A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice

Author:Christopher Rice
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Murder, Psychological Fiction, Psychology, Gay, Young Adults, Bildungsromans, New Orleans (La.), High School Students, General, Psychological, Suspense, Fiction, Friendship
ISBN: 0786886463
Publisher: Miramax
Published: 2000-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

• • •

Jordan found Meredith at Fat Harry’s. Rich had invited Jordan to meet him and this girl he was dating for a few beers. The bouncer at the door, Jordan’s old favorite wide receiver, Scott Sauber, patted him on the back as he ushered him into the smoky, raucous college bar. When Rich spotted Meredith at the video poker machines, he punched Jordan on the shoulder. “You two datin’ or something?” Rich yelled over the jukebox.

Jordan walked over to Meredith. “Small world,” he said to her. He had gotten off from work, lying to his mother about how he happened to be at home, to check out Monica Conlin, and in hope of later finding Meredith here.

He sat down on a stool next to her and inserted a five-dollar bill into a machine. She kept her eyes focused on the display screen.

“Stephen Conlin,” he said.

Meredith didn’t answer. She bet four more credits and examined her new hand.

“The fourth one in the picture is Stephen Conlin.” Jordan held three cards and dropped the rest with quick taps of his finger on the screen, losing seven credits.

“My brother was an asshole, wasn’t he?” he asked, looking straight ahead and studying his new hand.

“Did you ever hear what they did to Stephen’s car?” Meredith said to the screen. “They smashed in all the windows. Flattened every tire, just about. And spray painted the word cocksucker on the windshield.

He’d only had the car for a day.” Her machine let out an electronic belch, signaling that she was out of credits. Meredith stood up and retrieved her beer. Jordan saw how drunk she was, how wrecked—eyes bloodshot, face pale and gaunt, bangs combed haphazardly off her face.

“Greg told me all about it after. They were so proud.” She lifted the bottle to her mouth and swigged. The movement of her arm shifted her weight awkwardly, and she fell back into the stool. It scraped across the floor. Jordan caught her with one arm around her waist. He saw heads snap toward them throughout the bar, including a few he recognized as Cannon alumni. The old missing homecoming queen and the all-American hero, separated by a few years, now supporting one another.

“I almost drank myself to death a month ago. That’s why I’m a little The Bell Tower

149

tipsy . . .” Meredith said, shrugging Jordan’s arm from her waist. He persisted, bracing her shoulders. Meredith pried his arm away and slapped it back to his side. “Answer me something,” she said.

“What?” he asked.

“Why did you come back here?”

“This is where I’m from,” he said, after a pause.

“That’s the curse, isn’t it?” Her bloodshot eyes locked on his. “We can never get away, can we? We always want to come home. Where it’s easier to drink.” She waved her beer bottle proudly. “And drinking makes it easier to watch everything rot.” She leaned forward, jabbing a finger into his chest. “But really, what’s the real reason? You think there’s something in the water here, or you

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