“Cancer.”

“That's too bad. Anyway, she's still my kid, with or without Liz, and I imagine you'd just as soon see me get lost. And for a price, I will be happy to do that.”

“For how long? Another year? Nah, it's not worth it to me, Scott. This time I'm not buying.”

“Too bad. I guess I'll just have to go to court and get me some visitation.”

Bernie remembered his promise to Liz and decided to bluff him anyway. “You do that, Scott. Do anything you want. I'm not interested.”

“I'll get lost for another ten thousand. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. How about eight?”

Bernie's skin crawled just thinking about him. “Go screw yourself.” And with that, he hung up. He would have liked to kick the guy in the guts. But three days later Chandler did it to him instead. A notice arrived in the mail, through a lawyer on Market Street, that Chandler Scott, father of one Jane Scott, ex-husband of Elizabeth O'Reilly Scott Fine, was requesting visitation with his daughter. Bernie's hands trembled when he read the letter. He was ordered to appear in court on November seventeenth, fortunately without the child. But his heart pounded as he read the words, and he dialed Bill Grossman's office.

“What do I do now?” Bernie sounded desperate. Grossman had taken the call immediately. He remembered Bernie's first call on the subject.

“You go to court, it looks like.”

“Does he have any rights?”

“Did you ever adopt the child?”

His heart sank at the question. There was always something happening, the baby, Liz getting sick, the last nine months, then their adjustment…. “No … I haven't…. Dammit, I meant to, but there was no reason. Once I bought him off, I figured we'd seen the last of him for a while.”

“You bought him off?” The lawyer sounded worried.

“Yeah. I paid him ten thousand bucks to get lost a year and a half ago.” It had actually been twenty months. He remembered it perfectly, it was right before Liz had had the baby.

“Can he prove it?”

“No, I remembered what you said about it being against the law.” Grossman had said it was considered like buying black-market babies. You could not buy or sell a child to anyone, and in effect, Chandler Scott had sold Jane to Bernie for ten thousand dollars. “I paid him in cash, in an envelope.”

“So much for that.” Grossman sounded pensive. “The problem is, when you do that kind of thing, they always come back for more sooner or later. Is that what he wants now?”

“That's how this whole thing started. He called me up a few nights ago and asked for another ten thousand to get lost again. In fact, he offered me a cut rate, for eight.”

“Christ.” Grossman sounded annoyed. “He sounds charming.”

“I thought when I told him my wife had died that he'd lose interest. I figured if he thought he was only dealing with me, he'd realize that I wasn't going to take any crap from him.”

Grossman was strangely quiet at the other end. “I didn't realize that your wife had passed away in the meantime. I'm sorry to hear that.”

“It was in July.” Bernie's voice was very quiet, thinking of Liz, and the promise that she had insisted on, that he would keep Jane away from Chandler Scott at all costs. Maybe he should have paid him the ten thousand dollars after all. Maybe it was foolish to call his bluff.

“Did she leave a will regarding the child?” They had talked about it but she had nothing to leave anyone except the things that Bernie had bought her, and she was leaving everything to him and the children.

“No. She really had no estate.”

“But what about the guardianship of the child? Did she leave that to you?”

“Of course.” Bernie sounded almost offended. Who else would she leave her children to?

“Did she put it in writing?”

“No, she didn't.”

Bill Grossman sighed silently at the other end. Bernie had just gotten himself a major problem. “The law is on his side, you know, now that your wife is gone. He is the child's natural father.” Bernie almost shuddered.

“Are you serious?” Bernie's blood ran cold.

“I am.”

“The guy's a crook, a con man, an ex-con, in fact. He probably just got out of jail again.”

“That doesn't make any difference. California feels that natural fathers have rights, no matter what else they are. Even ax murderers have a right to see their children.”

“Now what?”

“They may grant him temporary visitation, pending a hearing.” He didn't tell him that he could lose custody completely. “Has he ever had a relationship with the child?”

“Never. She doesn't know he's alive, and from what my wife said, the last time he saw her she was a year old. He doesn't have a leg to stand on, Bill.”

“Yes, he does. Don't kid yourself. He's the child's natural father…. What kind of marital history did they have?”

“Almost nonexistent. They got married a few days before the child was born, and I think he disappeared after that. He came back for a month or two just before Jane was a year old and then disappeared again for good that time. Liz divorced him on the basis of abandonment, without consent or notification, I guess since she didn't know where he was until he turned up last year.”

“It's a damn shame you didn't adopt the child before he did.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“I agree with you, but that doesn't mean the judge will. Do you think he has a genuine interest in the child?”

“Do you, if he sold out for ten thousand dollars and would have again three days ago for eight? He just thinks she's some kind of cash register. When I met him with the money last time, he did not ask or say one thing about Jane. Not one. What does that tell you?”

“That he's a smart sonofabitch who wants to put the squeeze on you. I suspect you'll hear from him again before we go to court on the seventeenth.” And Grossman was right. Scott called three days before they were due to appear in court, and offered to disappear again. But this time the price tag was higher. He wanted fifty thousand dollars.

“Are you crazy?”

“I've been doing a little research on you, old pal.”

“Don't call me that, you sonofabitch.”

“I hear you're a rich Jew from New York and you run a fancy department store. For all I know, you own it.”

“Hardly.”

“Anyway, pal. That's my price this time. Fifty thousand bucks or forget it.”

