Grudge Match by Mike Lupica

Author:Mike Lupica
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

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WE SCORED A corner table that we’d had plenty of times before. There had been a night, after Spike had bought the place, when he’d described Jesse and me as “fooling around.” Jesse had corrected him, saying we weren’t fooling around because we were serious. Which we most certainly had been.

I hesitated briefly when the waitress asked for our drink order. Jesse noticed and told me I was of a legal age and allowed to have an adult beverage. I ordered a white wine. He ordered iced tea.

When she left I said, “Do you miss it?”

“Every damn day,” he said, then added, “at a time.”

When she brought our drinks back we clicked glasses.

“Did I mention you look good?” he said.

“Tony referred to me as a woman of a certain age,” I said.

“What does he know?” Jesse said. “He can’t even hold on to women he’s paying.”

I told him why I’d taken the case. And about Jabari. Even about the kid at Harvard Stadium.

“You got the drop on him,” Jesse said.

“Did I ever,” I said.

He raised his glass of iced tea in a toast.

He said that tomorrow he and Molly and Suit would circulate Lisa’s picture. They would work the downtown area and the bed-and-breakfasts that he said still did a pretty good business, even at this time of year.

“It’s still a small town,” he said. “If she’s been here, somebody saw her. We’ll find her.”

“Like the old days,” I said. “We did make a pretty good team.”

“Not just as crime-stoppers,” he said.

“Stop,” I said.

“Right,” he said. “You’ve got a boyfriend.”

“Keep that in mind,” I said.

“Just making conversation,” he said.

I smiled at him again. “The hell you are,” I said, and he laughed.

We both ordered salmon. While we were eating it Jesse said, “You think there’s any possibility she’s trying to shake him down?”

“I’ll ask her when we find her,” I said. “But if she lived with Tony and worked with him, she knows him. And knows what generally happens to people who cross Tony Marcus.”

“I know,” he said.

“Do you?”

“Like I said,” Jesse said. “I’m the chief of police. Guys like us know all kinds of shit.”

“Then tell me why we didn’t end up together even when Richie and Jen weren’t in the picture.”

“Damned if I know,” Jesse said.

We passed on dessert and coffee. Jesse asked for the check. I told him I was going to Uber back to Boston, or Lyft, whichever one could get here first. He said he’d drive me.

“Not like the old days,” he said. “I can be a designated driver now.”

I told him I didn’t think that was the best idea in the whole world.

“Don’t trust me?” he said.

“Don’t trust either one of us,” I said.

“Even though you’ve got a boyfriend?” he said.

“Even though.”

As we made our way past the bar, I got the bartender’s attention. He was young, but then who didn’t look young to me these days? He was wearing a tight black T-shirt that was like an advertisement for whatever time he’d been putting in at the gym.

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