10 Mary, Mary by Ed McBain

Author:Ed McBain
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780749312312
Publisher: Norstedts
Published: 1982-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Warren pulled to the curb at the first phone booth he spotted. He could never understand why there were hardly any public telephones on Calusa’s streets or highways. You wanted to call somebody, you had to go into a restaurant or a supermarket, make a pest of yourself. He pitied any married man having an affair in this town. Anybody who’d ever done the double on his wife knew that a pay phone was an absolute essential. But in this town, you could be prepared with all the loose change in the world, and you’d still have to drive for miles before you found a phone you could use. Midwesterners—even transplanted ones—didn’t cheat, he guessed. Too busy milking their cows or mowing their wheat, or gleaning it, or whatever the hell they did to it.

Nick Alston picked up on the first ring.

It was four thirty-seven by Warren’s digital watch.

“I thought you were the guy supposed to relieve,” Alston said. “He’s got a habit calling in sick every fuckin’ Wednesday. I think he’s got a girl he goes see on Wednesday, when her husband’s away. How you been?”

“Fine,” Warren said. “How about you?”

Alston had lost his partner a while back—a euphemism for the fact that Charlie Macklin had been shot dead while sitting a crime-scene house on the beach. The last time Warren had seen him, Alston was drinking heavily. Never a handsome man, his brown eyes had been shot with red, his craggy face puffed and bloated, his straw-colored hair stringy. Warren kept meaning to call him, see how he was doing.

“I almost called you a coupla times,” Alston said.

“Oh. How come?”

“Thought we’d have a few drinks together. Maybe go bowling.”

“We can skip the drinks,” Warren said, “but I wouldn’t mind bowling.”

“I’ll give you a ring,” Alston said, “next time I get the night off.”

Down here, it was not an easy thing for a redneck cop to offer a hand of friendship to a black man. Warren appreciated the gesture, but it made him feel shittier than he was already feeling about not having called Alston.

Compounding the felony, Alston said, “Meanwhile, what’s on your mind? I know you wouldn’t be calling if you didn’t need a favor.”

Warren thought of saying Hey, no, Nick, what kind of thing is that to say? And he thought of saying, You’re right, Nick, I should’ve stayed in touch, but somehow time rushes by, you know, and all at once it’s weeks and then months and...

“Can you run something by your computer for me?” he said.

Toots was licensed to carry but she wasn’t strapped tonight because this was a routine milk run and she wasn’t expecting any trouble. What she’d figured was a trip to the airport was the fastest way to get all the rental car information she needed. There were some wildcat rental companies operating outside the airport, but the bigger ones were all concentrated here. Roving from counter to counter would be quicker than calling all of them on the telephone.

The airport

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