Treadmill by Warren Adler Read Free Book Online Page B

lost records has a strange feeling about it, but does that warrant a full court press? I doubt it.”
    “I can help. I’m…I’m very tenacious. Actually, I’m a freelance researcher. I can help organize a search.” It was beyond mere curiosity now.
    “You seem even more determined to find him than I am,” Cooper said.
    “Not find,” she said. “Find out. There’s a difference.”
    “The world won’t come to an end if I don’t find out,” he said. “It isn’t like the man was my brother.” He chuckled at the mention of “brother.”
    “You’re going to let it drop?”
    “I don’t intend to spend all my waking hours tracking him down,” Cooper said. “I have no intention of becoming a Missing Persons Bureau.” Beth’s disappointment was clear. “But if I do…you’ll be the first to know.” He sensed a touch of falseness to his tone. He didn’t want another confrontation. There had already been two. “Enough about Parrish,” Cooper said offering a thin smile, determined to change the subject. “What kind of research are you involved in?”
    “Well, it’s sort of…I’m trying to establish that something did not happen as it was interpreted.”
    “Sounds interesting,” Cooper said, not quite certain of her meaning. “Are you making any headway?”
    “Frankly, no. It’s very frustrating.” She paused and turned away. “But as I told you, I am tenacious.”
    “Yes,” Cooper said. “It seems that you are.” He didn’t really care to go any further.
    “Are you interested in politics?” she asked.
    “Not remotely. Used to be. Not anymore. Couldn’t care less who was President, who was Vice President. To me, they’re all irrelevant.”
    “You don’t read the papers? Don’t watch the news?”
    “You got that right.”
    “Isn’t it hard to live in Washington without being interested? We live inside the beltway. It’s everywhere.”
    “It’s not for me.”
    “Too bad.”
    Cooper had once been very interested in the political scene. Before breakfast, he would pad out barefoot to collect The Washington Post and The New York Times in fair or foul weather. As for television, he would switch from news program to news program to get all the latest in politics. He would revel in knowing everything. Knew all the political players, loved political gossip. But like desire, this was now a part of his life that he considered extinct, removing himself so completely that he was beginning to feel irritated that Beth was attempting to draw him back into that other life. He prepared to leave.
    “Where do you work?” she asked.
    “As you can see, I don’t work. I work out.”
    “You’re between jobs, then?”
    “I’m unemployed. It’s a very honorable calling.”
    “I wasn’t putting it down. I might even be able to help.”
    “Thank you,” he said, standing up.
    “Let me give you my number,” she said. She wrote her name and number on a napkin. “You never know.”
    Cooper took the napkin and put it into the pocket of his sweatpants. What he did know was that he had no intention of asking Beth Davis for help in finding Parrish. Or for anything else.

6
6

    On the walk back to his apartment, Cooper took stock of his situation. His carefully organized days were disintegrating. He had let Parrish’s disappearance invade his discipline, and he did not wish to have any involvement with Beth Davis.
    By the time he reached his apartment, he had resolved to fight his way back to his routine, and regain control of his life. In this brief window of disorientation, he found himself contemplating his future, which added to his distress. He had caught himself beginning to think ahead, to a time when his unemployment checks would eventually run out, something he had managed to put out of his mind. A realistic calculation revealed an end of cash flow to a little more than three months into the future. What would he do then? It was a question he had successfully ducked for the last few