Robert B. Parker’s Damned If You Do

35

The silver Lexus returned. The door to the town house opened and the little man came out and stepped into the car, which immediately sped away.

Jesse got out of the Explorer. He stretched and looked at the town house. He noticed the butler standing outside, motioning to him. Jesse crossed the street.

“Sir,” the butler said. “Ms. Edgerson was wondering if she might have a word with you.”

He was an elegant man, bald on top but brandishing a shock of white hair that horseshoed around his head. He had white muttonchop sideburns. He wore round, silver-framed eyeglasses behind which his brown eyes gleamed.

He led Jesse into a sitting room that had been carefully restored. The mahogany floors were covered with colorful Egyptian carpets, and African paintings graced the walls. The butler pointed Jesse to a pair of oversized silk-upholstered armchairs.

“Ms. Edgerson will be along shortly,” he said.

“Nice digs,” Jesse said.

“All bought and paid for, too.”

“The wages of sin,” Jesse said.

“Romans six-twenty-three.”

“You know your Bible.”

“It’s what I read. I’m not sure I appreciate that particular quote, however.”

“Because?”

“Because of what it portends.”

“It portends both good and bad. Take your pick.”

“‘For the wages of sin is death.’ What’s the good in that?”

“You get to spend eternity in the company of the Lord.”

“And the bad?”

“You may join him a whole lot sooner than you might like.”

The butler smiled.

“Something to drink,” he said.

“Thanks, no,” Jesse said.

The door opened and Clarice entered, brightening the room with her presence. She wore a colorful silk robe that was tied tightly around her waist. Her auburn hair was wrapped into a chignon.

“This is Mr. Stone, Augustus,” she said to the butler.

To Jesse she said, “Say hello to Augustus Kennerly. We’ve been together for ages.”

“Mr. Kennerly,” Jesse said.

“Sir,” Augustus said.

“Is it time,” Clarice said to Augustus.

“It is,” he said.

She stepped to a small bar that stood in a corner of the sitting room.

“Take a load off, Gus,” she said to Augustus, who nodded and sat in one of the armchairs.

“It’s cocktail time,” Clarice said to Jesse. “Bourbon, rye, vermouth, and bitters. Our very own invention. You’ll join us, of course.”

“I’m on duty,” Jesse said.

“Gus, darlin’,” she said. “What time have you got?”

Augustus looked at his watch.

“Seven-twelve,” he said.

“It’s after seven,” she said to Jesse. “Time for all civilized persons to be off duty.”

Jesse smiled.

“All right,” he said.

“You see,” she said to Augustus. “I told you this man was corruptible.”

She set glasses on the bar.

“Gus and I,” she said. “We’ve been through a lot of years together. A cocktail like this is what we drank back in the day. The cheap whiskeys weren’t as tasty as what we’re drinking now, but they sure did the job.”

She handed the first drink to Jesse. She brought another to Augustus, and with her own in hand, she sat in the armchair across from Jesse.

“To your health,” she said to him.

They raised their glasses and drank.

“I don’t much care for you surveilling me,” Clarice said.

“I was looking for an opportunity.”

“What opportunity?”

“The one that I’m now taking advantage of.”

“I sure wish I could easily understand you, Mr. Stone.”

“My investigation has left me with dozens of questions, none of them answered.”

“So you planted yourself outside my house looking for those answers?”

“Something like that.”

“You certainly are a vexing person,” she said. “You and your unanswered questions.”

“I believe you had something in common with the dead girl.”

“And that would be?”

“Thomas Walker.”

“Thomas?”

“Thomas and Janet Becquer had been frequently seen together.”

Clarice didn’t say anything.

“On several occasions during the month of April.”

“By whom?”

“Credible people,” he said.

Clarice looked at Augustus, who returned her gaze.

“Can you think of a reason why they might have been together,” Jesse said.

“Probably something related to the business proposal we discussed with her.”

“I thought she rejected that.”

“What I said was, we never heard from her again.”

“So you didn’t know about her and Thomas?”

“That would be none of your business, Mr. Stone.”

“Ms. Becquer was also spotted with Fat Boy Nelly.”

Clarice didn’t say anything. Again, she exchanged a glance with Augustus.

“Could it be that the two men were vying for her attentions,” Jesse said.

“I’m afraid I wouldn’t know anything about that,” she said. “What I do know, however, is that this part of our conversation has ended.”

They sat quietly for a while.

“How do you like your drink?”

