Unspeakable

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'Then maybe we should leave it.'

'What do you mean? I said yes, didn't I? You've been nagging me all evening and now you want to leave it?'

'I know, but you're drunk. Maybe we should leave it till you sober up.'

The man turned and looked at her for the first time. 'I don't think it would be a good idea to wait until I'm sober, because you don't turn me on when I'm sober.'

Holly laughed. The woman heard her laugh and turned around, frowning, but Holly was obviously too far away to have overheard what she was saying, and she turned back to the man again, looking cross.

'Lipreading again?' said Doug, sucking teriyaki sauce from his fingers.

'Yes. I know I shouldn't.'

'Look, how aboutMirrorLake ?' Katie persisted. 'We can swim, we can take the boat out.'

'And what else? Matchmaking 'round the old campfire?'

'Holly, it's just that I care about you. You're special.'

Holly kept on smiling. 'Let me think about it, okay? But just because I happen to be deaf, that doesn't mean that I need you to find lovers for me.'

'Did I say anything about lovers? Doug, did I say anything about lovers?'

Holly glanced over to the table in the corner. The man finished his beer and wiped his mouth with a neatly folded paper napkin. '-there won't be a trace, I guarantee it. You won't even know she ever existed. How? You don't want to know how. In fact, the less you know, the better. But this guy's a pro. You won't be turning on the news to hear that somebody's found her detached head in a bus-station locker.'

A Meeting with'Mickey Slim'

Mickey was waiting for her outside the restaurant, lounging back in his shiny black Oldsmobile Aurora, smoking a cigarette, which he tossed out onto the sidewalk as soon as he saw her.

She said good night to Doug and Katie. 'That was great. I had such a good time.'

Doug checked his watch. 'You sure you don't want to come on to C.C. Slaughter's? Jesus, it's only a quarter after nine.'

'I'd love to, but I'm really tired. Daisy has a math test tomorrow and I have to see the Joseph family at nine.'

'Oh, the Josephs?. Okay, you'll need all of your strength for that.'

She kissed them and gave them a wave as they walked away. Then she crossed the sidewalk to the Oldsmobile. Mickey leaned across the seat and unlatched the door for her.

'How's the sexiest public servant in thePacific Northwest ?'

'A year older. It's my birthday today.'

'Hey, why didn't you tell me? I would have bought you something. One of those magic Tillamook necklaces you like so much.'

'You police detective, me social worker. Let's keep it strictly professional.'

'But I love you.'

'No you don't. You only love you.'

Mickey was skinny and rangy and almost always wore a black suit and a black shirt with a black necktie. He would have been the first to admit that he wasn't particularly handsome. His cropped black hair was receding and he had a sharply pointed nose, but he had wounded gray eyes and a kind of etched, half-starved look that seemed to appeal to almost all of the women he met.

His real name was Mickey Kavanagh, but years ago one of his sergeants had christened him 'Mickey Slim'-not just because he was so thin, but in honor of the 1950s down-and-outs' cocktail of choice, gin mixed with DDT, which had the effect of being an upper and a downer at the same time. Which pretty much summed up Mickey's personality to a T.

'Thanks for that text message,' he told Holly, holding up his cell phone. 'Those guys you were lipreading? are they still inside?'

'No, they left about ten minutes ago.'

'Get a look at them?'

'Not very clearly. The one who was doing most of the talking was forty-five, maybe, broad shoulders, long gray hair tied back in a ponytail. Craggy kind of face, if you know what I mean. Acne scars. His accent wasn't local: The way he was biting the ends of his words, I'd say that he was almost certainly out ofChicago . He used the wordscat sense,too, and you very rarely hear anybody outside ofChicago saying that.'

'What about the other one?'

'I never saw him speak. He had his back to me most of the time but he looked as if he were older, more stooped, you know? He was wearing a green raincoat and he was carrying a yellow plastic shopping bag. I think he may have had a mustache.'

'Want to tell me exactly what was said?'

'It was very oblique, most of it. But I'd definitely say that they were arranging to kill some woman. The guy with the ponytail said that he was going to get a real pro to do the job. He said, 'You won't even know she ever existed.' '

'Want to come back to headquarters and look at some pictures?'

