Hit Man - Lawrence Block [45]
He made himself a sandwich and turned on the television set. Channel hopping, he wound up transfixed by an offering of sports collectibles on one of the home shopping channels. Balls, bats, helmets, caps, shirts, all of them autographed by athletes and accompanied by certificates of authenticity, the certificates themselves suitable for framing. Cubic zirconium for guys, he thought.
“When you hear the words blue chip,” the host was saying, “what are you thinking? I’ll tell you what I’m thinking. I’m thinking Mickey Mantle.”
Keller wasn’t sure what he thought of when he heard the words blue chip, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t Mickey Mantle. He was working on that one when Nelson came bounding into the room, with Andria behind him.
“When I heard the TV,” she said, “my first thought was I must have left it on, but I never even turned it on in the first place, so how could that be? And then I thought maybe there was a break-in, but why would a burglar turn on the television set? They don’t watch them, they steal them.”
“I should have called from the airport,” Keller said. “I didn’t think of it.”
“What happened? Was your flight canceled?”
“No, I made the trip,” he said. “But the business hardly took me any time at all.”
“Wow,” she said. “Well, Nelson and I had our usual outstanding time. He’s such a pleasure to walk.”
“He’s well behaved,” Keller agreed.
“It’s not just that. He’s enthusiastic.”
“I know what you mean.”
“He feels so good about everything,” she said, “that you feel good being with him. And he really takes an interest. I took him along when I went to water the plants and feed the fish at this apartment on Park Avenue. The people are in Sardinia. Have you ever been there?”
“No.”
“Neither have I, but I’d like to go sometime. Wouldn’t you?”
“I never thought about it.”
“Anyway, you should have seen Nelson staring at the aquarium, watching the fish swim back and forth. If you ever want to get one, I’d help you set it up. But I would recommend that you stick with freshwater. Those saltwater tanks are a real headache to maintain.”
“I’ll remember that.”
She bent over to pet the dog, then straightened up. She said, “Can I ask you something? Is it all right if I stay here tonight?”
“Of course. I more or less figured you would.”
“Well, I wasn’t sure, and it’s a little late to make other arrangements. But I thought you might want to be alone after your trip and—”
“I wasn’t gone that long.”
“You’re sure it’s all right?”
“Absolutely.”
They watched television together, drinking cups of hot chocolate that Andria made. When the program ended Keller took Nelson for a late walk. “Do you really want a fish tank?” he asked the dog. “If I can have a television set, I suppose you ought to be able to have a fish tank. But would you watch it after the first week or so? Or would you get bored with it?”
That was the thing about dogs, he thought. They didn’t get bored the way people did.
After a couple of blocks he found himself talking to Nelson about what had happened in St. Louis. “They didn’t say anything about a woman,” he said. “I bet she wasn’t registered. I don’t think she was his wife, so I guess she wasn’t officially there. That’s why he sent her to the bathroom before he opened the door, and why he didn’t want to open the door in the first place. If she’d stayed in the bathroom another minute—”
But suppose she had? She’d have been screaming her head off before Keller was out of the hotel, and she’d have been able to give a certain amount of information to the police. How the killer had gained access to the room, for a starter.
Just as well things had gone the way they did, he decided. But it still rankled. They hadn’t said anything at all about a