Robert B. Parker: The Spencer Novels 1?6
Page 17
Quirk shook his head.
“This broad is Mary Poppins, for crissake. Mother of the year, wife of the decade, loyal friend, good citizen, great human being, dedicated teacher, accomplished cook, and probably great in the sack.”
“Never is heard a discouraging word,” I said.
“None,” Quirk said. “Nobody had a reason to kill her.”
“Almost nobody,” I said.
“The crazed-killer thing still works,” Quirk said. “It happens.”
“Husband checks out?”
Quirk looked at me as if I’d asked him his sign.
“How long you think I been doing this? Who do we think of first when a wife is killed?”
“Cherchez la hubby,” I said.
“Thank you,” Quirk said.
“No problems between them?”
“None that he’d mention.”
“He doesn’t have a girlfriend?”
“Says he doesn’t.”
“She doesn’t have a boyfriend?”
“Says she didn’t.”
“You able to confirm that, as they say in the papers, independently?”
“Cops aren’t independent,” Quirk said. “Hot dogs like yourself are independent.”
“But you looked into it.”
“Far as we could.”
“How far is that?”
Quirk shrugged.
“These are powerful people,” Quirk said. “They have powerful friends. Everybody I ask says she was a candidate for sainthood. And he is a candidate for sainthood, and the kids are a couple of saintlettes. You push people like this only so far.”
“Before what?”
“Before the commissioner calls you.”
“And tells you to desist?”
“And tells me that unless I have hard evidence, I should not assume these people are lying.”
“And you don’t have hard evidence.”
“No.”
“You think there’s something there?”
Quirk shrugged.
“That’s why you sent Tripp to me,” I said.
“This wasn’t a Jamaican whore got smoked in some vacant lot, twenty miles from the Harvard Club,” Quirk said. “This is an upper-crust WASP broad got bludgeoned to death at one corner of Louisburg fucking Square for crissake. We got a U.S. Senator calling to follow up on our progress. I got a call from the Boston Archdiocese. Everybody says solve it, or leave it alone.”
“Which isn’t the way to solve it,” I said.
Again Quirk was silent.
“The way to solve it is to muddle around in it and disrupt everybody’s lives and doubt everything everybody says and make a general pain in the ass of yourself.”
Quirk nodded.
“You can see why I thought of you,” he said.
“So if Tripp doesn’t want this solved, why did he hire me?”
“I think he wants it solved, but with his assumptions and on his terms,” Quirk said. “He thinks he can control you.”
“Somebody ought to,” I said. “Any money to inherit?”
“A small life insurance policy, probably covered the funeral.”
“No mental illness?”
“No.”
“Kids?”
“Son, Loudon, Junior, twenty-two, senior at Williams College. Daughter, Meredith, eighteen, freshman at Williams.”
“They seem clean?”
“American dream,” Quirk said. “Dean’s list for both of them. Son’s on the wrestling team, and the debating team. Daughter’s president of the drama club and a member of the student council, or whatever the fuck they call it at Williams.”
“Any history on the kids that doesn’t jibe?”
“Son had a few routine teenage scrapes. Nothing that matters. I’ll give you the file,” Quirk said.
“You still got a guy on it?” I said.
“Yeah, Lee Farrell,” Quirk said.
“He’s new,” I said.
“Yeah, and he’s gay.”
“Young and gay,” I said.
“I got no problem with it, long as he doesn’t kiss me. But command staff don’t like it much.”
“So he gets the low-maintenance stuff.”
“Yeah.”
“He any good?”
Quirk leaned back in his swivel chair and clasped his hands behind his back. The muscles in his upper arm swelled against the fabric of his jacket.
“He might be,” Quirk said. “Hasn’t had a hell of a chance to prove it.”
“Doesn’t get the choice assignments?”
Quirk smiled without meaning anything by it.
“They had to hire him, and they had to promote him. But they don’t have to use him.”
“I’ll want to talk with Farrell.”
“Sure,” Quirk said. “You and he will hit it right off.”
