The Big Ugly Read Online Free PDF

you, so I thought you'd be the person to ask."
    His glasses glided to the end of his nose again, so he tipped his head back a little and peered down at me.
    I asked, "So, can you help me find her? You know where she is?"
    "No."
    "Can you hazard a guess?"
    He smacked his lips. "Alexis is about as stable as the God particle. There's no telling how she'll feel, day to day. She changes with the weather. So, no, I can't even guess."
    "Oh."
    "I haven't seen her in a while. She just bolted. Took her kid and ran away one day."
    "Was that when she joined the church?"
    "The what?"
    "She got religion, didn't she? Someone told me she got into some kind of Christian drug rehabilitation program."
    "I never heard anything about that."
    "When was the last time you talked to her?"
    "I don't know. A few months ago."
    "Maybe she changed over the last few months."
    He made a face like my words had irritated his skin. "Nah, people don't change. Not really."
    I waited.
    He said, "Alexis was never interested in anything like that."
    "Maybe someone told me wrong," I said.
    "Maybe."
    "Mind if I ask a personal question?"
    "I guess not."
    "You the father of her kid?"
    He laughed—actually laughed out loud—at that idea. "Uh, no," he said, amused and satisfied, in equal measure, by his own reaction.
    "Do you know who Kaylee's father is?"
    "Yeah, a pair of balls and a bottle of whiskey."
    "Anything more specific?"
    For the first time, Mule seemed interested in our conversation. "Oh, he's a knuckle-dragging troglodyte named Dale Crittenberger. Redneck good ole boy. He forgot to pull out one Saturday night and wound up with a kid. Fucking loser. He tried to do the good thing, you know. Married Alexis. She basically made him marry her. That lasted ten fucking seconds. He ran off. Went to Alaska. I mean he went all the way to Alaska to get away, you know what I mean? I doubt Alexis'll ever see ole Dale again. All she's got to remember him by is a little girl who looks just like him. Poor thing."
    "I never met the kid," I said.
    He shrugged. "She doesn't say much. Built like a mud fence. Mostly, she's just a kid."
    I said, "You don't have any idea where Alexis might have taken her? Maybe somewhere the kid could be comfortable, a better environment."
    "Alexis doesn't think about things like that."
    "You saying she's a bad mother?"
    "Depends on what you mean by 'bad.' She's not mean. She's not a piece of shit like my mother was. But she doesn't exactly stop to consider what may or may not constitute a stable environment for a child."
    "Like shacking up with a drug dealer."
    Mule's droopy lips pulled into a sloppy smile. "Hey, I'm a fucking prince compared to some of the guys she's been with. And I'll tell you something," he said. "There's got to be another guy."
    "What do you mean?"
    "She left me, right? Well, if you know Alexis then you know there's no way she left me to strike out on her own. There had to be another guy waiting for her."
    "But no idea who that would be?"
    He smacked his lips. "You know, for someone who's just trying to look up an old friend, you seem awful adamant."
    "Maybe I'm just tenacious. Or maybe I'm just naturally nosy."
    "Maybe, but this is getting to be a pattern—people showing up out of the blue looking for Alexis." He searched my expression. "She owe you money or something?"
    "Other people have been looking for her?"
    "Well, you're the first person to show up here, but some guys came around my apartment right after she split."
    "Who?"
    "Just some guys."
    "Get any names?"
    "No. I didn't care. I didn't get your name, either, for that exact same reason."
    "What'd they look like?"
    "Just looked like some guys."
    "That's a big help."
    He lowered his head and pushed up his glasses with a thumb. He grinned a little. "Hey, I live to serve."
    I pulled the pen and a blank ticket from a server's book lying on the bar and wrote my number on the back. "Do me a favor. If you do hear from her, tell her Ellie Bennett wants to talk to her."
    He