The Bones of Amoret by Herbert Arthur

Author:Herbert, Arthur [Herbert, Arthur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stitched Smile Publications
Published: 2022-02-12T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

After McHenry gave the news that the investigation had shifted to Hector, all at once I felt light, like a child climbed off after a piggyback ride. I slept twelve hours that night, so deeply I joked with Angelica in the morning she needed to check me for bed sores. The relief also meant it was easier to turn my attentions back to things that’d been neglected during the worst of my worry. Life doesn’t stop, after all.

The morning after Francis spoke with the sheriff’s office, I called the boys to discuss our next run to the river and once my clinic wrapped up that evening, we convened at the diner. Word had spread quickly about the previous day’s events—apparently Bingham and I weren’t the only ones with whom McHenry had been loose-lipped— and a few folks gave me congratulatory back slaps as I made my way through the crowd.

In a booth set back from the crowd, I caught the trio up to speed on everything. I told them about the encounter with the drug thief’s body in Pablo’s shed and the gangster’s plan to prevent reprisals, his opinion that our biggest fear should be low level soldiers looking to curry favor with our competitors, and I emphasized to them that the only known identity was my own.

Jimmy Wayne murmured, “First things first. Let’s talk about the sheriff’s office. You sure we’re all right to be makin' a run?" He played with his coffee mug, rotating the thick porcelain in slow circles, the napkin stuck to its underside. The memory of his interview with the sheriff had left him on edge. "Mean to say, normal times, we all know Johnny Law's probably content to look the other way with what we’re doin’ down by the river. But if they got a hard-on for you—."

"Then this'd make fer a good excuse to pick you up." Shy Mike finished the thought.

Chebo chewed his coffee's red straw into a jagged shepherd's crook. Holding it up, he studied it closely, brow krinkled while he listened.

I said, “McHenry’s sayin’ the heat’s off me. I don’t think we got to worry ‘bout them followin’ me if that’s what you’re askin’.”

“That’s what I’m askin’,” Jimmy Wayne said.

“We just got to be careful like normal, but I think that’s as far as it goes.”

“Okay. Then tell me more ‘bout these cartel boys, might be wantin’ to do you on spec,” Jimmy Wayne said.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’ve lost more’n a little sleep over it. But here’s the thing. They could touch me anywhere. The river, my clinic, here in town. Hell, they could come at me on the way out to my truck when we leave here. There isn’t anythin’ I can do ‘bout that, so I decided I’m just gonna live my life. Remember, I’m the one whose face and name they know, not y’alls. Well, maybe you, Chebo, but you two should be in the clear.”

Shy Mike said, "You oughtta be more worried, Doc, is all I'm sayin'.

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