A Cut Above by Thomas Cox

Author:Thomas Cox [Cox, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781468507911
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2012-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

26

He found Gus Dick and Kelly Moore waiting for him at the mouth of the McNally driveway. Gus was smart enough not to approach the house first even though she had the Baretta out of her purse and in her hand. For the third time that day, gun in hand, Nick utilized the same entry method after he had walked around out back and spotted no one in the vicinity. He carried Gus Dick in through the front door before he allowed Kelly to bring in her bags. In another minute he had Gus seated in her wheelchair.

Kelly said, “Most people just lock their doors, Coach.”

“I don’t have a key,” Nick said.

“I’m hungry,” she announced. “I haven’t eaten since we stopped in Tennesee.”

“There’s stuff in the fridge,” Nick told her. “Kitchen’s that way. Fix whatever you want. Hey, make sure that sliding lock on the back door’s fastened.”

“Cheer up, Nick,” Gus Dick told him. She wrapped the Baretta inside the towel again and tucked it in at her side. “We’re okay so far.”

Nick told her of his unsuccessful attempt to reach Larry Voight.

“You know what he’s doing,” Gus said. “He’s following his wife.”

Nick sat in the chair and shook his head. “Both of them—goddamn fools. Jesus Christ! How many people we gonna have to protect? I can’t be responsible for all this.”

“You’re not,” Gus said. “We’ve been playing Frank Carr’s game, but we can’t let him make all the rules. You know we can’t stop Mrs. Voight from seeing him if that’s what she decides to do. We have to make sure she doesn’t see him alone. Now if he’s half smart, and he finds out I’m with you, he’ll realize violence can get messy. The man’s an ex-con. A step out of line and he goes back to Raiford for keeps.”

“He’s not concerned about consequences,” Nick said. “Something, the way he said it, made me believe him when he said if it got down to a tight spot he’d kill Mark. His own son.”

“That’s why we keep the guns handy.” Gus looked up at Kelly, eating a ham sandwich, coming into the living room. “How much do we want to tell this child?”

“Child?” Kelly said, indignantly. She flopped down on the couch, yelped and scooted sideways. Gingerly, she lifted a corner of Gus’s duffel she had sat on and realized she had been goosed by the barrel of the shotgun beneath it. “Holy shit!” she said.

Nick got up and took the gun. He propped it in a corner of the room and saw Gus give him a critical look. “Don’t worry. It’s fine there.”

Kelly was still wide-eyed. “We’re not gonna shoot Mark?”

Nick sat down and said, “Kel, I think you ought to know about two people Mark’s got himself involved with.”

“Why does he trust people like that?” Kelly Moore wanted to know after Nick was finished.

“I imagine it was a shock to him.” Nick shrugged. “Mark’s sheltered life doesn’t make sense now, or makes a different kind of sense. He’s struggling with it.

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