The Club Dumas

La Ponte laughed at the other end of the line. There was no damn receipt. Taillefer had sold it to him, and that was that. But if the lovely widow wanted to discuss the matter, he added, laughing lewdly, he’d be delighted. Corso mentioned the pos­sibility that before he died Taillefer might have told someone about the manuscript. La Ponte didn’t think so; Taillefer had been very insistent that the matter be kept secret until he him­self gave a sign. In the end, he never gave a sign, unless hang­ing himself from the light fixture was one. “It’s as good a sign as any,” said Corso. La Ponte agreed, chuckling cynically. Then he asked about Corso’s visit to Liana Taillefer. After a couple more lecherous comments, La Ponte said good-bye. Corso hadn’t mentioned the incident in Toledo. They agreed to meet the following day.

After he hung up, Corso went back to The Nine Doors. But his mind was on other things. He was drawn back to the Dumas manuscript. Finally he went and got the folder with the white and blue pages. He rubbed his painful hand and called up the Dumas directory. The computer screen began to flicker. He stopped at a file called Bio:

Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, Alexandre. Born 24.7.1802. Died 5.12.1870. Son of Thomas Alexandre Dumas, general of the Re­public. Author of 257 volumes of novels, memoirs, and stories. 25 volumes of plays. Mulatto on his father’s side. His black blood gave him certain exotic features. Appearance: tall, powerful neck, curly hair, fleshy lips, long legs, physically strong. Character: bon vivant, Jickle, overpowering, liar, unreliable, popular. He had 27 known mistresses, 2 legitimate children and 4 illegitimate. He made several fortunes and squandered them on parties, travel, ex­pensive wines, and flowers. He lost all the money earned from his writing by extravagant spending on mistresses, friends, and hangers-on who besieged his castle home at Montecristo. When he fled Paris, it was to escape his creditors, not for political reasons, like his friend Victor Hugo. Friends: Hugo, Lamartine, Michelet, Gerard de Nerval, Nodier, George Sand, Berlioz, Theojile Gautier, Alfred de Vigny, and others. Enemies: Balzac, Badere, and others.

None of this really got him anywhere. He felt he was stumbling around in the dark, surrounded by countless false or useless clues. And yet there had to be a link somewhere. With his good hand he typed Dumas.nov: