Accidental Deaths (A Willows and Parker Mystery) by Laurence Gough

Author:Laurence Gough [Gough, Laurence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2016-04-11T19:00:00+00:00

16

Burnaby. Frank had been there once or twice before, years ago. He couldn’t remember why. As he saw it, the municipality was a kind of low-rent bedroom community for the city. Guys who drove trucks lived there, people like that. Lulu had to use a certain amount of friendly persuasion to convince Frank a day trip would be a good idea. Her destination was a sprawling shopping complex called Metrotown.

Frank wasn’t keen on the idea. The summer days were slipping by. He’d slept in again this morning, snored away his chance at Claire Parker. The missed opportunity had left him sour-faced and grumpy. What kind of killer was he? The way things were going, he’d be surprised if Newt didn’t give him his walking papers, send someone else out to do the job.

It suddenly occurred to Frank — and why hadn’t he thought of this earlier — that Newt might slip Rikki’s leash. Now there was a scary thought. Frank remembered watching Rikki slice a Thanksgiving roast turkey in a Beverly Hills restaurant. Despite the oily, muttered objections of the joint’s maître d’, Rikki insisted on using his own knife; a switchblade with a ten-inch blade and weighted handle he’d bought by mail from a specialty shop in Tokyo.

Frank had never seen meat cut so thin — the Mexican was an artist with a blade. But what he’d never forget was the

demented glint in Rikki’s eye, the bubbling froth of saliva that had appeared in the corner of his sagging mouth, the hiss and moan of his breath and the way the tendons had stood out in his wrists and the backs of his hands as he’d gone to work on that glazed and juicy bird. The look on his face, every last pore contributing to the effect, was — sure I’m having fun, but gimme a live bird if you really want to see me enjoying myself.

But no, Newt wouldn’t risk sending Rikki across the border to Vancouver. There was too much fruit in Rikki’s cake. You had to watch him every minute, his every move. Frank had heard the story about the guy in the washroom, how Rikki had surgically removed his ear with a stroke so deft it probably had Manuelito rolling over in his grave.

You could get away with that kind of behaviour in Los Angeles, maybe. But it was front-page news in Vancouver. Frank told himself that Rikki wasn’t a problem. Newt was crazy, but he wasn’t insane.

Frank’s armpits were damp. He was breathing heavily. Maybe Lulu was right — it would do him some good to get out of the city, grab a breath of suburban air. The reason she wanted to visit Metrotown was to try a shot at another robbery. Frank had been teaching her theory and she wanted to go out in the field and see how well she’d learned her lessons.

Flatly, without being bitchy about it, just stating a simple fact, she pointed out that it seemed only fair he do a little something for her, since she’d spent the last few days waiting on him hand and foot.

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