Роберт Паркер - All Our Yesterdays

“There wouldn’t be much you could say, would there?”

“No,” I said. “And I see that I’m not the only one with some rage to work on.”

Grace nodded. “Yes, I know. I’ve been working on that. I also know that the calamity was not in fact of your doing, or mine.”

“Do you also feel it?” I said.

“Get ’em by the head,” Grace said. “The soul will follow.”

I smiled at her. The storm was beginning to settle, the snow kept coming, but the thunder was maybe more distant now, and the time between the light and the sound was increasing.

“You know, a little sort of sidebar. Flaherty was always so certain that your brother, being what Flaherty called a Goo Goo, if elected would destroy Flaherty’s city. And when Flaherty gets elected to the Senate he leaves the deputy mayor to fill out his term.”

“Piper?”

“Yes,” I said. “Look up Goo Goo in a dictionary and there’s a picture of Winston Piper.”

“So we got the city after all,” Grace said.

“I guess you did.”

We were quiet, like survivors looking over the field where the battle had been fought. I could hear Grace’s breath as she took in some air and let it out slowly. It was late. We were tired, but neither of us seemed to have arrived at anyplace where we could stop.

“After the shootout?” Grace said. “With, ah, what’s his name?”

“Patrick Malloy,” I said.

“After that, why did Gus leave you? What did he do?”

“He never said,” I answered, “but he had to get clear with my mother. It’s like once the purge started it had to be complete before he could sit and talk.”

“So he went and made his peace with Peggy.”

“Yeah,” I said. “His peace, not hers — she’ll never forgive him.”

“Even though he did it for you?”

“Ma doesn’t work that way. Everything is about her.”

Grace reached toward me and patted my hand.

“My father was a child molester,” she said. “And I had a better deal than you did.”

“Ma’d be pleased to hear that,” I said. “There was another thing, I think, unless I’m just thinking pretty.”

“What?”

“He wanted me to have the chance to be in charge. He did whatever he did with my mother, she won’t talk about it, and then he just went over to my house and sat on the steps and waited for me.”

“And did you know what it was you were in charge of?”

“I knew we were arresting them for money laundering. I knew my father had evidence. I didn’t know what.”

“You didn’t know about my father yet.”

“No.”

“It’s so odd, to think of my father like that, as a — a monster. I didn’t really know him. He was so remote. He stayed so far away from me.”

“Probably why,” I said. “He knew he was a pedophile. He didn’t dare come near his daughter.”

“Isn’t that crazy. That’s what I resented. He seemed to give all his attention to Cabot. I was so jealous of Cabot, so angry at my father. And he did the best thing for me he could have done.”

“It’s why you weren’t destroyed, I guess.”

“Yes, and my mother cared about me. She made me feel that I mattered.”

“Maybe he stayed away from you because you mattered,” Chris said.

“I know. Maybe he was being as good a parent as he could be, given what he was.”

“The poor bastard.”

“What a dreadful world,” Grace said. Her face was angry. “Where you have to give up what you love to save it.”

“And you’re only able to get what you need by not needing it,” I said.

“Makes one believe in a grand design, doesn’t it?” Grace said.

“‘If design govern in a thing so small,’” I said.

Winston Piper didn’t look right to her in what she thought of as Flaherty’s office. When he stood at the window and looked down at Quincy Market, his pants legs reached to the anklebone.

They may know how to conserve money , Mary Alice thought, but they sure don’t know how to dress . She sat on the couch. Piper turned from the window and went to the desk. They all look as if their wives cut their hair .

“So, my little chickadee,” Piper said. W. C. Fields was his favorite, and he was sure he did a convincing impression of him. “You’re not in Washington with Parnell.”

Mary Alice shrugged and smiled.

“Well,” Piper said, “Parnell’s loss is certainly my gain.”

“It certainly is,” Mary Alice said.

“I know you had Parnell’s confidence, and I want you to know that you have mine.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Mary Alice said. I wonder if he’s hinting for a blowjob .

She smiled. Piper smiled back.

“My friends call me Win,” he said. “No need for formality.”

“Sure, Win.” He’s hinting .

Piper sat down. He was wearing a gray suit with narrow lapels. The suit jacket seemed pinched around the shoulders. His tie was narrow and was narrowly patterned with blue and gray stripes. Behind the desk he sat straight up, both feet on the floor, his back not touching the chair. He drank a sip of coffee — black, no sugar, decaffeinated.

“What do you think of the way I’m portrayed in the press, Mary Alice?”

“The press is full of overeducated Paddies,” Mary Alice said, “that still want to be Irish homeboys. And one way to stay loyal to your roots is to make fun of affluent Protestants.”

“Like me.”

“Exactly like you.”

Piper looked into his coffee cup for a while as he thought about what Mary Alice had said.

“I like this job. I’m going to run for a full term this fall,” Piper said. “I even have a campaign slogan. Win with Win!”

“Great slogan,” Mary Alice said. “Now what you need to do is something that will get the anti-Wasps on your side without alienating the Wasps.”

“I’ll be guided by your recommendation. I know Parnell counted you among his most trusted advisors.”

“Most trusted,” Mary Alice said.

Piper stood and walked across the room and sat beside her on the couch. His face was bright red. There was a hint of sweat on his forehead. He put his hand on her thigh.

Mary Alice grinned at him.

“Perks of office, Winston?”

“I” — Piper cleared his throat — “I admire you very much, Mary Alice. I’d like it a lot if you were to be my trusted advisor too,” he said.

Mary Alice nodded, still grinning.

“Shall I just lie back here on the couch and we can advise and consent for a bit?”

The sweat was clearly visible on Piper’s high forehead.

“I don’t want you to misjudge me, Mary Alice.”

“No problem, Winston,” she said. “I’m a modern gal. Just a collegial toss on the couch. We may do it again. But fun is all that’s at stake.”

“I love my wife,” Piper said. His voice was raspy.

“Sure you do, except she wears Birkenstocks and no makeup and thinks head is the opposite of foot.”

Piper blushed. Mary Alice smiled.

“So we’ll get to know each other and when it’s over maybe I’ll have a recommendation you’ll want to implement.”

“Yes,” Piper said. His voice was very hoarse. “Anything. Please.”

Without his clothes Winston Piper was as narrow and pale as his wardrobe. His shoulders were narrow. His legs were pale. Mary Alice showed him things to do. When they were through he got up immediately and began to dress. Mary Alice lay back comfortably on the couch. She made no effort to rearrange it. As he dressed, Piper stared at her nakedness.

She smiled at him.

“Win,” she said, “I recommend you name Chris Sheridan police commissioner.”