Текст книги "Hugger Mugger"

Автор книги: Robert B. Parker

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TWENTY-TWO

IT WAS MONDAY morning, bright, still early June and not very hot. I was in my office, drinking coffee and reading the paper while I waited for business. I'd drunk my allotment of coffee, and read the paper, and put it away before any showed up, but when it came it was interesting. A woman came into my office, briskly, as if offices were designed for her to walk into. I began to stand up. She indicated there was no need to, but by that time I was on my feet anyway.

"I'm Valerie Hatch," she said, and put out her hand. "You're Spenser."

"Right on both counts," I said, and shook her hand.

"Owen Brooks suggested I might speak to you about my situation. You know Owen?"

"Yes."

Owen Brooks was, improbably, the district attorney of Suffolk County. He was black, Harvard-educated, smart, humorous, pleasant, tolerant, and tougher than a Kevlar gumdrop. In a political office, he seemed primarily concerned with the successful prosecution of criminals.

"He said this was a circumstance that might best be dealt with informally, that is to say, by someone like yourself."

"Then it will have to be myself," I said. "There's no one else like me."

"Owen also told me that you found yourself amusing."

"How do you know Owen?" I said.

"I am a litigator at a major law firm in this city-which one is not germane to my reason for being here."

"Sure," I said. "What is your reason?"

"I am a single mother," she said. "And a woman with a career. To balance those two responsibilities I employ a nanny."

"That's what I'd do," I said.

She paid no attention to me. I didn't feel bad. I was pretty sure she didn't pay much attention to anyone, engrossed as she was with being a single mother and a woman with a career.

"Kate is a lovely girl," Valerie said, "but she has made some unwise choices in her past life, and one of them now threatens not only my nanny but my child."

"Kate is the nanny?" I said.

Valerie looked surprised. "Yes. Kate Malloy."

"And what is her problem?" I said.

"She is being stalked by a former lover."

"She been to the cops?" I said.

"She has, and I've spoken with Owen. We have a restraining order, but…" She shrugged.

I could tell that she didn't like shrugging. She wasn't used to it. She was used to nodding decisively.

"She call the cops when the lover shows up?" I said.

"Yes. Sometimes they come promptly. Sometimes they don't."

"What is the lover's name?"

" Ex-lover. His name is Kevin Shea."

"Has Kevin threatened her?"

"Yes. And he poses a threat to my child."

"Whose name is?"

"Miranda."

"And she's how old?"

"Sixteen months. Why are you asking all these questions?"

"So I can follow what you say. Has Kevin harmed Kate?"

"When they were together he beat her."

"And has he threatened Miranda?"

"His presence threatens Miranda. Kate can't take care of her if she's being harassed by this ape."

"And you wish to employ me?" I said.

"Yes. Owen said you were the man."

"What do you wish to employ me to do?"

"Make him go away."

"Do you have a course of action in mind?"

"No, of course not, how would I? That's what you're supposed to know. I wish he were dead."

"Dead is not generally a part of the service," I said.

She shook her head as if a fly were annoying her.

"It was just a remark. I am at my wit's end. I need you to help me straighten this out."

"Okay," I said.

"How much do you charge?"

I told her.

"Isn't that a lot of money?" she said.

"You came here asking me to save your child," I said.

"So you boosted the price?"

"No. That's the price. I was trying to help you decide if it's worth paying."

"By playing on a mother's guilt?"

I didn't remember anything about guilt, but I let it ride.

"Can you do it?"

"Sure," I said. "I can eat this guy's lunch."

"Do you require payment to start?"

"No. I'll bill you when it's done."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll speak with Kate."

"She's very frightened. You'll have to be careful with her."

"I'll need an address."

Valerie took out a business card and wrote on the back.

"I'd prefer that you talk to her when I'm there."

"Sure."

"This evening?"

"Yes."

"Seven?"

"Fine."

She stood. I stood.

"Where is Kate now?"

"I sent her and Miranda to my mother's home in Brookline," Valerie said. "Until I could arrange for her safety. That's the address on the back of my card."

"I'll meet you there," I said.

She looked at me the way people look at racehorses before the auction.

"Well, you look as if you'd be formidable," she said.

"You should see me in my red cape," I said.

"I'm sure I should," she said.

