Snow Blind - Lori G. Armstrong [71]
“You ain’t half as scary as you pretend to be.”
“Wanna hear something really scary?” I belted out the chorus to Cherry Pie by Warrant. Jimmer laughed until tears rolled down his face. Then he followed me to the Road Kill Café for a slice of the real thing.
250
The lunch rush was over and we were the only ones in the joint.
Jimmer wolfed his pie. He’d started with cherry, eaten a slice of apple, and finished with blueberry. Red, American, and blue, baby; the man even ate patriotically.
I smoked, filling him in on all the not-so-fun stuff in my life. “So, Dad’s not talking to me—nothing new—but I guess he’s not talking to Trish either.” I sipped my coffee. “What’s your take?”
“Doug’s a mean bastard. The hired guy pissed him off, he lost his temper and killed him.” Jimmer shrugged. “Probably didn’t mean to. Hid the body thinking it wouldn’t be found for a coupla months. Then his ace detective daughter accidentally uncovers it and fucks all his plans nine ways ’til Sunday.”
251
“Great.”
Jimmer shoved the empty plate to the edge of the table. “So Kevin’s found a new fuck buddy?”
“I wish. I suspect sweet thang is more than just a fling.”
“Yeah? Why’d you say that?”
“Because Kev’s being reckless, which is very unKevin-like, Jimmer. I’m pretty sure he’s thinking of breaking some business rules to make her happy.”
“No shit?”
“If that happens he and I are gonna have some bigass problems.”
“As far as the business is concerned? Or personally?”
I scowled at him. “What do you think?”
“You jealous of this baby chicklet, little missy?”
“No.”
“What’s she like?”
“Young. Pretty. Smart. Determined. A tall—”
“—blue-eyed blonde, strong-willed, yet with a hidden sweet side that makes the hardest men go all softhearted and protective?”
“Sounds like you already know her.”
Jimmer leaned closer. “No, Jules, she sounds exactly like you.”
That left me tongue-tied.
“Think on it. Give me a heads-up if it gets bad with Kev. I’ll try to knock some sense into him, okay?”
“Okay.”
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He slid out and ruffled my hair. “Gotta run. You need anything, and I mean anything, you call me.”
I smoked another cigarette, wondering when I’d hear from Martinez. My phone flashed and nearly vibrated off the table. Not him. Not yet, anyway.
“Hello?”
Trish said, “I need to talk to you. Can I come over right now?”
“I’m not home. I’m at the Road Kill Café.”
“Even better. Don’t leave. I’ll be right there.”
Trish was true to her word. She scooted across from me five minutes later. Misty automatically brought her a cup of coffee. Weird to think Trish was a regular here, too.
“The county slapped Doug with a Disturbing the Peace.”
“He’s lucky.”
“I don’t know what he was thinking. It was so unlike him. I’ve never known him to beat on someone for no apparent reason.”
My teeth sank into my tongue to keep from setting her straight. Then again, he had beat on me for no apparent reason, so her statement did have a bizarre ring of truth to it.
Trish sighed. “Everything is a mess. The kids are confused. I’m confused. Doug won’t talk to me or to our minister. There’s tons of work to be done and without a hired man, it’s twice as hard on him.”
“Is that your justification for thinking he didn’t 253
have anything to do with Melvin’s death? It would make extra work for him?”
Fire flashed in her eyes. “No. He wouldn’t kill someone because it’s against—”
“If you throw a Commandment at me as your reasoning for his innocence, I will walk out that door.”
Her mouth shut.
Good. “Why was it so damn important for you to see me?”
“Because you have experience in this stuff.”
“Meaning that I associate with jailbirds and murderers?”
Trish’s back snapped straight. “Stop baiting me and quit being such a pain in the ass.”
Whoa.
“And give me a damn cigarette.” After she lit up, she sank back into the booth.
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
“I don’t. I used to. I used to do a lot of things.”
She squinted at me through the smoke. “What I meant before you so rudely jumped to the wrong conclusion, was that you have experience