Bloodlines by Jan Burke Page A

moved closer. All the same, he had stopped calling out the headlines of the Express and found himself just standing there, waiting for her. He decided there was something about Helen Swan that made you give her your attention when she wanted it. She was a brunette with big brown eyes that he couldn't look away from. She was not exactly beautiful, not in the way Lillian Vanderveer was, but she had an unmistakable style all her own. O'Connor thought she carried herself as if everyone who hadn't bowed or curtsied to her yet soon would.
    "O'Connor, isn't it?" she said in a low, melodic voice.
    He swallowed and nodded.
    She smiled. "Jack Corrigan seems to know a lot about what goes on near this corner lately."
    "He's a fine reporter," O'Connor said loyally.
    Helen Swan gave a soft, husky laugh. "Yes, he is. Utterly shameless, but a fine reporter." She began to walk off, then turned and said, "Be sure to tell Jack I said hello."
    It was late that evening before O'Connor saw Corrigan again, and under the circumstances, he considered not conveying Miss Swan's regards. Jack was sitting in a booth at the back of Big Sarah's; two women sat across from him. One was known to O'Connor--Lillian Vanderveer.
    The other was a woman O'Connor had never met before. She was also a blonde, but her eyes were beer-bottle brown. Her cheeks were flushed and she was laughing hard at some remark Jack had made.
    Big Sarah caught O'Connor's eye and shook her head. O'Connor was about to leave, but Jack called out to him.
    "Mr. O'Connor! Don't rush off."
    "Oh, for crying out loud," Lillian said. "I'm beginning to feel like I'm going steady with a little kid."
    "You are," Big Sarah answered, causing Jack and the other woman to laugh again.
    Corrigan had been drinking, O'Connor realized. He accepted this without great upset; over the last few years, since the accident on the oil rig, his own father was often in this state. He gauged Jack's mood to be jovial, not surly or mean. Nevertheless, he had long ago learned to be wary of men in this condition, knowing their moods could change without warning. So it was that when he approached the booth, he stopped an arm's distance from Jack's side of the table.
    Corrigan didn't fail to notice this distance. The reporter said nothing, but rubbed his chin thoughtfully. O'Connor glanced at the women, who had fallen silent.
    "Mr. O'Connor," Corrigan said, without a trace of the drunkenness Conn had seen just a moment before, "allow me to introduce you to Mrs. Ducane, a good friend of Miss Vanderveer's."
    "How do you do?" O'Connor said.
    "Hiya, kid," the woman said, smiling. "Call me Thelma. You must be the little hooligan who's driving Lil crazy."
    "Thelma!" Lil said sharply, but Thelma only laughed.
    "I didn't mean anything by it. You know that--right, kid?"
    Before he could answer, Jack said, "Mrs. Ducane and Miss Vanderveer were just leaving."
    Thelma's laugh brayed again, but Lillian gave Jack a cool look. "First the trial," she said, "and now this. Maybe I'll do as Daddy suggests and go out with Harold Linworth again. "
    Jack smiled. "Capital idea. And capital is what it would be, right? Aiding the cash flow at Ducane-Vanderveer?"
    "That is a despicable suggestion--"
    "Speaking of despicable, I suppose Daddy wouldn't want you to start seeing your first love again. Oh, wait, that's right--"
    "Don't say another word, damn you!"
    "C'mon, Lil," Thelma said, rising to her feet with a wobble. "This is getting boring. Let's go play with the big boys."
    Lillian hesitated, giving Jack an opportunity he did not take. She stood and walked out without a backward glance. As the diner door closed behind them, O'Connor heard Big Sarah mutter, "Good riddance."
    "How about a cup of coffee, Sarah?" Jack said. He motioned to O'Connor. "Have a seat."
    O'Connor slid into the other side of the booth, which was still fragrant with a mixture of the women's perfume, smoke, alcohol, and the congealing remains of a banana split. Jack saw him