Until the Next Time by Kevin Fox

Author:Kevin Fox [Fox, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery, Romance, Historical
ISBN: 9781565129931
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2012-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Michael

JANUARY 23, 1972

We carried Patsy to the schoolhouse and Kate stayed with him there, boiling water to clean the wound, bandaging it, and putting a splint on the fractured bone. He passed out as the splint went on and was pretty easy to deal with after that. Declan was right: the wound he left was pretty clean and not as damaging as you would expect. Painful, to be sure, but not permanently crippling. Patsy would probably walk again.

We left Kate with Patsy, and then Declan and I walked back out to where Trooper Wheeler lay dead. Using two hefty branches we dug a shallow grave and buried him next to the cottage, twenty yards from the school, under the shade of an old tree.

We didn’t talk the entire time. I didn’t want to set Declan off, and I needed time to think about what to do next. I knew there would be no good end to this whole thing, but there might be a “best” end. Declan had just started kicking dirt over Wheeler’s face when he finally broke the silence. “Ya think I’m a bit of a mentaller, don’ ya?

I almost smiled. Trooper George Wheeler was dead and his blood was all over me, the man who was burying him with me had just kneecapped his own friend, and he was worried what I thought of his mental state.

“Ahh, I can see it in yer look. Ya think out I’m off my feckin’ nut, fer sure. That’s all right. Ya jus’ don’ have all the facts yet. Yer ignerant. I’ll get ya straightened out soon enough.”

“I’ve been here less than forty-eight hours and I’m burying a British SAS trooper. That makes me an accessory to murder. I also brought money to terrorists . . .”

“Freedom fighters,” he interrupted with a grin. “Better get it right if yer gonna be joinin’ the cause.”

His lighthearted tone was starting to piss me off. “Call it what you want, but you’re terrorists. Killers. And now I’m as guilty as you. I just stood there and watched you kill him. So I’ve got to ask you, do you see any way out of this for me?”

Declan nodded slowly, seeming to give my predicament serious thought. Then he grinned. “Sure. Ya could go back to the States an’ face a murder charge. Oh, but right, they have the death penalty there. Better to face one here. That’s good news now, inn’t it? They won’t extradite ya if yer wanted fer murder here, too.”

If I had a real shovel, I would’ve hit him with it. “You think this is funny?”

“A course it is. All a life is funny if ya look at it right. Course, if ya really want out, just put the ol’ AR-18 in yer mouth an’ fire away. Come back again. The next life won’t be much better if ya bollixed up this one, but at least it’s a fresh start. Or if ya don’ like the idea of suicide, go home, take the death penalty and go round the game board again.

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