Robert B. Parker's The Bridge

“Nell, please,” she said. “No need for formality.”

“Nell,” I said. “Good to see you again.”

“It is,” Virgil said.

“Good to see you again, too,” she said.

Nell didn’t move a muscle from her pose on the sofa as Virgil and I hung our coats and hats next to the door.

“So glad you are back,” Allie said. “I waited to start supper. I never know if and when they’ll come home.”

“We’re here,” Virgil said.

“They?” Nell said. “How fortunate for you.”

“Well, Virgil,” Allie said with a giggle. “I never know if and when Virgil will come home. Everett is . . .”

“I’m just here a lot,” I said. “They can’t get rid of me. I’m kind of like the town dog.”

Nell laughed. She had a nice laugh.

“Well,” Nell said. “You don’t look much like a town dog.”

“Am,” I said.

“Do you bite?” Nell said.

“Do,” I said.

“Well,” Nell said. “I’ll be sure and not get too close.”

“Be a good idea,” I said.

She laughed again, and again I thought she had a lovely laugh. I thought she was very pretty, but then almost from someplace deep inside, an undercurrent of my mind, flashed the horrific image of our men hanging in the slaughterhouse. It was such a private, brutal thought for this particular time.

I looked to the fire for a moment and thought secretly and intently about what we saw. I shook my head some. I realized that what we witnessed would haunt me for a very long time, perhaps for the rest of my life. The godforsaken slaughterhouse . . .

“I’ve invited Nell to stay the night,” Allie said.

Virgil looked at me, then looked to the women.

“Mr. Beauchamp?”

“Resting,” Nell said.

“Know where you are?” Virgil said.

Nell nodded.

“I let him know,” she said.

“You did?”

“Yes,” she said.

“And he heard you?” Virgil said.

“Virgil?” Allie said.

Virgil looked to Allie.

“You walked over there and got her and she told him she was staying the night?” Virgil said.

“It’s okay, Virgil,” Allie said.

“Just don’t want him to come out of sleeping it off and find his wife missing.”

“Virgil,” Allie said, appalled.

“It’s okay,” Nell said. “Don’t worry, Marshal. I assure you it’s not an issue. He’ll not see the chime of another hour until late tomorrow morning.”

Virgil looked at her for a moment and nodded a little.

“Well,” Virgil said. “Welcome.”

“Thank you,” Nell said. “Your home is beautiful.”

“Appreciate it,” Virgil said. “We put a lot into it.”

Virgil looked to me.

“Everett helped,” he said.

I smiled.

Nell looked to me and smiled. So far Nell had yet to budge even a smidgen from her pose on the sofa.

“Where’s she go

“With me,” Allie said. “Just like sisters.”

“Where am I go

“Right there,” Allie said, pointing to the sofa.

— 52 —

Virgil looked to the sofa.

“Kind of small, isn’t it?” Virgil said.

“I can stay on the sofa,” Nell said.

“No,” Allie said. “Virgil will be perfectly fine sleeping right there. Won’t you, Virgil.”

I nodded a little.

“Beats sleeping in the barn,” I said.

“Well,” Allie said with a clap of her hands. “I’m sure you boys are hungry.”

Virgil just looked to me, then back to the sofa.

Allie clasped her hands in front of her chest and looked to Nell.

“Well,” Allie said. “Time to beat the daylights out of those pots and pans.”

“I’m not much of a cook, I’m afraid,” Nell said.

“Nonsense,” Allie said, holding her hand out. “Come with me, it will be fun.”

Nell took Allie’s hand and rose up from her position on the sofa dramatically, like she was a queen. She looked to me and smiled as she walked off.

We watched the women walk to the kitchen.

Virgil shook his head a little.

“Timing has a way of being goddamn untimely, don’t it?” Virgil said.

“Does,” I said.

Virgil got a log from a pile of logs near the hearth and set it in the burning flames. He picked up the poker and poked around in the fire a bit, giving it some air.

“You go

“Not at the moment, I ain’t,” Virgil said.

Virgil set the poker aside. He walked over to the dining room breakfront. He got two glasses, came back to the table in front of the fireplace, and poured us each a decent nudge of Kentucky.

“She seems happy,” Virgil said. “Want to let her stay that way. Talking about what happened today, about brutal murder, ain’t light fare.”

“No,” I said. “It’s not.”

“People are go

“If they don’t already,” Virgil said.

I nodded.

“Still, need to let the mayor know in the morning,” I said. “Post notice, let him make the formal statement.”

“Goddamn,” Virgil said, shaking his head. “Goddamn.”

“I know,” I said.

“Good boys,” Virgil said.

“They were,” I said.

Virgil and I sat across from each other. He looked at his whiskey for a moment, then threw it back.

I drank mine, too, and Virgil poured us two more.

“I been thinking about Ballard,” Virgil said.

“’Bout?”

“He would have been hanging next to the others in the slaughterhouse if he wasn’t interested in fucking them up, too,” Virgil said.

I nodded.

“Belle said he was a buck in the rut,” I said. “Horns and all.”

“Ballard is older, too,” Virgil said. “He most likely took over as the lead of this bunch.”

“A gun to a knife fight,” I said.

Virgil nodded.

“What we know about him is he’s a hard-case badass,” Virgil said. “Snaps on women.”

“And men,” I said. “His brother included.”

Virgil nodded.

“He beat up that fella Belle told us about, left him tied up, naked,” Virgil said.

“A collector,” I said. “An attractor and intimidator.”

We drank a bit more as we looked to the fire.

“A killer,” Virgil said.

“He’s settled in,” I said.

“He’s by God right at home,” Virgil said.

I sat back with the glass in my hand. I looked to the fire, watching it.

Virgil did the same.

We watched the fire for a long moment, then Virgil spoke without looking at me.

“Last thing we do, Everett,” Virgil said, as he stayed looking in the fire. “Is bring them goddamn down like wolves on lamb.”

— 53 —

Allie made a di

“So,” Allie said, working her jaw muscle on the rabbit. “Please tell us, Nell. What’s it like to have such an exciting life, such an exciting profession?”

Nell worked at the rabbit on her plate with her fork and knife for a moment before she spoke.

“I wish I had a home,” Nell said. “Like this.”

“Really?” Allie said.

“Really,” Nell said.

“But you get to be in new and fascinating places all the time.”

“Not sure how fascinating the places, the stopovers of the west, are, Allie,” Nell said.

“But,” Allie said, “you are onstage and people adore you and your husband. That has to be exciting.”

“At first it was,” Nell said. “But things change.”

Virgil glanced to me.

“Nell’s from San Francisco,” Allie said.

“That right?” I said.

“Yes,” Nell said. “Have you ever been?”

“I have,” I said.

“And?” Nell said.

“Lot of people,” I said. “A polyglot.”

“True,” Nell said.

“Do you miss it?” Allie said.