Stay At Home Dead by Allen Jeffrey

Author:Allen, Jeffrey [Allen, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780758277596
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2012-01-11T15:58:51.987000+00:00

32

“I think your midget friend is out there,” Julianne said.

We were in the exam room at the hospital. They’d already stuck me in the tube and run a CT scan, which showed that all the important parts were still working. The doctor ran a few more simple tests on me before diagnosing me with a minor concussion. He told me that I’d have a pretty good headache for a couple of days, but after a few days of taking it easy, I would be back to normal.

Julianne had just arrived, and now she was talking about midgets.

“What?” I asked, wondering if the concussion was worse than the doctor realized.

She glanced over her shoulder again, toward the waiting room, her expression somewhere between amused and confused. “Didn’t you say that investigator guy was a midget?”

“Yeah.”

“Unless Rose Petal is offering some sort of relocation incentives to small people, I think your guy is out in the waiting room,” she said. She wrinkled her nose. “He really is little.”

The throbbing began anew in my head asIfin-ished buttoning up my shirt. I had no idea what Victor Anthony Doolittle might be doing at the hospital, but I doubted it was a coincidence.

I slid off the exam table and slung my tie and coat over my shoulder. “If he touches me, I swear to God, I’m going to hang him in a closet.”

Julianne rolled her eyes and led the way out.

Victor Doolittle was paging through a magazine when we walked into the waiting room. He was wearing the fedora again, paired with a Hawaiian shirt and slacks. He glanced up, tossed the magazine aside, and wiggled himself out of the chair.

He pointed up at me with a stubby finger. “How’s the noggin?”

“Fine,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

His eyes moved from me to Julianne. He removed his fedora and smiled. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to this beautiful woman?”

“No.”

He bowed in her direction. “Victor Anthony Doolittle, ma’am. It’s my pleasure.”

She extended her hand, smiling. “Julianne Winters.”

He took her hand and kissed it.

The nausea rose up again from my stomach.

He slowly released her hand. “Your husband is a lucky, lucky man.”

“Why, thank you,” Julianne said, grinning at me.

“If things should ever sour between you two—”

“Hey,” I said, cutting him off. “Enough. What are you doing here?”

He pried his eyes from Julianne, glaring at me. “Maybe I’m here for a physical.”

“That shouldn’t take long.”

Deep lines formed on his wide forehead. “They take a look at your man parts in there? Make sure everything’s still working?”

“Let’s go,” I said, walking past him and nudging Julianne along. “See you never.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, following behind me like an annoying talking Chihuahua. “Take it easy, King Kong.”

I ignored him and kept my hand at the small of Julianne’s back as she kept trying to look behind me to get another look at him.

We pushed through the doors and stepped out into the thick, humid night air.

“I was there, you moron,” Victor said.

“Where?” I called over my shoulder. “Oz?”

“Tonight,” he said.

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.