Free Betrayers (Nameless Detective Novels) by Bill Pronzini Page A

had now had enough of Arletta Madison, period. He gave her one of his cards and the standard call-if-you-think-of-anything-else line, and would have gotten out of there quick if she hadn’t caught hold of his arm.
    “Before you go,” she said, “let me show you my latest piece. There, on the table by the door. It’s good, isn’t it—one of my best. I call it
Seedpod.
”
    He looked at it for all of five seconds on his way out. It was a couple of feet long, round, with tapering ends, constructed of what seemed to be joined blobs of black-painted lead and studded with bits of straw and glass. He had a better name for it than hers. He’d have called it
Turd.
     
    T amara provided the address and phone number for Linkhauser Trucking in Hayward, but the rest of what she had was sketchy. Jennifer Piper had been arrested five times, twice for prostitution, twice for possession of cocaine, andonce for possession of crystal meth; she had no known relatives or associates other than Troy Madison, and Tamara hadn’t been able to fill in her background yet beyond the past six years. Coy Madison had one DUI arrest, Arletta Madison no record of any kind. Background info on Bud Linkhauser would have to wait until tomorrow.
    Runyon saved himself a long, wasted trip to Hayward by calling Linkhauser Trucking first. Bud Linkhauser was away on a run to the Central Valley, he was told, and not expected back until early tomorrow afternoon.
     
    B ryn’s weekend with her son hadn’t gone well.
    Runyon knew it as soon as she opened the door of her brown-shingled house on Moraga Street. It was in the way she looked at him, the unsmiling pensiveness of her expression. When he asked her about Bobby, her only response was to shake her head.
    They went over to Taraval for dinner, as they did on most nights he saw her. She seldom left the house during daylight hours, but after being cooped up all day she preferred going out to eat to cooking at home. She didn’t say a word on the way, lost inside herself. As always when she was like this, he made no effort to intrude on her silence in the car or in the coffee shop where they habitually ate. The place was crowded, but the diners were all neighborhood regulars who knew Bryn; that was why she’d become one of them. The two things she hated most were pity, especially from strangers, and being stared at while eating because of the difficulty she had in feeding herself.
    Tonight she hardly touched her food. Wine was what she wanted; the first glass went down quick, in little sips so none of it would dribble out, and the second more slowly. That oneseemed to relax her, finally loosened some of her reticence about the weekend.
    “Bobby was so distant,” she said. “He wouldn’t let me hug him or even touch him, wouldn’t make eye contact. Didn’t want to go out anywhere. He spent most of the time alone in his room watching TV and playing video games.”
    “A kid phase. Or maybe he’s having some problems in school.”
    “I hope that’s all it is.”
    Runyon said, “You think his father might be trying to turn him against you?”
    “I don’t know. I can’t believe Robert’s that vindictive, but . . . I don’t know him anymore. I guess I never did.”
    “It’ll be better with Bobby next time.”
    “Will it? Oh, God, I can’t stand the thought of losing him. If that happens . . .”
    “The boy loves you. That’s not going to change.”
    “It changed for you with your son.”
    “Different situation. Joshua and I never had a chance together from the beginning. His mother saw to that.”
    “Keep telling me I can’t lose Bobby the same way,” Bryn said. “If you say it often enough, maybe I’ll start believing it.”
    Some nights when they were together, they went to a movie or took a drive somewhere. Not this one. Straight back to her house. But she didn’t want to be alone; she asked him in. “Just for a while,” she said. “I’d rather we didn’t go to bed tonight;