Obsessions by Marshall Cook

Author:Marshall Cook [Cook, Marshall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4405-3231-3
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2008-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

22

The county mountie is writing something on his notepad when Myrna Gillory comes in. He lets her stand while he finishes. He holds the pencil as if he isn’t used to having a thumb and isn’t sure how to operate it.

“Myrna Gillory?”

“That’s right.”

“I’m Detective Sergeant Lafferty. Have a seat, Ms. Gillory.”

“I’d rather stand.”

“You in a hurry, are you?”

“Sure. Aren’t you?”

Lafferty nods toward the chair facing him. “Sit down, Ms. Gillory. Relax. I’ll try not to take too much of your time.”

She sits. When she glances up, he’s looking at her. Small town cop—red-faced and jowly, with heavy eyelids and eyes that reveal no more intelligence than that of a cow chewing a cud. She folds her hands on the desk and fights down the urge to start talking.

“OK.” He smiles, as if something has been resolved in the dim reaches of his mind. “When was the last time you saw Fletcher Downs alive?”

“Monday in class. Just like everybody else.”

“Monday afternoon.”

“That’s right.”

“Class got out at, what, two-thirty?”

“Sure.”

He slashes at the paper with his blunt pencil. “Did you have any contact with him outside of class?”

“I saw him in the cafeteria.”

“When was that?”

“Before class on Monday.”

“Did you talk with him?”

“No. Why would I?”

“You didn’t see him after class on Monday?”

She shakes her head. Her nose itches, and she rubs it with the back of her hand.

“Not at all?”

“No.”

He makes more scratches with his club-pencil. He gets about five words on one narrow sheet of paper. He wets his thumb to flip to the next page.

“What kind of teacher was Downs?”

“How many kinds are there?”

He doesn’t respond.

“I only had him in class that one day, and all he did was talk about himself.”

When Lafferty again makes no response, she goes on.

“I guess that makes him no kind of teacher at all. Just a bullshitter.”

“What did he tell you about himself?”

“What a big deal he is. All the famous writers he’s met.”

“What did you want him to talk about?”

“I wanted him to teach us something! That’s what we were there for.”

“Were you pretty upset?”

“Upset about what?”

“That he didn’t teach you anything.”

“Not especially. I don’t really expect much.”

“Why’d you sign up for his course?”

“Because he’s a famous writer.” When he remains silent, she adds, “I was hoping he’d refer me to his agent.”

“Writers have agents?”

“The ones who get published do.”

“Is that right? It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, huh?”

“Something like that.”

“Did you ask him?”

“Ask him what?”

“To refer you to his agent?”

“You can’t just ask like that. You have to get them to read some of your stuff.”

“Did you get him to read some of your stuff?”

“No. I never got a chance.” She swipes at her nose with the back of her hand.

“What do you write, Ms. Gillory?”

“I’ve written a novel.”

He nods, making a note. “Must be a hell of a lot of work,” he says. “I have a hard enough time just trying to read one.”

“I’ll bet.”

He looks up at her. A smile works itself onto his face. “Is it?” he asks.

“Is it what?”

“A hell of a lot of work to write a novel.

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.