AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You sure she was the target for this guy?”
“Not positive.”
“Is it our business if she is?”
“It’s my business.”
Carpenter nodded back toward Agnes. “There’s a kid in the basement. Connected to this?” He jerked the body bag on his shoulder as if it were full of feathers and not dead meat.
“I don’t think so. This guy was coming to shoot. The kid was like another one who came last night, after something.”
Carpenter looked thoughtful, as if he were calculating something, and Shane was taken aback when he said, “I understand she cooks.”
“Yes.”
“I am often hungry in the morning.”
Shane paid attention. “She makes an excellent breakfast”
“Perhaps I should come for breakfast.”
“That would be ... new.”
Carpenter nodded. “A good partnership is flexible.”
“Wilson might not like it.”
“Wilson is retiring,” Carpenter said. “You are in a complex situation. And I am often hungry in the morning.” He touched a finger to his forehead in a salute and readjusted the body bag over his shoulder. “Be centered.”
Then he was gone and Shane went inside to see what Agnes was saying to the wall.
Agnes had gone inside and watched as Carpenter talked to Shane with the body bag over his shoulder as casually as Palmer had talked to Maria with her dress bag over his shoulder. She looked at the basement door and then back to Shane and Carpenter and then back to the basement door, and then she went to the wall, leaned over the table blocking the door, and pushed open the door a crack.
“Hello?” she whispered.
“H’lo?” came a cautious whisper back.
“So who are you?” Agnes whispered.
“I heard shootin’,” the boy said, his voice a soft drawl. “Yes.”
“Damn.” There was a moment of silence, then, “Listen, I got my rights.”
“No, you don’t,” Agnes said, annoyed at his lack of groveling. “You attacked me in my house. I hit the last kid who attacked me with a frying pan.” And then there was the meat fork, she thought, shuddering at the memory of the blood running down Taylor’s neck. “Now who the hell are you?”
The boy sighed. “I’m Three Wheels Thibault.”
“The kid who died here last night was named Two Wheels Thibault. Relative of yours?”
“Cousin,” Three Wheels said.
“Well, I’m sorry for your loss,” Agnes said, and added hastily, “I didn’t kill him.”
“He were a dickhead. Always callin’ names. Actin’ like a big shot. Pokin’ fun. Made me mad, you know.”
“No,” Agnes said. “I wouldn’t know about that.” She looked over her shoulder at Carpenter and Shane, who were still talking. That wouldn’t last long. “Can you climb up out of there?”
“No, ma’am, I tried.” The boy summoned up some outrage. “I think I hurt my ankle. I’m gonna sue that guy who dropped me in here.”
