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“So tell me about our one girl in a million.”
“Not you as well,” said Harry.
“Please tell Jessica that I’ve hung her drawing of the Manor House in autumn in my study, next to a Roy Lichtenstein.”
“Who’s Roy Lichtenstein?”
“He’s the latest fad in New York, but I can’t see him lasting too long. In my opinion Jessica’s a far better draftsman. Please tell her that if she’ll paint me a picture of New York in the fall, I’ll give her a Lichtenstein for Christmas.”
“I wonder if she’s heard of him.”
“Before I ring off, dare I ask how the latest William Warwick novel is progressing?”
“It would be progressing a damn sight faster if I wasn’t continually interrupted.”
“Sorry,” said Harold. “They didn’t tell me you were writing.”
“Truth is, Warwick has come up against an insurmountable problem. Or to be more accurate, I have.”
“Anything I can help you with?”
“No. That’s why you’re the publisher and I’m the author.”
“What sort of problem?” persisted Harold.
“Warwick’s found the ex-wife’s body at the bottom of a lake, but he’s fairly sure that she was killed before being dumped in the water.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Mine, or William Warwick’s?”
“Warwick’s first.”
“He’s being made to wait for at least twenty-four hours before he can get his hands on the pathologist’s report.”
“And your problem?”
“I’ve got twenty-four hours before I have to decide what needs to be in that report.”
“Does Warwick know who killed the ex-wife?”
“He can’t be sure. There are five suspects at the moment, and every one of them has a motive … and an alibi.”
“But I presume you know who did it?”
“No, I don’t,” Harry admitted. “Because if I don’t know, then neither can the reader.”
“Isn’t that a bit of a risk?”
“Sure is. But it also makes it a damn sight more challenging, both for me and the reader.”
“I can’t wait to read the first draft.”
“Neither can I.”
“Sorry. I’ll let you get back to your ex-wife’s body in the lake. I’ll call again in a week’s time to see if you’ve worked out who dumped her there.”
When Guinzburg hung up, Harry replaced the receiver and looked down at the blank sheet of paper in front of him. He tried to concentrate.
