Walking Shadow

I leaned back and got the phone from my desk and called information in Rochester, New York. There were thirty-two Colbys listed. I said thank you and hung up. My glass was empty.

I poured another inch or so into it. In one of the offices across the street a young woman was putting on her coat to go home. She shrugged into the coat and then tossed her hair with both hands so that it would fall outside the coat collar. Officially my position was nonsexist. Unofficially, good-looking women were the most interesting thing in the world. I loved the way they moved, the way they canted their head when they put on lipstick, the way they tried on clothes and looked in the mirror, the way they patted their hair, the way their hips swayed when they walked in high-heeled shoes. The young woman across the street looked at herself in the window reflection for a moment, bending forward from the waist, unaffectedly interested in how she looked. Then she stood and turned away, and in a moment the window square went dark.

I picked up my phone again and dialed State Police Headquarters at Ten-Ten Commonwealth Avenue. I asked for Captain Healy and in a moment he came on.

"Spenser," I said.

"I need help."

"Glad you finally realize that," Healy said.

"Whaddya need?"

"Remember I called you the other day? About an ex-Static named DeSpain?" I said.

"I remember," Healy said.

"I want you to talk to me about him," I said.

"What's in it for me," Healy said.

"The pleasure of my company," I said.

"And a steak at the Capital Grill."

"Steak sounds good," Healy said.

"When?"

"Now."

"You're in luck," Healy said.

"My wife's going to a movie with her sister, and there's no basketball on."

"So you're desperate."

"Yeah," Healy said.

"See you there in an hour."

We hung up. I drank some whisky. Most of the office lights were out across the street. Lights were still on in the corridors, and the offices that the janitors were starting. The desultory lighting made the building seem somehow emptier. My own building was quiet now. There were tequila sunrises being drunk now. Seductions were underway. Healthy Choice frozen entrees were popping into microwaves. The local news people were in paroxysms of jolliness at the anchor desks. Dogs were being walked. I called Susan. She wasn't there. I left an off-color message on her answering machine.

I finished my drink and corked the bottle and put it away in my desk. I got up and washed the glass and put it away. Then I took the Browning off my desk and put it back in its holster on my hip.

I put on my coat and turned off the lights and went out of my office, and locked my door.

It was a ten-minute walk from my office to the Capital Grill. I thought about Susan the entire walk and felt much better by the time I got there.

CHAPTER 41

Healy ordered an Absolut martini on the rocks. I did the same.

When the waiter left, Healy put a brown envelope on the table in front of me.

"I pulled DeSpain's perso

"You have no business looking at it."

"I know," I said.

I picked up the envelope and slipped it into my inside pocket.

The waiter returned with the martinis. We ordered food. Healy picked up the martini and looked at it for a moment, then took a drink. He swallowed and shook his head slowly.

"Martinis never disappoint you," he said.

I nodded. Mine was a little less compelling after several ounces of Irish whisky.

"Not many things you can say that about," Healy said.

"Now and then a woman," I said.

Healy nodded slowly.

"Been married thirty-seven years," he said.

"You still with Susan?"

"Yeah."

"I remember when you met her. That kidnapping up in Smithfield. She still with the school system?"

"No, she's a shrink," I said.

"You ever get married?"

"No."

"Why not?"

I shrugged.

"Neither of us has wanted to at the same time," I said.

"Live with her?"

"No."

"Makes the time together better, doesn't it?" Healy said.

"Yeah."

"Me and the old lady got separate bedrooms. People are shocked. Think the marriage is in trouble."

"Just the opposite," I said.

Healy nodded. He was a slim man with square shoulders and close-cut gray hair.

"Woulda done it sooner," he said.

"But when the kids were home, there weren't enough rooms. Now there are."

He gri

"Keeps everything fresh," he said.

"Tell me about DeSpain," I said.

"Tell me why you want to know," Healy said.

I told him.

"You do have a touch," Healy said.

"Murder, kidnapping, illegal immigrants, and you've managed to a

"Beats hanging around outside motels with a camera," I said.

"You got backup against Kwan Chang?" Healy said.

"Hawk and Vi

"Vi

"He does what he says he'll do, and he's good with a gun."

"I'll give him that," Healy said.

"Never saw anyone could shoot as good as Vi

I said, "Ahem."

Healy ignored me and cut into his steak.

"You want to give me the name of your next of kin?" I said.

Healy gri

"My cholesterol is about 150," he said.

"I weigh the same as I did when I got out of the Marine Corps."

I looked at my cold seafood assortment. I looked at Healy's steak. I was glad I wasn't eating it. I was glad I was eating cold seafood. Cold seafood was virtuous.

"DeSpain and I started about the same time," Healy said.

"He was tougher than a railroad spike, and smart. And stubborn. He got onto a case, he wouldn't let go of it. And he didn't act tough. He was folksy, like Will Rogers. Most people liked him."

The waiter went by, and Healy snagged him, and ordered another martini. The waiter looked at me. I shook my head. Martinis didn't go that well with a cold seafood assortment.

"So he had a big/uture," I said.

"Yeah. He should have been head of Criminal Investigations by now."

"Instead of you?"

"Instead of me," Healy said.

"DeSpain was an investigator for the Middlesex DA, working out of the Framingham barracks.

Some sort of stalking situation, and he got himself involved with the victim."

I felt it like a jab in the solar plexus.

"A woman," I said.

"Yeah. How many men you know get stalked?"

"One, maybe," I said.

"Anyway, his marriage broke up, ugly, and it screwed his career.

Public Safety Commissioner hates it when we start sleeping with people we're investigating. DeSpain resigned, and I never knew where he went, until you called."

"You don't know the woman's name?"

"No, should be in the file. You think she's involved up in Port City?"

"The kidnap victim, woman named Jocelyn Colby, who claims she was stalked, used to work with a theater company in Framingham."

"Be a big coincidence," Healy said.

"This broad up in Port City, she got anything going with DeSpain?"