TWENTY-THREE

I TALKED WITH Kate in the living room of a big half-timbered Tudor-style house on a side road off of Route 9 not very far from Longwood Tennis Club. Miranda made a brief appearance in joint custody of Valerie's mother and a Shih Tzu named Buttons. Miranda seemed overdressed to me, and mildly uneasy. But I was inexpert with sixteen-month-old kids. The Shih Tzu sniffed my ankles thoughtfully, and then followed Miranda and her grandmother from the room.

"The dog is a Shih Tzu?" I said.

Valerie said it was.

"Knew a woman in Ames, Iowa, had one of those."

"How nice," Valerie said.

"Dog's name was Buttons too."

Valerie smiled stiffly.

Beside Valerie, on the yellow-flowered couch in a bay of the overdecorated living room, was a plain young woman with red hair and very white skin. I sat on a hassock in front of the couch.

"You're Kate," I said.

"Yes, sir."

"And you are being stalked by a man named Kevin Shea," I said.

"Yes, sir."

"What's your relationship to him?" I said.

"We're not related."

"Were you lovers?"

"Yes, sir."

"And now you're not."

"No, sir."

"What does he do when he stalks you?" I said.

"He follows me around."

"Does he speak to you?"

"Yes, sir."

"What does he say?"

"He swears at me and stuff."

"Does he threaten you?"

"He says if he can't have me no one else will."

"Has he ever hurt you?"

"You mean now, when he follows me?"

"At any time," I said.

"Yes, sir."

Slow going. I felt that I'd had better conversations with Hugger Mugger.

"What did he do?" I said.

"He hit me once, when we lived together."

"Was he drunk?"

"Oh yes, sir. He drinks a lot. Says it's the only way to deal with the pain."

"What was it that attracted you to him?" I said.

"He loved me."

"And now, why is he stalking you, do you think?"

"Because he loves me. He can't bear to give me up."

Valerie said, "Kate, that's ridiculous."

"And how do you feel about him?" I said.

"I'm afraid of him. He's so crazy in love with me. I don't know what he'll do."

"How would you like me to handle this?" I said.

"I don't want him to get in trouble," Kate said.

Valerie was appalled.

"For God's sake," she said. "Kate!"

"Well, I don't," Kate said. "He loves me."

"How can you say that?" Valerie said. "He has beaten you. He threatens to kill you. This isn't love, it's obsession."

"I don't know about that psychology stuff. But I know he's crazy about me."

"He's crazy, all right," Valerie said.

Kate's small, pale face pinched up a little tighter. She wasn't going to give up the great romance of her life.

"So," I said. "If you care this much about him, why did you leave him?"

"Kevin wasn't working. There was no money. I needed this job."

I looked at Valerie Hatch.

"I told Kate that her responsibility was Miranda, and that she couldn't exercise that responsibility properly if her low-life boyfriend was hanging around."

I nodded.

"You live in?" I said to Kate.

"Yes, sir, in Ms. Hatch's place on Commonwealth Avenue."

"We have a large condominium," Valerie said. "Near the corner of Dartmouth."

"So if you live there, and Ms. Hatch doesn't want him around, you don't get to see him much."

"No, sir, hardly at all."

"When do you see him?"

"When I'm walking Miranda, or at the playground."

"Are you afraid of Kevin?" I said.

"Yes, sir, he's so angry."

"Why don't you quit this job and go back and live with Kevin?"

Valerie said, "Spenser, dammit…"

I put a hand up for her to be quiet. Surprisingly, she was.

"I need the money," Kate said. "And Miranda. I don't want to leave Miranda."

"You care about the kid," I said.

"I love her."

I nodded.

"I don't see where you are going with these questions," Valerie said.

"I never do either, until I ask them."

"Kevin Shea is an uneducated, unemployed drunk," Valerie said. "I don't want him around my daughter, or my daughter's nanny. And quite frankly, I don't want my daughter's nanny living with such a person."

"I think I can follow that," I said.

"I should hope so," Valerie said.

"Can you put me in touch with Kevin?" I said to Kate.

"I don't know where he's living now. He's not at the place we were."

"Is he likely to show up someplace where you are going?"

"The little park," she said. "I take Miranda there every day. He comes there a lot. And when I wheel her carriage along the river."

"You never led me to believe it was this regular," Valerie said.

