The Bait
Page 24
She wasn’t certain if the anger was genuine but when he told her to get up, without offering assistance, she brushed herself off and followed him to the car.
She pulled the gun and shield from her pocketbook, at his insistence. “There. Nobody broke in and took them.” She tossed them back into the pocketbook and snapped on her seatbelt, then pressed the doorlock after he slammed the door shut. She glanced at him, but he was starting the motor, his head ducked down.
“Damn it, look at the time. Do you know how long we’ve been here?” he demanded.
“Apparently, too long.”
Reardon didn’t answer. The silence which encompassed them was heavy and tense and confusing. He changed so rapidly, so completely, from one moment to the next. His face was set in that familiar, hard expression and he gave no indication that he was aware of her presence beside him in the car. He squinted, then leaned forward and slowed the car down. He had pulled into the driveway of a diner.
“You hungry?” he asked, finally turning to look at her.
Christie leaned back, her cheek against the vinyl backrest. He let her study him and his face seemed to relax. Calmly, she looked for all the things she had learned about him: the different facets of Casey Reardon appeared and disappeared. It was a comfortable, honest silence now and she saw the small, familiar grin at the corners of his hard mouth. She thought of what he had told her on the beach without wondering why he had told her. Whatever his reason, it seemed to have clarified something within her. She knew that he had revealed something very personal and she felt, now, that he had regretted it. That was what had made him angry. He had been angry at himself.
He looked amused and that triggered her own reaction: the set of rules between them was well defined. She turned slowly and looked through the windshield. “I’m hungry,” she said, “but I wouldn’t eat in that greasy spoon. There’s a very nice drive-in about a mile further down. On the left side of the parkway.”
Reardon’s eyes glinted. “Opara, you are pushing,” he said, but he started the car and backed out of the driveway. He whistled through his teeth in that annoyed way, yet, at the same time, he seemed to be happy.
Christie wondered if she would ever get to understand him. Casey Reardon was, indeed, a very complicated man.
A Biography of Dorothy Uhnak
Dorothy Uhnak (1930–2006) was the bestselling, award-winning author of nine novels and one work of nonfiction.
Uhnak was born in New York City, where she attended the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Before she turned to writing, Uhnak spent fourteen years as a detective with the New York City Transit Police Department, where she was decorated for bravery twice. Her memoir, Policewoman (1964), chronicles her career in law enforcement, and was written while she was still on the force.
The Bait (1968), Uhnak’s first novel, won the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery Novel, and introduced NYPD detective Christie Opara, who appeared in Uhnak’s next two novels, The Witness (1969) and The Ledger (1970). All three novels were adapted for television and eventually became the series “Get Christie Love!” starring Teresa Graves. Uhnak followed the Opara trilogy with Law and Order (1973)—a novel about three generations of Irish American police officers—which earned critical praise and was considered her breakout novel. Next came The Investigation (1977), another blockbuster. Both of these were also adapted for television.
Uhnak has been credited with paving the way for authors such as Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky, Patricia Cornwell, and many others who write crime novels and police procedurals with strong heroines. Additionally, she was hailed by George N. Dove as “an experimental writer who . . . tried new approaches with each undertaking.” Her books have been translated into fifteen languages. Uhnak died on Long Island in 2006.
Dorothy Uhnak, around age one.
Uhnak, age four, holding a childhood pet.
A teenage Uhnak pictured with Mildred Goldstein, her only sister. Throughout her youth, Uhnak enjoyed doing odd jobs at the 46th Precinct station house on Ryer Avenue in the Bronx, near her family’s home.
Sixteen-year-old Uhnak at the beach, around 1946.
Uhnak, age twenty-four, poses with her husband Anthony “Tony” Uhnak. (Photo courtesy of Harold Ellis.)
A feature on Uhnak in the American Electric Power Company’s CURRENT magazine, following the release of her second book, The Bait. “It’s been a fantastic year,” Uhnak said. The Bait went on to win a 1969 Edgar Award.
Uhnak with Police Chief Thomas O’Rourke, in a photo taken during the ceremony promoting her to detective in the New York City Transit Police Department. Uhnak would keep this title for fourteen years.
Uhnak poses in front of Scottish wards at the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens—one of the largest world’s fairs to ever be held in the United States.
Uhnak pictured with her husband, Anthony; mother, Josephine Goldstein; and daughter, Tracy.
Uhnak with her daughter, Tracy, and husband, Anthony.
Uhnak and her mother, Josephine, at her daughter’s wedding in 1987.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1968 by Dorothy Uhnak
cover design by Kelly Parr
978-1-4532-8352-3
This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media
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