The Book of Death Read Online Free PDF Page A

counter, counting the notes in the till. Rick looked full
of beans. He wasn’t wearing his usual chef outfit. Instead he was dressed to go
out in a pair of jeans and, rather annoyingly, a leather Top Gun jacket exactly
like Sanchez’s. Bastard. He looked up when Sanchez arrived and forced a fake
smile back.
    ‘Mornin’ Sanchez. Nice jacket,’
he said.
    ‘Yeah, you too,’ said Sanchez,
inwardly seething.
    Rick peered over at the satchel.
‘I hope you’ve got that bottle of Jack Daniel’s for me,’ he said his fake smile
expanding into a broad grin.
    ‘I sure have,’ Sanchez replied.
‘It’s in here.’
    ‘Hand it over then.’
    Sanchez reached into his
satchel. The bottle of Jack Daniel’s had slipped to the bottom, beneath The
Book of Death. He pulled the big black hardback book out first and placed it on
the counter.
    ‘What’s this?’ Rick asked.
    ‘Just some book I gotta take
back to the library later.’
    Rick turned the book around to
get a look at the title. ‘The Book of Death? What’s it about?’ he asked.
    Sanchez pulled the bottle of
Jack Daniel’s out and placed it on top of the book. ‘Not really sure what it’s
about,’ he said. ‘Just a list of names, in some sort of diary format.’
    ‘Oh,’ Rick sounded disappointed.
‘Well, I’m going to the library this morning. I can drop it back for you if you
like?’
    ‘That’d be great,’ said Sanchez.
‘Don’t check it in though, just slip it back on the shelf in the Reference
section.’
    Rick raised an eyebrow. ‘Why’s
that then? Didn’t you check the book out?’
    ‘Yeah, but I kind of wrote some
names on one of the blank pages.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I didn’t have any other paper
to hand at the time.’
    ‘Well that’s hardly a crime is
it?’ said Rick coolly.
    ‘Actually it is. Defacing a
public library book is considered a fairly serious offence.’
    ‘To whom?’
    ‘Have you seen the woman that
works in the library?’
    Rick grinned as he grasped what
Sanchez was getting at. ‘Yeah. She’s pretty much a bitch, isn’t she?’
    Sanchez despised Ulrika Price
and agreed wholeheartedly with Rick’s assessment of her. ‘That’s the nicest
thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about her,’ he said.
    Rick picked up the bottle of
Jack Daniel’s and unscrewed the lid. He took a sniff. ‘Smells like good stuff,’
he commented.
    ‘What did you expect?’
    ‘I thought it might be some of
your homebrew.’
    Sanchez did his best to look
offended. ‘I have no idea what you mean.’
    ‘Sure,’ said Rick. ‘That Santa
in the corner smells just like your homebrew.’ He had a point.
    ‘Anyways,’ said Sanchez. ‘It’s
breakfast time and I’m hungry.’
    Rick took the hint and shouted
out to the back room. ‘Yo, Flake, customer!’
    Rick’s head waitress Flake,
appeared, complete with a notebook and pen. Her long brown hair was neatly
scraped back into a ponytail. And as usual she was wearing the uniform that
Rick insisted all his female members of staff wore. Sanchez approved of it too.
It consisted of a short black dress and stockings, a look that suited Flake’s
petite figure nicely.
    ‘Good morning, Sanchez,’ she
said beaming a bright white smile at him. ‘Twelve item breakfast and a large
coffee?’
    ‘Yes please, Flake.’
    She pointed to a table on the
opposite side of the café to the piss smelling Santa. She clearly knew Sanchez
well. He liked to eat his breakfast as far away from other customers as
possible, particularly smelly ones. ‘I’ve just cleaned that table up for you
and left a newspaper over there,’ she said with a wink.
    ‘Thanks.’
    Rick picked up The Book of
Death, tucked it under his arm and walked around the counter. ‘Right, Flake,
I’m off to town. You can go when Sanchez is done with his breakfast.’
    ‘You closing up early?’ Sanchez
asked.
    ‘Wouldn’t have even opened at
all if it wasn’t for the fact I knew you’d be dropping by with my bottle of
JD,’ said Rick,