Double Take by Catherine Coulter

wanted since the man was his guest, dammit. “But you have a point. We need to overhaul the system—and build more prisons.”
    Thomas Pallack opened his mouth, saw Evelyn giving him a hostess’s gimlet eye, and closed it.“Some would agree” was all he said. Dix admired his restraint, but he wondered and questioned: Since Thomas Pallack knew Chappy, had he met Christie, seen her photo in Chappy’s library? Hadn’t he also at least heard Dix’s name? And if he had met Christie, hadn’t he noticed how alike his wife and Christie looked?
    Evelyn offered Thomas some French green beans with tiny pearl onions and blanched almonds on top.“You, Thomas, know Dix’s father-in-law. Such a small world, isn’t it?”
    Thomas Pallack said, “I remember meeting briefly with Chappy in Maestro—that’s the name, right? Then we went on to Richmond to meet with another couple of bankers. I remember asking him why he wasn’t in New York. I mean, what’s to do in a little one-horse town in western Virginia? Ah, no insult intended, Sheriff Noble.”
    Dix said easily, “I like the one-horse town very much, sir, even willingly moved my family from big exciting New York to live there.”
    But Thomas Pallack didn’t seem at all interested in that. Between a bite of the French green beans and a dinner roll, he said, “My candidate for district attorney, Corman, Galen Banbridge, is running on a hard-line law-and-order platform. It’s possible he might even be interested in more prison construction.”
    Dix grew still. He looked up at Thomas Pallack, well fed, so very certain of his place in the sun. Who and what was he? He asked, “Does your candidate believe evil should be eliminated from the world, sir?”
    â€œEvil?” Thomas Pallack started to laugh, had the manners to hold it back, but he had his look of contempt down cold. “Evil, did you say? Evil? Who in this day and age believes in such medieval nonsense as evil?”
    Evelyn clearly pictured Thomas Pallack lying on the floor by her dining room table, his eyes rolled back in his head, with Dix standing over him. Because she was a skilled hostess, she quickly went pre-medieval, to the Queen Hatshepsut Egyptian exhibit currently at the de Young Museum. Thankfully, both Pallacks had visited the exhibit.
    Over excellent apple pie and ice cream, Judge Sherlock let Thomas Pallack wax eloquent about his candidate. He did an almost credible job of seeming interested.
    Charlotte Pallack flirted with Dix in a lovely discreet way, going so far as to touch her fingers to his sleeve while her husband helped her into her cashmere coat at precisely ten o’clock. Judge Sherlock assured Pallack that he would study the hard-line law-and-order candidate and knew that Pallack probably didn’t buy it. Well, he’d shown as much enthusiasm as he could without starting an argument that would have had Evelyn throwing wineglasses at them.
    When the front door closed, Evelyn patted Dix’s cheek. “She didn’t know you and you didn’t know her. It’s over, Dix, all questions answered. Go to bed now and get some sleep.”

CHAPTER 13
    At eight o’clock Saturday morning, the Sherlocks sat down with Dix at the breakfast table. They’d already worked out in their downstairs gym and still wore their workout clothes. They looked fit, their faces still shiny with exertion and good health. There was no makeup at all on Evelyn’s face. She looked beautiful. Dix took a bite of his sliced grapefruit. “I called Savich and Sherlock last night, told them what happened. And Christie’s father, of course.” And Ruth.
    â€œA difficult call to make,” said Judge Sherlock.
    â€œIt was very hard.” Chappy had been stone silent, and Dix pictured the stark grief in his eyes again, grief that had lessened over the past three years, now brought back to full