The Fall and Rise of Peter Stoller by M Pepper Langlinais

Author:M Pepper Langlinais [Langlinais, M Pepper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MPL Books
Published: 2020-01-06T22:00:00+00:00

The abused deli bag was fragrant enough to declare its contents without Peter having to open it, and he immediately set it aside. He wasn’t hungry, he decided, not even for his favorite sandwich from a place he never thought to patronize again. Funny, Peter thought, how the moment something you want becomes readily available it loses its value.

He was debating whether to simply throw the bag away, arguing with himself over the need to take it outside to keep the office from smelling, when the intercom beeped. “Is this...?”

Peter pressed and answered. “Yes, Mr. Martin?”

“Mr. Lessenby is—” Simeon cut short as a low voice interrupted, followed by a light knock at Peter’s door. As Gordon entered, Peter dropped the lunch bag into the wastebasket beside his desk and rose to greet his visitor.

And here was Gordon as he’d always known him, so very different from the night before: the suit slightly too big and just wrinkled enough to draw attention, the tie a tad too loose and askew. Peter wondered whether Gordon had given up buying work clothes, being so close to retirement. Perhaps he was making the best of what he already had, unflattering as that wardrobe might be.

“Sorry to interrupt your...” Gordon gestured at the crumpled bag, sole occupant of the trash bin.

“No need to be,” Peter assured. He was suddenly, inexplicably nervous, had to swallow against an unbidden knot that had formed in his throat.

“Sit,” Gordon told him, taking up one of the two chairs across the desk from Peter. “Oh,” he added, and his fingers dipped into his trouser pocket to produce two keys on a thin metal ring. “For your office and your desk.” He leaned forward and set them on the edge of the dusty mahogany.

Peter did not reach to take them. Instead, he kept his palms flat on the wood in front of him, not trusting his hands not to tremble should he lift them. “Thank you. I trust Gerry spoke to you?”

Gordon made a noise that Peter took as affirmation. “Your old badge should be locked in your drawer there.”

Peter nodded, wondering why Gordon had bothered to come to his office when he could just as easily have called Peter to his. Why had he come to the flat the night before, for that matter? To see Peter, he’d said, but why? What was he looking for?

“Of course, you could just go home,” Gordon said, and Peter’s wall of curiosities shattered like a stone through a window. “Leave them to it.”

“Leave them...” Peter repeated faintly, urging his mind to keep up.

“A deer in the wood,” said Gordon. “And if the hunter notices a second deer?”

“He goes for the easier target,” said Peter.

“You’re an easy target, Peter.”

“I know. It’s why I’m here. Give you the chance to run.”

“Run where?” Gordon asked. “These woods are my home. And they’ll always be full of hunters, poachers. They may spare me today, but they’ll be back for me tomorrow.”

Peter scowled. He couldn’t like Gordon’s resignation, and he certainly couldn’t like Gordon’s dismissal of the help Peter was trying to give.

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