Kevin's Watch

This is a short chapter, but long on emotion, though SRD understates it most of the time. The book is heating up to its climax. Now Last is dead, killed by Ted, and Brew is furious. Not only was Last the only visible means of reaching the kidnapper, but Ted shot him with Brew’s gun. This is going to be another excuse for the cops to roust Brew.

Carefully preserving Ted’s fingerprints on the gun, Brew finds his car, amazingly still there with the key in the ignition, and heads back for the city. He is desperate for ways to find Mitty before the kidnapper can kill her. He needs to find out who knew Alathea was in the hospital.

Who does he go, to find out? Julian Z. Kirke! Brew has been lucky two ways. Not only was his car where he left it, but when he stops at a phone booth to find Kirke’s address, the phone booth still has its phone directory. He finds Kirke is in his apartment and awake.

Here’s a reminder that Kirke’s financial status says he is innocent.

SRD wrote:His living room was designed to look nicer than it really was. ... A thick cheap carpet, plastic potted plants here and there. A picture window with a clear view of the next-door neighbor’s picture. Not much in the way of furniture.

Throughout their whole conversation, Kirke keeps sneering.

Civility and sarcasm were doing some kind of balancing act.

Brew doesn’t mention that he is being pretty sarcastic himself. Kirke keeps offering Brew alcohol, so Brew isn’t at his best. He is telling Kirke important things about himself that he shouldn’t be.

SRD wrote:“Ginny is the brains of this team. ... Without her, I’m in lousy shape.”

What SRD doesn’t tell us is happening is that 1) Brew is insisting on respect for Ginny, and 2) he is causing Kirke to underestimate him.

Kirke tells Brew that Police Detective Acton called the School Board office, and left a message for Stretto that Alathea was in the hospital. The secretary he left it with, whom Kirke enjoys incriminating, is Sondra, the one Brew questioned over coffee in the school cafeteria several chapters back. In addition, Kirke has a whole list of other people who probably heard Acton’s message, who could have spread the news anywhere.

There’s no other way to convey the tone of Kirke’s conversation but in SRD’s words:

SRD wrote:”That woman you call a partner has been putting you through the wringer. Now she’s convinced you that you can’t even have a few drinks. You’re no alcoholic. She just tells you that to keep you in line.

“Stick around. We’ll put our feet up, have a few drinks, tell each other secrets. I know some things about the school board that will give you hives.”

Brew finally has that inspiration he has been looking for, this whole chapter. He tells Kirke that Last was shot before he could talk. This way, he hopes word will get around that the kidnapper is safe. It’s the only way he knows to keep Mitty alive. Then he escapes.

Now Brew has nowhere else to look for clues. He has to talk to the man who controls drug traffic: El Senor, the man who scares him into the shakes.

You did a great job with this chapter Joy. And it's a short but a really interesting one...gives a lot of character to both Brew and Kirke...

For instance: Kirke seems to play a really mean game with Brew, tempting him with alcohol, as if he already know he's an alcoholic, which Brew later tells him he is...Kirke humiliates Ginny, trying to provoke Brew to do something, or just feeling his pulse, trying him out or something...they have a fascinating verbal ordeal...

And things get really messy here, this close to the end of the book, the story twists sligtly, a lot of blood and gore, and still we aren't very sure of who is who...

And some nice dialogue: Brew is knocking on Kirke's door:

"Mr Axbrewder," he said. "What an unexpected pleasure." He sounded like a beaker of sulphuric acid he was planing to throew in my face-but hadn't done it yet. Civility and sarcasm were doing some kind of balancing act.
"Yeah."..."That's the story of my life,"..."One unexpected pleasure after another."

kastenessen

An unexpected pleasure to see you back from the wilds, Kasten. And thank you.

I thought SRD made Kirke quite convincing in his surprise, when Brew told him he was an alcoholic. But actions speak louder than words, and when Kirke kept urging Brew to have a drink, he was acting very much like a sadist enjoying himself.

Well, we already know he's a sadist.