“Do you think there’s enough bourbon in it,” Jesse said.

“Too strong for you, is it?”

“Am I slurring my words yet?”

“Back then we used to drink these babies all night long, didn’t we, Gus?”

Augustus nodded.

“How long ago was back then?”

“Are you inquiring into my past, Mr. Stone?”

“Jesse.”

“Are you, Jesse?”

“If you’re of a mind to talk about it.”

She looked at him.

“Why?”

“Because you brought it up. And because curiosity killed the cat.”

She smiled.

“Curiosity, eh,” she said.

She took another sip of her drink. She looked at Augustus.

“This drink seems to have loosened my tongue,” she said to him.

Then to Jesse she said, “I suppose I might be willing to give you the short version if you really care to hear it.”

“Any version would be good,” Jesse said.

“All right,” she said. “But just remember, it was you who asked for it.”

She took a long pull on her drink.

Then she said, “City of birth: Newark, New Jersey. Formal education: Barringer High School. Junior year was my last. Real education: Miss Lillian Arbogast. My word, Gus, we haven’t talked about Miss Lillian in ages.”

Augustus nodded.

“Lillian Arbogast,” she said. “Back in the nineties, you see, Newark was very much a city in decline. The gangs ruled. Legitimate businesses had fled to the suburbs. Drugs and whores were Newark’s main commerce. Ms. Lillian ran a reputable house there. I went to work for her.”

“How did that come about,” Jesse said.

“You mean how did I get the job?”

“Yes.”

“Sheer happenstance. I was on Shanley Avenue, hanging with a group of my buds. All of us bad girls. Gang girls. We were passing in front of Miss Lillian’s house, whoopin’ and laughin’ the way we did, making wise-ass jokes about the whores and all when Miss Lillian opened the door and stepped outside. Everybody knew who she was. She was a very big deal in Newark. And she had this aura about her. She was definitely tough. Terrifying, actually. So now she’s standing there, staring at us. Or, rather, she’s looking directly at me.

“‘You,’ she said to me. ‘What’s your name?’

“‘My name,’ I say.

“‘That’s right,’ she says.

“‘Annie Carmine,’ I tell her. See, Annie Carmine was my real name.

“‘Annie Carmine,’ Ms. Lillian says.

“‘Yes.’

“‘Come over here, Annie Carmine,’ she says.

“I look back at my buds, and all of them are looking at us with their mouths open. So I climbed the steps to the porch where Miss Lillian was standing. She looked me over. Up and down. Front and back. Sideways, too.

“‘You’re Clarice Edgerson now,’ she said.

“I just stared at her. I didn’t know what to say.

“‘You’re hired, Clarice Edgerson,’ she said to me.

“I was with her from that moment till the day she died. She taught me everything I know and how to do it as good as it could possibly be done. I believe she was the only person who ever really loved me for who I am. And just possibly the only person I ever loved back. Is that enough story for you, Jesse Stone?”

“Thomas Walker,” Jesse said.

She looked at Augustus.

“Thomas Walker in the day,” she said. “He was the house bouncer. All attitude and muscle. Handsome, though. Tough enough, too. And vain as a peacock. Oh, my, was he vain. He was like a fox in the henhouse. He most surely got himself around.

“Miss Lillian, she spiffed him up real good and taught him some manners. But you know what they say. They say you can take the boy out of the hood but you can’t take the hood out of the boy. This particular boy, this Thomas Walker, he kept his ears open pretty good and he did manage to hear everything that was being said. ’Cept, as it turns out, he didn’t understand a word of it.”

She finished her drink.

“Lord,” she said as she stood. “I sure have been running my mouth to you, Jesse Stone. Must mean I like you.”

“There’s a but in there somewhere,” Jesse said.

“The but is that you’re a danger to me,” she said. “And to Thomas. You already know too much about us. On top of which, I just babbled on like some kind of fool in front of you. I don’t know what gets into me.”

“You never answered my question.”

“You’ll have to see Thomas about that,” she said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Gus will show you to the door.”

Augustus stood.

“Good day to you, Jesse Stone,” Clarice said.

Jesse nodded to her and then followed Augustus outside.

“I never heard her tell anybody about Miss Lillian before,” Augustus said. “Those were different times. Things were more clear back then. Less complicated. We knew what we wanted and we worked our asses off to get it. Nobody had any subtext. There were no hidden agendas. Things are all changed now.”

“How so?”

“Everybody be firin’ at each other with assault weapons now,” Augustus said.