Beneath the Cracks Read Online Free PDF Page B

they
desired.  For them, it was camaraderie.  For me, it was
vengeance.  Reality, in all it's brutal glory came half way
through the meal when a cacophony of cellphone ringtones pierced
the jovial conversations.
    "Sorry, chicklet," Maya pulled hers off her
belt first.  "Billy?  We're up."
    "Us too," Briscoe said.
    "Yeah," Forsythe glanced at Smith. 
"Must be serious if we're all getting the call at the same
time."
    Shelly had her cell phone in hand. 
"They're calling me too.  It must be worse than serious."
    Hasty apologies followed the mass exodus
from the dinner table.  Carpenter excused himself at Shelly's
request.  Even Darnell dashed off to see if Shelly might
require OSI's assistance.  I closed the door and pressed my
forehead against it.  Part of me, if I were honest, regretted
not being part of the pack running out to right a wrong.  The
other part liked the new house just fine the way it was without
another psycho coming after it.
    I lifted my head, dazed a little bit that it
was over, that they were gone and again, I was alone with my
red-black rage, those thoughts that not even fear of becoming a
monster could suppress.  I turned around to start the tedious
process of cleaning up after my guests – and saw Johnny Orion
watching me from the dining room doorway.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
    "Don't feel obligated to stay.  If
Darnell thinks OSI might need to be out there –"
    "I can't openly work their cases, Doc. 
It might be hard not to rush into the thick of it, but Chris will
let me know what needs to be done from our end, if anything." 
He held out one hand.  "Let's finish dinner.  I'll even
stick around to help clean up."
    Would it be inhospitable to beg off on the
rest of dinner?  My appetite was nonexistent on a good
day.  What I really wanted was a roaring fire and whatever
remained in the open wine bottles.  And solitude for my
thoughts to age, to gel all these delicious notions of revenge.
    "Of course," damned social protocol. 
"Just because everyone else had to leave doesn't mean you can't
finish dinner."
    Orion returned to the dining room. 
"Grab the glasses, would you?"
    I followed him into the kitchen where he
promptly deposited our plates at the smaller breakfast
table. 
    "Much better."  He surveyed his
handiwork.  "Not that the dining room isn't something that
looks like Martha Stewart might've flown to Darkwater Bay to design
it herself, I prefer being a little more informal if it's just the
two of us.  C'mon.  Let's finish dinner."
    I spent half an hour rearranging food on my
plate, watching the clock and giving bare minimum responses to
Johnny's conversation.
    "It bothers you, doesn't it?"
    "Hmm?"
    "That they're all out there working and
you're here, safely away from the action."
    "Not really.  I don't think anyone ever
tried to kill me before I came to Darkwater Bay.  It wasn't an
experience I'd like to repeat.  Every time I start the car,
there's this fraction of a second where I wonder if we got the
right guy."
    "Do you need to get that?"
    Phone.  Ringing.  I hadn't even
noticed.  I glided to the wall near the kitchen counter.
    "Hello?"
    "Hey Eriksson, it's Briscoe."
    "Oh, hello.  Did you forget something
when you ran out of here?"
    "Brisket on a kaiser to go," he chuckled,
but sobered instantly, "I was wondering if you might be free to
head over to Downey tonight.  This big thing that busted up
your party is the fourth in a series of similar circumstances we've
encountered since the beginning of the year.  Winslow said
there's been a couple more in Darkwater proper, and we ain't got
the first clue what sorta rhyme or reason is behind the whole
thing."
    I glanced over my shoulder at Orion,
studiously trying to look disinterested.  "Why don't you fax
the notes from your investigation over to me, and I'll take a look
whenever they arrive?"
    "Eriksson, are you draggin' your feet on
this one for any particular