"Why don't you and I go down to the park tomorrow?" I said to Kate. "And maybe walk along the river."

"I will not allow you to expose my daughter to this man," Valerie said.

"Perhaps she could stay with you," I said.

"I have a day filled with meetings tomorrow," Valerie said.

"Your mother?"

"Tomorrow is my mother's golf day."

"And I suppose Buttons isn't up to the job," I said.

"This is not a frivolous matter," Valerie said.

"See if your mother can forgo golf tomorrow," I said.

Valerie looked annoyed, but appeared ready to humor me.

"I'll meet you in front of the Commonwealth Ave. place at what, nineA.M.?" I said to Kate. "Is there a stroller or something that you normally use?"

"Yes."

"Bring it."

"Without the baby?"

"Yes."

"What if he tries to hurt me?" Kate said.

"I won't let him," I said.

"He's awfully big and strong," Kate said.

"Me too," I said.

"I don't want him to be hurt," Kate said.

"For God's sake, Kate. Listen to yourself."

Kate didn't say anything. She just stared at the rug in front of her.

"Okay," I said. "Tomorrow, you come out wheeling the stroller, and go where you usually go. Don't look for me. I'll be there, but I don't want to scare Kevin away."

"What will you do if he comes?"

"I'll reason with him," I said.

TWENTY-FOUR

THE DAY WAS somewhat overcast, and not very hot. I strolled along on the other side of the street, watching Kate Malloy as she wheeled the stroller along Commonwealth, crossed at Dartmouth, and headed for the little park. She put the stroller beside her and sat for a while on a small bench, inside the black iron fence, and watched the children and their nannies, and occasionally, maybe, their mothers. No one stalked her. No one looked like they were going to stalk her. After a while Kate got up and took the stroller and walked down Commonwealth, the rest of the way, and turned left toward the river on Arlington Street. I went along too. We crossed the pedestrian overpass to the esplanade and began to stroll west along the river. If Kevin showed up I wasn't sure what to expect. I was ready. I had a gun on my belt, and a sap in my hip pocket, and if that didn't work, I could always bite him. Still, he seemed less monstrous when Kate talked of him than he did when Valerie talked of him. I was pretty sure I wasn't getting the whole story. I was used to it. I hadn't gotten the full story in Lamarr, Georgia. I never got the full story. There was probably something deeply philosophic going on. Maybe there was no full story. Ever.

We crossed a little footbridge over the lagoon and walked near the water. If anyone noticed that Kate was pushing an empty carriage they didn't show it. Bostonians are so reserved. There were a number of dogs being run by their owners, and a number of babies being strolled, and then there was a stalker. I didn't see him approach. He was just there all of a sudden, beside Kate, a big man wearing a tank top. His hair was in a crew cut shaved high on the sides. There were tattoos on each bicep. He took her arm. He was loud. And intense. As I closed on them I could hear him.

"I don't give a fuck about that. I need to see you. I love you."

I stopped beside them. He looked at me.

"Who the fuck are you?" he said.

He was fair-skinned and sunburned. He'd never tan darkly, but you could tell he was out-of-doors a lot.

"I'm with her," I said. "We need to talk."

"You need to take a fucking walk, pal."

He was sober, which was good news, since it was about eleven in the morning. There was no smell of booze, no slurring, none of the look around the eyes that drunks so magically achieve.

"Nope," I said. "The three of us. We'll sit down over there on that bench and we'll sort everything out."

Beside me Kate was like a rabbit, very still, quivering with-what? Expectation? Fear? Readiness? The guy was big and strong and had probably won most of the fights he'd had. But if experience made him confident, it also gave him perspective. I could see by the way he looked at me that he wasn't sure.

"You a cop?"

"Private," I said.

He snorted. I took it as an expression of contempt.

"Sort what out?" he said. "It's that bitch she works for that needs sorting out."

"How so?" I said.

"How so? Bullshit how so," he said.

Anger got the better of perspective, and he took a swing at me. It was a pretty good swing. He didn't lead with his right. He didn't loop the punch. But he got out in front of his feet, and it made him put too much arm into the punch, and not enough body. I picked it off with my right forearm. He followed with a right that I picked off with my left forearm. It didn't deter him, so I feinted at his belly with my right. He flinched, his hands came down, and I nailed him on the jaw with a left hook that turned him half around and put him on the ground.

