Corrupted Read Online Free PDF Page B

up neatly.
    â€œNo. I never leave my office.”
    Matthew chuckled. “Rice Township is on the north side of the county. On the east is Wapwallopen Creek, with Nuangola Borough on the west.”
    â€œWhat’s with these names?”
    â€œThey’re Indian, Delaware mostly, though the Iroquois settled this part of the state, too. Back behind the house is all woods, state game lands, pretty but a pain in the butt this time o’ year.” Mathew motioned out the back window.
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œThe hunters start around four thirty in the morning, which gets the deer runnin’ and the dog barkin’. They gut the deer and leave the innards, so the dog’s out all day, eatin’ God-knows-what and draggin’ home bones. I love to hunt, and Jason could field-dress a deer by the time he was ten, but he didn’t like to hunt. Used to turn his stomach.”
    â€œI hear that.”
    â€œWe got quite a lot of history in Rice Township, they call it the Ice Lakes Region. My father worked in the icehouses.” Matthew gestured at a wall over the TV, which showed framed black-and-white photographs of men walking behind a draft horse and plow, in the snow. “That’s my dad harvesting ice. That went by the wayside when modern times came along.”
    â€œWhere do you work?”
    â€œI’m a fabricator at Parnell Ironworks in Mountain Top, it’s been here a long time, too, makes garage doors, hurricane doors, insulated doors, fire doors, and whatnot. I’ve done real well with them, gotten promoted up to supervisor. I’m a member of Mountain Top Legion Post 781, and of course, our parish is St. Mary’s. Jason’s an altar boy.” Matthew paused, faltering. “God knows why I’m tellin’ you this, I guess so you know we’re a good family.”
    â€œI can see that.” Bennie smiled, touched.
    â€œOur family name, the Lefkavicks’, it means something to me, it means something in this town . Nobody’s ever went to jail from the Lefkavick family, nor my wife’s side, the Brushevskis.” Matthew met her eye, determined again. “That’s why I can’t abide what they did, lockin’ my son up like a common criminal. My mother and father, they’d be turnin’ over in their graves with the shame of it, and my wife, this would kill her.” Matthew ran a wrinkled hand over his bald head, frowning deeply. “Anyway, can I get you a cup of coffee? I just made some.”
    â€œThanks, that would be great.”
    â€œGood, make yourself comfortable.” Matthew pulled out a chair at the table, and Bennie set her purse and messenger bag on the floor, then sat down, facing the bay window that she had seen from the outside. On the windowsill rested a homemade case that had displayed things made of Legos: houses, cars, a tiny railroad station, an oversized shoe, a truck, a grandfather clock, and an entire forest with Lego butterflies.
    Bennie was astounded. “Who made all these? Did Jason?”
    â€œYes, he’s been playing with Legos since he was a little boy.” Matthew came over to the table with a thick mug of black coffee. “Want cream or sugar?”
    â€œNeither, thanks.” Bennie accepted the mug and took a sip of the coffee, which tasted hot and delicious.
    â€œJason started buildin’ when he was little, his mother got him the first set. She found some at a garage sale, and he took to it like crazy.” Matthew crossed to the display case and plucked a blue brick truck from the shelves, setting the rubber wheels spinning. “He made this when he was only four. Keeps a catalog in his room and every card has a picture of what he made, when he made it, and how many hours it took.” Matthew set the truck back on the shelf. “My wife always said he’d be an engineer someday.”
    â€œHe sounds like quite a kid.”
    â€œHe is.” Matthew pulled up