Murder Manual by Steven Womack

Author:Steven Womack [Womack, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-48849-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

There was more, but I couldn’t read it. I folded the paper in half and tucked it into my lap as the waitress brought over plates of food and slid them onto the table. I pushed mine away. I caught myself staring down at the table, not wanting to look her in the face.

“I feel awful,” I said after she went away.

Sheba grimaced. “Poor baby,” she whispered.

I raised my head. The world was swimming around me. This was insane. I’d been in some scrapes before, but none that had ever involved Marsha, and none this bad. The early edition of the paper had just hit the stands. Maybe I had time to get to her before anyone else did.

“I’ve got to make a phone call,” I said blankly.

Lonnie nodded his head. “Yeah, I guess you do.”

There was a pay phone in the back of the restaurant. I borrowed a quarter from Lonnie and waded through the crowded tables, dodging a hefty waitress with a scowl. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl and I felt like everyone in the place was staring at me. I ducked my head, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

The phone rang about twenty times before a clearly exasperated Kay Delacorte answered the phone. “Simpkins Center,” she snapped.

I identified myself.

Her voice dropped to a pressured whisper. “Jesus, Harry, what the hell’s going on?”

“You read the afternoon paper?”

“No, but there’s about a hundred reporters camped outside trying to get to Dr. Marsha! They got those stupid trucks with the satellite dishes on top!”

“Has she talked to any of them?”

“She’s locked in her office, not taking any calls at all. Dr. Henry’s not here. We can’t even get out!”

I thought for a second. How to play this one?

“What’s going on, Harry?” Kay hissed.

“Randy Tucker at the Banner somehow found out that Marsha did the autopsy on R. J. Reed, that she and I are an item, and that she’s pregnant. The headline on the early edition is how the girlfriend of an alleged murderer did the autopsy on his victim.”

There was a moment’s silence on the other end of the line, then Kay let out a sound kind of like a rusty door hinge being opened slowly.

“Whatever you do—” I started.

“Jeezus, Harry! What are we going to do?”

“Just listen, Kay. Whatever you do, don’t let Marsha or anybody else talk to the press. I hate the idea of stonewalling ’em, but it’s too late to handle it any other way. This time I got a feeling we’re in a world of shit, lady. Let Marsha know what’s going on and that I’ve called. She probably needs to call her attorney.”

I thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s time for you and me to get one, too,” I added. “In the meantime, we’ve all got to be very quiet until we find out what’s going to happen next.”

“They really think you killed Reed?” Kay asked, her voice still tight, scared.

“Aw, hell, Kay,” I complained. “I don’t know anything anymore. Maybe I did kill the son of a bitch.

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.