Now and then - By Robert B. Parker Page 0,45

a little smiley face on the pad.

“I have to say, though, you look like a private detective,” she said.

“What do they look like?” I said.

“Big, strong, intrepid, handsome, in a rough way.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s accurate.”

“And,” she said, “you’re fun.”

I nodded.

“Bubbly,” I said.

A pale young woman with red-framed eyeglasses came in and handed Lois a thick printout of names and addresses.

“Ms. Carter sent these over,” the young woman said, and hurried out as if she were escaping.

Lois looked at the paper.

“Well,” she said. “Let’s see.”

48.

Ihad bought myself a bottle of Dewar’s scotch and was having some with soda and ice, sitting on the bed in my hotel room, looking at the gray lake, talking to Susan.

“So something happened,” I said, “between the time Lois the assistant dean knew him as Bradley Turner, and the time Red met him as Perry Alderson.”

“Which is what kind of time frame?” Susan said.

“She knew him twenty years ago. Red tells me that Perry straightened him out and he’s been straight for ten years.”

“That’s a pretty big gap to fi ll,” Susan said. “Ten years.”

“I’ll narrow it, I suspect, when I’ve plowed through Lois’s list of names.”

“How many?” Susan said.

“Sixteen,” I said. “All women.”

“Hmmm.”

“Chance to polish up my seductive charm,” I said.

“It’s shiny enough,” Susan said.

“You should know,” I said.

“I do.”

“I promise to use it,” I said, “only for professional purposes.”

“Oh good,” she said.

“Who’s with you?” I said.

“Everybody.”

“Hawk?”

“Yes. He and Chollo and Vinnie are going to have dinner with me.”

“Where?”

“Here,” she said.

“You cooking?”

“Almost,” she said.

“Almost?”

“Well, I’m setting the table, and making everything look lovely.”

“So who’s cooking?”

“Chollo,” she said.

“Chollo?”

“Yes. He says he’s going to make us an authentic south-ofthe-border meal.”

“Out of what?” I said.

“I don’t know. He went shopping this afternoon while Hawk and Vinnie were, ah, on duty.”

“Shopping,” I said.

“Sí,” she said.

“Jesus,” I said. “He’s got you doing it.”

I could hear the amusement in her voice.

“He says that in his village the roots of the corn culture go deep.”

“He lives in Bel Air,” I said. “He thinks the corn culture is Wild Turkey on the rocks.”

“Right now he’s peeling avocados,” Susan said.

“Well,” I said. “There are things Chollo does that no one I’ve ever seen can do better.”

“Even Vinnie?”

“Even him,” I said.

“Have you seen him cook?”

“No.”

“I’ll report tomorrow on the results,” she said. “Are you going to share with Epstein the facts of Alderson’s other name?”

“Not right now,” I said.

“How did I know that?” Susan said.

“Because you went to Harvard?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe because I have an advanced degree in you.”

“Are you embarrassed to tell me you love me?” I said. “In front of your dinner companions?”

“I love you,” she said. “It is the strongest feeling I have ever had.”

“You’re sure they can’t hear me?” I said.

“Sure,” she said.

“I love you, too,” I said.

49.

Claire goldin was the sixth name that Lois had given me. Like the previous five, and probably the next ten, she had dated the former Bradley Turner during her college years. And in her case, for several years after. We met for coffee in Tower City. She had a noticeable body and blond highlights in her hair.

“I didn’t care that he was endlessly promiscuous,” she said and smiled at me. “So was I.”

“Was?” I said.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Always a day late,” I said. “And a dollar short.”

“But I had a rule against married men, and I found out he was married.”

“Who was he married to?”

“I don’t know. But he always came to my place, we never went to his. And I sort of wondered about that. Then I saw a man following us. I saw him a couple of times. There was no reason for anybody to follow me.” She grinned again. “For crissake, I hadn’t even been married yet.”

“You’re married now,” I said.

“Third time. I’m trying to make it work.”

“Love?” I said.

“Enhanced by money,” she said. “Anyway, I asked Brad about it, the guy following us. And he said it was the government. That they’d been trying to get something on him ever since he was fi rst active in the movement.”

“Did he mention anything specifi c?”

“No. And I didn’t ask. I’m just a simple sexpot,” she said.

“I like that in a woman,” I said.

She laughed.

“I’ll bet you do,” she said. “And you look like you could handle it.”

“Years of training,” I said.

She laughed again.

“So I didn’t know anything about the movement, and still don’t,” she said. “But I got the license plate number on the car, and I have a brother who’s a cop in Toledo. So I asked him