1 Runaway Man (27 page)
Authors: David Handler
Rita mulled it over long and hard before she said, “I don’t think so.”
“Okay, no prob. Except, Rita, we’ve known each other how long?”
“Forever.”
“So why can’t we go out to dinner together?”
“You mean like two friends?”
“Of course. What did you think I meant?”
“Nothing. Pay no attention to me. You’re trying to forget about your troubles and I’m rattling on like a total idiot.”
“So does that mean yes?”
“Benji, I don’t think so.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay, whatever.”
“After all, why do we need to go to some restaurant? We could pick up a pizza, head back to my place and…” Rita hesitated, glancing me shyly. “I could dance for you. I still have all of my moves. Would you like to see them?”
Also by David Handler
FEATURING BERGER & MITRY
The Snow White Christmas Cookie
The Blood Red Indian Summer
The Shimmering Blond Sister
The Sour Cherry Surprise
The Sweet Golden Parachute
The Burnt Orange Sunrise
The Bright Silver Star
The Hot Pink Farmhouse
The Cold Blue Blood
FEATURING HUNT LIEBLING
Click to Play
FEATURING STEWART HOAG
The Man Who Died Laughing
The Man Who Lived by Night
The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Woman Who Fell from Grace
The Boy Who Never Grew Up
The Man Who Cancelled Himself
The Girl Who Ran Off with Daddy
The Man Who Loved Women to Death
FEATURING DANNY LEVINE
Kiddo
Boss
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
D
AVID
H
ANDLER
is an Edgar and American Mystery Award winner and a Dilys Award finalist. He is the author of the Berger and Mitry mysteries, as well as the Stewart Hoag mystery series. David lives in a two-hundred-year-old carriage house in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS
An imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
RUNAWAY MAN.
Copyright © 2013 by David Handler. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover illustration by Rob Wood / Wood Ronsaville Harlin, Inc.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Handler, David, 1952–
Runaway man: a mystery / David Handler. — First edition.
pages cm
“A Thomas Dunne Book.”
ISBN 978-1-250-01162-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-02047-5 (e-book)
1. Private investigators—New York—Fiction. 2. Family-owned business enterprises—Fiction. 3. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 4. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3558.A4637R86 2013
813'.54—dc23
2013011922
e-ISBN 9781250020475
First Edition: August 2013
