Now and then - By Robert B. Parker Page 0,37

be an interesting group at the reception.”

40.

Iwas in epstein’s office. I had brought a bag of donuts and he supplied some really awful coffee.

“You make the coffee?” I said.

“Shauna,” he said. “My assistant.”

“I hope she’s good at other things,” I said.

“Nearly everything else,” Epstein said. “These donuts kosher?”

“No,” I said.

Epstein nodded and took a bite.

“We looked into everywhere that Alderson was supposed to have worked his magic,” he said after he’d swallowed. “Nobody ever heard of him. No record of him at Kent State. No record of any affiliation with the Weathermen, or the SDS, Peter, Paul and Mary. Nobody. Nothing.”

“Maybe he’s not a hero of the revolution,” I said.

“If he’s really forty-eight,” Epstein said, “the revolution was over by the time he was old enough to be heroic.”

“Maybe he lied about his age,” I said.

“Why would he do that if he’s claiming to be a major fi gure in things that were mostly over by, what, 1975?”

“We were out of Vietnam by then,” I said.

“So if he’s going to insist he’s a hero of the era, why not claim the right age?”

“Vanity, maybe,” I said.

“He wants us to think he’s young?”

“Women,” I said. “He likes women, and he may be so used to lying about his age to women that he does it instinctively.”

“So,” Epstein said. “He’s either lying about his age or about his history.”

“Or both,” I said.

“And it appears that he has also killed two people, one of them an FBI agent,” Epstein said.

“And he’s working very hard to get that audiotape.”

“Which isn’t all that incriminating,” Epstein said. “I don’t think what’s on that tape could even get us an arrest warrant.”

“But it would cause you to investigate him,” I said.

“It has,” Epstein said. “And we got nothing.”

“Except that he’s not what he says he is,” I said. “Or maybe who he says he is.”

“Is that worth the risk of killing an FBI agent?” Epstein said.

“Apparently.”

Epstein nodded. We were quiet for a time.

“There’s something else,” Epstein said.

“There’s a lot else,” I said.

Epstein finished a donut and drank a little coffee and made a face.

“You’re right about the coffee,” he said. “I’m going to have to do something about it.”

“It’s nice to have a manageable problem,” I said.

“Yeah,” Epstein said, “gives me the illusion of competence.”

“So, where does a guy like Alderson get a hit man like the one who killed Jordan Richmond?” I said.

“Red?”

I shook my head.

“Red’s a lummox,” I said. “He’s big and strong and idolworships Alderson, or what he thinks Alderson is, but he’s not a guy to arrange some murders.”

“So who?”

“And why?”

We each took a second donut.

“We don’t know,” I said.

“Good point,” Epstein said. “Why don’t you work that out, and I’ll deal with the coffee issue.”

41.

Tuesday was a clear, brisk day with just the barest possibility of snow lingering at its edges. The alarm system was installed and working under Susan’s desk. Susan’s offi ce was on a corner and there were windows facing Linnaean Street, and windows on the side facing the driveway. Vinnie was in a parked car on Linnaean Street where he could see both sets of windows and the front door. Chollo was on the second floor, sitting on the top step of the front stairs. Hawk and I were in the spare room with the door open. Hawk leaned in the open doorway. I stood in the front window. I wanted Alderson to know we were around.

At quarter to ten, Perry Alderson, wearing a black pinstriped double-breasted overcoat, strolled down Linnaean Street and turned into Susan’s front walk. If he saw me in the window he gave no sign. He came up Susan’s steps and opened her front door and looked around her big front hall. Susan came to the offi ce door when he entered, and said, “Come in please.”

Alderson gave her a big smile and put out his hand.

“Dr. Silverman,” he said. “What a pleasure. I’m Perry Al derson.”

Susan shook his hand. Alderson was completely focused on her. If he saw Chollo on the stairs, or Hawk in the doorway, he reacted no more than he had to seeing me in the window, if he’d seen me in the window. They went into Susan’s office and closed the door.

Hawk was motionless in the doorway where he was supposed to be. The alarm bell we had rigged was molly-anchored onto the wall next to the door. I looked at my watch. It was nine minutes to ten. Under normal circumstances Alderson would come out at twenty to