Baltimore Blues Read Free

himself to the point where he vomited, and Tess was used to seeing her friend with a bit of saliva trailing from his mouth. She felt a little nauseated herself. When she could move again she paddled forward, pleased with herself for pushing him so hard.
    But Rock wasn’t throwing up; he was crying. Hunched forward, his face resting on his huge thighs, his whole body shook from the force of silent sobs. From behind he had looked to Tess like any rower after a tough workout. For some odd reason, it made her think of Moses and the burning bush. It was fascinating and bizarre. She reached across the water and tried to give him a there-there pat. Her hand glanced off his tricep as if she were trying to stroke a tree or, well, a rock.
    “Sorry,” he said.
    Tess checked he oarlocks, feeling embarrassed and inept.
    “Ava,” he said succinctly.
    Ava. His fiancée. Tess had met her at last spring’s races. Rock never seemed to do as well when she was there. Perhaps it wasn’t Ava’s fault, but she still was not the woman Tess would have chosen for him. Not the woman his mother would have chosen either, or his coworkers, or anyone with a remote interest in his happiness, Tess was sure. Ava was a lawyer, beautiful, accomplished—and an absolute bitch in a way only other women could fathom. Despite three meetings she never remembered Tess’s name.
    But all Tess said was: “Ava?”
    “I think she’s—” He groped for a word. “In trouble.”
    “What kind?”
    “Some kind she can’t talk about. She’s not at home when I call her late at night, but she’s not at the office, either. She was supposed to come up to the Adirondacks for the second week, but she called at the last minute, said some emergencyhad come up at work. That boss of hers, Abramowitz, works her to death on these asbestos cases.”
    Tess remembered how proud he had been when Ava had gotten the job at O’Neal, O’Connor and O’Neill, how proud he was that the flamboyant new partner Michael Abramowitz wanted her for his assistant.
    “That’s plausible, isn’t it? The Triple O is a pretty high-powered law firm, and those asbestos cases just keep coming.”
    “Yeah, especially when one of your biggest clients is Sims-Kever, which would rather pay one hundred million dollars in fees than pay one dollar in damages to a single old guy who can’t breathe.” Rock picked at one of his calluses. “Except Ava wasn’t at work last week. I called and the secretary told me she was on vacation. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, though.”
    “Then why don’t you ask her?”
    “Ava’s funny that way. If I asked her she’d get so offended that—” He shook his head, as if Tess couldn’t imagine what Ava was like when offended, how absolutely frightening and adorable. “She’s very sensitive.”
    They drifted on the light current. Here, in a cove near the marina, the water was still and smooth. Tess tried to think of the right thing to say, the thing to end this conversation and bring her closer to some blueberry pancakes. Ava’s behavior suggested all sorts of theories to her, all unsavory.
    “I’m sure there’s a good reason,” she said finally.
    “But there’s only one way to know .”
    “Ask her? You said you couldn’t talk to her about this.”
    “No, follow her.”
    “Wouldn’t she notice if you followed her?”
    “Of course,” Rock said. “But I’ve been thinking she wouldn’t notice if you did.”
    “How could I follow her? I mean, how could I afford the time to do it? I know I have flexible hours, but I don’t just sit around my apartment all day, watching television.” This was a sore point with Tess. A lot of people seemed to thinkbeing unemployed was a lark. She had to work two jobs just to stay afloat.
    “Because I would pay you. Thirty dollars an hour, what private detectives get. You find someone to take your place at the bookstore for a few days.”
    “I’m not a private detective,” she reminded