City of Heretics Read Online Free PDF

know you’re cynical about things like that, but don’t make fun of me. I took Jesus as my personal savior, and I just want out. I want to scoop up Tom and go somewhere far away.”
    Crowe leaned back in his chair and looked at her. Found God? I go away for seven years , he thought, and everyone gets all delusional on me . He tried to look thoughtful and said, “You need money, then.”
    She nodded, and the green-gray eyes glistened a bit. Helpless little animal. Helpless little Goth raccoon, with her black eyeliner and crazy oxblood hair and wistful scent. She said, “But you don’t have any money. I don’t know what made me think you might. If you had money, you wouldn’t be staying here, would you?”
    She grinned at the lack of hope promised by the flat.
    He said, “Tell you what. You stop bullshitting me, maybe I can get some cash.”
    “Bullshitting you?”
    “About this ‘God’ thing. You’re no Jesus freak, so stop lying to me. What did you think, I’d cave if I thought you’d lost your goddamn mind?”
    She stared at him for a long moment, and then a guilty smile crept over her face. “Okay. The truth is, I did try it out while you were gone. I did join a religious group for a while. It didn’t take.”
    “So.”
    “So… it didn’t take, but some of the things it made me realize stayed with me.”
    “Like the need to get away from Memphis.”
    “Yes.”
    He nodded. “Fine. So maybe I can lay my hands on some money.”
    She swallowed hard and licked her lips. “How?”
    “Don’t worry about how. Just go home now. Give me a call in a few days.”
    “You have a phone?”
    “Oh. No, I don’t. Right. Well, swing by then.”
    She stood up, and for a moment she was entirely too close, close enough that he could feel her body heat radiating. He stepped away from her.
    She said, “But how?”
    “You probably don’t remember, Dallas, but I really hate answering questions. Just do what I say, okay?”
    She frowned. “I’ll come by in a few days, then. And Crowe…”
    “What?”
    “Thanks. Thank you.”
    “Shut up, Dallas. And leave the Christians alone, what did they ever do to you?”
    She said, “Do you… well, this is sort of an awkward question, but do you want to meet him?  Do you want to meet Tom?”
    He said, “No.”
    She nodded, grabbed her coat off the loveseat and started toward the door. He watched her, and when she had her hand on the knob he said, “Hey. I have a confession to make.”
    She turned to face him. “What do I look like?” she said. “A priest?”
    “I never read Sanctuary . I never read a goddamn Faulkner book in my life. I got all that info from the Cliff’s Notes.”
    She threw her head back and something like an actual real laugh came out of her. She said, “I should’ve known. I can’t believe a word you say, Crowe.”
    And that was something they had in common.
     

He trotted down to the package store for a six-pack after Dallas left and then went immediately back home. He spent the rest of the day drinking beer, sitting at the window and staring at the sliver of the Mississippi that he could see over the rooftops. Tugs drifted up and down, black smoke pluming out of their stacks and into the gray sky. By four o’clock, the gray had deepened and a cold rain started, sluicing away whatever traces of icy snow had been left from the night before. A smattering of half-ass fireworks went off somewhere close to the bridge, a muted green and red; a last pathetic left-over from the New Year celebrations.
    By five, he’d downed three bottles of Amstel Light and felt pleasantly light-headed. His tolerance for alcohol wasn’t what it used to be; another side-effect of seven years as a guest of the state. He burped luxuriously and stood up.
    He hadn’t foreseen the complication with Dallas and the kid, but after thinking it over decided it didn’t matter. He kept sort of examining it, though, thinking it should make things more difficult, thinking he