R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
He stood for a time in the living room, listening to nothing, feeling the emptiness. Then he went outside and walked down to the beach and looked at the water. It was restless and active on the outer side of the island. There were whitecaps. The tide was high and there wasn’t much beach above the reach of the waves. The way the coastline curved, there were no other houses in sight, and he couldn’t see the road from where he stood.
He took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed.
“Molly,” he said. “I’m at Five Stiles Island Road. Send Peter Perkins out here with all his stuff. Tell him he’s going to be looking for blood.”
“Whose blood?” Molly said.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Has it to do with Walton Weeks?” Molly said.
“I don’t know yet.”
“But it might?” Molly said.
“Or it might not,” Jesse send. “Could you see if you can find Peter Perkins.”
“Yessir,” Molly said.
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36
Sunny had supper with Jenn at the Union Street Bar and Grill, in the South End, across from the cathedral. Several people recognized Jenn and pointed her out to companions. When they came out, Sunny saw the stalker lingering across the street, near the sheltered bus stop. Sunny paid him no attention. She patted her left thigh as if in time to music, and gave the valet her ticket. As she got into the car she glanced in her side-view mirror and saw Spike get out of his car, two blocks back on Washington Street. She smiled and when the valet closed the door for Jenn, she put the car in gear and drove away without looking back.
R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“I need to swing by my place,” Sunny said, “before I drop you off.”
Jenn nodded. She sat with her head back against the car seat and her eyes closed.
“What’s your ex-husband like?” Jenn said.
Sunny thought about it.
“Richie’s father and uncle run a mob,” she said.
“They’re gangsters?”
“Yes.”
“How about him?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You were married to him?” Jenn said. “You maybe still love him? And you’re not sure?”
“I don’t think Richie is even sure.”
“Is he a criminal?” Jenn said.
“No,” Sunny said. “I don’t believe that he is. But he is very loyal to his father and his uncle.”
“Even if it means being, ah, you know, illegal?”
