Body Work by Sara Paretsky

Author:Sara Paretsky
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: mystery, warshawski, women detectives, Mystery & Detective, Warshawski, Women private investigators - Illinois - Chicago, Chicago, V. I. (Fictitious character), Women private investigators, Illinois, Fiction, women, General, Mystery fiction, Crimes against, Artists, Thrillers, Suspense, Artists - Crimes against, Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9780399156748
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-08-31T17:53:33.333000+00:00

29

Stale Act

When I got to my office, Petra was sitting in the lot in her silver Nissan, the motor running. She climbed out as soon as she saw me pull up and started talking before I was out of my car.

“What happened last night? Olympia just called to tell me I’m fired! She said it’s because you burned down her club, and I couldn’t be trusted as long as you were in my life. You didn’t really, did you?”

“And the top of the morning to you, too, my little chickadee.”

Lack of sleep was making me dizzy. I forgot about my sore palm and picked my gun up from where I’d left it on the car seat. Cold metal on open wound made me cry out involuntarily.

“Don’t snarl at me—thanks to you, I’m unemployed.”

“Thanks to Olympia, you are unemployed,” I snarled. “I haven’t had breakfast. Olympia kept me up late, and another crisis got me up early. You can come to the diner with me or wait in my office.”

Petra trudged down the street with me, everything in her body, from the jut of her lower lip to her hunched shoulders, designed to tell me how big a burden I was in her life. I didn’t even try to make conversation. Let her sulk.

At the diner, I thought about the healthy option—oatmeal, fruit, yogurt—but I needed protein. And I was craving grease. Fried eggs and hash browns. Petra petulantly told the waitress that she wasn’t hungry.

“What did you do to Olympia and why is she taking it out on me?”

I shut my eyes and leaned back in the booth. “Not until I get food.”

As soon as my breakfast arrived, Petra repeated her plaint. She, un-hungry cousin, also helped herself to my hash browns. I ate the eggs, trying to pretend I was alone, or with Jake, perhaps in a luxury suite at the Four Seasons. Finally, though, I told Petra what had gone on last night after the thugs had sent her and the rest of the staff away.

“Olympia is playing a very dangerous game if she’s playing with Anton Kystarnik,” I said. “Frankly, since you wouldn’t quit, I’m glad she fired you.”

Petra took a piece of my toast and spread jam on it. “But you said you weren’t sure who those guys were.”

“I’m not sure what makes the sky blue, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe it is.”

“But—”

“Rodney, the guy who stuck his hand in your pants, works for Kystarnik. Olympia gives him the run of the club. She forced Karen to let him put his cryptic messages on her butt when she was doing her mourning piece for Nadia. Look up Kystarnik. He is one scary dude.”

I glared at her and snatched the last piece of toast before she could get it. “Order your own damned breakfast.”

“So how come you set the stage on fire?”

“Collateral damage.” I explained how it happened and showed her the purple mess in my palm. Not that it was relevant, just that it hurt, and I wanted Petra to see that I’d been wounded in the line of duty.

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