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"Has that ever happened before?"

"Not for this length of ti him late yesterday afternoon What time is it, eleven o'clock? That's over seventeen hours He wouldn't go that long without checking with his service"

I thought back to our conversation at his house Had he checked with his service in all the tiether? I didn't think he had

Other tiether he called in every half hour or so

"And it's not just"He hasn't called Fran, either I checked with her and she called him and he never returned her calls"

"What about Donna?"

"She's here with me Neither of us wanted to be alone And Ruby, I don't knohere Ruby is Her number doesn't answer"

"She's in San Francisco"

"She's where?"

I gave her a brief explanation, then listened as she relayed the infor Yeats," she told s fall apart, the center cannot hold' Even I can recognize that Apt, though Things are falling apart all over the place"

"I'et hold of Chance"

"Call me when you do?"

"I will"

"Meanwhile Donna's staying here and we're not booking any tricks or answering the door I already told the doorman not to let anybody come up"

"Good"

"I invited Fran to come over here but she said she didn't want to She sounded very stoned I' her to co to tell her to come over"

"Good idea"

"Donna says the three little pigs will all be hiding in the brick house Waiting for the wolf to come down the chiet anywhere with his answering service They were happy to take e but wouldn't disclose whether Chance had called in recently "I expect to hear from him shortly," a woe"

I called Brooklyn inforot the nu for a dozen ti the clappers froht it orth a check

I called Parke Bernet The sale of African and Oceanic art and artifacts was scheduled for two o'clock

I had a shower and a shave, had a roll and a cup of coffee and read the paper The Post e, but it took so to do it A man in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx had stabbed his wife three times with a kitchen knife, then called the police to tell theraphs on the back page at the e and topped it with a teaser headline that wondered, did theat twelve-thirty and got to Parke Bernet a fewheld in a different room from the one where the sale lots had been displayed You had to have a sale catalog to get a seat, and the catalogs cost five dollars I explained I was just looking for someone and scanned the room Chance wasn't there

The attendant didn't want , and it was easier to do that than argue with hietting a bidder's nuister, I didn't want a bidder's nu

I sat there for almost two hours while one lot after another went under the ha to show but I stayed inbetter to do I paid minimal attention to the auction and looked around every couple of minutes for Chance At twenty to four the Benin bronze was offered for bids and sold for 65,000, which was just a little higher than the estimate It was the star of the sale and quite a few bidders left once it had been sold I hung on a few rapple with the sa with for days

It seemed to me that I already had all the pieces It was just a question of fitting the and Ki Calderуn Cookie Blue

I got up and left I was crossing the lobby when a table full of catalogs of past sales caughtof a jewelry auction held that spring and leafed through it It didn't tellI put it back and asked the lobby attendant if the gallery had a resident expert on gems and jewelry "You want Mr Hillquist," he said, and told ht direction

Mr Hillquist sat at an uncluttered desk as if he'd been waiting all day for ave hiue approximation of the value of an emerald He asked if he could see the stone, and I explained that I didn't have it withit in," he explained "The value of a gem depends upon so many variables Size, cut, color, brilliance-"

I put my hand in lass "It's about this size," I said, and he fitted a jeweler's loupe into one eye and took the piece of glass froid for an instant, then fixed his other eye warily upon me

"This is not an e to a small child, or to a lunatic

"I know that It's a piece of glass"

"Yes"