Podstrony
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
we wanted to see him on Monday morning. When she did not respond, he
continued, My next phone calls are to double-check on that alibi he gave us.
Al, sometimes I don t know whether to hate you or to love you.
I am a force of nature, like Sherlock Holmes, he said placidly.
Kate made a rude noise into the receiver. What time do you hold on a
second. Kate rested the phone against her thigh to muffle the sound and said
to the small person in the doorway, You guys ready?
Mamalee says two minutes and we re drivin away without you, but I don t
want to leave you here, I want you to come. You promised.
I ll be there in one minute, sweetie. Have you used the potty?
Page 206
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The green eyes rolled. Of course. And Mamalee already asked me.
Well, a girl can t pee too many times. Tell her just one minute. Sorry, Al,
she said into the receiver, I ve got to go. Do you want me to call you
tonight?
No, I want you to have a relaxing weekend. I ll make a date with Rutland for
Monday, and see you Monday morning.
Implacable as Lee, Al Hawkin hung up on his partner, abandoning her to the
affections of her family.
TWENTY
Kate parked at the Hall of Justice well before eight o clock on Monday,
invigorated not only by the chance of getting her teeth into Thomas Rutland,
who had annoyed her since the moment she had laid eyes on him, but also (she
had to admit) by two days spent in the salt air with her family, during which
she d had no more urgent puzzles on her hands than the species of the bird
sitting at the other end of the binoculars from her and what kind of pancakes
to order for breakfast. As if to underscore that a holiday from work was a
necessary part of clear thinking, as she walked toward the building, she felt
one of those small clicks of synthesis in the back of her mind, and stopped
dead, allowing it to develop.
She had been mulling over the dinner party at Tony s, nine disparate
individuals brought together by their interest in a fictional English
detective, and idly holding that up beside the weekend she had just spent with
Lee and Nora, where interests and commonalities seemed to spring from their
very pores.
As her mind skimmed over that night, she thought of Ian Nicholson s charge
against Gilbert, accusing him ofa casual abuse of friends . Casual abuse
happened all the time in a relationship; it might also be calledtaking me for
granted . A weekend together, during which two people might rediscover
themselves, was a necessary part of life, like air into the lungs.
It was then that another phrase floated into Kate s mind:Philip hated to
break character.
And so she stopped walking, her head bent as she sought to trace that
statement back to its source.
It had also been said at that dinner. And also by Nicholson.
Ian Nicholson had been making a passing comment on Gilbert s idiosyncrasies,
more fond than critical. And although it was by no means technical language,
it struck Kate now as slightly off, as a phrase not everyone would use. Lee,
for example, might comment on the psychology of role playing; a cop s mind
might chew on the similarity between Gilbert s act and that of a person hiding
from the law, or at least from his past.
Break characterwas a thing an actor might say.
A friend mentioned they d seen him in a restaurant somewhere, with an actor& .
Page 207
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Gilbert and an actor, six or seven years ago.
And at that same dinner, someone had asked Ian if he d thought Philip was
acting.
She trotted up the steps and through security, impatiently jabbing the
elevator button. In the Detail, she shed her things on her desk and sat down
in front of the computer without taking off her coat. Hawkin greeted her, and
she nodded absently.
I should ve thought about this on Friday, Kate berated herself. After I
talked with Gilbert s ex-wife on Friday, the bells should have gone off. Of
course, even if I d known Friday, I couldn t have done anything, time zones
and office hours being what they are. All I lost was being preoccupied for two
days at Point Reyes, and driving Lee nuts.
Hawkin said something, but she copied down a phone number before looking up
at him. Sorry?
I said, we need to leave if we re going to catch Rutland today. He said he
could give us half an hour, then he s in court all day.
You go get the car, I ll meet you out in front.
He was waiting for her when she trotted down the front steps of the Hall, but
he hadn t been there for long.
What was that about? he asked as he turned onto Mission.
I had to hunt down Ian Nicholson s agent ex-agent, I guess, since Ian hasn t
worked as an actor in years. The secretary said he might not be in until noon,
New York time, but I gave her my cell number. If it rings, I m going to leave
you with Rutland and take it. She told him about the small leap her mind had
taken, although as she described the link, it sounded considerably more
tenuous than it had at the time. Almost apologetically, she ended by saying,
I just thought it was something we should look into.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkskarol.keep.pl
|
