Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker Read Free Book Online

plate, put four more pieces of bread in to toast, and put the plate on the table.
    I said, “You want me to butter it?”
    “Yes, thank you.”
    I buttered the toast. Patty put four strips of bacon and two eggs, over easy, on my plate and put my plate in front of me. She served herself one egg and two strips of bacon. Then she sat down and drank her orange juice.
    “This is very nice,” I said.
    “Well, if you’re going to be stuck here with a woman and a kid, I felt you should at least be treated right.”
    I poured some coffee first into her cup and then mine.
    “You men will have to rough it this weekend though,” she said.
    I ate a piece of bacon and a bite of egg.
    “I’ll be going away for the weekend,” she said.
    I nodded.
    “I’m going to New York to visit friends.”
    I nodded again, and ate some more.
    “I go down every month, go to the theater, to a museum exhibit. It’s very stimulating.”
    “Yeah,” I said. I finished up my eggs.
    She ate a small bite of her egg. “Do you know New York, Mr. Spenser?”
    “I know what everyone means when they say that. I know midtown Manhattan.”
    “Yes, I suppose that’s true, isn’t it. That is what we mean by New York when we go to visit.” She drank some coffee.
    “Who stayed with Paul before when you’d go? Pinkerton man?”
    She smiled at me, “No, I hired a woman, Mrs. Travitz, normally. Sometimes Sally Washburn would come in. I always got someone.”
    “You think Paul will mind staying alone with me?” I said.
    She looked a little startled, as if I’d asked a dumb question.
    “Oh, no. Paul likes you. He understands that I have to get away. That I must find some fulfillment of my own. He realizes I can’t just be a mother, as I couldn’t just be a wife.”
    “Of course,” I said.
    “It’s remarkable, I think, how long it took women torealize the value and need of self-actualization” she said.
    “Isn’t that amazing,” I said. “How long it took.”
    “Yes, New York is my safety valve in a sense.”
    “Get a chance to shop while you’re there,” I said.
    She nodded. “Yes, usually I spend a day on Fifth Avenue.”
    “Ever take Paul?”
    “Oh, God, no. He wouldn’t have any fun and he’d just drag along. No, he’d spoil it. You don’t have children, do you?”
    “Nope.”
    She made a little snorting laugh. “You’re lucky,” she said. “Twice lucky, you’re a man and you have no children.”
    “What about self-actualization and stuff?” I said.
    “I meant it. I struggle for that. But what good is it for a single woman?”
    “Why is being married so important?” I said.
    “Because that’s where the bucks are,” she said. “And you know it”
    “I’m not sure I know that, but I’ve never been married.”
    “You know what I mean. Men have the money. A woman needs a man to get it”
    “I wonder if Gloria Steinem makes house calls,” I said.
    “Oh, that’s crap” Patty Giacomin said. Her color was high. “You probably mouth the liberal line like everyone else around here, but you know what’s reality all right. Men have the money and the power and if a woman wants some, she better get hold of a man.”
    I shrugged. I was beginning to see where Paul had picked up the habit
    “I know some folks who might argue with you,” I said. “But I’m not one of them. I’m too busy counting my money and consolidating my power.”
    She smiled. “You do look quite powerful,” she said. “Do you lift weights?”
    “Sometimes,” I said.
    “I thought so. My husband, my ex-husband, used to.”
    “Not enough,” I said.
    “That’s right, you’ve seen him, haven’t you. He’s gotten fat. But when we met he was really quite good-looking.”
    “You really think he’ll make another try for Paul,” I said.
    “Absolutely,” she said. “He’s, he’s …” She groped for words. “I don’t know, he’s like that. He has to get even. He can’t stand to lose.”
    “Capture the flag,” I