Ten Days Gone by Beverly Long

Author:Beverly Long
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2020-02-06T15:14:34+00:00

Sixteen

Saturday, May 14, Day 4

The next morning, Rena overslept. Of course, that had something to do with the fact that late last night, after she’d fallen asleep, she’d been awakened by the ding of a text coming from Boyd Wonder telling her to check her email. She’d crawled out of bed and booted up her laptop. He’d sent two spreadsheets. One had been the names and other demographics of people who had lived at the Gizer Hotel. The other, those who had applied but been rejected. She’d looked at both quickly but didn’t see anything that caught her eye. She’d forwarded both on to the analyst from the state who was crunching data, with instructions to focus on getting more information on the residents. After that, she’d gone back to bed but hadn’t slept well.

Now it was almost nine. She knew she’d be hard-pressed to shower, get the roast pork heated up and swing by the grocery store for fresh buns and still make it to the party by eleven. When she saw Gabe sitting in the family room, drinking coffee and watching some sports channel, she felt a brief flash of irritation. Tried to push it aside. It wasn’t his fault that he’d gotten a good night’s sleep. He’d already been in bed by the time she’d let herself into the house. “Can you go to the store for me and buy buns? We need three dozen.”

“We do not need any buns. My brother needs buns for his kid’s party. Why the hell can’t he get his own?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “We made the pork. We need to take the buns. One without the other is not a sandwich.”

“Which is why we shouldn’t have made the pork. Is he paying for the meat at least?”

“I’m sure he will. I do not know why you won’t cut your brother some slack,” she said.

“Everybody cuts Danny slack. I like to be different.”

“Please. Just do it.”

He stood up and turned off the television. Stretched so big that his T-shirt pulled up, and she saw his pale stomach, which was still pretty flat. When he walked by, he leaned in and kissed her. “Fine. Just don’t say I never do anything for you.”

They ended up only five minutes late. There were cars up and down Danny’s street. She wasn’t surprised. The Morgans turned out for birthdays. Inside, it was also what she expected. The women—his mom and three sisters—were in the kitchen. The men—the three sons-in-law and Danny—were in the front room, watching golf on television. The kids, who should have been outside playing on such a beautiful day, were in the basement.

It took less than fifteen minutes for the conversation to come around to Jane Picus, that poor dead woman. Gabe’s mother made the sign of the cross, like she was a ninety-year-old nun versus a sixty-four-year-old widowed furniture buyer, when she said that last part.

“You’re working that case, aren’t you?” Amie, his youngest sister, asked.

“I am.”

“So what’s going on?” Amie probed.

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