Looking for Rachel Wallace Read Free Page A

generalize about the nation, I study one large city very closely. Synecdoche, the rhetoricians would call it.”
    “Yeah,” I said, “I bet they would.”
    “So,” Ticknor said, “you see there are plenty of potential villains.”
    “May I have a copy of the book to read?”
    “I brought one along,” Ticknor said. He took his briefcase off the floor, opened it, and took out a book with a green dust jacket. The title, in salmon letters, took up most of the front. Rachel Wallace’s picture took up most of the back. “Just out,” Ticknor said.
    “I’ll read it tonight,” I said. “When do I report for work?”
    “Right now,” Rachel Wallace said. “You are here. You are armed. And quite frankly I have been frightened. I won’t be deflected. But I am frightened.”
    “What are your plans for today?” I said.
    “We shall have perhaps three more drinks here, then you and I shall go to dinner. After dinner I shall go to my room and work until midnight. At midnight I shall go to bed. Once I am in my room with the door locked, I should think you could leave. The security here is quite good, I’m sure. At the slightest rustle outside my door I will call the hotel security number without a qualm.”
    “And tomorrow?”
    “Tomorrow you should meet me at my room at eight o’clock. I have a speech in the morning and an autographing in the afternoon.”
    “I have a date for dinner tonight,” I said. “May I ask her to join us?”
    “You’re not married,” she said.
    “That’s true,” I said.
    “Is this a casual date or is this your person?”
    “It’s my person,” I said.
    Ticknor said, “We can’t cover her expenses, you know.”
    “Oh, damn,” I said.
    “Yes, of course, bring her along. I hope that you don’t plan to cart her everywhere, however. Business and pleasure, you know.”
    “She isn’t someone you cart,” I said. “If she joins us, it will be your good fortune.”
    “I don’t care for your tone, buster,” Rachel Wallace said. “I have a perfectly legitimate concern that you will not be distracted by your lady friend from doing what we pay you to do. If there’s danger, would you look after her first or me.”
    “Her,” I said.
    “Then certainly I can suggest that she not always be with us.”
    “She won’t be,” I said. “I doubt that she could stand it.”
    “Perhaps I shall change my mind about this evening,” Rachel Wallace said.
    “Perhaps I shall change mine, too,” I said.
    Ticknor said, “Wait. Now just wait. I’m sure Rachel meant no harm. Her point is valid. Surely, Spenser, you understand that.”
    I didn’t say anything.
    “Dinner this evening, of course, is perfectly understandable,” Ticknor said. “You had a date. You had no way to know that Rachel would require you today. I’m sure Rachel will be happy to have dinner with you both.”
    Rachel Wallace didn’t say anything.
    “Perhaps you could call the lady and ask her to meet you.”
    Rachel Wallace didn’t like Ticknor saying “lady,” but she held back and settled for giving him a disgusted look. Which he missed, or ignored—I couldn’t tell which.
    “Where are we eating?” I said to Rachel.
    “I’d like the best restaurant in town,” she said. “Do you have a. suggestion?”
    “The best restaurant in town is not
in
town. It’s in Marblehead, place called Rosalie’s.”
    “What’s the cuisine?”
    “Northern Italian Eclectic. A lot of it is just Rosalie’s.”
    “No meatball subs? No pizza?”
    “No.”
    “Do you know this restaurant, John?”
    “I’ve not been out there. I’ve heard that it is excellent.”
    “Very well, we’ll go. Tell your friend that we shall meet her there at seven. I’ll call for reservations.”
    “My friend is named Susan. Susan Silverman.”
    “Fine,” Rachel Wallace said.

4
    Rosalie’s is in a renovated commercial building in one of the worst sections of Marblehead. But the worst section of Marblehead is upper middle class. The