Double Prey Read Online Free PDF Page B

head under the pillow when Estelle kissed his forehead. Francisco had been awake for an hour, chaffing at the routine. He was forbidden to play the piano until Estelle’s mother had awakened, and had settled for second best, sitting on the sofa with the unplugged electronic keyboard, playing silently with an intensity driven by the music that had accumulated in his head overnight. There would be time for a quick breakfast before the school bus picked them up at five minutes before eight.
    A few moments after eight, Estelle headed out the door, fortified by her own share of fragrant banana bread and a full Thermos of hot tea under her arm. Deputy Jackie Taber would have finished her shift plus an additional two hours of overtime, and the day and the county waited for the undersheriff.
    As she prepared to pull out of her driveway, Estelle took a moment to review her log notes from the day before. She found George Romero’s cell phone number and keyed it in. He answered on the second ring, his voice distorted by static and signal gaps. At that early hour, he might be in the motel’s shower, or he might have spent a sleepless night at the hospital.
    “...omero.”
    “George, this is Estelle, down in Posadas.”
    “Hey, let me call you back…a minute.”
    Estelle switched off and waited, eyes roaming the neighborhood. Two doors down, she saw neither George’s late model Suburban nor Freddy’s aging Dodge pickup.
    In a moment, her phone came to life. “Guzman.”
    “Yeah, that’s better,” George Romero said. “What’s going on, Estelle?”
    “I know it’s early, and I apologize for bothering you, sir. But I wanted to know how Butch is doing.”
    “Well, it isn’t good. I don’t know what the hell is coming next. He’s lost the eye, I know that much. But I don’t understand what they’re doing now. I know that they’re talkin’ about some brain swelling that they’re trying to get under control. We’ve been here pretty much all night.”
    “
Ay
. I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything we can do for you at this end? Anything you or Tata need?”
    “Some sleep,” Romero replied. “Well, hey, there is something you can do, as a matter of fact. You know, yesterday, I couldn’t find Freddy before I had to drive up here, so I left a note for him in the kitchen where he’d see it. I didn’t want him driving up here in that rattletrap of his. There’s nothing he can do up here anyway. Look, I tried to reach him last night on his cell, but no go. And hell, I tried around eleven, too. He should have been home. Probably out with Casey Prescott. You know how
that
little deal goes. I tried the house a few minutes ago, but no luck.”
    “You tried this morning?” She looked down the street again. “His truck isn’t in the driveway at the moment.”
    “Yeah, just a few minutes ago. No dice, though. If he’s where he’s supposed to be, he’ll be over at the school. I could call over there, but I don’t want his phone going off in class. I guess I could call the office, but if you wanted to run on over? If you had the time? You could fill him in on what’s goin’ on, make sure he understands that I
don’t
want him drivin’ up here. Absolutely not. No way.”
    “I’ll do that right now,” Estelle said.
    “Just tell him to sit tight, and have him give me a call when he has the chance.”
    “I’m on my way.”
    “Hey, thanks. I appreciate that. We’ll keep you posted, Estelle. How’s Francisco doing with all this?”
    “He’s upset, certainly. But he’ll be all right. He’s worried about Butch.”
    “Ain’t we all. Maybe he’ll learn something from all this.”
    “
Sin duda
. ”
    The drive to the high school’s student parking lot just behind the football field was a matter of a few blocks. Posadas High School included fewer than two hundred students in grades nine through twelve, most of whom didn’t drive to school. It took only a moment to cruise through the lot, looking for