Read Online Promised Land by Robert B. Parker - Free Book Online Page A

moment, turned sharply toward me, grunted with pain and put his hand against the wall to keep steady.
    ”Get out of here,“ he said as hard as he could without raising his voice.
    ”Somebody worked you over. I thought so when I saw the mouse, and I knew so when you tried to walk. You are in money trouble with someone Hawk works for and this is your second notice.“
    ”You don’t know what you’re talking about.“
    ”Yeah, I do. Hawk works that way. Lots of pressure on the body, where it doesn’t show. Actually I’m surprised that there’s any mark on your face.“
    ”You’re crazy,“ Shepard said. ”I fell downstairs yesterday. Tripped on a rug. I don’t owe anybody anything. I’m just doing business with Hawk.“
    I shook my head. ”Hawk doesn’t do business. It bores him. Hawk collects money, and guards bodies, that sort of thing. You’re with him one day and the next you can hardly walk. Too big a coincidence. You better tell me.“
    Shepard had edged his way back to the desk and gotten seated. His hands shook a little as he folded them in front of him on the desk.
    ”You’re fired,“ he said. ”Get out of here. I’m going to sue you for every cent I gave you. You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.“
    ”Don’t be a goddamned fool, Shepard. If you don’t get out of what you’re in, I’ll be hearing from your embalmer. You got three kids and no wife. What happens to the kids if you get planted?“
    Shepard made a weak attempt at a confident smile. ”Listen, Spenser, I appreciate your concern, but this is a private matter, and it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m a businessman, I know how to handle a business deal.“ His hands, clasped on the desk in front of him, were rigid, white-knuckled like his wife’s had been on the New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge. Probably for the same reason. He was scared to death.
    ”One last try, Shepard. Are you doing business with King Powers?“
    ”I told you, Spenser, it is not your business.“ His voice did a chord change. ”Stop trying to hustle yourself up some business. You and I are through. I want a check for five hundred dollars in the mail to me tomorrow or you’ll find yourself in court.“ His voice was hitting the upper registers now. The tin clatter of hysteria.
    ”You know where to reach me,“ I said and walked out.
    Living around Boston for a long time you tend to think of Cape Cod as the promised land. Sea, sun, sky, health, ease, boisterous camaraderie, a kind of real-life beer commercial. Since I’d arrived no one had liked me, and several people had told me to go away. Two had assaulted me. You’re sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod.
    I drove to the end of Sea Street and parked illegally and walked on the beach. I seemed to be unemployed. There was no reason I could not pack up and go home. I looked at my watch. I could call Susan Silverman from the motel and in two hours we could be having a late lunch and going to the Museum of Fine Arts to look at the Vermeer exhibit that had just arrived. Giving Shepard back his retainer didn’t thrill me, maybe Suze would pick up the lunch tab, but telling Shepard where his wife was didn’t thrill me either.
    I liked the idea of seeing Susan. I hadn’t seen her in four days. Lately I had found myself missing her when I didn’t see her. It made me nervous.
    The beach was crowded and a lot of kids were swimming off a float anchored fifty yards from shore. Down the curve of the beach there was a point and beyond I could see part of the Kennedy compound. I found some open beach and sat down and took off my shirt. A fat woman in a flowered bathing suit eyed the gun clipped to my belt. I took it off and wrapped it in the shirt and used the package for a pillow. The woman got up and folded her beach chair and moved to a different spot. At least people were consistent in their response. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the water and the children and occasionally a dog. Down the beach