Chip Off the Ice Block Murder by Jessie Chandler

Author:Jessie Chandler [Chandler, Jessie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Published: 2014-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

After my confession to JT, I scored Johnny a good wad of cash to cover the bar the rest of the week, plus a little extra for having to put up with the potential danger from quarters unknown. My dad wasn’t going appreciate my generosity, but that was too bad.

Johnny stepped up to the challenge. He called a couple of massive, probably-football-playing pals to hang out and work security in exchange for free booze. Johnny, at six-two, wasn’t someone to be taken lightly either, so between the three of them I felt reasonably sure the Leprechaun would be a safe place for the patrons. I kind of hoped the nameless thugs who’d attacked Lisa and me in the parking lot the night before would show up again and go a couple rounds with the boys. I knew who would be on the winning end of that fight.

The exchange of money for services reminded me that, cop or not, I needed to compensate Lisa Vecoli for the help she’d given me. The thought of her deception made my blood roil. That I was beholden to someone who’d lied and manipulated me really pissed me off. My propensity to hold a grudge was stuff of legend, even if it was somewhat tempered with the knowledge that the lying skank had been a huge help when I needed it the most.

Eddy was over her unexpected histrionics and was back to being the solid, dependable, sometimes scathing but always loving woman I knew. After a couple more shots of the sauce, she decided she wanted to come with Coop, JT, and me on our late-night information-gathering foray.

The air was frigid. I shivered violently as we exited the warmth of the Lep. We’d agreed my Escape warmed up the fastest, and it had the benefit of heated seats in the front. Didn’t help the rear-ends of the back seat passengers, but some was better than none.

When we were done playing our own version of cops, killers, crooks, and possible kidnappers, we’d return the next day for JT’s Durango and Eddy’s old pickup, which were parked in the Lep lot next to Johnny’s new orange Challenger. We crunched across the snow-covered lot and I eyed Johnny’s ride. Rear wheel drive and that huge engine would be a bitch in the winter, but man, the damage I could do with one of those bad boys. Maybe Johnny would let me take a spin sometime.

“Shotgun,” Eddy called out as I beeped the Escape open. “I’m the oldest and coldest.”

“You like my heated seats now, don’t you?” Initially Eddy hated the heat on her butt, said it made her feel like she wet her pants. After she plunked her ass in the warmed-up seat on a bitterly cold winter morning not long ago, she’d changed her tune.

Coop and JT slid into the back without argument.

I started the engine and buckled up. The digital clock on the radio read 9:04. “Eddy, do you know where Mick Simon lives?”

“Mick, the Vulc?”

“Yup,” I said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.