Tuesday Mooney Wore Black. Kate Racculia

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ sleeve. He smiled at her, then thought better of it.

      “You’re not Raj,” she said.

      “No, but he said to say hi. And to give you this.” He had a rumbly voice. He handed her the usual brown paper bag of food, order slip and receipt stapled to the folded flap.

      “Tuesday,” Dorry called. “Could you—”

      She could feel Tuesday standing behind her.

      “You’re not Raj,” said Tuesday, and then, sharp, “Did you pay for our food?”

      The man nodded.

      “So you could pay for our food but you couldn’t pay your auction bid?” She paused. “Actually, that isn’t much of an argument.”

      “No, it isn’t,” said the stranger. “It is far, far easier for me to pay thirty bucks plus tip for Indian than fifty thou for New Kids tickets.”

      “Do you know this guy?” asked Dorry. “Or should I call nine-one-one?”

      “I haven’t decided yet,” said Tuesday.

      “Well. You should decide,” said Dorry. “Because the food is getting cold and I’m hungry.”

      “This will only be a second,” Tuesday said. “Take the food.” She looked at the stranger. “You,” she said, “aren’t coming in. But I want to talk to you.”

      Dorry cradled the food bag and walked in her sock feet to the kitchen, listening the whole way.

      “How did you find out where I live?” Tuesday’s voice was quiet but firm.

      “You of all people should know how easy it is to find someone’s address,” he answered.

      “Okay, let me rephrase: where the hell do you get off coming to my apartment?”

      Dorry set the bag on the counter. Gunnar, having followed her into the kitchen, gazed up at her expectantly. Dorry lifted him into her arms, which wasn’t at all what he’d been hoping for.

      “—apologize.”

      “Bullshit.”

      “I knew you’d say that,” he said. “Which is why I brought this—”

      Dorry didn’t need to hear more.

      She bolted into the living room, Gunnar bouncing in her arms. “Don’t you TOUCH her,” she shouted, “or I will throw this cat at you.”

      The stranger was holding a piece of paper between his first two fingers. Tuesday was reaching for it.

      Gunnar sort of sighed.

      “He has claws,” Dorry said. “And he knows how to use them.”

      “It’s okay,” Tuesday said. “This is a classic example of money having its own rules.”

      Dorry shifted Gunnar’s weight. It was like holding two bags of warm flour wrapped in a sweater.

      “Money has its own sense of what is and is not appropriate human behavior,” said Tuesday. “For example, money” – she indicated not-Raj, who gave a stupid little wave – “thinks it’s okay to show up at a stranger’s apartment so long as he’s hand-delivering a check for fifty thousand dollars.”

      “Does that mean I can come in?” he asked.

      “No,” said Tuesday.

      “I meant to pay. I swear. My secretary gets requests for money all the time, so she turns them down out of hand. I forgot to tell her this one was legitimate.” He shrugged. “It was a crazy night. And I am truly sorry for the trouble I’ve caused.” He looked down at the floor. “Still making fists with your toes, I see.”

      “Stop staring at my feet,” said Tuesday.

      The stranger flushed. It made Tuesday smile one of her small smiles, the kind that meant she was playing around. That was enough for Dorry to relax a little. She set Gunnar down on the sofa, next to Pryce’s letters about Valentine’s Day.

      “To be honest—” said the stranger.

      “Please do,” said Tuesday.

      “I have a proposal for you. I assume by now you’ve heard about Pryce’s quest.”

      Tuesday nodded.

      “I know a lot about him. He’s – he was, I guess – a family … acquaintance. I’ve seen his collection. And, assuming some ‘portion of his great fortune’ includes the collection, I can personally vouch that it’s worth whatever we can do to make it ours.”

      “Pretty liberal use of the plural possessive there, Arch,” said Tuesday. She crossed her arms and propped herself against the doorframe.

      “I know things,” he said. “You know things, and what you don’t know I bet you know how to find. The check I just gave you – I can write another one, just as big, if you agree to help me with Pryce’s game.”

      “No,” said Tuesday.

      He opened his mouth in a perfect O. Dorry leaned into the silence growing between them. Because she knew Tuesday, she knew it was a deep-thinking silence. But the stranger – Arch or whatever – didn’t know that. He panicked.

      “I’ll double it,” he said. “One hundred thousand for your help.”

      “I’m charmed that you take my silence for hardball,” said Tuesday. “Trust me, you’ll know when I’m playing hardball, and that wasn’t it.” She stared at him. “Why me?”

      “Because you’re smart,” he said.

      “Unlike,” said Tuesday, “the horde of lawyers, accountants, private investigators, and public relations handlers your family has on retainer.”

      “They’re smart but you’re smarter.”

      “I doubt that.” Tuesday narrowed her eyes.

      The guy frowned. Then he muttered, “I met you, I liked you, I feel bad that I flaked on the fifty thousand. And, well: nobody in my … complex family knows who you are, which means you can operate with a degree of anonymity.”

      “Fine, that’s why me. Why you? What does the collection have that you can’t get somewhere else? You’re almost passing for aspirational middle class in this J. Crew catalog drag right now—”

      “Hey,” the guy said, and smoothed his blue sweater over his stomach. “This is not J. Crew.”

      “—but I bet you’ve got four figures in loose change in your pockets. From a financial standpoint, to you, Pryce’s ‘great fortune’ has negligible value. Forgive me for questioning your motives, but contracting me for this is like – if I were to contract Dorry here to help me hunt down a pack of gum.”

      “I СКАЧАТЬ