The Last Best Lie by Kennedy Quinn

Author:Kennedy Quinn [Quinn, Kennedy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Published: 2016-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Less than an hour later, I was following a young New Orleans policeman to Hunter’s cell.

My escort had a boxer’s heavy, square frame and a buzz-cut sharp as porcupine quills. But he also had the sweetest eyes: long, black lashes surrounding the kind of chocolate brown that melted in my mind.

“So, tell me,” I said as we walked, “did you know Hunter or Jake?”

“No, ma’am. They were before my time. But I heard of them, all right.”

“What did you hear?”

He shrugged. “That they knew how to get the job done. And they did it the right way—Jake anyway. But after his missus passed on, Hunter was nothing but trouble. He kept pissing people off—pardon my French—left, right, and center. A lot of people are getting a kick out of seeing him behind bars.”

That should have made me happy. So why was I suddenly feeling sorry for Hunter? So what if he lost his wife; he’s a rat. Why should I care how he feels? I exhaled forcefully, as if trying to push the thoughts out with my breath. “But Jake, he had a good rep?”

“Yes, ma’am. I heard you’re working with him. That puts you in good around here.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Miss Livy called. That’s how come the boss let you back here.”

“Just like that?”

“It was Miss Livy,” he said, as if that clearly explained enough.

“Tell me more about Jake.”

We paused at a door. My companion tapped a keypad on the wall to the right, and I heard a heavy bolt slide back. We walked through it into another, darker, decidedly warmer and more humid corridor. “I heard he was a straight-shooter. Took care of the good guys, whipped up on the bad. People put up with Hunter on account of him, mostly. Jake kept his ass—pardon my French again—from being grass more than once. I heard, though, that Hunter finally did something so bad Jake had to get him out of town or arrest him himself. In the end, he convinced the bosses to let Hunter walk without charges.”

Doubt, whether from instinct or wishful thinking, nagged at me. I couldn’t see Jake putting up with a crooked partner, although no one’s actually accused Hunter of dishonesty, so far, just bullying. “I don’t suppose you know the details?”

The officer shook his head. “Nope. I heard Jake kept the evidence though.”

“But if that were true, wouldn’t Hunter hate Jake?”

“Who says he didn’t?”

Just then, two policemen turned into the corridor from a side hall. Older men, one blond and one a redhead, both wore uniforms stretched against age-widened bellies. They laughed in a nasty way, like high school dweebs who just vandalized some bully’s locker.

As he passed, the blond brought his hand to a nonexistent hat. “Ma’am,” he said, but as he looked me full in the face, his eyes went wide. “Holy moly! Sara?” The man’s broad mouth split into a grin and his eyes went wide and bright, glee shining out from them. He glanced back down the hallway.

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