Read Online Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker - Free Book Online Page A

again. “Seen him around, you know. Just trying to do him a favor.”
    “What did he pay you?”
    “A C each.”
    “Big league,” I said.
    “See you again,” Buddy said. “Come on, Harold. We’re walking.”
    Harold looked at the gun. He looked at Buddy. Buddy said, “Come on,” and turned toward the front door. Harold looked at me again. Then he turned after Buddy.
    Patty said, “Spenser.”
    I shook my head and put the gun away. “Tell Mel that if he keeps sending people down to annoy us I’m going to get mad,” I said. Buddy nodded and went down the three stairs to the front hall. Harold followed him.
    “The next people he sends won’t walk out,” I said.
    Buddy paused and looked back. “You never were a shooter,” he said. “It’s what’s wrong with you.” Then he went out the front door and Harold went after him. I heard it close behind them.
    Patty Giacomin stood where she’d stood throughout “Why did you let them go?” she said.
    “We had a deal,” I said. “If they told me what I asked I wouldn’t turn them in.”
    “You didn’t say that,” she said.
    “Yeah, but Buddy and I both knew it”
    “How do you know him? Who are they?”
    “I don’t know Harold. Buddy I’ve run into over the years. He works on the docks, and he grifts. He unloads ships when there’s work. When there isn’t, hesteals. He’s an errand boy. You want your warehouse burned for insurance, you give Buddy a couple of bucks and he torches it. You want a Mercedes sedan, you pay Buddy and he steals you one. Some grocery clerk owes you money and he won’t pay and Buddy goes over and collects. Nothing heavy. Nothing complicated.”
    “He belongs in jail,” Patty said.
    “Yeah, I suppose so. He’s been there. He’ll be there again. He’s not that bad a guy.”
    “Well, I think he’s pretty bad,” she said. “He broke into my house, manhandled me, tried to kidnap my son. I think he is very bad.”
    “Yeah, I suppose you would. But that’s because you don’t know any people who are in fact very bad.”
    “And you do?”
    “Oh, my, yes,” I said.
    “Well, I’m glad I don’t. I hope Paul didn’t see this.”
    “Oh, he saw it,” I said. I nodded at the stairs. In the shadows of the upper hall, three stairs up from the living room, Paul was standing looking down.
    “Paul,” she said. “How long have you been there?”
    He didn’t say anything.
    I said, “Since Buddy and Harold came in.”
    “Don’t be scared, Paul,” she said. “It’s okay, Mr. Spenser has made them go away. He won’t let them bother us.”
    Paul came down the stairs and stood on the middle step.
    “How come you didn’t shoot them?” he said.
    “I didn’t need to,” I said.
    “Were you scared to?”
    Patty Giacomin said, “Paul.”
    “Were you?”
    “No.”
    “The guy said that there was something wrong with you. That you weren’t a shooter.”
    “True.”
    “What’d he mean?”
    Patty said, “Paul, that’s enough. I mean it. You’re being very rude.”
    I shook my head. “No. This all revolves around him. He has a right to ask questions.”
    “What did he mean?” Paul said.
    “He meant that if I was quicker to kill people, my threat would work better.”
    “Would it?”
    “Probably.”
    “Why don’t you?”
    “Something to do with the sanctity of life. That kind of stuff.”
    “Have you ever killed someone?”
    Patty said, “Paul!”
    “Yes.”
    “So?”
    “I had to. I don’t if I don’t have to. Nothing’s absolute.”
    “What do you mean?” He stepped down to the living room level into the light.
    “I mean you make rules for yourself and know that you’ll have to break them because they won’t always work.”
    Patty said, “I don’t know what either one of you is talking about but I want you to stop. I don’t want any more talking about killing and I don’t want to talk about either of those men again. I mean it I want it stopped.” She clapped her hands when she said the