Vixen by Bill Pronzini

yacht and live in St. Francis Wood is her money. Inherited. Big bucks.”
    â€œUh-huh. How do you know he collects payoffs?”
    â€œHe’s a politician, isn’t he?”
    â€œYou’re too young to be so cynical.”
    â€œLike I don’t have cause? And like you’re Mr. Optimist?”
    â€œOkay. Touch é .”
    â€œAnyhow,” she said, “he stays for the money, and screws around because he knows he can get away with it up to a point. Only he crossed some line with Cory Beckett that the wife wouldn’t put up with. Affair getting too public or too involved. Woman like Margaret Vorhees gets jealous enough, she’s liable to do anything.”
    â€œSuch as framing a rival.”
    â€œOr having an affair of her own.”
    â€œIs that another blog rumor?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œSauce for the goose,” I said.
    â€œHuh?”
    Sometimes I forget young people can be unfamiliar with the old sayings codgers like me grew up on. “Never mind. What else does the blog rumor mill say?”
    â€œThis is where it gets juicy. Evidently the dude Mrs. Vorhees had her affair with is Frank Chaleen.”
    â€œWell, well. What did you find out about him?”
    â€œHe’s a peanut vendor.”
    â€œA … what?”
    â€œOwns a company that makes packing material—you know, plastic peanuts. Chaleen Manufacturing, founded by his late father. Lives high, big bachelor pad in Cow Hollow. Had political ambitions for a while. Hooked up with Andrew Vorhees at some political rally and worked on his campaign for supervisor. But … they had a big falling-out about five months ago. Loud face-off one night at the Red Fox, so it made the blogs.”
    The Red Fox was an expensive downtown restaurant that catered to local politicos. “Because Vorhees found out Chaleen was sleeping with his wife?” I asked.
    â€œYep. The old double standard. Okay for him to screw around as much as he wants, but not okay for her to be doing it with one of his pals. Apparently he’s the one who pushed for the separation, one of those on-again-off-again deals. Mostly he lives on the yacht and she rattles around in the St. Francis Wood house.”
    I chewed on all of this for a time. Andrew Vorhees, Margaret Vorhees, Cory Beckett, and Frank Chaleen, all tied together in a not-so-neat little package. “Is Chaleen still seeing Mrs. Vorhees?”
    â€œIf he is, it’s on the sly,” Tamara said. “You thinking that’s how she got him to help her frame Cory?”
    â€œCould be. Might also explain why she hasn’t tried something like it again.”
    â€œOnly the frame didn’t work on account of Cory’s ten years younger and has a lot more to offer in the bed department.”
    â€œUh-huh. In which case Chaleen either initiated contact with Cory for that reason, or they were already seeing each other. Maybe met through Vorhees when he and Chaleen were still tight.”
    â€œMust’ve pissed Cory off big time when she found out she was the target,” Tamara said. “Kind of woman she is, she’s not about to let her meal ticket go without a fight.”
    â€œSo she jeopardizes her relationship with Vorhees by sleeping and conniving with Chaleen. Why? What kind of fight do you put up by letting your brother get framed instead of you? For that matter, why didn’t she just let Vorhees handle the necklace business with his wife and get Kenneth off the hook that way?”
    â€œMaybe that’s what not wanting to rock the boat means.”
    â€œStill doesn’t explain all the scheming.”
    â€œWell, Kenny must know or suspect what she’s up to. That’s why she was so eager to have us find him—get him back home where she can keep an eye on him.”
    â€œCan’t be the only reason,” I said. “She has to have some feelings for him. Took care of him in southern California,