Cut to the Bone (Kapamentis Crime, Book 2) by T.W.M. Ashford

Author:T.W.M. Ashford [Ashford, T.W.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

Thaddeus groaned and tried to see where he was. His eyelids ached too bad to open fully. Leaning forwards resulted in a crippling explosion of pain in his gut.

“Don’t get up,” a woman said. “Your body is still putting its pieces back together.”

He knew the voice belonged to Sakura long before his vision cleared. She was standing on the far side of the room to him, staring out at the endless rain through a gap in the window. The rest of it had been boarded up with splintered planks. He was sitting up against one of the room’s brittle walls. There was a bed, but both its rusty wire frame and mildewy mattress had been overturned and pushed to one side. There were dark water marks on the ceiling, rodent holes in the skirting boards, and the heads of nails stuck out from the uneven wooden floor.

“Where are we?” he asked groggily.

“Gridis Motel,” Sakura replied. “Best I could find at short notice. Hardly the Emperor Suite at Celeste Verde, I know, but we couldn’t risk anyone recognising you. Trust me, nobody’s looking for you here.”

“Never heard of the place. I guess that’s good.” He prodded the dark bruises patterning his bare chest and winced. “Erm, how did I get here?”

Sakura turned from the window. A narrow band of green light from the half-busted neon sign outside flashed intermittently across her face. It wasn’t a happy one.

“You don’t remember calling me?”

“I remember getting to the booth and struggling to tap your number in correctly, yeah. It’s everything after that I’m struggling with.”

“You spouted a load of frightening gibberish, mostly. Said you needed my help, that you thought you were dying. You scared the shit out of me, Thaddeus. When I got to you, you were collapsed against the wall of the payphone with blood running out of your mouth. I thought you were fucking dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well. Then I heard you groan. I knew I couldn’t take you to an infirmary, not with the Ministry on your tail, and my apartment is probably being monitored, too. Plus, I didn’t want you bleeding over my sheets. So, here we are. Fucking paradise.”

“Hoverbike or taxi cruiser?”

“You think you’d have lasted long on the back of a hoverbike in your state? Obviously I took a cruiser.”

“What were you thinking?” He tried to move, was quickly reminded why he shouldn’t. “The driver could have identified me!”

“Relax. I left you lying in the back of the taxi with my jacket draped over your head while I paid the troglodyte in reception for a few nights up-front. Nobody saw you, Thaddeus. Even if they had, I doubt anyone here would have cared.”

Thaddeus sagged defeatedly.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“You know, a little fucking gratitude would be nice.”

“What? Oh, yeah. Sorry. Thank you so much, Sakura. Really. My mind’s just a little scrambled right now, that’s all. I owe you one.”

“You owe me a hell of a lot more than one. I assumed you were hamming it up when you told me you were dying, but you really would be dead if it weren’t for me.

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.