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THE SPENSER NOVELS
Sixkill
Painted Ladies
The Professional
Rough Weather
Now & Then
Hundred-Dollar Baby
School Days
Cold Service
Bad Business
Back Story
Widow’s Walk
Potshot
Hugger Mugger
Hush Money
Sudden Mischief
Small Vices
Chance
Thin Air
Walking Shadow
Paper Doll
Double Deuce
Pastime
Stardust
Playmates
Crimson Joy
Pale Kings and Princes
Taming a Sea-Horse
A Catskill Eagle
Valediction
The Widening Gyre
Ceremony
A Savage Place
Early Autumn
Looking for Rachel Wallace
The Judas Goat
Promised Land
Mortal Stakes
God Save the Child
The Godwulf Manuscript
THE JESSE STONE NOVELS
Split Image
Night and Day
Stranger in Paradise
High Profile
Sea Change
Stone Cold
Death in Paradise
Trouble in Paradise
Night Passage
THE SUNNY RANDALL NOVELS
Spare Change
Blue Screen
Melancholy Baby
Shrink Rap
Perish Twice
Family Honor
ALSO BY ROBERT B. PARKER
Blue-Eyed Devil
Brimstone
Resolution
Appaloosa
A Triple Shot of Spenser
Double Play
Gunman’s Rhapsody
All Our Yesterdays
A Year at the Races (with Joan H. Parker)
Perchance to Dream
Poodle Springs (with Raymond Chandler)
Love and Glory
Wilderness
Three Weeks in Spring (with Joan H. Parker)
Training with Weights (with John R. Marsh)
PRAISE FOR ROBERT B. PARKER AND THE SPENSER NOVELS . . .
“A MASTER OF MURDEROUS IRONY.”
—Los Angeles Times
“ONE OF THE GREAT SERIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN DETECTIVE STORY.”
—The New York Times
NOW & THEN
Investigating a case of infidelity sounds simple—until it plunges Spenser and his beloved Susan into a politically charged murder plot that’s already left three people dead.
“This is vintage Parker, filled with banter and repartee, swagger and rule-skirting . . . a page-turner.”—The Boston Globe
HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY
Deadly complications arise when Spenser crosses paths with a runaway girl he had helped years ago.
“Parker in top-notch form.”—The Seattle Times
SCHOOL DAYS
When a young boy is accused of a mass murder, only his grandmother is convinced of his innocence.
“Crackling prose and juicy repartee.”—Entertainment Weekly
COLD SERVICE
When his closest ally is attacked, Spenser redefines friendship in the name of vengeance.
“One hot mystery.”—The Washington Post
“DETECTIVEDOM’S MOST CHARMINGLY LITERATE LOUT.”
—People
“EVERYONE INTERESTED IN MYSTERY AND CONTEMPORARY WRITING IN GENERAL SHOULD READ AT LEAST ONE OF THE SPENSER NOVELS.”
—Library Journal
BAD BUSINESS
A suspicious wife and a cheating husband pose a few dangerous surprises for Spenser.
“A kinky whodunit . . . snappy . . . sexy.”—Entertainment Weekly
BACK STORY
Spenser teams with Jesse Stone to solve a murder three decades old—one that’s still cold as death.
“Good and scary. This [is] superior Parker.”—The Boston Globe
WIDOW’S WALK
Spenser must defend an accused murderess who’s so young, cold, rich, and beautiful, she has to be guilty.
“Delicious fun. Bottom line: A merry Widow.”—People
POTSHOT
Spenser is enlisted to clean up a small Arizona town.
“Outrageously entertaining . . . a hero who can still stand up for himself—and us.”—The New York Times Book Review
HUGGER MUGGER
Spenser hoofs it down south when someone makes death threats against a Thoroughbred racehorse.
“Brisk . . . crackling . . . finishes strong, just like a Thoroughbred.”—Entertainment Weekly
HUSH MONEY
Spenser helps a stalking victim—only to find himself the one being stalked . . .
