The Investigators Part 7

She drove to City Hall, then turned left onto North Broad Street. There was probably a better way to get out of town-there was a superhighway close to the Delaware River-but she was reluctant to try something new, and wind up in New Jersey.

Near Temple University, she spotted the first sign identifying the road as Pennsylvania Route 611, and that made her feel more comfortable. Now she was sure she knew where she was.

She thought of the cop.

The truth of the matter is, I really would rather be sitting in some smoke-filled dive listening to Dixieland with him than coming up here.

As a matter of fact, there are probably two hundred things I would rather be doing than coming up here.

But at least I will get to see Jennifer and the baby.

Not, of course, the father of the baby. If I never saw that son of a b.i.t.c.h again, it would be too soon.

The Chinese had it wrong. Boy babies should be drowned at birth, not girl babies. Just keep enough of them for purposes of impregnation, and get rid of the surplus before they grow up and start doing terrible things.

Girl babies don't grow up to do the awful things that grown-up boy babies do-is there such a thing? I have seen very little proof that boy babies ever really grow up, even after they have beards-and if grown-up girl babies were running things, the world would be a better place.

No wars, for one thing.

They are such b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, really. That cop was barely out of sight before his pals started telling me what a mixed-up screwball he was. That he had become a cop to prove his manhood in the first place, and that he wasn't really a cop, just playing at being one.

Was that a put-down of him, per se? Or were they putting him down to increase their chances-their nonexistent chances; I would really have to be desperate to let either of them close to me-of getting into my pants?

What about the cop?

Under other circ.u.mstances, would I have . . .

There are are no other circ.u.mstances, and I know it, largely because of the male b.a.s.t.a.r.d I'm going to see tonight. no other circ.u.mstances, and I know it, largely because of the male b.a.s.t.a.r.d I'm going to see tonight.

When they cause trouble, they don't cause trouble just for themselves, but for everybody around them. In this case, Sweet Jennie and now a baby. And, of course, me.

And they just don't care!

Maybe I would be better off if I were a lesbian.

But I'm not.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

It's a good thing. The truth is that I would kill . . .

That's a lousy choice of words. There's enough killing.

The truth is that I would give a good deal to be in Daffy Nesbitt's position. To have a husband, and a baby, and not to have to worry about anything more important than changing diapers.

Not to have to worry about-try to deal with-other people's problems. Most of which, I have learned, they bring on themselves.

I would really like that.

What does that make me, a selfish b.i.t.c.h?

And since I do worry about the problems other people have caused for themselves, what does that make me, St. Susan the Martyr?

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You got yourself in this, and now you're going to have to pay the price, whatever the h.e.l.l that price ultimately turns out to be.

And anyway, the Dixieland band would probably have been terrible, and the worst possible man for me to get involved with would be a cop. And despite how his good buddies tried to put him down, I think whatsisname-Payne, Matt-is probably a pretty good cop. His eyes-I noticed that about him-were intelligent. I don't think much gets by him.

She drove through the suburbs of Jenkintown and Ab ington and Willow Grove, and shortly after 10:30 reached the outskirts of Doylestown. She drove through town, past the courthouse with the Civil War cannon on the lawn, and spotted the Crossroads Diner just where Jennie had told her it would be.

The parking lot was jammed, also as Jennie had told her, when she had called the Bellvue, it would be. The diner, Jennie had said, was more than a diner. It had started out as a diner, but had grown into both a truck stop and a restaurant with a bar and a motel.

Jennie said that I should drive around to the rear of the diner, to the part of the parking lot between the restaurant and the motel. That there would be the best place to leave the car.

Susan glanced at her watch. It was twenty minutes to eleven.

I'm ten minutes late. Or twenty minutes early. Jennie said between half ten and eleven, and that if she didn't show up by eleven, that would mean something had come up and that we would have to try it again later.

By something coming up she meant that Bryan, or whatever he's calling himself this week, got drunk, again, or wrecked the car. Again. Or is off robbing a bank somewhere.

I'll have to watch myself to make sure that Jennie doesn't see how much I loathe and detest that son of a b.i.t.c.h. She has enough on her back without my adding to her burden.

As she drove behind the lines of parked cars between the restaurant and the motel, looking for a place to park, the lights came on in one of them-she couldn't see which one, but there was no question that someone, almost certainly Jennie, was signaling to her.

Or maybe it's just another admirer of Porsche 911s.

She found a spot to park between two large cars, an Oldsmobile and a Buick, and backed in.