“I'll go for ten, but that's it.” He would have gone to twenty, but didn't want to tell him. But Scott only laughed at him.

“Fifty or nothing.” It was disgusting, bargaining over a child.

“I'm not going to play this game with you, Scott.”

“You may have to. With Liz gone, the court is going to give me anything I want. They might even give me custody if I want…Come to think of it, I think my price has just gone up to a hundred.” Bernie felt his blood run cold, and as soon as Scott hung up, Bernie dialed Grossman.

“Does he know what he's talking about? Is that possible?”

“It could be.”

“Oh my God. …” He was terrified. What if he lost Jane to him? And he had promised Liz …Besides, Jane was like his own flesh and blood now.

“Legally, you have no rights to the child. Even if your wife had left a will, designating you guardian of the person, he might still have the rights to her. Now if you can show how unsuitable he is, you'll probably win, unless the judge is a complete lunatic. But if you were both bankers, or lawyers, or businessmen, he'd win it. In this case, all he can do is scare you for a while, and put the child through a lot of trauma.”

“To spare her that,” Bernie said bitterly, “he now wants a hundred thousand dollars.”

“Do you have a recording of that?”

“Of course not! What do you think I do? Tape my conversations? I'm not a dope dealer for God's sake, I run a department store.” He was getting testy. It was an outrageous situation. “So what do I do now?”

“If you don't want to give him the hundred thousand dollars, and I suggest you don't, because he'll be back for more by next week, then we go to court, and show what an unsuitable parent he is. They may grant temporary visitation pending a hearing, but that's no big deal.”

“Not to you maybe. The child doesn't even know him. In fact”—he sounded grim—“she doesn't even know he's alive. Her mother told her he died a long time ago. And she's already had enough shocks this year. She's had nightmares since her mother died.”

“If a psychiatrist will testify to that, then it may affect his bid for permanent visitation.”

“And the request for temporary visitation?”

“That would go through anyway. The courts figure that even Attila the Hun can do no harm on a temporary basis.”

“How do they justify that?”

“They don't have to. They run the show. Mr. Scott has now put you, and himself, at their mercy.” And Jane. He had put Jane at the mercy of the courts. The thought made him sick, and he knew how distraught Liz would have been. It would have killed her. And the irony of that did not make him smile. It was a terrible situation.

The day of the first hearing dawned dark and gray, and it suited his mood to perfection. The carpool came for Jane, and Mrs. Pippin was busy with Alexander when Bernie left for court. He hadn't told anyone what he was doing. He was still hoping the whole thing would go away. And as he stood beside Grossman in the courtroom in City Hall, he prayed that the whole situation would vanish. But he noticed Chandler Scott lounging against the wall at the other side of the room, with a different blazer, this time a better one, and new Gucci shoes. His hair was neatly trimmed, and if one didn't know better, one would have thought him totally respectable.

Bernie pointed him out to Bill, who glanced casually in Chandler Scott's direction. “He looks all right.” He whispered to Bernie.

“That was what I was afraid of.”

Grossman said that the matter would take twenty minutes to be heard, and when the judge heard what they had to say, Grossman explained that the child did not know her natural father, and had undergone a severe, recent shock due to her mother's death. It was felt that it was best not to grant temporary visitation until the entire matter were settled. And the respondent felt that there were certain issues that were crucial to the court's final decision.

“I'm sure there are,” the judge intoned, smiling at both fathers and both attorneys. This was something he did every day, and he never got caught up in the emotions. Fortunately, he almost never had to see the children affected by his decisions. “But it wouldn't be fair to deny Mr. Scott the right to see his daughter.” He smiled benevolently at Scott, and then sympathetically at Grossman. “I'm sure this is distressing to your client, Mr. Grossman, and we will of course be very interested in hearing all the issues when the matter comes to court for a full hearing. In the meantime, the court would like to grant Mr. Scott a weekly visitation with his daughter.” Bernie thought he was going to faint and he immediately whispered in Grossman's ear that Scott was a convicted felon.

“I can't tell them that now,” Grossman whispered back, and Bernie wanted to cry. He wished he had paid him the ten thousand the first time. Or even the fifty the second. The hundred was impossible for him. He was out of his league now.

Grossman raised his voice to address the judge. “Where will the visits take place?”

“In the place of Mr. Scott's choosing. The child is …” The judge looked at some records, and then glanced at both parties with an understanding smile. “Let's see…. She's about nine years old…. There's no reason why she can't go out with her father. Mr. Scott could pick her up at her home, and bring her back. I suggest Saturday, say from nine A.M. to seven P.M. Does that sound reasonable to both parties?”

“No!” Bernie whispered in Grossman's ear in a loud stage whisper.

And Grossman whispered back almost immediately. “You have no choice in this. And if you play ball with the judge now, he may give you a better deal later.” What about Jane? What kind of deal did she get?

Bernie was furious when they walked out into the hall again. “What kind of crap is that anyway?”

“Keep your voice down.” Grossman spoke in low tones to him, his face a mask, as Chandler Scott and his attorney walked past. He had one of the sleaziest attorneys in town, Grossman later told Bernie, and he was sure they were going to try and stick Bernie with the tab, by asking the court to assign fees to him at a later date. But Bill didn't even mention that now. They had enough to worry about. “You just have to go along with it.”

“Why? It's wrong. Why do I have to do something I know is wrong for my daughter?” He spoke from the heart without thinking of what he had just said. But Bill Grossman shook his head.