Hit Man Read online

  “Always.”

  “Some of the other jokers I was considering, I think they might have a hard time coming to terms with the idea of working for a woman. But I don’t see that as a problem for you and me.”

  “Certainly not.”

  “Well,” she said. “Thank God for stamp collecting is all that I can say. How about another glass of iced tea, Keller? And you can even tell me about postmasters’ promotionals, if it makes you happy.”

  “Provisionals,” he said. “And you don’t have to hear about them. I’m happy already.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Keller gets around a great deal, and it is perhaps fitting that the author was similarly peripatetic while chronicling his adventures. He is thus pleased to acknowledge the following venues, where various sections of this book were written: the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, in Sweet Briar, Virginia; the Ragdale Foundation, in Lake Forest, Illinois; the Park Plaza Motor Lodge, in Johnson City, New York; the SS Nordlys, in Norwegian coastal waters; Emilie Poe Wood’s house, in Lucedale, Mississippi; Continental Airlines flight 214 from Houston to Newark; and, in New York City, the Writers Room (Waverly Place), the Writers Room (Astor Place), the Peacock Caffé (Greenwich Avenue), Caffe ` Lucca (Bleecker Street), and the Donnell branch of the New York Public Library.

  Grateful acknowledgment is also due to those publications in which some of Keller’s adventures appeared in a slightly different form: Murder on the Run, a collection of stories by members of the Adams Round Table; Murder Is My Business, an anthology edited by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; and, of course, Playboy.

  About the Author

  LAWRENCE BLOCK is a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and a multiple winner of the Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon awards. His fifty-plus books include the fifteen Matthew Scudder novels, all of which are available as HarperCollins e-books (complete list is below). Scudder also appears in Enough Rope, a collection of Mr. Block’s classic short stories. That volume, and Small Town, a novel, are also published by PerfectBound, along with the Keller books, Hit Man and Hit List.

  Please visit www.lawrenceblock.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  The Matthew Scudder Crime Novels are (in publication order): The Sins of the Fathers; Time to Murder and Create; In the Midst of Death; A Stab in the Dark; Eight Million Ways to Die; When the Sacred Ginmill Closes; Out on the Cutting Edge; A Ticket to the Boneyard; A Dance at the Slaughterhouse; A Walk Among the Tombstones; The Devil Knows You’re Dead; A Long Line of Dead Men; Even the Wicked; Everybody Dies; Hope to Die.

  HIT MAN

  “PAGE-TURNER OF THE WEEK. . .

  Macabre charm. . . In what amounts to a series

  of interlocking short stories with more plot twists

  than the current White House imbroglio,

  Keller proves the perfect observer of life—

  clear-eyed, ironic and always dead-on.”

  People

  “A collection of stories that reads like the flowing

  memoir of a man who is letting it all out for

  the first time. . . The ironic tone and confessional

  content make these intimate tales so funny and

  full of rue . . . [Keller] may have no ethics,

  but he definitely has a way about him.”

  The New York Times Book Review

  “A brilliant writer . . . superb entertainment.”

  Booklist

  “Block’s ravenous fans [will be]

  delighted to see at least three masterpieces

  gathered in one volume.”

  Kirkus Reviews

  “Block, one of the genre’s finest practitioners,

  is in fine form here. Anyone looking

  for a disturbing detour from the mainstream

  will want to pick up Hit Man.”

  Chicago Tribune

  LAWRENCE BLOCK

  “One of the very best writers now working the beat.”

  The Wall Street Journal

  ALSO BY LAWRENCE BLOCK

  The Matthew Scudder Novels

  The Sins of the Fathers • Time to Murder and Create • In the Midst of Death • A Stab in the Dark • Eight Million Ways to Die • When the Sacred Ginmill Closes • Out on the Cutting Edge • A Ticket to the Boneyard • A Dance at the Slaughterhouse • A Walk Among the Tombstones • The Devil Knows You’re Dead • A Long Line of Dead Men • Even the Wicked • Everybody Dies • Hope to Die

  The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries

  Burglars Can’t Be Choosers • The Burglar in the Closet • The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling • The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza • The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian • The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams • The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart • The Burglar in the Library • The Burglar in the Rye

  The Adventures of Evan Tanner

  The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep • The Canceled Czech • Tanner’s Twelve Swingers • Two for Tanner • Tanner’s Tiger • Here Comes a Hero • Me Tanner, You Jane • Tanner on Ice

  The Affairs of Chip Harrison

  No Score • Chip Harrison Scores Again • Make Out with Murder • The Topless Tulip Caper

  Keller’s Greatest Hits

  Hit Man • Hit List

  Other Novels

  After the First Death • Ariel • Coward’s Kiss • Deadly Honeymoon • The Girl with the Long Green Heart • Mona • Not Comin’ Home to You • Random Walk • Ronald Rabbit Is a Dirty Old Man • The Specialists • Such Men Are Dangerous • The Triumph of Evil • You Could Call It Murder

  Collected Short Stories

  Sometimes They Bite • Like a Lamb to Slaughter • Some Days You Get the Bear • Ehrengraf for the Defense • One Night Stands • The Lost Cases of Ed London • Enough Rope

  Books for Writers

  Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print • Telling Lies for Fun & Profit • Write for Your Life • Spider, Spin Me a Web

  Anthologies Edited

  Death Cruise • Master’s Choice • Opening Shots • Master’s Choice 2 • Speaking of Lust • Opening Shots 2 • Speaking of Greed

  Copyright

  “Answers to Soldier,” “Keller’s Therapy,” “Dogs Walked, Plants Watered,” “Keller’s Karma,” “Keller in Shining Armor,” “Keller on the Spot,” and “Keller’s Last Refuge” originally appeared in Playboy magazine.

  HIT MAN. Copyright© 1998 by Lawrence Block. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  ePub edition © May 2003 ISBN: 9780061796685

  First Avon Twilight Printing: February 1999.

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Aknowledgements

  About the Author

  Praise For Lawrence Block

  Also by Lawrence Block

  Copyright

  About the Publisher