Robert B. Parker’s the Hangman’s Sonnet

“I got tired of waiting for you to call me, so I took the initiative. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I’m at, Jesse... initiative.”

“Watch out for that. Initiative cuts both ways. It may get you far, but initiative almost got one of my cops killed a few years back.”

“Don’t you like me?”

“Well enough, but I don’t really know you.”

She laughed a coy little laugh. “I think that’s the point of my visit, Jesse,” she said, stepping very close to him and brushing her hand across his chest. “Letting you get to know me.”

He stepped back and away from her and headed into the kitchen.

He called to her. “I’m putting up some coffee. You want some?”

She trailed after him, abandoning innuendo and nuance. “I want some, but not coffee.”

“Sorry, not interested,” he said, though it wasn’t completely true. Any straight man with a pulse would have been interested in Bella, but he was more interested in something else: what she was doing there. Why had she come knocking today and not yesterday or tomorrow? Jesse understood Tamara. He even understood Nita Thompson’s loneliness and why she had reached out to him. She was a loner, too. But Bella was different. Her being here felt like part of a calculation.

“Coffee’s all I’ve got to offer.”

“Too bad for you.”

“I don’t doubt it, but I’m probably about twice your age and you don’t strike me as someone starved for male attention.”

“Young men are fools.” She waved her red-tipped fingers dismissively. “And they’re too hungry.”

“Watch that, Bella. I was young once and you won’t be forever.”

“Exactly.” There was that smile again.

“How do you like your coffee?”

“Come on, Jesse, I’m going to be in and out of town for at least the next month. We could have some fun.”

“Not going to happen.”

She came around the counter, leaned against him, and put her lips to his ear. “Going once... going twice...”

He stepped back again. “Great perfume. The cream’s in the fridge. Sugar’s over there.”

She shook her head. “You had your chance. Maybe if you’re nice, you can have another.”

“Very generous.”

“You’d be amazed at how generous I can be.”

“Probably. And Bella,” he said, “I’ll be in the mayor’s office in about an hour. Why don’t you meet me there? Bring Stan and Bascom with you.”

That got her attention. “Now I’m curious. What’s going on?”

“See you in an hour.”

64

Jesse didn’t know what to make of it, the feeling that he was being watched. He’d checked his mirrors many times on his way into town. He’d done all the tricks: made unexpected stops, pulled off the road, changed his route, doubled back, but he didn’t see anyone or anything that was out of place. In the end he attributed it to his coming to terms with Tamara’s news and to that little scene Bella Lawton had played out in his kitchen. He was still trying to make sense of that when he strode into Mayor Walker’s office.

At least Bella had heeded his suggestion about bringing Stan White and Bascom along for the meeting. None of them looked very pleased about being summoned to a meeting, and Stan White let everyone know about it.

“Damn it, Stone, what the hell kinda town is this? Yesterday you seemed pissed that Bella, Roger, and I were at the meeting. Today it’s practically a command performance. What’s with that?”

Bella Lawton hung back, almost as if trying to blend into the wainscoting. Jesse guessed she might have been a little bit embarrassed by her showing up at his house and coming on as strong as she had. Or maybe that wasn’t it at all. Strangely, it was Bella who would probably be most pleased by what he was about to say, but it was Stan White’s reaction Jesse was most interested in.

“Yesterday, a package was delivered by messenger to Roscoe Niles at WBMB-FM,” Jesse said. “No one got a good look at the messenger.”

Bella Lawton was puzzled. “Roscoe Niles. Who’s he?”

“He’s a fat old drunk, a DJ whose best days were behind him by 1980,” Stan White answered. “He’s a real prick.”

Jesse shook his head. “He loves you, too. But he told me you were once friends.”

White began to speak, but the mayor interrupted.

“I’m sure this is all very fascinating... or not. Someone please tell me why we’re all here.”

Jesse removed several sheets of paper from a brown folder and handed them out. He scanned everyone for their reaction, but focused most intently on White.

Bascom grumbled, not even bothering to look at the sheet. “What’s this?”

There was stunned silence from Mayor Walker and Nita Thompson. Bella Lawton tried hard to hide her smile but couldn’t contain it. Stan White didn’t even try to contain his smile. Still, his reaction seemed far too muted for Jesse’s liking.

“Is this authentic?” Jesse asked White.

White didn’t answer, not directly. “Where is it, the original?”

“I gave it to the state police for analysis before I came here,” Jesse said. “Does this look like the original?”

“It does,” White said. “But the original is on a sheet of old brown paper.”

“What does it mean, Stan, if what was delivered to Roscoe Niles’s station is the genuine article?”