Memory Man Read Online Free Page B

Memory Man
Book: Memory Man Read Online Free
Author: David Baldacci
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to a hundred grand to get rid of the albatross around his little girl’s neck. After sizing up the con, Decker had told the reps he could get it done for a lot less. And he had. For the price of a one-way ticket, in fact. Chump change. You’d think Daddy Warbucks would have bonused him at least a percentage of the six-figure savings. But he stuck to the letter of their agreement and Decker just got his flat hourly rate, though he’d padded that considerably and made a nice payday for himself. Yet a percentage would have been good. Probably how the rich stayed rich. But it had been worth it, to see a con conned. And he figured Jenny Marks would be in the same boat in a few more months and he’d get called up again. Maybe he should ask Daddy Warbucks for a retainer.
    He left his room and made his way to the dining area right off the inn’s lobby. It was early and he was the only one there other than eighty-year-old June, who was enjoying her golden years by shoveling greasy home fries onto a platter at the buffet stand.
    After loading up his plate he sat down to eat at his usual table.
    His first forkful was halfway to his mouth when he saw her come in.
    She would be forty-two now, same age as he was. She looked older. Her job just did that to a person. It had done so to him.
    He lowered his gaze and his fork and salted everything on his plate four times over, including the pancakes. He was hoping that a man of his considerable size could shrink to invisibility behind a wall of protein and carbs.
    “Hello, Amos.”
    Well, apparently not.
    He shoved a forkful of congealed eggs, grits, bacon, home fries, and ketchup down his throat. He chewed with his mouth open, hoping that the sight would prompt her to hit a U-turn and go back to where she came from.
    No such luck.
    She sat down across from him. The table was small and she was small as well. But he was not. He was huge. He took up most of the table just by being there.
    “How’re you doing?” she asked.
    He stuffed more food into his mouth and smacked his lips together. He didn’t look up. What would have been the point? There was nothing that she could possibly say that he would want to hear.
    She said, “I can wait this out, if that’s how you want to play it. I’ve got all the time in the world.”
    He finally looked at her. She was stick-thin because of the cigarettes and the gum, which she always substituted for food and drink. He was probably having more food at this one meal than she put away in a month.
    Her hair was a pasty blonde, her skin wrinkled and splotchy. Her nose was crooked—some said from an encounter with a mean drunk when she was a beat cop. Her small, pointy chin seemed overwhelmed by her disproportionately large mouth where uneven and nicotine-stained teeth lurked like bats hanging in a cave.
    She was not pretty. Her looks were not what made her memorable. What made her remarkable was that she had been the first female detective in the Burlington Police Department. As far as he knew she was still the only one. And she had been his partner. They had made more arrests leading to more convictions than anyone in the history of the department. Some on the force thought that was just great. Others thought they were full of themselves. Starsky and Hutch, one rival had called them. Decker never knew which one he was supposed to be, the blond or the brunet.
    “Hello, Mary Suzanne Lancaster,” he said, because he somehow couldn’t not say it.
    She smiled, reached over, and poked his shoulder. He winced slightly and drew back a bit, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I didn’t know you even knew my middle name.”
    He looked down at his food, his limited chitchat quota exhausted.
    She ran her gaze over him, and when she was done Lancaster seemed to silently acknowledge that all reports of Decker having hit rock bottom were spot on.
    “I won’t ask how you’ve been, Amos. I can see not too good.”
    “I live here instead of in a box,” he said

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