Not Dead Enough (Colt Harper Book 3) by Phillip Thompson

Author:Phillip Thompson [Thompson, Phillip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brash Books
Published: 2023-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MOLLY

Molly gathered herself in the corridor of the jail, key ring dangling from her fingers. She had no idea what to say to the man on the other side of the cell door.

Her sponsor and others in her AA meetings—the fellowship, as it was known by attendees—had told her moments like this would appear, especially if she remained sober for any length of time. A moment to share your “experience, strength, and hope” with someone who desperately needs it. Until this very minute, she never considered herself as having much of any of the three to share, and here in the dim, cool corridor of the county jail, she felt no assurance that she did even now. She certainly didn’t know the man in the cell, though she could tell that whatever was going on between him and Harper—and John—it was evoking strong feelings for all three. But, she told herself as she took a deep breath, she’d learned about addiction in the last year, and that was something.

She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Heaved the door shut behind her. Flip lay on the metal shelf/cot, forearm draped over his eyes.

“Flip Wilson?” she said.

He jumped, then pulled himself into a seated position. “I thought you were Harper.”

“He’s busy at the moment,” Molly said, taking one tentative step toward him. “Asked me to check on you. Deputy McDonough. Molly.”

“Sounds about right,” Flip said. “What, he worried I’m going to try to kill myself?”

“Are you?”

Molly watched him look at her with eyes nearly as blue as her own, but much more bloodshot. She read his face and saw her own a little more than a year ago. Defeated, afraid, hopeless. Maybe that’s what she should talk about.

“No,” Flip said. He stood and started pacing across the width of the cell. Sink to cot, over and over.

She pointed at the cot. “Good. May I?”

Flip waved a hand. “Sure.”

Molly sat, clasped her hands in her lap. “Harper asked me because he’s concerned about you. And, obviously, cares about your well-being. He told me you and him and John were in the Marine Corps together. And that you came here from California.”

“What else he tell you?”

“Not much,” Molly said. “I know you lost a friend in the war, which I’m sorry to hear about. Harper doesn’t talk much about his time in the service or the war.”

“Yeah, I bet he doesn’t.”

“You live in California,” Molly said, ignoring Flip’s hostility and searching for a way to get a real conversation started. “What do you do out there? And where, exactly?”

Flip wiped sweat from his cheek. “Long Beach. Well, that’s where I’m from. I was living in San Pedro when I left. You know California?”

“Not at all,” Molly said. “You worked out there?”

“Mostly, I surfed. Not like a bum or as a hobby. I actually went pro for a while. But, yeah, I had jobs. Bullshit jobs but enough to pay the bills. Usually.”

Molly studied the skinny, disheveled man walking back and forth in front of her and realized that she could see him as a surfer, even in his current condition.

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