the couple.William Smythe-Jones was at least 80. And it was anyone’s guess if hewouldmake 81.Thewomanwas helping him walk and whispering to himas they approached. Smythe-Jones held out his hand to me and said, “Manning,


good to meet you, finally. This is my grand-niece,Melissa.” His voice was steady, belying his appearance. His grip was cool but strong. “Can we go someplace to sit down? I’mnot as young as I once was.” Paulo and Bill were staring atMelissa. They couldn’t take


their eyes off her.Actually, neither could I. She was a bit older than Paulo.There was something… We went in to the conference room.Agent Peyton got the


coffee. I guess we found out where he was in the pecking order. We waited for Smythe-Jones; it was his party. However, looking at his “grand-niece,” I was beginning to have some idea of where this was going. “Manning, I’ve done a rather poor job of involving you in


my most current problem,” Smythe-Jones said. “I should have contacted you directly, but therewasn’t time.No, that’s not true. I simply found it difficult to call. “You see, the woman you call Betty Beeson was my niece,


Melissa’s mother. Sarah was her sister, not my daughter. I was a guest of our friend Peyton’s organizationwhen shewas killed, but I followed your involvement closely. “You are good, very good. I felt that if you were involved


with getting Sarah back, nothing would go wrong. I didn’t figure fate taking a role in this.” I was sitting across from a major mob boss who had lost his


niece in a shootoutwhere Iwas involved. FBI or no FBI, thiswas not comfortable.


“You are honest, fair and determined. I needed someone like


that to help me through Sarah’s kidnapping. Certainly there is no one in my old organization that would fill that bill,” Smythe- Jones said. “When we got the ransomnote, I immediately contactedmy


‘handler’ at the Bureau. I told them I wanted you involved, and here you are.Thank you for that. I onlywish you could have been on board sooner.Maybe Sarah wouldn’t be dead.” There was one minor problem. Sarah had my business card


in her hand, and the kidnappers knew who I was before she was taken. They had to have been able to set up all that parking mess at the Hollywood Bowl. Plus, they left the ransom note on my door step. I explained all this to Smythe-Jones, or whatever his name was. “So you were involved before I contacted you.” He paused.


“This is most interesting; it makes matters easier. Manning, I want you to find the killers ofmy niece.” I began to demur. I didn’t work for the mob, even those that


had so-called paid their debt, and I told himso. “This is different,Manning.You’re…” “Wait, UncleMario.” It wasMelissa.The oldman shut up. “Mr.Manning, will you join me in the hall for a moment?”


This woman was used to having her way. I followed her outside. “Whatmy unclewas about to blurt out, for all the ears in that


room, you may want to keep private.You see, this has become a familymatter.Mr.Manning, I amyour daughter.”


To be continued ... PT


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