel I am responsible for Davis Leroy's death? Is he continuing his battle with Kane and Cabot even now that they are part of Lester's? What role does Henry Osborne play in all of this? Would a meeting between myself and Rosncvvski help, especially if I tell him that it was the bank, not I who refused to suppoz - t the Richmond Group?'