Robert B Parker - Spenser 26 - Hush Money

by Hush Money(lit)

  The letter made me uncomfortable. A little girl talking dirty without using bad words. It always interested me that people had a lot more trouble writing a dirty word than they did saying it. It was also very uncomfortable to be the object of salacious fantasy. The idea that a good-looking woman would think such things about me was attractive. The reality was embarrassing. It also made me think about why KC had trouble with men. She thought that it was about sex, when what it was. about was love. It made me sorry for her. I could try to explain but she wouldn't understand it, and, worse, if

  she did understand it she wouldn't believe it.

  "KC is doomed," I said to Pearl.

  Pearl opened her eyes and looked at me without raising her head. I didn't follow up the remark so she lost interest

  and closed her eyes again. On television Andres Galarraga hit a hanging curveball into the general area of Buckhead scoring Chipper Jones ahead of him, and the ball game was over. I clicked off the television and lay quietly beside Pearl thinking about KC. I wondered if in fact I would learn something by sleeping with her.

  "You never know," I said to Pearl.

  Pearl had discerned already that I was not looking for an answer so she moved her ear slightly to let me know she was listening, but she didn't open her eyes. I was hungry. I got up and went to the kitchen and made one and a half ham sandwiches on light rye with dark mustard. I brought it back into the bedroom with a bottle of ,Ram Adams White Ale, got back into bed, gave Pearl her half, and ate my sandwich, and drank my beer from the bottle.

  "We're going to have to do something bout KC," I said. Pearl was engaged with her half sandwich. "If only I knew what."

  Pearl had mustard on her muzzle, she wiped it on the spread as I spoke. I drank some beer and had another bite of sandwich.

  "This may be," I said to Pearl, "a job for Susan."

  Pearl stood up, turned around three times, and settled back down with a large sigh. Clearly it was enough chitchat for the night.

  Temple. I called the Brandeis alurmni office and got her current address from them. Alumni offices know your address when even the IRS can't find you. I called the university English department to make sure she wasn't teaching any night classes. Which she wasn't. The secretary sounded a bit offended that I would think she might be.

  At about six o'clock in the evening I got in my car and drove over to Cambridge. Susan wasn't due back until qtie next morning, so I took Pearl with me. We parked outside Lillian's apartment building on Kirldand Street and waited. I didn't know what I was waiting for, but I often didn't. I was trying to figure out a way to get information from a hostile witness.

  Pearl and I watched the sights and sounds of Cambridge pass by the car. Pearl reacted only to other dogs, and then with hostility, otherwise she rested her head placidly on the backseat and stared.

  "Cambridge was placed here;' I said, "across the river from Boston to provide comic relief."

  A woman came by with an ugly black dog wearing a bandanna. Pearl barked at her. Or maybe it was her owner.

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  Across the street Lillian Temple came out of the door to her building and walked across the street behind the ear. It was a cool night. I cracked the windows.

  "I gotta go," I said to Pearl, "you gotta stay. I'll be back." I locked the car doors and followed Lillian down Kirkland Street toward Mass Ave. It was still light, but she seemed a single-minded person, like many in Cambridge, who didn't pay much attention to what was happening around her. She took no notice of me tagging along behind. At Mass Ave she turned left and walked toward Harvard Square. There were some guys in native garb playing Peruvian pipes outside the Harvard Coop. Three or four people asked me for money. One offered to sell me a newspaper called Spare Change, "the newspaper by and for file homeless." There was a guy beating rhythm on the bottom of a series of different-sized inverted buckets. There were many kids with ring-pierced body parts and pastel hair hanging around the subway kiosk. Harvard students, and future Harvard students, parents, faculty, and staff all moved about the square among the street people ignoring the traffic and the traffic laws. There was a diverse variety of cops around the square. MBTA cops.hanging at the subway entrance, Cambridge cops lingering near the corner of JFK and Bratfle, a motorcycle cop with gleaming boots parked near Cardullo's, Harvard cops standing outside the Holyoke Center near the perpetual chess games.

  Lillian turned fight at Nini's corner and went down Brat-tie Street to The Casablanca bar and restaurant. When I got inside she was at the bar. It was about 7:20 on Thursday night and the bar was half empty. Or half full depending on how much you'd been drinking. I slid onto a bar stool beside her. She paid no attention to me. But she was aware of at least a male shape beside her because she looked at her watch sort of obviously to let me know she was waiting for

