now?”
“Sleeping it off on my couch.”
He didn’t rub it in to Pearl that Lido, while under the influence, had come up with a useful gem of knowledge.
With Pearl, you didn’t rub things in.
“Just in case,” she said, “I’m gonna see if I can run down this Luttrell guy. Make sure of what Jerry found. Narrow it down by eliminating everyone without a heartbeat.”
“That’ll make things easier for Sal and Harold,” Quinn said. It wasn’t a bad idea to double-check. After all, Lido had been drinking.
He watched Pearl work for a few seconds before he walked away, thinking she was probably an inch away from climbing all over him for getting Lido drunk again. Thinking how much he loved her and wondering why.
Wondering if there was a cure.
19
Here they were, meeting again. This time for breakfast.
Fedderman sat across from Penny Noon in the Silver Star Diner on Columbus near West Seventy-eighth Street. They were in a window booth with a clear view of the busy sidewalk on the other side of the sun-heated glass. Fedderman had breakfast there often and knew the food was good, just in case Penny’s request for hot tea or coffee led to a dinner….
A dinner what? A date? That might not be considered ethical.
Well, so what? She just came in to the city to ID a body. She isn’t a suspect. Like when Pearl—
“I think I’ll go with tea,” Penny said, interrupting Fedderman’s misgivings. Well, almost misgivings.
The waiter, a skinny little guy with an impressive black mustache, walked over to their booth and they ordered pancakes and tea for Penny, and scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee for Fedderman.
When the waiter had gone, leaving them alone, Fedderman, not knowing what else to say, nodded toward his coffee cup and said, “I drink too much of the stuff.”
“So why don’t you cut back?”
“We call it cop pop,” Fedderman said. “I’m afraid I’m addicted.”
Why am I boring this woman with this banal crap? What must she think of me?
“Are you a fashion designer, too?” Fedderman the sparkling conversationalist asked, no doubt reminding her of her sister, whom they’d recently seen dead at the morgue. Not to mention that Penny was dressed today in faded jeans and a clean-looking but slightly threadbare sleeveless blouse.
He sighed hopelessly and grinned. Honesty was the best policy. He knew that. He was a cop. “You’ve gotta excuse me for making an ass of myself. I’m not used to talking to attractive women under these circumstances unless it might lead to me putting the cuffs on them.”
No! I didn’t mean it that way.
“Well, there’s a novel approach,” she said.
She stared at him seriously, smiled, and then laughed an abandoned, throaty laugh that he liked a lot.
Their conversation yesterday in a Starbucks a few blocks from the morgue had been strained and not without Penny’s tears. She’d told Fedderman she was surprised by how deeply depressed she felt, since she and the victim hadn’t been all that close.
That was something Fedderman decided to explore, now that Penny was less depressed. And it pertained to the case, lending to his comforting delusion that he was working here.
“You mentioned yesterday that you and Nora weren’t all that close.”
“This gonna be Q and A?” Penny asked.
Fedderman was surprised. Then he said, “That’s what we call our business sometimes, for Quinn and Associates Investigations.” He smiled. “We do Q and A, Penny, but that’s not what I’m doing this morning.”
“You’re taking a break from the case?”
“A short one. With you.”
“Your boss Quinn is an impressive man, but he’s also frightening.”
“He’s on the hunt,” Fedderman said. The last thing he wanted was to talk about Quinn.
The waiter came and Penny added cream to her tea and then stirred in the contents of a pink packet of sweetener.
“I suppose Nora and I weren’t close because we were ten years apart,” she said. “Our father left
“Sleeping it off on my couch.”
He didn’t rub it in to Pearl that Lido, while under the influence, had come up with a useful gem of knowledge.
With Pearl, you didn’t rub things in.
“Just in case,” she said, “I’m gonna see if I can run down this Luttrell guy. Make sure of what Jerry found. Narrow it down by eliminating everyone without a heartbeat.”
“That’ll make things easier for Sal and Harold,” Quinn said. It wasn’t a bad idea to double-check. After all, Lido had been drinking.
He watched Pearl work for a few seconds before he walked away, thinking she was probably an inch away from climbing all over him for getting Lido drunk again. Thinking how much he loved her and wondering why.
Wondering if there was a cure.
19
Here they were, meeting again. This time for breakfast.
Fedderman sat across from Penny Noon in the Silver Star Diner on Columbus near West Seventy-eighth Street. They were in a window booth with a clear view of the busy sidewalk on the other side of the sun-heated glass. Fedderman had breakfast there often and knew the food was good, just in case Penny’s request for hot tea or coffee led to a dinner….
A dinner what? A date? That might not be considered ethical.
Well, so what? She just came in to the city to ID a body. She isn’t a suspect. Like when Pearl—
“I think I’ll go with tea,” Penny said, interrupting Fedderman’s misgivings. Well, almost misgivings.
The waiter, a skinny little guy with an impressive black mustache, walked over to their booth and they ordered pancakes and tea for Penny, and scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee for Fedderman.
When the waiter had gone, leaving them alone, Fedderman, not knowing what else to say, nodded toward his coffee cup and said, “I drink too much of the stuff.”
“So why don’t you cut back?”
“We call it cop pop,” Fedderman said. “I’m afraid I’m addicted.”
Why am I boring this woman with this banal crap? What must she think of me?
“Are you a fashion designer, too?” Fedderman the sparkling conversationalist asked, no doubt reminding her of her sister, whom they’d recently seen dead at the morgue. Not to mention that Penny was dressed today in faded jeans and a clean-looking but slightly threadbare sleeveless blouse.
He sighed hopelessly and grinned. Honesty was the best policy. He knew that. He was a cop. “You’ve gotta excuse me for making an ass of myself. I’m not used to talking to attractive women under these circumstances unless it might lead to me putting the cuffs on them.”
No! I didn’t mean it that way.
“Well, there’s a novel approach,” she said.
She stared at him seriously, smiled, and then laughed an abandoned, throaty laugh that he liked a lot.
Their conversation yesterday in a Starbucks a few blocks from the morgue had been strained and not without Penny’s tears. She’d told Fedderman she was surprised by how deeply depressed she felt, since she and the victim hadn’t been all that close.
That was something Fedderman decided to explore, now that Penny was less depressed. And it pertained to the case, lending to his comforting delusion that he was working here.
“You mentioned yesterday that you and Nora weren’t all that close.”
“This gonna be Q and A?” Penny asked.
Fedderman was surprised. Then he said, “That’s what we call our business sometimes, for Quinn and Associates Investigations.” He smiled. “We do Q and A, Penny, but that’s not what I’m doing this morning.”
“You’re taking a break from the case?”
“A short one. With you.”
“Your boss Quinn is an impressive man, but he’s also frightening.”
“He’s on the hunt,” Fedderman said. The last thing he wanted was to talk about Quinn.
The waiter came and Penny added cream to her tea and then stirred in the contents of a pink packet of sweetener.
“I suppose Nora and I weren’t close because we were ten years apart,” she said. “Our father left
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