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There was an uneasy silence until Dan said, “Good job, Morse. Let me know if you find out anything else.”
After the detective went back to work, Dan tossed us a few more softballs, then said, “Well, let us know if there’s anything else you can think of. Good night, gentlemen.”
As Jack and Kade walked back to their bikes, I hung back and caught Dan’s eye.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Don’t push too hard on this one, Dan,” I said in a low voice. “I’ll be in touch tomorrow.”
He looked at me in surprise, then nodded with a smile. He could hear the cash register ringing loud and clear.
“Whatever you say, Lou,” he agreed.
I turned my back on him. Now it was time to face the villagers with their torches and pitchforks.
118
Jack paced back and forth next to his bike. “I swear to God, Lou,” he whispered angrily, “if I find out you had something to do with this – ”
“You goddamn son of a bitch,” I seethed. “Where the fuck was I the whole time? With you, you fuckin’ moron.”
Jack stabbed his finger in the air at me. “You could’ve just as easily gotten somebody else to take care of it.”
“Maybe you don’t know about me yet, junior, but if I was goin’ to take care of something like this, I’d let you fuckin’ know, just so I could rub it in your goddamn face that you were wrong and I was right, and that I handled it, and you didn’t.”
Jack looked like he wanted to kill me, but there was something in his expression that said, Yeah, that’s true.
And it generally was.
Except when it wasn’t.
“Can we do this somewhere a little more private?” Kade asked quietly, without a trace of emotion.
Jack picked up his helmet. “I don’t want to spend another fuckin’ second with this goddamn psychopath,” he snarled.
“Well good, ‘cause I don’t want to spend another fuckin’ second with a goddamn stupid son of a bitch like you. Arguin’ and pointin’ fingers when we should be closing ranks and figuring out how we’re going to deal with all this.”
Jack stared daggers at me. “I’ll tell you how I’m going to deal with this: when I find out how you’re connected to her murder, Lou, I’m going to send you to hell myself.”
“Well I guess I’m goin’ to heaven then, since I didn’t have shit to do with it.”
“Let’s go,” Jack growled, then fired up his hog and tore off at top speed.
Kade just watched me dispassionately as he started up his own ride and took off after Jack.
Those two are gonna be trouble, I mused.
But right now, I had bigger problems.
I had to go make sure the killer wasn’t gonna spill his guts.
And I had to get rid of a gun.
119
Ilive on six acres of desert that leads up into the hills. I bought the place for its seclusion. Over the years, I’ve done a few things up there I didn’t want anybody hearing.
Anyway, my house is set back away from the main road a ways, and my neighbors are few and far between. If Benjy did what I told him and walked in from one of the side roads, chances were good that nobody saw him.
