Chapter 1
Hawk was having dinner with a prospective employer when he got the call from Susan Silverman. Although she tried to keep herself contained, the fear in her voice was evident to Hawk’s familiar ear and he told her he would be with her shortly, ending the call and standing.
“We talk later,” he said to the stunned prospective employer, turning and leaving one of Boston’s most exclusive restaurants without another word, or, most notably, an apology. But the man left behind was not offended by that. Hawk’s reputation was known far and wide, and did not include the public niceties that so many thought of as pro forma.
Twenty minutes later, Hawk’s sleek black jag was rolling into the driveway of an elegant corner house in Cambridge. It was just after eight and the sun had long since set, the neighborhood well illuminated by artificial lighting throughout.
Hawk released his seatbelt, opened the driver’s door, and rolled out of the car in one effortless move, rising to his full height of six feet, three inches, adjusting the jacket of his exquisitely tailored fawn colored suit. Even though it was dark, Hawk wore even darker shades that hid his eyes. Still, he could see everything.
Susan greeted him at the door and it was obvious she had been crying. She let him in, closed the door behind him, then collapsed against it. Hawk caught her and took her in his strong arms, holding her against his chest for a few moments before walking her into the living room to sit down on the antique sofa that she and Spenser bought last fall up in New Hampshire.
She told him the story and he listened without interruption, or any outward signs of emotion. Probably no inward signs either because that was not Hawk’s way. He had removed his shades and his eyes had the same calm, somewhat cold, expression as always, and somehow this gave Susan some comfort as she talked, holding onto his hand to steady herself as she did so.
It did not take long, and when she finished, Hawk sat quietly looking at her, his mind absorbing and analyzing the details before he spoke.
“When Tedy Sapp take over Security South?” he said.
“I don’t know,” Susan said. “Spenser was unaware of it either before he got the call a few weeks back. Apparently he’s been their Chief Operating Officer for some years now.”
Hawk nodded.
“So he call Spenser about a missing person from down Georgia way came up here a month ago then disappeared without a trace, and ole’ Tedy want Spenser to find him for a client down there?”
Susan nodded, sniffled.
Hawk squeezed her hand.
“Yes,” she said. “And then Spenser started looking, doing what he usually does.”
“You mean annoying people till they either tell him something he want to know or else try to kill him.”
Susan nodded, smiled a little, then wiped at her eyes.
“About the size of it,” she said. “I know he went to Frank Belson to see if there had been any reports of bodies turning up anywhere that matched the missing young man’s description. Nothing there, and then he followed up on some other clues.”
“Then he find something that take him out of town,” Hawk said.
“Yes,” Susan said. “But I’m not sure what. I had to go to New York for a few days in the week before he left. I was really busy and we didn’t get to talk much. I’m not too sure what he learned during his sleuthing. I got back one day before he left. Told me he would only be gone a few days, then it stretched into a week. We spoke a couple of times on the phone and he didn’t seem worried, but when does he ever?”
“And then you stopped hearing from him?” Hawk said.
Another sniffle, and she nodded.
“Yes, and that’s not like Spenser, you know that, Hawk. He calls me no matter what he’s doing or where he is. At first I tried not to worry when I couldn’t get him on his cell. I left messages after it clicked over to voicemail following the fourth ring, but he never got back to me. And then it started going straight to voicemail without ringing at all. I left messages at his hotel, too, and got nothing there either. That’s when I got really worried and called Marty Quirk.”
“And what Quirk say?”
“That he hadn’t heard from Spenser either, and neither had Frank or Lee Farrell. Not since he left town. Said he’d check with Healy at the state police, found out Spenser had spoken with him before he left, but not since. I think Marty’s really worried now, too. He said he was going to make some calls to local law enforcement down in West Virginia, try to pick up Spenser’s trail. So far he hasn’t gotten back to me and I’m scared, Hawk, really scared. I know the kind of life Spenser leads, the danger of his work, and I know how tough he is. But despite that, even if he doesn’t admit it, he is human.”
She broke off and could not hold back the tears any longer. Hawk held her close while she sobbed into his expensive tailored dress shirt, his mind still turning over the details. After a while Susan sniffled, but did not move her head, and when she spoke her voice was a small, hoarse whisper, but Hawk could clearly understand her.
“I want you to find him, Hawk. I want you to find him and bring him back to me, please!”
Hawk sat silently for several moments, holding onto one of the handful of people in this world that he truly cared about as she broke down completely, still thinking.
Finally Boston’s top enforcer nodded and said in his normal voice, “Don’t worry, Lady Susan, he out there, I find him.”
