Nowhere Fast (A Mercy Watts Short) Read Online Free PDF Page B

yours.”
    “And what do you need me for?”
    “Entertainment.”
    “Thanks.”
    “We’ll pick you up at ten. Try to be on time. We’re not waiting while you curl your hair.”
    “Piss off.”
    As promised, Morty and Rod were at my door at ten. I’d slicked my hair back into a pony, a point that I’m sure was lost on Morty. The two of them tromped in looking like a couple of low-rent cat burglars. They wore faded-to-gray black sweat suits. Morty’s sweatshirt barely covered his belly and he had a heavy-duty tool belt tugging at his pants. I expected to see his underwear by the time the night was over. Shudder. Rodney was better. His sweats fit and he lacked the tool belt. He did have a black knit cap pulled over his bald head.
    “I hope Mrs. Driscoll doesn’t see you. She’ll think you’re here to rob me. You aren’t, are you?”
    “Hey! We’re dressed for the job. What’s your excuse?”
    “I’m pretending I’m normal.”
    Skanky the cat walked in from the bedroom. The instant he got a load of the   stealth duo he got a big tail and ridge up his back. He hopped sideways, hissed, and then streaked back into the bedroom.
    “What’s his problem?” asked Rodney.
    “He’s never seen freaks before,” I said.
    “We’re trying to do you a favor here,” said Morty.
    “Try a little less, will you. As it is I’m going to have to take you down the back stairs. How come you never dressed like this before?”
    “That was surveillance. Tonight we’re apprehending.”
    “She’s a little girl, not a psychotic felon.”
    “Half dozen one the other.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “You know what I mean.”
    Actually, I did. My mother says, “Go get me the thing next to the thing with that thingy,” and I go get it. Morty may not be my real uncle, but he’s in the family.
    We did go down the back stairs, but Morty wasn’t happy about it. He was damn proud of his tool belt. We checked the first address and it was vacant. The second was an apartment building with two patrol cars parked on the sidewalk in front. I left Morty and Rod in the car. They got enough stares just being in there. I asked around in the crowd about Jamie Crane. It cost me a twenty, but I found out he hadn’t been around in a while. The cops were there for a domestic disturbance.
    The last address was in the Florissant suburbs. It didn’t sound like an ideal place for a child porn business, but we had nothing else. We got lost on the winding, confusing streets, and spent an hour finding the right house. It was a fifties ranch, white with green trim. The two BMW coupes parked in the driveway made it unusual. The other houses sported minivans and Chryslers.
    The lights were on and every window visible had a heavy shade. I wrote down the license plate numbers.
    “What now?” asked Rodney.
    I had no idea. “I guess we wait.”
    Morty called me on the cell two hours later. I jerked my head up and wiped off the line of drool rolling down my steering column. Rodney was asleep with his feet in my lap and mumbling something about trolls.  
    “You were asleep,” said Morty.
    “Uh no, no. I was uh…”
    “Jeez. Haven’t you heard of caffeine?”
    “Rodney’s asleep. He slept through the phone ringing.”
    “Rodney’s practically a narcoleptic. Sometimes he goes to sleep in the middle of a game.”
    Heaven forbid. “What do you want?”
    “I say we pack it in. It’s quarter to four. Nothings going to happen tonight. We got here too late.”
    “Fine with me.”
    “I’ll follow you home.”
    “Don’t bother. I’m not in need of a babysitter.”
    “You and Rod want to be alone?”
    “Follow me.”
    An hour later, Rodney moved his sleepy self to Morty’s car and I went to bed. I did set the alarm for noon, but I never heard it go off. I didn’t hear the phone ringing either. When I did wake up, I found six irate messages from Mort on my machine. It seemed Jamie Crane had been shot to death at four-thirty