Page 49

"What game?" I asked.

He started us away and smiled, "You'd be surprised at the number of young, attractive women who come here with the express purpose of becoming some wealthy old man's mistress or, hopefully, wife. Many stay at this very hotel because it's good hunting grounds."

"Well, you can be sure I'm not one of those." I said sharply. He started to laugh, looked at me, and then shook his head. "What?"

"I don't know. I'll have to reserve judgment for a while. You fit the first half of the definition."

"And what is that?" I said, not hiding my annoyance.

"You're certainly young and attractive."

"Just like a rich, arrogant man to think that every young and attractive woman is after his money."

That released a bigger laugh from him.

"Well? Aren't I right about that?" I demanded.

"Maybe," he said, nodding. "I don't know what your theories are about one of the wealthiest communities in America, but it's just possible you might be in for a surprise or two," he said. It sounded almost like a warning,

I've had enough surprises in m y lifetime, I thought. Thank you very much.

"This is Worth Avenue," Thatcher said when we turned onto it. "One of the world's richest shopping malls," he added with a grin. "Like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or El Paseo in Palm Desert. California."

"Hardly a mall," I said, gazing at the upscale shops, department stores, boutiques, and restaurants. Everything did look fresh and new. glittering like the diamonds and gold that were truly costume jewelry to the wealthy inhabitants,

"I don't know how much you know about Palm Beach. It always amazes people to learn it's only a fourteen-mile-long strip. Henry Morrison Flagler created it in a sense when he opened the Royal Poinciana Hotel in 1894. His home is now the Finder Museum off Cocoanut Row. You should take a look if you have time."

"Maybe I will." I said without much

commitment.

'There was once an army base at the northern end of the island in charge of coastal defense, making sure the German subs weren't coming ashore. Now there's an army of elite who make sure no riffraff come ashore," he jested.

"The season used to be only ten weeks long, but these days it goes until the end of April," he continued, sounding more like a tourist guide.

"Many of these structures, shops, and apartment buildings were created by the island's most famous architect. Addison Mizner, He built the Montgomery house," Thatcher said. "Or at least started it."

"Oh?"

"He established this Moorish-Mediterranean style. Probably the most famous is Mar-a-Lago, now owned by Donald Trump. It was built by Edward F. Hutton for his wife. Marjorie Merriweather Post, the breakfast cereal heiress. It's a mere seventeen-acre estate with a one hundred-plus-room mansion. It has a nine-hole golf course. a seventy-five-foot-high tower, cottages, citrus groves, greenhouses, and an

underground tunnel to the beach. Trump's turned it into a private club. I'll take you there, if you like."

When I didn't respond, he turned to me and asked. "I know you said you didn't come here to party, but it's all right to enjoy yourself while you work, isn't it?"

-"Depends," I said.

"On what?"

"How much I enjoy myself and how much I work," I replied, and he laughed.

We pulled up in front of a restaurant called TaBoo. The maitre d' recognized Thatcher and greeted him immediately. I looked at the women and men drinking, talking, and laughi

ng at the long bar. Many of the women were attractive and dressed in sexy, expensive-looking outfits.

"And who might this pretty young thing be?" the maitre d' asked Thatcher,

"Be careful, she's doing research on Palm Beach." Thatcher warned him.