AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She said, “I think it’s time to get a big dog and a small gun.”
“You’ve got me,” said Richie. “Big dog. Big gun.”
Cindy laughed, snuggled in. Rich took his right hand off the steering wheel and drew her close.
When she woke up, Rich was pulling up the emergency brakes and Lindsay was knocking on the passenger-side window saying, “Wake up, girlfriend. Time to eat.”
CHAPTER 5
THE BARNACLE WAS new to me, but the bar was standing room only and the restaurant was filling with Saturday diners. It was a homey, neighborhood tavern with the added attraction of outdoor dining and a front-row seat on the bay.
The sun hadn’t yet set, but my stomach was growling. We commandeered a picnic table on the second-floor deck and in the pale light of a dusky-pink sky, we longtime friends settled in and settled down.
I sat between Claire and Yuki and across from my partner, Rich Conklin, and my great friend, Cindy, who’d been grappling with PTSD since spending too much time with Evan Burke. She’d toughed it out, though, and we were all proud of her and her important book.
Our waitress appeared with menus, told us her name was Mandy. We ordered beer and oysters all around, and I said, “Yes, please,” to bread and butter. “Two baskets, okay?”
“Beer first,” Cindy said to a round of laughter. “I earned it.”
Claire picked up where we’d left off at the bookstore.
“About that guy with the big mouth,” she said. “His problem with Cindy was that she was paid to write a book?”
Cindy said, “Elaine told me she’d seen him before but he’d never actually purchased a book.”
Yuki said, “I might have a picture of him … Hang on.”
“‘Good luck with your conscience,’” said Richie. “What a punk.”
“Agreed,” I said, “but punks have been known to be dangerous—and stupid.”
Yuki passed her phone to Cindy and said, “No, I don’t have a picture of him. But here you go, cutie. Look at you.”
“Oh,” said Cindy. “Better than I thought.”
Yuki said, “I’m calling it. That guy wanted Cindy’s attention.”
“He liked me?” Cindy asked.
“What else could it be?” said Yuki. “If I’d gotten a shot, we could run his mug through facial rec.”
“You gave him nothing,” I said to Cindy. “Whatever that jerk was doing.”
But the unknown punk stayed with us as the main subject of our conversation. He was wrong about Burke getting paid, but to Cindy’s point, was wariness a good enough tool for women who were too trusting?
Yuki sent pictures of Cindy to our phones while telling us that she had a trial starting on Monday.
“I see murder in the defendant’s future if he’s not locked up.”
Cindy said, “I’d like to come watch you, okay?”
“Good. Yeah. I’d like that.”
Rich and I were just recovering from a week of gang shootings and had little to show for it. Two dead kids and adozen living teenage gangsters, who were also not talking. But at that rare moment on the deck overlooking the bay we were together and looking good. It was as though the roughness of the week had been washed away by the pale watery light.
I said, “Here’s to Cindy and this freaking gorgeous view.”
“To best friends,” said Cindy.
