Liberty Falling (Anna Pigeon Mysteries) by Nevada Barr

Author:Nevada Barr [Barr, Nevada]
Format: epub
Tags: Detective, Mystery, Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Mystery & Detective, American Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Fiction - Mystery, Pigeon; Anna (Fictitious character), Fiction, Women park rangers, Suspense, Women Sleuths, Mystery & Detective - Series, Mystery fiction, General
ISBN: 9780425237359
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2010-10-15T07:00:00+00:00

14

During the boat trip from Ellis to Liberty the date lost out. Or at least was postponed a couple days. Anna wasn't sure why the idea was so off-putting. She'd had a nice enough time on their first date. Madison wasn't a firebrand when it came to conversation and he wasn't glamorous--at least not visually. To women who found power and prestige alluring, a cardiothoracic specialist at Columbia-Presbyterian would be considered a knockout. He wasn't sexually aggressive, which she appreciated. Slap and tickle was unsettling at sixteen when a girl didn't yet know she had a choice. Thirty years later it was likely to get somebody's arm broken. He did do a bit of what Molly, in her homemade psychiatric jargon, referred to as "leaning." A leaner was a man who stood too close, loomed in one's airspace, always seemed to be between his date and any convenient escape hatch. Despite his drawbacks Anna had to admit Madison was kind and attentive and oh-so-pleasant. Like Elwood P. Dowd, she thought. But some ingredient was lacking in Madison that Jimmy Stewart had in abundance.

Maybe she'd been out of circulation too long. He'd said he was newer to the game than she, but he seemed totally at ease. Anna hadn't the least excuse for turning down a night on the town. Except the way he slid that unmarked folder into his desk. Then locked the drawer.

Could be anything: politically sensitive patient, movie star in for cosmetic surgery, an abortion...

"Stop it," Anna ordered herself.

"I didn't mean nothin'," came a mumbled response, and she realized she'd been talking out loud. Not an uncommon practice in New York City, Dragged from self-absorption, she saw that the guys from the cleaning crew had come to the stern for the short trip from island to island. The speaker was the oversized white boy with the offensive tattoo. Anna wondered what he was apologizing for. He looked like one of those habitual screwups who either bow and scrape or stab and punch, and both with equal lack of provocation.

"No problem," she said, stepping away from his bulk. Clouds of smoke suggested the janitors had come out not to enjoy the late-evening air but to have a cigarette. Three had lit up. The fourth chewed. A quick survey: everybody smoked filter cigarettes. The observation was knee-jerk; Anna didn't doubt her ephemeral ash was from Hatch's Gauloise.

"Hey, Idaho, you bidding for S-six again tonight?" This from a wiry Hispanic man. Smoke came out with every word. At the end of the sentence he took a deep drag lest any moderately unpolluted air should make its way into his lungs.

Anna sneaked a look at his chest. "Jason" was embroidered over his pocket, proving fashion could be thicker than culture.

"Yeah. S-six," mumbled the lunk they called Idaho.

"White guys," Jason said with disgust. "Boohs is everything. Latinos know the power's in the hoot. The bigger the cushion, the better the pushin'."

Anna let this sexual shorthand rattle around in her head till she made sense of it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.