Stephen King - Billy Summers

Stephen King

Billy Summers

A Novel

Scribner

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New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2021 by Stephen King

THE TEDDY BEARS PICNIC

Words by JIMMY KENNEDY, Music by JOHN W. BRATTON

1932 by WC MUSIC CORP (ASCAP) and EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING LTD (PRS)

Reproduced by permission of ALFRED MUSIC and B FELDMAN & CO LTD / EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING LTD, London W1T 3LP

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First Scribner hardcover edition August 2021

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Interior design by Erich Hobbing

Jacket design by Will Staehle/Unusual Corporation

Jacket Artwork: Forest by Bogdan Sinaysky/Shutterstock; Torn Paper by Autsawin Uttisin/Shutterstock; Truck by Rikobest/Shutterstock

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: King, Stephen, 1947 author. Title: Billy Summers : a novel / Stephen King. Description: First Scribner hardcover edition. | New York : Scribner, 2021. Identifiers: LCCN 2021002597 (print) | LCCN 2021002598 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982173616 (hardback) | ISBN 9781982173623 (paperback) | ISBN 9781982173630 (ebook) Subjects: GSAFD: Suspense fiction. Classification: LCC PS3561.I483 B55 2021 (print) | LCC PS3561.I483 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021002597 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021002598

ISBN 978-1-9821-7361-6

ISBN 978-1-9821-7363-0 (ebook)

Thinking of Raymond and Sarah Jane Spruce

I once was lost, but now am found.

Amazing Grace

Billy Summers sits in the hotel lobby, waiting for his ride. Its Friday noon. Although hes reading a digest-sized comic book called Archies Pals n Gals, hes thinking about mile Zola, and Zolas third novel, his breakthrough, Thrse Raquin. Hes thinking its very much a young mans book. Hes thinking that Zola was just beginning to mine what would turn out to be a deep and fabulous vein of ore. Hes thinking that Zola wasisthe nightmare version of Charles Dickens. Hes thinking that would make a good thesis for an essay. Not that hes ever written one.

At two minutes past twelve the door opens and two men come into the lobby. One is tall with black hair combed in a 50s pompadour. The other is short and bespectacled. Both are wearing suits. All of Nicks men wear suits. Billy knows the tall one from out west. Hes been with Nick a long time. His name is Frank Macintosh. Because of the pomp, some of Nicks men call him Frankie Elvis, ornow that he has a tiny bald spot in backSolar Elvis. But not to his face. Billy doesnt know the other one. He must be local.

Macintosh holds out his hand. Billy rises and shakes it.

Hey, Billy, been awhile. Good to see you.

Good to see you too, Frank.

This is Paulie Logan.

Hi, Paulie. Billy shakes with the short one.

Pleased to meet you, Billy.

Macintosh takes the Archie digest from Billys hand. Still reading the comics, I see.

Yeah, Billy says. Yeah. I like them quite a bit. The funny ones. Sometimes the superheroes but I dont like them as much.

Macintosh breezes through the pages and shows something to Paulie Logan. Look at these chicks. Man, I could jack off to these.

Betty and Veronica, Billy says, taking the comic back. Veronica is Archies girlfriend and Betty wants to be.

You read books, too? Logan asks.

Some, if Im going on a long trip. And magazines. But mostly comic books.

Good, good, Logan says, and drops Macintosh a wink. Not very subtle, and Macintosh frowns, but Billys okay with it.

You ready to take a ride? Macintosh asks.

Sure. Billy tucks his digest into his back pocket. Archie and his bosomy gal pals. Theres an essay waiting to be written there, too. About the comfort of haircuts and attitudes that dont change. About Riverdale, and how time stands still there.

Then lets go, Macintosh says. Nicks waiting.

Macintosh drives. Logan says hell sit in back because hes short. Billy expects them to go west, because thats where the fancy part of this town is, and Nick Majarian likes to live large whether home or away. And he doesnt do hotels. But they go northeast instead.

Two miles from downtown they enter a neighborhood that looks lower middle-class to Billy. Three or four steps better than the trailer park he grew up in, but far from fancy. No big gated houses, not here. This is a neighborhood of ranch houses with lawn sprinklers twirling on small patches of grass. Most are one-story. Most are well maintained, but a few need paint and theres crabgrass taking over some of the lawns. He sees one house with a piece of cardboard blocking a broken window. In front of another, a fat man in Bermuda shorts and a wifebeater sits in a lawn chair from Costco or Sams Club, drinking a beer and watching them go by. Times have been good in America for awhile now, but maybe that is going to change. Billy knows neighborhoods like this. They are a barometer, and this one has started to go down. The people who live here are working the kind of jobs where you punch a clock.

Macintosh pulls into the driveway of a two-story with a patchy lawn. Its painted a subdued yellow. Its okay, but doesnt look like a place where Nick Majarian would choose to live, even for a few days. It looks like the kind of place a machinist or lower-echelon airport employee would live with his coupon-clipping wife and two kids, making mortgage payments every month and bowling in a beer league on Thursday nights.

Logan opens Billys door. Billy puts his Archie digest on the dashboard and gets out.

Macintosh leads the way up the porch steps. Its hot outside but inside its air conditioned. Nick Majarian stands in the short hallway leading down to the kitchen. Hes wearing a suit that probably cost almost as much as a monthly mortgage payment on this house. His thinning hair is combed flat, no pompadour for him. His face is round and Vegas tanned. Hes heavyset, but when he pulls Billy into a hug, that protruding belly feels as hard as stone.

Billy! Nick exclaims, and kisses him on both cheeks. Big hearty smacks. Hes wearing a million-dollar grin. Billy, Billy, man, its good to see you!

Good to see you, too, Nick. He looks around. You usually stay somewhere fancier than this. He pauses. If you dont mind me saying.