Both were large enough so that the Porsche was hardly visible, which was nice.

With a little luck, too, the drivers of both are the little old ladies of fame and legend, who will open their doors carefully and not put large dings in mine.

Susan found her purse where it had slipped off the seat into the pa.s.senger-side footwell, then got out of the car, carefully locking it.

Then she started to walk back between the rows of parked vehicles, the way she had driven in.

Halfway, she heard the sound of a door opening, and her name being softly called: "Susie!"

It was Jennie's voice.

The vehicle was a four- or five-year-old Ford station wagon, a different car than the last time, but equally nondescript.

As she walked to the station wagon, the pa.s.senger door opened, but there was no light from the inside.

"Jennie?"

"Hi, Susie!"

Susan got in.

The car stank, a musty smell, as if it had been left out in the rain with the windows down, but there was an aroma, too, of baby powder.

Jennie was wearing a white blouse and blue jeans. She leaned across the seat to kiss Susan, and then immediately started the engine, turned on the headlights, and started off.

"You're not running from anybody, are you?" Susan asked.

G.o.d, why did I let that get away?

"No. Of course not," Jennie said.

"You took off like a shot," Susan said.

Jennie didn't reply, which made Susan uncomfortable.

"How's the baby?" Susan asked.

"Take a look for yourself," Jennie said, and pressed something into Susan's hand. After a moment, Susan realized it was a flashlight.

"There's something wrong with the switch," Jennie said. "Switches. The one that turns on the inside light, and the one in the door."

And I'll just bet Bryan's been fixing them, hasn't he?

"Try not to shine it in his eyes," Jennie said. "That wakes him."

Susan understood from that that the baby was in the back. She turned and leaned over the seat. She could make out blankets, and the smell of baby powder was stronger.

I'd really like to have a look, but if I shine the light, he'll wake up for sure.

She turned around.

"I'll wait 'til we get where we're going," she said. "And have a good look at him."

Jennie grunted.

"Where are are we going?" Susan asked. we going?" Susan asked.

"Not far. Just the other side of New Hope," Jennie said. "Bryan found a house on a hill. You can see the Delaware."

"Where is he?"

"Working," Jennie said. "He plays from nine to one."

"Plays?"

"The piano. In a bar outside New Hope."

"How long has he been doing that?"

"Couple of weeks. He used to go there at night and play for the fun of it. So the owner asked him if he would play for money. Off the books."

"He doesn't need money," Susan said. It was a question.

"I think he likes to get out of the house," Jennie said. "The baby makes him nervous."

And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there were single women around this place where he plays the piano.

Matt Payne was lying on his back, sound asleep, his arms and legs spread, his mouth open, and wearing only a T-shirt, when the telephone rang. He was snoring quietly.

The second ring of the telephone brought him from sound asleep to fully awake, but except to open his eyes and tilt his head so that he could see the telephone half-hidden behind his snub-nosed revolver in its ankle holster on his bedside table, he did not move at all.

The telephone rang twice more, and then there was a click as the answering machine switched on, and then his prerecorded voice filled the tiny bedroom.

"If this is an attempt to sell me something, your telephone will explode in your ear in three seconds. Otherwise you may wait for the beep, and leave your name and number, and I will return your call."

There was a beep.

And then a rather pleasant, if somewhat exasperated in tone, male voice came over the small loudspeaker.

"Cute, very cute! Pick up the d.a.m.ned telephone, Matt."

Matt Payne recognized Peter Wohl's voice. His arm shot out and grabbed the telephone.

"Good morning," he said.

"Is it too much to hope that I'm interrupting something lewd, immoral, and probably illegal?"

"Unfortunately, you have found me lying here in a state of involuntary celibacy."

"Mighty Matthew has struck out? How did that happen?"

"I strongly suspect the lady doesn't like policemen. I was doing pretty well, I thought, before what I do for a living came up."

"Sometimes that happens." Wohl chuckled.

"What's up, boss?"

"Golf is off, Matt. Sorry."

"Okay," Matt said. "I'm sorry, too."

"Carlucci called my father last night and 'suggested' everybody get together for a little pasta at my father's house this afternoon, and then 'suggested' who else should be there. You weren't on the list. I wish I wasn't."

The mayor's habit of issuing orders in the form of suggestions was almost infamous. Chief Inspector Augustus Wohl, Retired, had been Carlucci's rabbi as Carlucci had worked his way up through the police ranks. Carlucci had once, emotionally, blurted to Peter that Chief Wohl was the only man in the world he completely trusted.

"What's it about?"