Big Bad by Christian Galacar

Author:Christian Galacar [Galacar, Christian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781688421448
Publisher: Rude Human Press
Published: 2019-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

3

Chief of Police Leslie Bayard came walking out of the alley, putting on his gloves. Behind him, the body of Dougie “Rabbit” Jepson, the only witness to Emma’s sister’s final hours—or the only one she knew of so far—was being loaded onto a gurney. An ambulance was waiting in the parking lot behind the movie theater, rear doors open and ready to be fed a body. Its red-and-white flashers strobed up the alley, printing quick, hungry shadows on every surface. They were so bright and crisp that Emma was sure she could hear each and every snap of the bulbs, like tiny wet teeth gnashing.

Bayard approached the cab.

“Careful,” Guppy said softly, a last-minute warning. “He doesn’t look so happy to see you.”

“Nope,” she said, and rolled the window down.

“You’re still here, Ms. Shane. Why?” Bayard said. It was dark now, and his pale and tired face looked ghoulish under the light of the movie theater marquee and the streetlights that had just tripped on.

“Just playing Nancy Drew,” Emma said. It was time to shake the tree a little and see what fell out. Maybe Bayard was involved, and maybe he wasn’t, but he was too high on the totem pole to be completely in the dark about anything that went on in his tired little town.

“You already gave a statement to one of my officers,” Bayard said. “So’s there something else I can help you with?”

“Making sure you don’t cut any more corners, I guess.”

Bayard’s lips flattened, cutting a perfectly straight seam across the bottom of his face. “Uh-huh. I see.” He leaned down, forearms on the edge of the door. “You told my officer you were just passing through when you found Rabbit, but that’s a big shovelful of hot horse shit, now isn’t it?”

“Would you rather I’d told him the truth?” Emma said, backing her face away from his hands.

“So it was discretion, then? That it?”

“If you like,” Emma said.

“And for whose sake would that be?”

“Hey, Chief!” somebody yelled from the alley. “You want us to leave this tape up?”

Bayard turned and yelled across his shoulder, “Can’t you see I’m goddamn busy?” He turned back to Emma. “I’m waiting.”

“Really want me to answer that?”

“I can take a pretty good guess what you were doing in that alley, Ms. Shane.” He stepped back, his hands grabbing the edge of the door now, thick fingers drumming slowly. “But I don’t like guessing. So why don’t you just tell me—were you looking for Rabbit?” He looked at Guppy, whose gaze was straight ahead. “How ’bout it, Gup? Was she looking for Rabbit?”

Guppy looked sideways, giving Bayard the corner of one eye. Shrugged. “How should I know? Lady just wanted a ride to the theater. They call, I drive. That’s the business.”

“Okay.” Bayard nodded, unamused. His face had pulled into a scowl. “I thought I made myself clear yesterday. Now, I was trying to be nice, but—”

“He was the last person to see Molly alive the night she died. Isn’t that right?” Emma interrupted.

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