Jacob Lomax 04 Blood Relative by Michael Allegretto

Author:Michael Allegretto [Allegretto, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Private Investigators, Hard-Boiled
ISBN: 9781480462779
Google: XVNRAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0684194090
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 1992-05-17T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

BEFORE I LEFT GIL LUCERO’S APARTMENT, I phoned Kenneth Butler and asked if I could come over.

“Now?” he said, put off. “It’s after nine o’clock.”

“It’s important.”

“Can’t we do this over the phone?”

“I want to talk to Doreen, too.” She was the one who’d mentioned Jeremy Stone to the salesclerk.

“What about?” he asked sharply.

“Kenneth, this is all related to your father’s defense. Do you want to help me or not?” I could’ve mentioned Jeremy Stone. But I wanted to see his face when I did.

“Yes, yes, all right. Do you know how to get here?”

“No.”

He gave me directions.

The Butler residence was on Easter Avenue in Littleton, the southeastern portion of the greater metro suburban sprawl. Twenty years ago this area had been gently rolling fields of scrub brush populated by prairie dogs and jackrabbits, with just enough coyotes and hawks hanging around to keep their numbers in check. Now there were curving streets and single-family dwellings, with nothing to check the population—except perhaps the economy. Which, come to think of it, was more brutal than hawks and coyotes.

The house was a wide, white, two-story frame fronted by a generous lawn, blue green in the light of the streetlamp. Square columns flanked the porch. One featured a sleeve for a flag pole. Over the front door was a brass eagle in bas-relief, wings spread, talons at the ready. Ready for what, I don’t know. The prairie dogs and jackrabbits were long gone.

Kenneth must’ve been watching for me, because he opened the door before I got my thumb on the bell.

He greeted me with “I don’t know why we couldn’t do this over the phone.”

“The telephone is so impersonal, don’t you think?”

He blew air through his nostrils and led me into the living room. The furniture was colonial, more for show than comfort. Kenneth waved me to a chair, and I sat. He took the couch across from me. On the wall behind him, horsemen in red coats chased a bunch of beagles. The fox was safely out of the picture.

“All right, so what’s this all about?”

“Where’s your wife?”

He gave me the famous Butler scowl, as if my asking had somehow offended her honor. “Upstairs,” he said, “putting the children to bed.”

“I’d like to wait for her.”

“I don’t see any reason—”

He stopped when he heard her coming down the stairs. We waited expectantly, but it was a minute before she entered the room, clutching a pack of Virginia Slims and a thin silver lighter in her left hand. Apparently, she’d made a detour to fetch her smokes.

I stood, and Kenneth introduced us.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lomax,” she said, smiling faintly.

“Likewise, I’m sure.”

She was an extremely thin woman with pale red hair, fair skin, and large green eyes. Her eyes seemed even larger, set over drawn, almost gaunt cheeks. I could smell cigarette smoke on her clothes.

“Let’s get this over with,” Kenneth said impatiently.

Doreen sat beside him on the couch. I was struck by how dressed up they were. He wore a silk tie and a long-sleeved shirt, buttoned at the cuffs.

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