Robert B. Parker - Taming a Sea-Horse

Reading Parker is like swimming downstream in a river of adrenaline the movement is swift and the sensation is thrilling.

The Boston Observer

Like Philip Marlowe, Spenser is a man of honor in a dishonorable world. When he says he will do something, it is done. The dialogue zings and there is plenty of action but it is the moral element that sets them above most detective fiction.

Newsweek

Robert B. Parker has taken his place beside Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross Macdonald.

The Boston Globe

Spenser probably had more to do with changing the private eye from a coffin-chaser to a full-bodied human being than any other detective hero.

Sun-Times (Chicago)

Parker is now the best writer of this kind of fiction in the business today.

The New Republic

They just dont make private eyes tougher or funnier. The dialogue sparkles.

People

Published by
Dell Publishing
a division of
Random House, Inc.
New York, New York

Copyright 1986 by Robert B. Parker

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, New York, New York.

The trademark Dell is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

eISBN: 978-0-307-57069-7

Reprinted by arrangement with Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence

v3.1

Nay, well go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for
me!

Robert Browning, My Last Duchess

I hadnt had lunch with Patricia Utley since the last time the Red Sox won the pennant. That seems like another way to say never, but in fact it had been ten years. We were looking at the menu and sipping margaritas (on the rocks, salt) in a restaurant called Bogies on West 26th Street in Manhattan.

Veals awfully good here, Patricia said.

So are the margaritas, I said.

She smiled. Margaritas are good everywhere.

Ten years had made little impression on Patricia Utley. She was still small and blond and fine-boned. She still wore big black-rimmed round glasses. She still looked very good.

The waitress came and took our order and went away. She came back shortly with a sec ond margarita for me. Patricia Utley still had most of hers left. Its hard to make a margarita last and with each sip it becomes harder. I put my glass down, licked a little salt off my upper lip. No problem. Id just leave it there a while and then Id have another little sip.

Have you found April yet? I said.

Steven has traced her to another call house on the West Side, she said. Ninety-sixth and Central Park West. She gave me the address.

I turned the margarita glass slowly on the tablecloth with my right hand.

Decent place? I said.

At the moment, she said. But only at the moment. When she gets a little used up shell be replaced and theyll turn her out into some-thing a little less plush.

And when she gets used up there? I said.

Patricia Utley nodded. To something still less plush.

I drank some of my margarita.

Down and down I go, I said. Round and round I go.

Shell be in a spin, Patricia Utley said. But she wont be enjoying it.

I had taken a bit larger sip than Id intended. The margarita was gone. Probably if I had another one, Id be able to think just what I should do about April Kyle. I nodded at the waitress. She brought me a new drink and one for Patricia Utley.

Maybe I can talk with her a bit, I said.

Patricia nodded. It might help. Steven talked with her but it did no good. Whether shell respond to you I dont know. You sent her to me.

I know, I said. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

I think it was. We made real progress with her. She had learned how to behave, maybe even had started to get some values.

And regular medical checks. No clap, no herpes.

Theres always whores, Patricia said. Always. And someone has always run them. That doesnt mean that some ways arent better than others.

The waitress came with our veal.

When she went away, I said, I know. Thats why I sent her to you. She was going to be a whore, no matter what.

And my girls get fairly paid and they are not abused and they are free to leave. She shrugged. I never claimed it was Smith College.

No need to be defensive, I said. No one accused you of being Smith College.

Patricia smiled. I finished my margarita before starting the veal. Sequence is important.

Do you have a client in this affair? Patricia said.

No, Im on spec, I said.

That was the same fee you got last time you were involved with April.

I ate some veal. Yum yum, I said.

Still sentimental, Patricia said. I thought age might have toughened you up a little.

You called me, I said.

She smiled again. And how will you proceed? she said. She hadnt touched her second drink.

Ill see her, reason with her. When that doesnt work Ill improvise. You going to drink that drink?

No, she said. Are you going to remind me of starving children somewhere?

Nope, I was going to warn you about scurvy.

She took the margarita and put it in front of me.

Save yourself, she said.

I took a sip. It went surprisingly well with the veal. On the other hand, the fourth margarita goes surprisingly well with everything.

She left you with no explanation, I said.

Thats right. Simply disappeared. Her room was cleaned out and she was gone. But no note, no phone call, no good-bye. When I called you I had no idea where she was.

Why would she leave you and go to another, ah, service? Money?

I dont think so. I think she was seduced.

Patricia, I said, I dont wish to be coarse, but shes a whore. Shes been a whore since she was sixteen.

And now shes twenty, Patricia said, and shes still a whore. But whores do what they do for a lot of reasons, and I think April is in love with somebody that has her working there.

A pimp?

Patricia Utley shrugged. Sure, she said, for lack of a better word. My guess is that hes really more of a recruiter.

Like for G.E. or Indiana U?

Yes. Its done. You find that you dont have a particular kind of girl in your stable, you shop around or you get hold of someone wholl shop around, and he finds what you need: blond Miss America, exotic Latin, somebody who looks like Sophie Tucker, and he recruits her for you.

Always he?

No, a lot of recruiting is done in lesbian bars. But in this case its a he.

What determines what kind of woman you want in your stable? I said. Customer demand?

Yes, Patricia said.

Do you recruit?

No. I dont need to. My whores come because theyve heard about my operation and because they want to work for me. Except the ones that are sent me by detectives from Boston.

The waitress cleared our dishes. We ordered cheesecake for dessert. Patricia Utley ordered coffee. Not me. No point screwing up four margaritas.

You were the best I could do, I said. All the other options she had were worse.