Kate screamed "Stop it!" and jumped in front of me and wrapped her arms around my waist and tried to push me away from Kevin. Bells were ringing for Kevin. He got halfway up and sat back down.

"He'll be all right," I said. "He's just been jarred a little. But it would be better if we left it at this. Why don't you talk with him."

She turned toward Kevin, who was sitting upright on the ground, blinking his eyes. She dropped to her knees beside him, and put her arms around him.

"Stop it, Kevin. Please," she said. "For me. This man doesn't want to hurt you, or me. He'll help us, I know he will, if you'll talk with him. Talk with him, for me."

Kevin looked confused, but he let her help him to his feet and he walked pretty steadily with her toward the bench. When they weren't looking, I rubbed my knuckles. Every time I hit somebody my knuckles hurt. Tomorrow they'd be a little swollen, and a little sore. Occupational hazard. I couldn't go around all the time with my hands wrapped. The two of them sat on the bench. Kevin's eyes began to focus.

"Okay," I said. "We'll be friends, and I'll ask some questions, and you'll answer them and maybe we can work something out."

Neither one said anything. The hinges of Kevin's jaw were going to be very sore tomorrow.

"Don't feel bad," I said to Kevin. "You're a tough guy, but there's always somebody tougher."

"She didn't beg me," Kevin said, "we'd still be at it."

"Sure," I said. "Now, do you, Kate, love him, Kevin?"

"Yes."

"Do you, Kevin, love her, Kate?"

"For crissake, what's it look like? Of course I do."

"You ever hit her?" I said.

"Once."

"Hit her once, or on one occasion hit her a number of times?"

"Just once, total," Kevin said.

He didn't want to look at me. He didn't like me knocking him on his kazoo in front of his girlfriend.

"That right, Kate?"

"Yes. He hit me on the arm, up near the shoulder."

"I was drunk," Kevin said. "And she was driving me crazy."

"About what?" I said.

"About her freakin' job. That bitch she works for doesn't want me around her."

"I need that job," Kate said. "How'm I going to eat, I don't have that job?"

"I'll be working again, goddammit, I'm just between right now."

"What do you do when you work?" I said.

"Heavy equipment. Company I worked for went outta business. I'll hook on someplace pretty quick."

"That the way you understand it, Kate?" I said.

"Yes. I know he'll get another job. But we need to eat now."

"We?"

"Kevin and I," Kate said.

I looked at him. He didn't look back.

"You supporting him?" I said.

"Just for now," she said. "I give him a little money."

"That right?" I said to Kevin.

"Yeah."

"He'd do it for me," she said.

"And when he shows up while you're walking the baby, he's not stalking you?"

"It's the only chance we get," Kevin said.

"Except we always fight," Kate said.

"Because he wants you to leave your job, and you don't want to."

"Not until he's on his feet again."

I walked a few feet and stood at the riverbank and looked at the gray water. Behind me the two of them sat on the bench as if they were waiting outside the principal's office. After a while I spoke to them without turning around.

"Why don't you get another job, Kate? Where the boss is a little more flexible."

"That's what I keep fucking telling her," Kevin said.

"I don't have time to look," Kate said. "And…"

"And?"

"And it's the baby. I love her. I want to take care of her. Nobody else wants to take care of her. I… I don't want her to grow up to be like her mother."

There were some sailboats skittering about erratically on the basin, driven inconsistently by the wind off the land. I watched them for a while. Then I walked back to where Kevin and Kate sat on the bench.

"Okay," I said. "Kate, you'll have to save another kid from her mother, and let a new nanny save Miranda."

"How am I going to get another job?"

"I'm going to get you one, and Kevin too."

"I can get my own job," Kevin said.

"Yeah sure, you're tough as nails and proud as a peacock. Which, so far, has enabled you to screw yourself up with the woman you love."

"You think I'm not tough 'cause you got a lucky punch in?"

"We both know it wasn't lucky," I said. "I can help you, unless you insist on being an asshole."

"You really think you can get us both jobs?" Kate said.

"It's a booming economy," I said.

She nodded and looked at Kevin. He smiled at her.

"You want to do this?" he said.

"Yes."

"Then we'll do it," he said.