  someone and was not available. She ordered a glass of white wine, making it a longer process than it might have been by asking what kinds they had and how much it cost. She set' fled on a modest California chardonnay. I ordered a draught · beer. I looked around on the bar, no cashews. They didn't seem to care about becoming upscale. Maybe they already were upscale. Lillian sipped her wine and looked ostentatiously at her watch again, lest one of the unaccompanied males, made reckless by animal lust, proposition her. She made no eye contact with anyone. Everything in her being vibrated with l'rawaitingfor-someone. "Excuse me;' I said. "Do you come here often?" She fixed me with a withering stare, which changed slowly into recognition, which changed slowly into anxiety. "Oh;' she said, "it's you." "Yes it is," I said. "I'm waiting for someone;' she said, and drank some of her wine. "Really?" "Yes. Bass, Bass Maitland." She said the name as if it would make me slide off the stool and scuttle for the door. I held fast. She drank some more wine. "While you're waiting;' I said, "may I buy you a glass of wine?" "I... I'd... I would rather you didn't;' she said. "Okay," I said. I sat and looked at her. She looked at me and looked at her watch and glanced around the bar casually, the way a rat does when it's cornered. I drank a little beer. She finished her wine. I was quiet, still looking at her with a friendly look. Spenser--large but pleasant. She looked at her empty wineglass. She glanced at me and smiled a half smile. And

  glanced quickly down the bar toward the door to remind me that Bass was imminent. I remained calm. "Offer still stands," I said. "Oh, well, very well. It's kind of you." I gestured to the bartender. "Martin," I said, "a glass of white wine, for the lady." "You've been here before," she said. "I've been everywhere before," I said in perfect imitation of Humphrey Bogart. She didn't seem to recognize it. "Really?" she said. Martin brought the wine and looked at my beer. I shook my head. "Sure, the other guy is Gal;y;' I said. "Impressive, isn't it." She smiled politely. Badinage didn't seem her strongest suit. She drank nearly half of her new glass of wine. Maybe that was her strongest suit. I didn't say anything. She looked around the bar again. I had a swallow of beer. She drank most of the rest of her wine. I nodded at Martin. She checked the doorway, looked at her watch, finished her wine, and Martin brought her another one. "Oh, I really couldn't," she said. "Okay," I said. She looked at the fresh glass of wine. A trickle of moisture ran down the side of the cold glass. "I don't mean to be ungracious;' she said. "No offense," I said. She looked at the wine. I swallowed a little more beer. She picked up the wine and drank some. "No point in being stubborn," she said and smiled at me thinly. She was wearing black sandals and a loose ankle-length black dress with pink and yellow flowers printed on it. Her

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  hair was pulled back tight to her head and culminated in a long braid. Her skin was pale, and she had on no makeup except some pink lipstick.

  "How are you doing in your, ah, investigation," she said. "Depends on how you define progress," I said. "I'm no closer to finding out whether Robinson Nevins got jobbed in his tenure bid, but I have found out that Prentice Lamont

  was a blackmailer, and that he was murdered." "Murdered.*" "Un huh."

  "How do you know th
at?"

  "I detected it."

  "And what's this about blackmailT' Lillian said.

  She was nearly finished with her third glass of wine and when Gary went by she gestured him. for a refill.

  "He was blackmailing homosexuals who would rather not be outed;' I said.

  She finished her previous glass and handed it to Gary as

  he set the new glass down. "My God," she said. "Exactly;' I said.

  She looked at me uneasily for a moment. "Did you come here to talk to me?" she said. "I followed you here;' I said. "Followed?"

  "Yep. I need to know who told you that Lamont's suicide was connected to Robinson Nevins."

  "I have already told you that is confidential information." "Not anymore," I said. "I haven't gone to the cops yet, because I'm trying to save everybody a lot of grief. But if I can't solve this myself, I will take it to the cops, and you can tell the homicide guys, who, by the way, are nowhere near as channing as I am."

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  "Homicide?

  "You are going to have to tell, Professor Temple. You can tell me, now, or you can tell the cops soon."

  She looked at the door again, and around the bar, and at her watch, and drank some wine and turned tome and said, "Difficult choices."

  "Not really;' I said. "One's easy, one's hard, same outcome."

  She stared at me for a moment, looked away, looked down at her wine, looked back at me, but couldn't hold the look.

  Staring at the wineglass she said, "Will he have to know I told?"

  "Probably not;' I said. "I can't guarantee it, but I won't tell if I don't have to."

  She nodded, still staring into the wineglass. "Amir," she said. "Amir Abdullah?" "Yes."

  "He told you Prentice Lamont and Robinson Nevins were having an affair?"

  "Yes. And that Robinson broke it off cruelly and Prentice killed himself."

  "He say how he knew this?"

  "No."

  "And you took it and reported it whole, as he told it."

  "I had no---have no--reason to doubt him. Amir is a very principled man."

  I had some reservations about exactly how principled Amir AIxlullah was, but I let them slide, because Bass Maitland had arrived. He was strolling in from the front door. By the way Lillian was looking at him he might have been walking on water.

  "Bass," she said.

