40 Nickels by R. Daniel Lester

Author:R. Daniel Lester
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Down & Out Books

I had Adora’s two quarters earmarked for the diner bill so the trick was waiting long enough on the right horse. And by horse I meant one of the two gents reading newspapers in the diner. I’d bet everything on the guy in the corner—sharp suit, salesman’s briefcase, tapping his right foot—and eyed him on the sly like a bird keeps track of a worm. Sure enough, he packed up and rather than tucking the newspaper away, he left it on the tabletop. So nice of him. I quickly snatched the newspaper after the diner door chimed closed.

Get Janssen, she’d said. Whatever that meant to a woman like Adora, who may not have been the creature lurking under the bed I once thought but who knew her share of darkness and could bring it to your doorstep if you wronged her. Regardless, it was easier said than done. But I said I would give it a shot and named my requirements, after which she had a stipulation of her own.

“Promise me one thing,” she said, as we drifted off to sleep.

“What’s that?”

“I know you’ve had Ellie running some errands for you and that’s fine. Hell, I forced her into your life and it’s been good for her to get her mind off Rolly. But don’t use Ellie for this, please. She doesn’t need to know anymore about him and what he did. She loved her daddy very much and still believes it was an accident.”

That said, and satisfied with my response, Adora closed her eyes.

As now, the diner door opened.

And in walked Ellie.

I’d nodded okay to Adora but had my fingers crossed.

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