Hero by Thomas Perry

Author:Thomas Perry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penzler Publishers

16

Joe’s place was a separate building behind a big house in the Hollywood Hills—what real estate people used to call a “mother-in-law unit.” Justine had always hated that name. The current jargon term “accessory dwelling unit” was no more elegant and less human. She liked the term “guesthouse.” Both buildings were painted the same creamy off-white.

The guesthouse was about sixty feet from the main house and about forty from the five-car garage, which was cloaked in magenta bougainvillea vines. Two mature California oaks shaded the guesthouse and the back part of the main house. As Joe’s car reached the upper end of the driveway, she could see that the backyard was a garden full of well-tended greenery.

He opened one of the garage doors with a remote control, coasted into the empty space, and pressed the remote to close the door behind them. She liked that, because if Ben’s killer had seen Joe’s car, he didn’t see it now. She happened to be looking at Joe in profile as he turned off the engine. He noticed and said, “It keeps the car from getting hot. The midday sun can be brutal.”

“I live in LA,” she said. “I like shade too.”

“I meant that I’m not putting the car away, really. I can take you wherever and whenever you want.”

“I wasn’t worried,” she said. “I believed you before. What’s your last name, by the way?”

“Alston.” He didn’t ask hers.

She followed him out a side door of the garage to a flagstone path that led to the guesthouse, which he used a key on his keychain to open. It was one of a dozen tiny indications that he was who he said he was and had a right to be here. She stepped in and looked around. There was a rectangular sunlit living room that evolved into an office as she moved down the length of it, past some nice gray furniture arranged in a conversational grouping to a space with a large desk and matching filing cabinet with a printer on it.

She could see a short hallway with one door on either side that had to be a bedroom. Across the living room was a rudimentary kitchen that consisted of a wall of counter space and cabinets interrupted by a refrigerator, a small electric stove top with a ventilation hood above it, a dishwasher, and a single sink. She said, “It’s a pretty, cheerful space.”

“Thank you.”

“Who lives in the big house?”

“A friend who rents me this pretty, cheerful space.”

“What’s her name?”

“His name is James. The reason he has the big house is that he’s the executive producer of Sacajawea. The reason he’s seldom in it is that he’s the executive producer of Sacajawea, which is shot in Canada. Before that it was Doctor Frank, which was shot in an old decommissioned hospital and soundstages in LA. Even then he wasn’t hanging around much because he worked such long hours.”

She said, “So you just keep an eye on his place, walk his dog, and make sure nobody but you sleeps with his wife?”

“No dog,” he said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.