things like 'excellent' and 'you can do it.'
'Liz, I've already done eight,' the blonde woman said.
'Six,' Liz said. 'But whatever's comfortable.'
I gestured at Henry. He saw me and nodded.
'You're doing terrific, Buffy,' Henry said to the blonde. 'And it's really beginning to show.'
The blonde woman smiled at him as she rested from her six or eight half push-ups. Henry turned and walked toward me.
'You're doing great, too,' he said.
'Yeah, it'll show soon. You know Frank Belson.'
Henry nodded.
'We've met.'
Belson said, 'Henry.'
'Can we use your office for a while?' I said. 'Frank and I need to talk.'
'Go ahead,' Henry said. 'I got at least another hour of kissing ass and telling lies before lunch.'
'That's called doing business, Henry,' I said.
'Yeah. Sure.' He looked at me solemnly. 'And have a great workout,' he said.
Belson and I went into his office and closed the door. I sat in Henry's chair behind his desk. Belson stood, looking out through the glass door at the flashy exercise room. I waited. I'd known Belson for more than twenty years, since the days when I was a cop. He had in that time never asked to speak with me alone, and on any other occasion I could think of would have taken the seat behind the desk. He turned back from staring at the exercise room and looked at the wall behind me. I knew, without looking, because I'd been there often, that there were four or five pictures of Henry when he boxed and at least two pictures of Henry in his current incarnation smiling with celebrated Bostonians who worked out at his club. Belson studied the pictures for a while.
'Henry a good fighter?' he said.
'Yeah.'
Belson looked at the wall some more as if memorizing every picture was something he had to do. He put his hands in his hip pockets as he studied the pictures. I leaned back a little in Henry's swivel chair. My breathing had regularized. I felt warm and loose from the exercise. I put my feet up on the desk. Belson stared at the pictures.
'My wife's gone,' he said.
'Where?'
'I don't know.'
'Why?'
'I don't know.'
'Has she left you?' I said.
'I don't know. She's gone. Just disappeared. You know?'
Belson kept his gaze riveted on Henry's wall.
'Tell me about it,' I said.
'You know my wife?'
'Yeah, sure. Susan and I were at the wedding.'
'Her name's Lisa.'
I nodded.
'Second wife, you know.'
'Yeah. I know that, Frank.'
'And she's a lot younger, and too good looking for me, anyway.'
'You think she left you,' I said.
'She wouldn't do that. She wouldn't go off without a word.'
'You think something happened to her?'
'I checked every hospital in New England,' Belson said. 'I got a missing person report on the wire all over the Northeast. I called every cop I know personally, told them to look out for her. They'll pay attention. She's a cop's wife.'
He turned again and stared out at the exercise room again. Henry's office was silent.
'She could take care of herself. She's been around.'
'You and she been having trouble?' I said.
His back still to me, he shook his head.
'You want me to look for her?'
