Two-Way Split Read Online Free PDF Page B

stretched out on a towel beside a Jacuzzi. On the next screen, the one Thompson couldn't take his eyes off, the masseuse was naked and on her knees, the customer's dick sliding in and out of her mouth. Somehow, she managed to look bored.
    Pearce said, "Surprised you have punters already."
    Thompson didn't look at him. "Been open half-an-hour."
    Pearce looked at Tony, back at Thompson, back at the screen. He said, "Want me to wait till they're finished?"
    Thompson swivelled in his chair. "Who the fuck are you?"
    "I have a message." Pearce turned to face him. "From Ailsa."
    "Yeah?" Thompson glanced at Tony and his lip curled. "Yeah?" he repeated.
    "She never wants to see you again."
    "Yeah?" Thompson's eyes were wide. They grew wider. "Yeah? She doesn't, eh?"
    "If you go anywhere near her or her daughter I'll do much worse than I'm going to do now."
    "Yeah?" Thompson started to laugh. Suddenly he stopped. "What do you mean by that?"
    Pearce turned to Tony and said, "You can leave if you want."
    Tony said, "Why would I want to do that?"
    "You asked if Ailsa was okay. She's worried about her daughter." Pearce waited a moment. "Becky walked into a wall. Broke her jaw."
    "Pete?" Tony said. "You promised, you prick."
    Sweat was beading on Thompson's forehead.
    "Ailsa got scared," Pearce continued. "Bought herself a gun. She thinks Pete's somehow responsible for Becky's little accident."
    Thompson opened his mouth, closed it again. He shook his head. "Wasn't me, Shithead. Tell him, Tony, you useless knob. And, by the way, don't call me a prick again. Well? Tell him."
    "Incredible," Tony said. "Teach him some manners, will you, Pearce?"
    Behind him, Pearce heard Tony shuffling towards the door. "She was all set to put a bullet in you, Pete. Until I persuaded her that killing you might be a bit excessive." Pearce pulled out a chair. "I thought we could talk. Man to man." He sat down, aware that Thompson was looking over his shoulder, still hoping that Tony would intervene. "Be reasonable about this."
    "Tony? Where are you going?" Thompson's Adam's apple bounced up and down as if he'd swallowed something that was still alive. "You're fired." The door clicked shut. "Tony?" Ailsa's boyfriend said in a strangled voice. "Cocksucker."
    "Stop it," Pearce said. "That's not nice, Pete." He rubbed the back of his fingers over his chin.
    Thompson said, "What do you want?"
    "What Tony said," Pearce answered. "Teach you some manners."
     
     
    11:27 am
     
    Because the car was running smoothly, Eddie had time to think.
    A right pair of lunatics, both thinking the other was crazy.
    First impressions of Robin were that he was, well, a bit neurotic. Messed up, no doubt, by his brother dying so young and all. According to Carol, he pissed the bed until he was in his teens. And there was that business with the water pistol. A big joke, maybe, but you could see how it happened with a father like that and the medical problems with his hands and the disappointment with his musical career. You could see how it led to him going schizo.
    Carol, of course, was hardly Miss Sanity herself. The result of what she called her "quirky" childhood. She grew up on a farm in the Borders, a solitary child with elderly parents and no near neighbours. She wrapped dead animals in kitchen foil and buried them in her private graveyard at the bottom of an untilled field. Apart from weasels. They were in the privileged position of having their desiccated bones and tiny sharp teeth collected and stored in jam jars under her bed. What disturbed Eddie was that she had started with animals her dogs or other wild creatures had killed and then moved on to doing her own hunting. Setting traps. Snaring rabbits and things. Nothing too big.
    The question was, did that make her crazy? Who was to say that, in similar circumstances, Eddie wouldn't have amused himself in the same way? He'd known her for a long time now and if she was crazy he'd have noticed. Obviously she wasn't completely