December Boys by Joe Clifford

Author:Joe Clifford
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
Published: 2016-06-06T19:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I’D SUCKED DOWN half a pack of cigarettes and drained another case of beer running through the photographic seasons like a perverted version of The Wonder Years, watching satisfaction erode with each vacant expression.

I opened the garage door and stood at the edge. Still hadn’t put on a shirt, hair damp. Nothing dries in the cold. Probably catch pneumonia. The skies over the mountains threatened storm. I inhaled a deep, icy breath, which hurt my lungs. But the air here was clean, pure; I knew it filled me with something good.

Turning to go back inside, I spotted the car. Several houses down, just sitting there. The last house on the block. Sedan. Brown, black, maybe dark blue. Engine running, taillights glowing. In the day’s dying light, I couldn’t see too well, but I could make out the two shadowy figures inside. I checked up and down the street. I hadn’t met all my neighbors. Had no interest. But this car did not belong here.

My heart started speeding again. How much did I have to drink? Or were the cigarettes making me jumpy? The pills the doctor prescribed weren’t cutting down on the anxiety. I knew whoever was inside that the car had been sent to do me harm. Haul me away, take me in, make me disappear. Even without seeing anyone’s eyes, I could feel intentions of malice. Veins throbbed up my wrists, thrumming inside my biceps, my breathing harsh, hostile, agitated.

When the landline rang, I practically jumped out of my kicks, like I’d grabbed hold of an electric fence.

I closed the garage door and headed inside, snagging a dirty tee off the arm of a chair. The ringing droned, annoying and obnoxious. I should’ve known who was calling before I even put receiver to ear.

“Jay,” Andy DeSouza said. “Why aren’t you picking up your cell?”

I carried the landline, cradle and all, to the window and cracked the shutters. The car down the block began coughing exhaust as it pulled away slowly, taunting me.

“I had to call HR to get this number.”

“Yeah,” I answered, waiting for the car to move faster. “What’s up?” Get the hell out of here and leave me alone.

“Were you out at the North River Institute last night?”

The car drove off up the snow-packed street, creeping around the corner, two taillights blazing red around the bend, a pair of demon eyes casting judgment.

“Your truck was spotted on a road up there.”

I let the blinds fall. “What? You’re having me followed, Andy?”

“So you admit it. You were out there?”

“What do you care what I do in my free time? Which I now have an abundance of, thanks to you. Oh, and I appreciate you telling my wife I’d been suspended.”

“I think I was pretty clear not to look into—”

“What’s your damage, man? I’m sitting in my house, doing squat, because you told me not to come to work. Then you rat me out to my wife? Now you’re calling to bust my balls because someone saw

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