Do Unto Others: An Evan Buckley Crime Thriller by James Harper

Author:James Harper [Harper, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: James Harper Books
Published: 2023-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

29

Evan crossed Alabama Bayou and followed the road for a mile and a half to where it joined Whiskey Bay Highway. There, he made a left heading south back towards the Interstate. He pulled off the so-called highway a quarter mile before Bayou Manuel Road and made his way on foot to where he could see the junction. A hundred yards short of it, he slipped into the roadside trees, hunkered down and waited.

Landry had somehow managed to turn the car around rather than back up all the way. He shot out of the mouth of Bayou Manuel Road without slowing and kept on going towards I-10 and civilization—and what he believed was Evan ahead of him.

Evan followed him five minutes later, but didn’t join the Interstate. He pulled onto the shoulder right underneath it. Checked Ritter’s burner for a signal. It was good to go. He opened all of the windows, let the roar of the traffic overhead fill the car—the same ploy he’d used when he called Fontenot pretending to be Arlo. Then he called the most recent number in the call list. The one Ritter had said belonged to Marvin Fleck, a man supposedly in the same unsavory line of business as Landry.

The man who answered was clearly having a bad day. Didn’t even give him a chance to imitate Ritter’s voice and say, Fleck?

‘Jesus, Ritter, I told you. The guy ain’t around. Nobody’s seen him for a couple days. I’m in the middle of something. I’ll call you if anything changes.’

The line went dead in Evan’s ear.

He’d gotten more than he expected but less than he’d have liked.

Ritter had told him he’d called Fleck for assistance. To help him tail Evan and deal with wherever that led. Deal with in the Landry sense of the expression.

That was a lie. He’d asked Fleck to find somebody. It would be useful to know who. Trouble was, Evan couldn’t call him back, ask him who they were talking about. Whoever it was, he figured Ritter wanted him dealt with—again Landry-style.

He called the other number in the call list, the one supposedly for Deputy Dixon aka Dawg.

It went to voicemail. The guy was obviously busy pulling files for people who had no right to see them. Evan listened to the recorded message. The phone’s owner duly identified himself as Deputy George Dixon of the St. Martinville sheriff’s office and invited the caller to leave a message.

Evan declined the offer.

That only left Ritter to deal with.

After learning that the guy had lied to him about Fleck—which made him question everything else that had come out of his mouth—Evan was feeling like Ritter didn’t deserve to be rescued. Except he really didn’t want his death on his conscience. Or to have to deal with the potential repercussions.

He thought about how he hoped things might pan out going forward. Given what he’d learned about Esteban Aguilar’s involvement and the business Aguilar was in, there was a good chance he’d be speaking to vice squad detectives in the future if he was going to get anywhere.

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