“Spenser can still punch, sleuth, and wisecrack with the best of them.”—Publishers Weekly
SUDDEN MISCHIEF
A charity fund-raiser, accused of sexual harassment by four women, is wanted for a bigger offense: murder . . .
“Smooth as silk.”—Orlando Sentinel
SMALL VICES
Spenser must solve the murder of a wealthy college student—before the wrong man pays the price . . .
“His finest in years . . . one can’t-put-it-down story.”—San Francisco Chronicle
CHANCE
Spenser heads to Vegas to find the missing husband of a mob princess—but he’s not the only one looking . . .
“As brisk and clever as always.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review
THIN AIR
Spenser thought he could help a friend find his missing wife. Until he learned the nasty truth about Lisa St. Claire . . .
“Full of action, suspense, and thrills.”—Playboy
THE SPENSER NOVELS
Sixkill
Painted Ladies
The Professional
Rough Weather
Now & Then
Hundred-Dollar Baby
School Days
Cold Service
Bad Business
Back Story
Widow’s Walk
Potshot
Hugger Mugger
Hush Money
Sudden Mischief
Small Vices
Chance
Thin Air
Walking Shadow
Paper Doll
Double Deuce
Pastime
Stardust
Playmates
Crimson Joy
Pale Kings and Princes
Taming a Sea-Horse
A Catskill Eagle
Valediction
The Widening Gyre
Ceremony
A Savage Place
Early Autumn
Looking for Rachel Wallace
The Judas Goat
Promised Land
Mortal Stakes
God Save the Child
The Godwulf Manuscript
THE JESSE STONE NOVELS
Split Image
Night and Day
Stranger in Paradise
High Profile
Sea Change
Stone Cold
Death in Paradise
Trouble in Paradise
Night Passage
THE SUNNY RANDALL NOVELS
Spare Change
Blue Screen
Melancholy Baby
Shrink Rap
Perish Twice
Family Honor
THE VIRGIL COLE/EVERETT HITCH NOVELS
Blue-Eyed Devil
Brimstone
Resolution
Appaloosa
ALSO BY ROBERT B. PARKER
A Triple Shot of Spenser
Double Play
Gunman’s Rhapsody
All Our Yesterdays
A Year at the Races
(with Joan H. Parker)
Perchance to Dream
Poodle Springs
(with Raymond Chandler)
Love and Glory
Wilderness
Three Weeks in Spring
(with Joan H. Parker)
Training with Weights
(with John R. Marsh)
STARDUST
ROBERT B. PARKER
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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STARDUST
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
G. P. Putnam’s Sons hardcover edition / June 1990
Berkley mass-market edition / May 1991
Berkley premium edition / December 2008
Copyright © 1990 by Robert B. Parker.
Cover photograph: Gun copyright © by BrandX/SuperStock; Bullet Holes copyright © by fStop/SuperStock; Director’s Chair copyright © by Creatas/SuperStock.
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For Joan: No dream in vain
1
WHEN you walk across the Common from the Beacon Street side, coming up from Charles Street and angling toward Park Street, you are walking up one of those low urban hills that no one notices, unless they are running. At the top, with the State House at about ten o’clock and the Park Street Church straight ahead at twelve o’clock high, you look down toward the Park Street Station. Which is what Susan and I were doing on an early winter day, with maybe three inches of old snow on the ground, and the temperature about seventeen. Below us, at the corner of Park and Tremont, the big subway kiosk was surrounded by trailers and trucks and mysterious equipment. Thick cables ran into the subway entrance, maybe two hundred people bustled about in various kinds of arctic wear. There were big yellow trucks with Hertz-Penske lettered on the sides. There were long trailers with many small doors.
“It looks like Hertz-Penske is invading Park Street Under,” I said.
Susan nodded. Her nose was slightly red from the cold and her gloved hand was firm in mine.
“Show business,” she said. “Can you smell the greasepaint?”
“That’s my shaving lotion,” I said. “Besides, I don’t think they use greasepaint in television.”
“It’s just an expression,” Susan said. “Have you no feeling for the romance of the theater?”