The Turquoise Lament: A Travis McGee Novel by John D. MacDonald & Lee Child

Author:John D. MacDonald & Lee Child [MacDonald, John D. & Child, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Literature & Fiction, United States, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Hard-Boiled, Thrillers & Suspense, Suspense, Thrillers, Crime
ISBN: 0812984064
Amazon: B008WONXEQ
Publisher: Random House
Published: 1973-01-01T22:00:00+00:00

Eleven

I KNEW Gabe Marchman would be home, simply because he never goes anywhere. He had the sense to buy some so-called ranchland west of Lauderdale years ago and keep five acres of it, and put his house smack in the middle of the five acres. He was a combat photographer, one of the great ones, until a booby trap smashed his legs into a poor grade of hamburger and put him on crutches for life. He and his Chinese-Hawaiian wife, Doris, have seven kids, six horses, uncounted dogs, cats, geese, ducks, all living in a noisy and peaceable kingdom. He has a photolab almost as big as the main house. He does experimental work, and he does problem assignments for large fees. He is the most sour-acting happy man I know.

Doris came out of the house as I got out of the car. She said, "He's very angry with you, and you really have to stay for barbecue, Travis. He loves to talk to you. Talk and talk and solve all the problems of the world."

"I should stay because he's angry?"

"Because like I heard him say to you on the telephone, you never come around unless you have a problem."

"It's strange, you know? I really relish coming here. I like to be with you two. What happens?" She has that lovely matte Chinese complexion, without flaw,, and looks more like a sister than a mother to her eldest daughter, age thirteen. "What happens? We all waste our days doing dreary things, Trav, instead of the things we want to do. You will stay and eat with us? Wonderful! Let's see how Gabe is doing."

We walked around the big house to the back garden. Gabe was chugging the length of the new pool, getting almost all the impetus from his powerful arms. He paused and held up three fingers.

"Three more laps only." Doris said. "It's best he finishes the whole forty at one time."

"Is it helping?"

"Oh, yes. For the first time, this year, he's been almost without pain. Poor lamb. He so hates exercise."

Soon he clambered out, pulled himself up, shouldered himself into his terry robe, and leaned against the step railing to dry his face and hair. Then he came swinging nimbly over to us on his aluminum crutches.

He stared hard at me as he sat down at the glasstopped terrace table. "Well, what do you know!" he said.

"That's a weird greeting."

"There was an edge to your voice on the phone. I wondered if it showed in person. It does. So, whatever your problem, it's more personal than professional."

"Darling!" Doris said sharply.

"It's okay," I said. "It's okay if Gabe Marchman reads me. He's read a lot of faces in a lot of bad situations."

"It happens in the eyes," he said. "And something about the tilt of the head and the shape of the mouth. Mostly in the eyes, though."

"Somebody very important to me could be in a very bad situation. I don't know. It depends on what you tell me. I almost don't want to ask you.

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