AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The discussion ended there, and for seventy-two hours nothing more was said about Crystal.
Then he came home one night looking like an extra from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Twelve hours earlier that day, during their morning coffee break, he'd caught Crystal chatting with one of the other women who worked in payroll. "He's an asshole," Dodge overheard her say.
"Not me, I hope."
She smiled up at him. "Hey, Marvin. No, you're not the asshole."
"Let me guess. The chief among them. None other than Franklin Albright. What's he done now?"
"The kitchen sink has been clogged up for a week, and he's promised to fix it. But every night he's had another excuse, and tonight he's going over to a buddy's house to play poker."
And Dodge thought, Bingo!
He offered to repair her sink, and she accepted his offer. It was almost too easy.
"Franklin said he'd be leaving around eight-thirty or nine." She warned him not to arrive before then. "He wouldn't like you and me being there alone."
"I'll make sure his pickup is gone before I come to the door."
On his lunch hour he called his captain, who agreed to the plan Dodge outlined but warned him again to be careful. "Learn what you can, but don't get killed doing it."
"You don't have to tell me twice."
The captain offered to place undercover officers in the vicinity in case there was trouble. "Not necessary," Dodge said. "I'll be okay." Besides, if this turned out well, he didn't want to share the credit. He wanted it to be a one-man show. His show. "But one thing you can do, sir."
"Shoot."
"Square it with my boss here at the plant that I need to leave early today. There's stuff I gotta do."
The captain made the call. Dodge clocked out early, leaving him time to run some necessary errands. His first stop was at the 7-Eleven store where Doris worked. He walked in just as she was beginning her shift.
Her face lit up with her smile. "Dodge! Come to take me dancing?"
"Came to do some business."
Her tone changed dramatically. "Let's go out back."
She asked a stock boy to cover the register and led Dodge through the storeroom and out the rear door. In the alley, amid the trash receptacles, they lit up cigarettes. She exhaled. "I heard about Jimmy Gonzales. I'm sorry."
"It sucked."
"I liked him."
"So did I. He was a great partner. The best."
"But he never caught on, did he?" she asked, looking at him askance. "He never knew that you and I had our side thing going, did he?"
"No, he never did. He wouldn't have approved. He was a straight-up cop, as honest as they come." Several times, Dodge and Doris had swapped favors, and the services they exchanged weren't always within the law. They certainly weren't ethical.
They smoked in silence for a while, then she asked what he needed.
He told her.
"By when?"
He told her.
