Murder Aforethought by Parker St John

Author:Parker St John [John, Parker St]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

15

Maksim

Emma was much less enthusiastic about Val’s friend joining them than she had been about staying with Miguel.

Not that Maksim could blame her. Val insisted J.D. Reese was the most honorable man he’d ever known, but he looked as if he lived under a bridge and had just come off a three-week bender.

“He’s gotten me out of so much trouble, it was practically his secondary job description,” Val assured him. “He’s like a brother to me. I trust him with my life.”

Miguel had regarded the stranger in his home with the same cold reserve Andrea Nilsson gave all her suspects across the interview table, a learned assessment that hadn’t left Miguel when he’d left the force.

Reese had flashed a brilliant smile, all lazy southern charm and dimples, but there was a forced edge to his grin.

Miguel, with that strange compassion he often exhibited, took that false smile and turned it real by pushing Reese into a chair and thrusting a plate of enchiladas into his hands.

“It’s my abuela’s recipe, so you better love it,” he warned.

Maksim couldn’t blame him for the impulse. Reese had an abundance of tightly packed muscle on him, yet there was a gauntness to his face, as if he’d had a recent bout of illness and could use a good meal.

The constant alley cat wariness he maintained reassured Maksim that nobody would sneak up on him unawares. Miguel would keep Emma safe, and Reese would keep Miguel safe.

Before Val and Maksim left, Miguel lent them a semi-automatic rifle he removed from his gun cabinet.

“Old habits,” he said with a shrug when Maksim looked at him askance.

The ease with which Val stowed the weapon in the back seat unsettled Maksim. It was ridiculous, considering what the man had done for a living. Academically, Maksim knew Val’s casual disregard resulted from familiarity and long experience. If Maksim felt like he was driving with an oiled steel snake behind his seat, that was his problem.

Still, he began to breathe easier as they crawled out of Portland traffic and onto I-84 without the weapon going off at each sudden stop.

Val slept in the passenger seat with his face pressed against the window.

He was remarkably trusting for a young man who had seen and done as much as he had. But then, he was also just remarkably young. Perhaps that accounted for it. Perhaps Maksim’s cynicism was merely the result of too many decades spent alone.

The only person he’d ever shared his life with for more than a month or two had been his mother. She was his entire world when he was a boy. He hadn’t wanted or needed anyone else, and that was good, because there had been no one except her.

The only decision she’d ever made against his wishes was bringing him to the States. He’d been afraid to leave the only world he knew. To this day, he wasn’t sure whether they had been fleeing something in particular or merely their crushing poverty.

They’d settled in Pittsburgh, and she was so proud when Maksim was awarded a scholarship to private school.

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