Free Ceremony by Robert B. Parker Page B

second-floor hallway. There were no rugs on the floor and no furniture. It was as if by the time you got here you were sold, and they didn't need to impress you. April's room was at the end of the hall on the right. We went in.

Chapter 15

    The room was Spartan. There was a good mahogany double bed and bureau. The window in the wall opposite the bed was covered with red drapes. Behind the entry door was a door that I assume led to a closet. April sat on the bed, letting her legs fall carelessly open. Unless she had a lot of self-control, she'd be fat when she was forty. Right now she was pretty in a pink-cheeked, almost plump way. Her mouth was pouty and her teeth were white and even. There was something theatrical about her movements when they occasionally became unrestrained, as when she had flopped on the bed.
    I opened the door that I took to be a closet. It was. There were a few dresses hanging in it. There were also various leather restraints hanging from hooks and a wooden paddle that was too long for Ping-Pong and too short for canoeing. On the floor were a pair of sneakers and a pair of sling-back spike-heeled pump.s Apparently she had more than one image. There was nothing else in the closet.
    I turned back toward April. She had hiked the jumper skirt up over her thighs so that I was aware that she wore nothing beneath it. She looked at me with her stage look -pouty innocence, Lolita, Debbie Does Dallas. Probably practiced her look in the mirror between tricks.
    I parted the drapes on the window. Under the drapes the window was secured with thick wire mesh. I let the drapes drop back in place. I looked over the rest of the room. There was no other way out. I didn't see any signs of a bug, though that didn't mean there wasn't one. On the top of the mahogany dresser was a radio. I turned it on. Loud.
    On the bed April was naked except for her knee socks. There were dark bruises on her buttocks that had begun to yellow, her wrists were chafed red. I remembered the time when a girl her age would have excited me. But it was a long time ago-when I was her age. Now it was like looking at a naked child.
    I lay down on the bed beside her and put my arm around her and held her close against me and whispered, "My name is not Alley Oop, it's Spenser, and your parents hired me to find you." Her body went rigid and she tried to pull away. I held her against me. I said, "You won't have to do anything you don't want to do. But if you want out of here, I'll take you out."
    April was perfectly rigid and silent. I had my mouth against her ear. "I don't know if there's a bug in here, but there could be, so we'll whisper and leave the radio up loud."
    "A bug'?" "A microphone for listening to us," I whispered.
    "I don't know."
    "Now, you want out of here?"
    She was silent.
    "I think you do," I said. "It couldn't have been fun getting those bruises on your backside."
    "Don't you want to fuck me?" she said.
    "Nothing personal, but no, I don't. I want to take you out of here and buy you dinner someplace and see what our next step is."
    She was still.
    "Get dressed," I said, my mouth still against her ear, my arms around her, holding her against me.
    "They won't let me go," she said.
    "I'll take care of that," I said. I let her go and sat up on the edge of the bed.
    "Angelo," she said, still whispering.
    "That the disco prince downstairs?"
    "Yes."
    "He the bouncer?"
    "Yes," she said. "He has a gun."
    "But is he pure of heart?" I said.
    She had slipped her blouse on. She stopped, half dressed. "They won't let me."
    "Any other bouncers?" I said.
    "During the day just Angelo. He gets off at seven and Monte and Dave come on for the night."
    I looked at my watch. Five past five. "Good," I said, "we got them outnumbered."
    She had her jumper on now, and her knee socks. She slipped her feet into the penny loafers. "What are you going to do with me after''"
    "Buy you dinner, maybe some underwear. First we'll depart."
    "Angelo's got a gun," she said