Body Art by Jordan Castillo Price

Author:Jordan Castillo Price
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic suspense, murder, mental illness, small town, gay romance, island, gay thriller, gay men, tattoo artist
Publisher: JCP Books

***

Marnie seemed cooler to me after that. Nothing overt, just a harder set to her mouth, more abruptness when we talked. I turned over the events of that first night with Anton in my head. I’d walked through the woods, spent a couple of hours, and come home. What went on while I was there? No one else’s business.

So, what was she all ticked off about?

She’d told me her relationship with Gene had gone sour, not only to the point of him quitting, but him quitting without a word to anyone and leaving all his stuff and his last paycheck behind. Maybe I’d just read her wrong initially and she was actually the source of all the drama. Lord knows I’d known enough head cases who seemed perfectly normal at first.

The next morning, the gardening crew came from town in an extended-cab pickup and set to work on getting all the leaves corralled into a burnable pile. I washed and waxed the Town Car while Melita and the lawn crew supervisor chewed the fat in Spanish, which I speak maybe five words of, and which makes even the most mundane conversations sound fast paced and gripping to my ears.

The air was filled with the sound of leaf blowers, and the Whites’ estate buzzed with activity. And when it was time to come in for lunch, I realized that I hadn’t thought about Body Art Studio all day. Not once.

Melita quit lunch early to go outside and gossip with the supervisor some more, which left Marnie and me at the table. “It’s Friday,” she said.

I nodded and waited for her to go somewhere with that.

“You get six to ten off. Tomorrow night too. Stanley used to go into town a lot, stay over. He had some friends there.”

I kept on nodding, eating.

“I imagine you’ll stay at Anton’s.”

“I imagine I will, if he seems agreeable to that.”

We were both nodding by that time. It was catchy. Difficult to stop.

“Your apartment is your apartment. You can have visitors up there.”

“What are you saying?”

“Nothing. I just thought I’d tell you. You don’t have to sneak around.”

“Who’s sneaking?”

“The main thing is that you’re here if we need you. Just in case.”

In case an accident went beyond something that could be washed down the drain. “I got it.”

Marnie stood up and rifled through a drawer. “Cell phone coverage is spotty here—not that you’ve ever mentioned owning a cell phone—but two-way radios work great. The range covers the whole island.” She pulled something that looked like a cell phone with a black rubber antenna out of the drawer and put it on the table. “Gene had one, but he took it with him when he left. This was Mr.’s. He doesn’t know how to use it anymore, so you might as well keep it on you. That way, after work, you can go where you want, and nobody’s got to worry. Just keep it turned on and tuned to channel twelve.”

I wasn’t sure if the phone represented freedom or just the opposite.

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