'This is my birthday, Mickey, and Daisy's waiting up for me.'

'I'll make it up to you, I promise. I'll take you out to McCormick and Schmick's tomorrow night and then we can go back to your place and make love until the steam comes out of our ears.'

'Sorry, Mickey.'

'All right, we can go back tomyplace and make love until the steam comes out of our ears. You'll just have to be careful not to kneel in the cat litter.'

'I'll look at some pictures at home, okay? And if I see a face that rings a bell, I'll call you.'

'Okay, okay. I know when I'm spurned.'

The Three Concubines

They drove through the brightly lit center ofPortland , along the tree-lined transit mall, where people were still strolling between the flower tubs, window-shopping. It had rained earlier, but now the evening was dry and warm, although the lights from the stores and the streetlights and the forty-storyInterstateBankTower were still reflected in the sidewalks.

'Been busy?' Holly asked Mickey.

'Are you kidding me? Those missing women are driving me nuts.'

'No leads?'

He shook his head. 'We still don't know for sure if they're in any way connected. I know they were all successful professional women, all four of them, and they all disappeared without telling their husbands or their friends where they were going. But until at least one of them shows up?'

'Any theories?'

'Personally, I think they all decided that their family responsibilities were holding them back and that the simplest thing to do would be to walk out the door and never come back.'

'You think theyalldid that, independently of each other? That doesn't seem very likely.'

'Why not? One walks out, the others see it on the news and think,What am I doing here with this Homer Simpson of a husband and these snotty ungrateful kids?Icould do that.'

Holly shook her head. 'I'm not so sure. I knowmenwalk out on their families sometimes.'

'Why not women? Sarah Hargitay ran a very successful real estate business; Jennie McLellan had a thriving patisserie; Kay Padowska was a senior manager at First Portland Bank; and Helena Carlsson was a big noise in the Port Authority. All dominant, single-minded women.'

'I'm a dominant, single-minded woman, but I wouldn't just walk out on my life.'

'That's because you'd miss me too much.'

'Are you kidding? I'd miss you like I miss hay fever when it starts to rain.'

Ahead of them they caught sight of three burly women in red, blue, and yellow cheongsams, with high collars and slit skirts, tottering arm in arm along the mall together. Mickey put down his window and called, 'Hey, girls!'

They came tripping over in their little silk Chinese slippers. Their faces were caked with thick layers of dead-white rice powder so that their five-o'clock shadows were covered, and their eyebrows were plucked into thin, startled arches.

'LieutenantKavanagh!What a wo-oh-onderful surprise!'

'Did you get that job atEmbers Avenue ?'

'Are youkiddingme?' shrilled the girl in the blue cheongsam.

'They were so cruel to us, you don't have any idea,' added the girl in the red cheongsam. 'They werebeasts.'

'They said, 'Who are you supposed to be,The Three Stooges Meet Fu Manchu?''

'Hey, you'll get over it,' said Mickey. 'You know you've got talent. When I saw you three singing 'Getting to Know You' that time? what can I say? Whoa, unforgettable.'

'Who's the car candy?' asked the girl in the blue cheongsam, nodding toward Holly.

'Oh, I'm sorry. This is a good friend of mine, Holly Summers. She's a caseworker for the Portland Children's Welfare Department. One of the city's finest. Holly, this is Lotus Flower, August Moon, and Bruce.'

'Good to meet you, honey,' said Lotus Flower, reaching into the car and gripping Holly's hand. 'You just watch this guy: He's got a reputation with us women.'

They drove on. 'Some characters, huh?' Mickey remarked. 'Portland, City ofRoses ? More like the City ofFruits .'

A Birthday Wish

Daisy was already in her pink Barbie pajamas when Holly turned the key in the door. She was sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of hot chocolate, watching television. Marcella, the nanny, was standing at the sink, washing dishes.

'Hi, Ms. Summers. You came back early.'

'I guess I was a little tired, that's all.'

'Hi, Mommy. Did you have a good time?'

Holly kissed Daisy on top of her head. Daisy was eight and a half, both pretty and gawky at the same time, all arms