John Ray Horn 1: Clea's Moon by Edward Wright

Author:Edward Wright [Wright, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

HE SAT UP abruptly on the couch. A rectangle of sunlight on the floor hurt his eyes. Something had awakened him, and then he heard it again: kitchen noises. The smell of coffee hit him, and he looked over the back of the couch to see Maggie beyond the counter, making breakfast.

“Where is she?” His voice came out a croak.

“Good morning,” she said without turning around. “In the bedroom. Thought I’d let both of you sleep.”

“She’s asleep?”

“Yep. Finally. Almost sunup, though, before she dropped off. I made her some warm milk and bourbon, and that did it. I know she’s a little young for that, but I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Something tells me she’s not that young anymore. Where’d you sleep?”

“On the bed next to her. She wouldn’t talk to me much, so I just tried to make her comfortable.”

He heard crackling sounds and smelled sausage frying. “She’s barely said two words to me either.”

“She cried some before she went to sleep,” Maggie continued, “and once she woke up making noises. Some kind of nightmare, I guess. Don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she’s been through something.”

“Do you want me to tell you any of it?”

He saw her shrug, her back still turned. “Not unless you want to. I can still help out without knowing every little thing, right?”

“I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

He kicked off the cotton blanket with the Navajo design and stood up, then realized he was wearing only his shorts. He put on pants, shoes, and undershirt and went back to the bedroom to look in on Clea. She lay with her head turned away, the sheet covering all but her head. Her breathing looked regular.

Heading back to the front room, he paused by the tiny kitchen and cleared his throat. “Thanks, Maggie,” he said.

She acknowledged with a little wave of her spatula, and a minute later she was bringing out plates loaded with scrambled eggs, grilled sausage patties, and corn bread. She laid them on the table in front of the couch, added mugs of coffee, then sat down beside him. “I’ve got a lot to do today,” she said. “One of my mares is about to foal. If you can’t be around, I’ll look in on Clea every now and then, okay?”

“Sounds fine.” They ate, and halfway through the meal, he began to tell her. This time, he included the discovery of the photos, Paul’s death, Sykes’s bloody encounter, the murder of the man now known as Anthony Del Vitti.

“Godalmighty, John Ray,” Maggie said, wiping her mouth with a paper towel. “This is very scary, you know that?” Without waiting for an answer, she rushed on: “But who’s doing this?”

He made a face, as if to acknowledge how little he knew for sure. Nevertheless, he laid out all his guesswork for her: the link between Paul’s death and the forbidden photos, the likely involvement of Vincent Bonsigniore and, through him, the ex-con/stuntman Gabriel Falco.

“The thing is,” he went on, “I don’t know why Tommy—Del Vitti, I mean—wound up dead last night.

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.