Rules for Werewolves by Kirk Lynn

Author:Kirk Lynn [Lynn, Kirk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61219-477-6
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2015-11-03T05:00:00+00:00

41

Arson investigators talk to Bobert’s mom.

—How long has your son been back home?

—You know the answer to that.

—I have to ask.

—Why? Do you have a list of questions you have to work through?

—I do.

—Did you write the questions yourself?

—I wrote them with my partner.

—I see. And she’s asking the same list of questions to my son right now and later you’re going to sit around a table like this and drink coffee and compare lists.

—I can’t drink coffee anymore.

—Neither can my husband.

—This is Robert’s stepfather?

—You know the answer to that.

—No. I don’t. I had no idea Robert’s stepfather couldn’t drink coffee.

—He’s got a tattoo, too. That sounds funny, doesn’t it? “Tattoo-too.”

—What’s it a tattoo of?

—We’re off the list now, I assume.

—We are. I’m just interested.

—Are you a big fan of tattoos?

—My oldest daughter is a tattoo artist.

—In town?

—In Tempe.

—Well, then, she wouldn’t have been the one to give it to Roger.

—Probably not.

—It’s a fish with wings.

—Huh.

—Roger says it means “to each his own.”

—Cool.

—You think so?

—If he likes it.

—He got it when he was a kid.

—We do dumb shit when we’re kids.

—I didn’t.

—When my daughter told me she was going to become a tattoo artist … I was grateful. She spent a lot of time, like Bobert, as a runaway. So “tattoo artist” was like—well, it’s an actual job. Maybe not what I would have picked for her. But she has a house and I know where she is, conceptually, at all hours of the day. When she was homeless I asked her once to go to some other town, so she wouldn’t be my problem. I know that’s a shitty thing for a dad to say. But now that she’s a tattoo artist I keep asking her to move back here. I told her I would line up every fireman and cop in town and we’d all get tattoos and she’d have business forever.

—I bet she liked that.

—She’s thinking about it. You know she used to hate cops, and now we might become her livelihood. She was addicted to meth.

—We do dumb stuff when we’re kids.

—I thought you said you didn’t.

—I married TJ and had Bobert. I mean, Robert.

—He’s gonna be all right. The thing is, it’s not just kids he was hanging out with. We think some of the gang he was squatting with, we think they’re older, and we think they might be dangerous. They set a house on fire and the only clue they left was Robert’s home address, your address. Someone spray-painted it on the side of the house, on the bricks of the chimney, so it wouldn’t burn. I think they did it on purpose to cover their trail. I think they were willing to hang Robert out to dry to protect themselves. I mean, how long until they do something even stupider to some other kid?

—Two days.

—What?

—I’m cooperating. I’m answering your questions. From the list. Bobert’s been home two days. What’s next?

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