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  "Hi, Lil;' he said in his big round satisfied voice. He was wearing a seersucker jacket, well-faded blue jeans, a black polo shirt with the collar turned up, and deck shoes, no socks. Lillian said, "You remember Mr.... the detective we talked to:' "Spenser;' I said. "Oh, absolutely. How are you?" He gave me the kind of big firm handshake that a big firm man would give. He was so pleased with himself that it was infectious. I almost liked him. "Is this a coincidence," he said with a big smile, "or are you staking us out?'' "Holding your place for you," I said, and stood up. "Appreciate it." He took my seat and smiled again, like an affable crocodile. He was probably a very principled man, too. So were they all, all principled men. And women. There were few things more annoying than a visibly principled person. Or more troublesome. Most of the ones I'd met could !hve used a little uncertainty to dilute their principled-ness. But it didn't seem a fruitful topic to discuss with Bass and Lillian, so I said good-bye and went off to get my dog.

  to watch the Sox and the Angels from the West Coast. "Come quickly," she said. "Please. I need you:' She sounded teary. "What's your problem?" "Louis:'

  "What about Louis?"

  "He came back."

  "Really?"

  "Oh, please, come quickly. Please."

  "Why?"

  "He, he..: please come:'

  "What did he do?"

  "He... violated me:'

  "Do you mean he raped you?"

  She was silent. '

  "Did he rape you?" I said.

  "Yes."

  "Have you called the police?"

  "Oh, God no, I can't talk about this with the police. I, please, I have to see you, you're the only one."

  "When did this happen," I said.

  182 'if R. trr "Just now. He just left." "He's gone." "Yes. He heat me and he violated me." "Have you been to the doctor?" "No. I told you. I can't..." "Don't take a shower," I said. "Don't bathe or wash yourself. Stay still. I'll be there in half an hour. Will you he all fight until then?" "Yes." "Okay. When I get there I'm going to take you to the doctor." "No." "Unless you agree to that I won't come." "I.... I can't.... "She was crying. "You'll have to promise. Otherwise I'll hang up and call the Reading cops and it'll he you and them." "No... oh why are you so awful?" "Promise? She was silent, sobbing. I waited. "Oh yes, goddamn you," she said and hung up. I got dressed and drove up to Reading. She was hugging herself looking out the door waitidg for me. '3ntil I saw her I thought she might he making it up. Now I was pretty sure she wasn't. Someone had slapped her around pretty good. Her upper lip was swollen and one eye was puffed. It would he shut by morning. She had on a white tee shirt and gray sweatpants and moccasins. Her hair was a mess. "Oh God," she said, and backed away as I came in. "Come on;' I said. "Hospital." "You're really going to make me?" "You het," I said. I took her arm. She flinched away for a moment. But I kept hold and she relaxed enough to go with me.

  The on-call gyno who showed up at the emergency room roung woman with red hair and a good backside who into the examining room, took one look at KC, and me out with one brisk all-inclusive gesture. I sat in waiting area and looked at people with bruises and cuts g problems and stomach pains as they came and I read several ancient copies of People magazine, left me feeling like I'd eaten too much fudge.

  After about an hour, the gyno came out and said, "Mr.

  "Me;' I said.

  "Come in please."

  I went in. KC was in a johnny and those silly slippers that

  give you. Her hair had been combed and her face washed she seemed a little foggy. A!arge black woman in a nurse hovered around and looked at me disapprovingly.

  "I'm Dr. Tripp;' the red-haired woman said. "Mrs. Roth

  I may speak freely with you. What is your relationship her?"

  "Employee," I said.

  "In what capacity?"

  "I'm a detective. She hired me to prevent this from happening to her."

  "She may wish to rethink that," Dr. Tripp said. "She may," I said. "Was she raped?" "She was."

  "No doubt of it?"

  "None. There's vaginal bruising. There's semen. The

  police have been notified."

  KC stared at her.

  "No;' she said thickly. "I don' wan' that."

  "Mrs. Roth, I'm required to," she said. "Neither you nor I have a choice."

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  "Tranquilizer?" I said.

  "Valium. You're not with the police."

  "No. I'm a private detective."

  "Really," she said. "Do you know who did this?"

  "I think so," I said.

  "No. He din't," KC said. "I will swear he din't?'

  Dr. Tripp stared at her.

  "You'll protect the man who did this?" "I don' know who did," KC said. Dr. Tripp looked at me. I shrugged.

  "I would like to keep her overnight," Dr. Tripp said.

  "I think that's a good idea," I said. "Maybe you can put the cops off until tomorrow."

  "One reason I want ller to stay," Dr. Tripp said.

  "Will you stay wi' me?" she said to me. "I won' stay 'less you stay wi' me."

  "It's permitted," Dr. Tripp said.

  "Oh good," I said.

  Spending the night sitting in a chair by KC Roth's bedside was about as appealing as a Howard Stern film festival. I took in a lot of air through my nose and let it out the same way. Dr. Tripp and the black nurse and KC all stared at me with various degrees of male-oriented hostility.

  "Sure;' I said. "Be glad to."

  Reading cops were solicitous, and KC was uninformative, and I was tired. KC insisted that she didn't kno
w her assailant. The cops clearly did,not believe her but couldn't figure out why she'd protect him, and neither could I. They had a young female assistant from the Middlesex DA's office who seemed bright and sympathetic and was pretty