TWENTY-FIVE

I WAS IN my office on Wednesday morning, eating some sugared donuts and drinking coffee and reading the paper. Wednesdays were always promising, because Susan didn't see patients on Wednesdays. She taught in the morning and normally spent the rest of the day with me.

And morning was always a good part of the day. I had the paper to read. The streets were full of people, fresh-showered and dressed well and heading for work. My office was still. The coffee was recent. The donuts were everything donuts should be, and the bright beginning of the day contained the prospect of unlimited possibility. When I had finished the paper, I put my feet up and dragged the phone over, and called Vinnie Morris.

"Gino do business with any construction companies?" I said.

"Of course," Vinnie said.

"I got a heavy-equipment operator looking for work."

"He connected?" Vinnie said.

"He's connected to me," I said. "Can you get him hired?"

"Sure," Vinnie said.

"Quickly?" I said.

"Tomorrow?"

"That's quickly," I said.

"I'll get back to you," Vinnie said.

We hung up. I went to the window and looked down at Boylston Street where Berkeley intersected. A stream of good-looking professional women moved past. Their outfits were tailored and ironed and careful. I was too high to hear, but I knew that their high heels clicked on the warm pavement as they walked. And I knew most of them smelled of pretty good perfume. Had I been closer, they in turn would have noticed that I smelled fetchingly of Club Man. But there was no one to smell me… yet. I looked at my watch. Quarter to eleven. She'd be here in an hour and a half, or so she had promised. Punctuality was not Susan's strength. She always intended to be on time, but she seemed to have some kind of chronometric dyslexia, which thwarted her intent, nearly always. Had she been predictably late, say fifteen minutes every time, then you could simply adjust your expectations. But she was sometimes a minute late and sometimes an hour late, and on rare and astonishing occasions, she was five minutes early. Since I had no way to gauge her coming hither or her going hence, I accepted the fact that readiness is all, and remained calm.

I poured the rest of the coffee into my cup and rinsed the pot out and threw the filter away, added a little milk and a lot of sugar to my cup, and sat back at my desk with my feet up. I sipped the coffee and thought about the Clives and Tedy Sapp and Polly Brown and Dalton Becker and came no closer to understanding what had happened than I had before I got canned.

The phone rang. It was Vinnie.

"Crocker Construction," he said. "Tell your guy to ask for Marty Rincone. Use my name."

"Where are they?" I said.

"Building condos on the beach in Revere. He'll see the trucks."

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," Vinnie said. "You know where Hawk is?"

"France," I said.

"Working?"

"I don't think so. He went with a good-looking French professor from BC. Can I help you with something?"

"You could, but you won't."

"Okay, if I hear from Hawk, I'll tell him you were asking."

"Today or tomorrow, or don't bother. After that I'll have done it myself."

We hung up. Vinnie wasn't a chatty guy.

The mail came. I went through it. Nobody had sent me a check. Although one client had written a grateful letter. There were a couple of bills, for which I wrote a couple of checks. I threw away several offers to make my phone bills lower than a child molester.

Susan arrived. However late she might be, she was always worth the wait. Today she had on cropped white pants, and a striped shirt, and sneakers. I sensed that our afternoon would be informal. She sat on the couch and wrinkled her nose.

"Are you wearing Club Man again, or have they just painted the radiators?"

"You fear Club Man, don't you?" I said. "Because you're afraid that after just a single whiff, your libido will jump out of your psyche and begin to break-dance right here on the rug."

"That's probably it," she said. "Would you like to hear our plans for the rest of the day?"

"Yes, but first I need to find work for a nanny," I said.

"A nanny," Susan said.

"Yes."

I told her about Kate and Kevin and Valerie and Miranda.

"Things are not always as they appear," Susan said.

"You've noticed that too," I said.

"I'm a trained psychologist," Susan said. "You've gotten Kevin a job already?"

"Yep. Through Vinnie Morris."

"I'm not sure I have Vinnie's clout."

"Thank God for that," I said.

"But I can ask around," Susan said. "Most of the women I know work."

"As do most of the men," I said.

"Your point, Mr. Politically Correct?"

"Could be a father needs a nanny," I said.

"I'll ask the men too," she said. "Now would you like to hear our plans for the day?"

"Do they involve heavy breathing?"

"Absolutely," Susan said. "Whenever I smell your cologne."