Spenser - 20 - Paper Doll by Robert B. Parker

Author:Robert B. Parker
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780425141557
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 1994-04-01T07:47:03+00:00

chapter twenty-five

WHEN SUSAN AND I made love at her house, we had to shut Pearl the wonder dog out of the bedroom, because if we didn’t, Pearl would attempt tirelessly to insinuate herself between us. Neither of us much wanted to leap up afterwards and let her in.

It was Sunday morning. We lay under one of Susan’s linen sheets with Susan’s head on my chest in the dead quiet house, listening to the sound of our breathing. I had my arm around her, and under the sheet she was resting the flat of her open hand lightly on my stomach.

“Hard abs,” Susan said, “for a man of your years.

“Only one of many virtues,” I said.

There was a big old windup Seth Thomas clock on Susan’s bureau. It ticked solidly in the quiet.

“One of us has to get up and let the baby in,” Susan said.

“Yes.”

The sun was shining off and on through the treetops outside Susan’s bedroom window and the shadows it cast made small patterns on the far wall. They were inconstant patterns, disappearing when a cloud passed and reappearing with the sun.

“Hawk came by and took me to dinner while you were gone,” Susan said.

“Un huh.”

“Fact, he came by several times,” Susan said.

“He likes you,” I said.

“And I swear I saw him outside my office a couple of times when I would walk a patient to the door.”

“Okay, Quirk asked him to keep an eye on you when I got busted in South Carolina. He knew something was up and he didn’t know what. Still doesn’t.”

“And Martin thought I’d be in danger?”

“He didn’t know. He was being careful.”

“So Hawk was there every day?”

“Or somebody, during the night too.”

“Somebody?”

“Maybe Vinnie Morris, maybe Henry, maybe somebody I don’t know.”

“Maybe someone should have told me.”

“Someone should have, but I’m the only one who knows how tough you are. They didn’t want to scare you.”

“And you think it’s all right now?”

“Yeah. With Quirk involved, and the Federal Attorneys in Boston and Columbia. The cat’s out of the bag, whatever cat it is. No point in trying to chase me away.”

“So I don’t need a guard?”

“No.”

“Wasn’t Vinnie Morris with Joe Broz?” Susan said.

“Yeah, but he quit him a while back, after Pearl and I were in the woods.”

Susan nodded. We were quiet for another while. Susan moved the flat of her hand in small circles on my stomach.

“One of us has to get up and let the baby in,” Susan said.

“Yes.”

The mutable patterns on the far wall disappeared again, and I could hear a rhythmic spatter of rain against the window glass.

Susan said, “I’d do it, but I’m stark naked.”

“I am too,” I said.

“No, you’re just naked,” Susan said. “Men are used to walking around naked.”

“Do you think stark naked is nakeder than naked?” I said.

“Absolutely,” Susan said.

She tossed the sheet off of her. “See?” she said.

I gazed at her stark nakedness for a while. “Of course,” I said and got up and opened the bedroom door.

Pearl rose in one movement from the

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