Or Else by Hart Joe

Author:Hart, Joe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2022-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

I went for a walk.

Besides drinking an inordinate amount of coffee, it’s what I did when I needed to think. We used to walk the Loop as a family when we were younger. Normally Dad wasn’t with us since he was either at work or sleeping, but sometimes he would come along, usually in the early dusk of evening when the light was leaving the air and everything looked smoky. The neighborhood houses would start to glow, and the Loop would reverse, all the exterior life and activity of the day receding inward, which we could see snippets of through golden squares of glass as we went by.

I walked past homes that had been on their foundations since I was born and others much more recent. Layers upon layers. Stories all behind closed doors. Secrets everywhere. I had a momentary sense of tipping, of disassociation. Nothing was what it looked like. I wasn’t in my neighborhood anymore. Everything was a prop, false fronts to create a semblance of normal everyday life.

My breath tightened in my chest, and I stopped, leaning momentarily on a lamppost, vision swimming in the corners of my eyes. Was this what Rachel went through on a daily basis? Her worry like a drop-off in the ocean, a dark trench steps away waiting to swallow her up? Of course it was. As I started to imagine what she must be going through at that second, I pushed away from the post and hurried back the way I’d come, trying to leave the idea behind.

Back in the house, there were a few texts from Kel I hadn’t noticed when she’d initially sent them.

Hey, talked to Seth about Crane/DeMarco.

He said the police interviewed him and he didn’t have an alibi for the night of David’s murder.

They already searched his house, guessing because of his history, and came up with nada.

Still no ransom demand . . .

Anything else you want me to ask him for?

I stood at the side window looking down the street at Crane’s house for a while, then typed thanks and no back to Kel. I wouldn’t involve her anymore if I could help it.

Going forward, I’d be on my own.

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