AllFreeNovel
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“There were no other cars.”
“He could have had somebody already in place, hiding.”
John’s smile faded. “Why would he?”
“In case something went sideways, which it did. Someone could be watching us, even now.” I scanned the scene but saw nothing suspicious. The corporate center and apartment complex were on the far side of the quarry. Beyond that was the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the whooshing of traffic was background noise.
John grimaced. “You really think someone’s watching?”
“It’s possible. What kind of car did he drive?”
“I don’t know, a Volvo?”
“A sedan?”
“Yes.”
“What color?”
“Maroon. TJ, iseverythingabout cars?”
I let it go. “Let’s look around, just in case. You go right and I’ll go left.” I took off, searching for a body. There was none, only more weeds, underbrush, and thornbushes. The wind picked up, and brownish reeds rustled with a dry sound. Shards of beer bottles glinted in the grass, and I expected to find a used condom, but didn’t. Kids today disappoint me. Always on TikTok.
I walked through a section of cyclone fence that had been torn down, then stepped on a metal sign.danger—cliff edge, it read in big red letters.no trespassing beyond this point. Below that was a stick figure in cartoon waves.deep cold water. do not swim.I got the gist.
I reached the quarry, a massive chasm of about eighty acres excavated into the earth. Its drop was steep and lethal, and its stone walls striated with gray, black, and dark brown veins and ledges of vegetation. There was water at the bottom, its greenish chop glimmering in the waning light. I squinted for a floating body but didn’t see one.
My gaze stayed on the water, and the notion that John could have been killed was sinking in. I grew up idolizing my brother and following him everywhere, even worming my way into the dugout of his Little League All-Star team. A snippet of memory took me back to playing catch with him in the backyard after dinner, when dusk would shade to darkness so gradually I didn’t realize day had become night. Fireflies would fill the air like fallen constellations.
John would call out,TJ, time to go in!
Not yet!I never wanted to go in. It was the only time I had my big brother to myself. He was my own personal All-Star.
We have to go in, the fireflies are here! You’ll catch fire!
What?I looked around, panicky.You catch fire from fireflies?
Yes! You burn to death if one touches you. Like hell!
“TJ!” John called out, jolting me into the present.
“John, what do you know about Lemaire? Is he married or what?”
“He’s gay, single, that’s all I know. Why?”
“I’m wondering if somebody else knew he was embezzling. Or if he was working with anybody else.”
“You mean a co-conspirator.”
Okay, Perry Mason. “Yes.”
“He’s the only accountant in the department. The bookkeeper’s an old lady.”
“Maybe it wasn’t someone who worked with him, maybe it was a friend of his. My point is, someone else could know what he was up to.”
“I don’t know anything else about him.”
“We’re assuming he’s not dead because his car’s gone, but what if he was part of a conspiracy? His co-conspirators could have come here and taken his body and the gun. That could be true whether he was dead or alive. They wouldn’t want this to come to light any more than we do.”
