Rescue

Never knew Lonnie to be such a reader.“ Pettengill’s eyes grew harder. “Some of the stuff was from this church down on the Keys I got called about, but it looked like there was space on his bookshelf for even more of it.“
    “Chief—“
    He held up his right hand, like a traffic cop stopping a line of cars. “Save it. Anybody asks, I don’t want to be able to say I heard any more lies I didn’t follow up. Now, what I want you to do is give me straight answers to a couple of questions, and then maybe we can go on from there. How does that sound?“
    Very neutrally, I said, “Why don’t we give it a try.“
    The nod. “First, did you have to kill Lonnie?“
    I watched Pettengill for a count of ten before saying, “Yes. He was—“
    “Just yes or no will do. Second, will we be finding his body in a way I’ll have to be explaining?“
    “I don’t think so.“
    “Not exactly yes or no, but let’s pass that for now. Third, did you get the Haldon boy out of that church place?“
    In for a nickel... “Yes.“
    “And will he be coming home to his folks?“
    “No.“
    “Where is he?“
    “With somebody better, somebody who’ll raise him with love.“
    “ ’Better’ by whose lights, Cuddy?“
    “Yours and mine both, I think.“
    Pettengill rubbed his chin some more. Twice I thought he was going to say something, but he didn’t. Then, “There any place around here serves Dr. Pepper, this time of day?“
    I felt a little relief inside. “It’s a big city. We could probably find one.“
    “You have anything against a recovering drunk buying you a real drink?“
    “Not that comes to mind.“
    A final nod. “Then let’s get to it.“

JEREMIAH HEALY is a professor at the New England School of Law. A former president of the Private Eye Writers of America , he has earned eight Shamus Award nominations, most recently for Foursome. RESCUE is the tenth novel in his acclaimed series featuring John Francis Cuddy. Previous entries include the Shamus Award-winner The Staked Goat, along with Blunt Darts, So Like Sleep, Swan Dive, Yesterday’s News, Flight to Die, Shallow Graves, Foursome, and Act of God. His next Cuddy mystery, Invasion of Privacy, will soon be published in hardcover by Pocket Books.