Ellis Alves case and assume that the Gray Man would find me, and that when he did, I could out-quick him.
That decided, I acted promptly. I drove across the river and picked up a green pepper and mushroom pizza from Bertucci's in Harvard Square and took it to Susan's house along with a bottle of Merlot. It was 5:30 and she was with her last patient of the day when I went in the front door. When I opened the front door, Pearl the Wonder Dog charged out of the library and capered about in the front hall. Her eyes had the slitty look they got when she'd been sleeping on a couch. I bent over and gave her a kiss. She was returning it wetly when she got a whiff of the pizza and redirected her affections toward it. I held it up out of her reach.
Lee Farrell appeared in the open door across the hall, his body partly concealed behind the half-open door. When he saw it was me, he stepped away from the door and shoved a Glock 9-mm. back into his belt holster, butt forward.
'I guess you're okay,' he said.
'There's some doubt about that,' I said. 'But I'm no threat to Susan.'
Belson appeared behind Farrell. He was in his shirtsleeves, his gun holstered on his right hip. He was very lean with a narrow face, and a blue shadow of beard always showing no matter how recently he had shaved.
'That for us?' he said.
I went into the library and put the pizza on the sideboard, right beside two boxes of shotgun shells stacked one on top of the other. I didn't bother to answer the question. Pearl came back in with me and sat in front of the sideboard and focused on the pizza.
'She's been spending time down with us,' Farrell said, 'while Susan's working.'
'Case the guy breaks in carrying a pizza,' Belson said. 'She'll be on him like a barracuda.'
'How's Lisa?' I said.
'She's fine,' Belson said.
'How about you,' I said to Farrell. 'How's your love life.'
Farrell grinned.
'Most of the guys in the squad room are in love with me,' he said. 'But I'm playing hard to get.'
'You heartbreaker,' I said. 'Everything quiet around here.'
'Like a church,' Belson said. 'Pearl spends most of the time on the couch. Patients come in and out. Nobody says a word. Nobody makes eye contact.'
'How do you know they're all patients?' I said.
'We got a list of her appointments each day and a little description. Susan's agreed to take no new patients until this is over, so she opens her door and sees an unfamiliar face, she hollers.'
'And you can hear her if she hollers?'
Belson looked at me as if I'd asked about the Easter Bunny.
'We did a couple dry runs,' he said. 'You making any progress on this thing?'
'No.'
'No rush,' Belson said. 'I'm here until it's over.'
'Me too,' Farrell said. 'When we're on days, I get to watch Sally Jesse.'
'You gotta get me a straight partner,' Belson said. 'I'm over there trying to read Soldier of Fortune magazine and he's sitting in front of the tube saying, `Where did she get those shoes.''
'Well, you saw them,' Farrell said. 'Were they gauche or what?'
'See what I mean?' Belson said.
The door to Susan's office opened and a young man came out buttoning up his loden coat. He didn't look at us. He went straight out the front door and pulled it shut behind him. In about two more minutes Susan came out and saw me and came across the hall and put her arms around me and we kissed.
'How about her shoes?' Belson said.
'Cat's ass,' Farrell said.
I picked up the pizza and the wine.
'We're going upstairs to dine sumptuously before the fire,' I said, 'and perhaps later who knows.'
Susan smiled.
'Actually I know,' she said.
'And?' Farrell said.
'And it's none of your business,' Susan said.
'Talk about attitude,' Farrell said.
I went up with Susan and Pearl and the pizza. Susan put the pizza in a warm oven while I made a fire and opened the wine. In the old days, before Pearl, we would have sat on the couch to eat, but that was no longer possible, so we sat at Susan's counter where we could still see the fire and the pizza was relatively secure, unless you left it unattended. Susan had changed from her dark conservative work dress to a pale lavender sweatsuit and thick white sweat socks. She had taken off her jewelry but left her makeup in place, and when she sat beside me at the counter I felt the little electrochemical charge of amazement that she always gave me. I had felt it the first time I'd ever seen her, in the guidance office, at Smithfield High School, more than twenty years ago. And I'd felt it, or a variation of it, every time I'd seen her since.
