The River King by Alice Hoffman

Author:Alice Hoffman [Hoffman, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Police, Mystery & Detective, Preparatory School Students, General, Psychological, Suspense, Massachusetts, Large Type Books, Fiction
ISBN: 9780425179673
Google: GhICAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0425179672
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Published: 2000-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

PEOPLE IN THE VILLAGE OF HAD DAN HAD LONG memories, but they usually forgave transgressions. Who among them hadn't made a mistake? Who had never run aground of good sense and simple reason? Rita Eamon, who ran the ballet school and was a well-thought-of parishioner at St.

Agatha's, had been so drunk at the Millstone last New Year's Eve that she'd danced on the bar and flung off her blouse, but no one held it against her. Teddy Humphrey had been involved in a laundry list of mishaps, from accidentally targeting the gym teacher during archery practice back when he was in high school, to ramming his Jeep into his neighbor Russell Carter's Honda Accord after he discovered that Russell was dating his ex-wife.

Those who had called Joey and Abe hoodlums when they were young were pleased to note what upstanding citizens they'd become. Barely anyone could remember those times when the boys had ordered sodas and fries at the pharmacy with no money in their pockets, then had run for the door, half expecting Pete Byers to race after them with the hatchet he was said to keep by the register, in case of fire.

Instead, Pete had merely waited for them to see the error of their ways. One morning, on the way to school, Abe had stopped by and paid off their debt. Several years later, Joey admitted he'd done the very same thing and the joke between them now was that Pete Byers was the one who'd wound up owing them money, with twenty or more years of interest tacked on.

On the second day of the heat wave, Abe was thinking about the grace with which Pete had handled that situation when he dropped by the drugstore, as he often did, for old times' sake and some lunch.

There at a rear table, having tea and scones, were Lois Jeremy and Charlotte Evans from the garden club. Both women waved when they saw him. These two usually wanted something or other done for their precious club, which met every Friday at town hall, and Abe did his best to assist them. He felt particularly bad whenever he saw Mrs.

Evans, from whose house he and Joey had once stolen three hundred dollars they'd found in a tin stored beneath the kitchen sink. The robbery had never been reported to the police or mentioned in the Tribune, and Abe later realized the money had been a secret kept from Mrs. Evans's husband, a well-known bully and bore. To this day, Abe will not write Charlotte Evans a parking ticket, not even on those occasions when her car blocked a fire hydrant or when she parked in a crosswalk. He'll go no farther than issuing a warning and telling Mrs.

Evans to buckle her seat belt and have a nice day.

"Something is wrong with the safety precautions in this town," Lois Jeremy called from her table.

"I see no reason whatsoever why we cannot have an officer posted outside the hall during our fund-raiser." She treated Abe as she did all civil servants, as though they were her own personal hired help.

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