Cat Dupree 3 - Bad Penny by Sharon Sala

Author:Sharon Sala
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2008-11-22T23:00:00+00:00

Jimmy Franks had already run out of money before he ran out of gas, which happened in the middle of traffic on the Austin city bypass. He managed to get the old car onto the shoulder of the road, then waited for a break in the traffic and abandoned it, telling himself it was just as well. The cops were sure to be looking for it by now.

He walked until he was deep into the inner city, then found himself a place to sleep. The weather was balmy, and it sure wasn’t the first time he’d slept on the streets. This time, he found a big cardboard box and pulled it out of the Dumpster where it had been discarded. The hunger cramps in his belly and his need for a fix were distracting, but he knew enough not to try to find a dealer right away in a strange city, so he crawled into the box and pulled the flaps shut behind him.

The box smelled faintly of barbecue and urine. He didn’t want to think how that combination of scents had come to be there, so he closed his eyes, fidgeted around until he found a fairly comfortable place to lie and fell asleep, only to be awakened a couple of hours later by a city garbage truck making the rounds.

He heard the beep, beep, beep of the truck’s backup signal and rolled out of the box just before it was crushed beneath the wheels.

Still shaking from his near miss, he watched as the Dumpster was emptied. He didn’t make a move until the truck had left the alley; then he looked at his box. It was ruined, as was his ability to sleep.

Withdrawal symptoms were setting in—muscle tics, a sensation of bugs crawling under the skin, and the gnawing need for a fix that only another junkie could understand. He swiped away the snot running from his nose and then ran his fingers through his hair. His new clothes were still holding up; there were only a couple of small stains. He would just have to start walking and see what turned up. Just because he’d hit another roadblock, that didn’t mean he was quitting. He was in Austin—and that much closer to Wilson McKay. He would have to find another way to get what he needed, and that was all there was to it. No one messed with Jimmy Franks and got away with it.

No one.

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