Gregory Mcdonald - Fletch Reflected

Books by Gregory Mcdonald

Fletch
Fletch Won
Fletch, Too
Fletch and the Widow Bradley
Carioca Fletch
Confess, Fletch
Fletchs Fortune
Fletchs Moxie
Fletch and the Man Who

Son of Fletch
Fletch Reflected

Flynn
The Buck Passes Flynn
Flynns In
Flynns World

Skylar
Skylar in Yankeeland

Running Scared
The Brave

Safekeeping
Who Took Toby Rinaldi? (Snatched)
Love Among the Mashed Potatoes (Dear M.E.)

Exits and Entrances
Merely Players
A World Too Wide

The Education of Gregory Mcdonald

(Souvenirs of a Blown World)

GREGORY MCDONALD
Fletch Reflected

Gregory Mcdonald is the author of twenty-six books, including eleven Fletch novels and four Flynn mysteries. He has twice won the Mystery Writers of Americas prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Mystery Novel, and was the first author to win for both a novel and its sequel. He lives in Tennessee. His Web site is www.gregorymcdonald.com.

F aoni. In fact, he was answering the telephone at Andy Cysts desk in the huge Global Cable News building in Virginia. He had no desk, or telephone, of his own.

The switchboard knew he was working with Andy Cyst.

Fletch?

Who is this?

The young womans voice said, Is this Fletch?

Yeah. Jack. Faoni. Fletch.

I know your name is Jack Faoni. The weekend we spent together you had me call you Fletch.

When was that?

Skiing. In Stowe, Vermont. A few years ago. We met there. At The Shed. You were with some other guys from a lumber camp. Playing your guitar. People were buying you beer to keep you playing. Well, I sort of kidnapped you. First, I kidnapped your guitar. Her voice was low, and warm. When you pursued me to the parking lot to get your guitar back, I grabbed you. It was snowing. You were very hot. I ripped your shirt. I pulled it down off your shoulders. Do you remember the snowflakes falling on your sweating shoulders while we kissed? You sizzled.

Good grief! Whoever you are, woman, you just elevated my temperature by more than a little. Im hot now. Sticking a finger inside his shirt collar, Jack scanned the huge, brightly lit, colorful, air-conditioned room filled with journalists workstations. I wasnt a minute ago.

You were very playful. Silly. You dont remember me?

I do. She had coal black hair, very wide-set coal-black eyes And her name was? I remember you werent there when I woke up.

I had to meet my father early for Belgian waffles. It really wasnt a weekend we spent together. Just a few lovely hours.

I remember it was a cold morning and I had to run through the snow in a flannel shirt torn to shreds. Thanks for leaving me my guitar, anyway.

You use your hands beautifully.

Why didnt you come back? Leave a note? Something?

I had to ski with my father. Then he drove me back to Poughkeepsie.

I waited. He had not waited long. The snow was pure powder, the skiing too good to miss. I wasnt sure you werent a dream.

Anyway, Ive been seeing your name on GCN the last few days. Those great stories about The Tribe.

Thanks. I guess.

Youre working for GCN now?

I guess so. Im here. Theyve used everything Ive brought them.

Thats great. But they never showed your face on television. If it was your story, why didnt they use you on camera?

One doesnt do that.

One doesnt? A lot do.

People come to recognize you. Then you cant do the kind of stories I want to do.

Oh. You must have been working on that story a long time.

It took a long time to set up. Once it got going, it went quickly. Very quickly. So guess where I am.

You like games, dont you?

Yeah. I do.

Let me think Youre in jail?

No.

Youre in hospital with some horrible disease the doctor says you must tell me about?

No.

I give up. Jack rearranged some papers on Andy Cysts desk. Why dont you remind me of your name, if you ever shared it with me in the first place, tell me where you are, if thats relevant to the conversation, then tell me why you called. Youve talked so long Im beginning to need a shower.

We didnt do all that much talking, as I remember. We went at each other like bear cubs.

I dont care who you are. I dont care where you are. I dont care why youre calling. Good bye.

Staufel.

Is that a name, or an order?

Shana Staufel.

Oh, yes. Shana. So where are you, Shana?

Vindemia.

Vindemia. Ive read that word somewhere. What is it, defunct coal mines in Appalachia, what?

One of the biggest estates in America.

Oh, yeah. In Georgia? Owned by

Actually, Im calling you from a phone booth outside the Vindemia Gas Station and General Store. The estate has its own little village, complete with chapel, library, and many, many rent-a-cops.

Cute. Owned by the guy who invented uh

Chester Radliegh. He invented the perfect mirror.

Oh, yeah. The guy who straightened out our left from our right, right from left when we look at ourselves in a mirror.

Right. Chester Radliegh. Massive implications for industry, science, space

You sound like youre quoting from Business Digest.

I am. I looked him up. Before I met him.

Boxers appreciate his mirror, too.

They do?

They dont get blindsided so much these days. Havent you noticed?

Guess I havent.

More fights go the whole ten, fifteen rounds now.

Is that good?

Think of the philosophical, psychological, to say nothing of poetic ramifications of the perfect mirror. I mean, for centuries we were seeing ourselves wrong, werent we? Not as others saw us, as they say.

Do we ever, anyway?

Id like to meet him. Radliegh must have an interesting mind. To take a thing as ancient and simple as the mirror and realize it was wrong; it was backward In the clear mirror of thy ruling star/I saw, alas!, some dread event depend.

Who said that?

Before I did? A guy named Pope.

Im going to marry Chet.

Whats a Chet?

Chester Radliegh, Jr.

Oh. You called to invite me to your wedding? Ill send a present. Shreds of my flannel shirt, as a keepsake, or a dust-cloth, whichever you need the more.

Not exactly.

What then?

To invite you here.

Where? Vindemia?

Yes.

You need someone to speak up for you? A playmate reference, maybe?

This is the first time Ive ever been here. Ive come to meet the family.

I dont get it. Why would you need me? Even want me in the same state?

Youre an investigative reporter.

Thanks.

Theres something real weird about this place. These people.

Sure. They got very, very rich, very, very fast. Who said, Wealth doesnt corrupt as much as it reveals?

Pope?

I dont think so.

I want you to come here. I can say youre my cousin.

As I remember, we look nothing alike.

Sometimes cousins dont. You could just be passing by and drop in for a few days.

Sure. Youre marrying into a maxi-wealthy family, get brought home by Chet ditto to meet Mama, Papa and the Borzoi hound, and your distant relatives start landing on them asking directions to their larder. What kind of an impression would that make?

This place is so big, there are so many people wandering around, you wouldnt even be noticed.

Yeah, I do a pretty good imitation of a potted palm. You telling me you think theres a story for me here somewhere? What is it? The guys been profiled a million times. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of physics invents the perfect mirror, makes zillions of dollars between a Tuesday and Friday, buys half the state of Georgia, builds a fifty room mansion