The Detective (The Galactic Football League Novellas) by Wallace Matt & Sigler Scott

Author:Wallace, Matt & Sigler, Scott [Wallace, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Empty Set Entertainment
Published: 2012-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16: Carney

Fred had scheduled transport to Wilson 6. Dinolition was a crude thing, more barbarism than sport, but a certain type of person loved it. Dinolition was growing in popularity. Soon it might even spread beyond Wilson 6, but for now the only place to see it was in the area of that planet known as “the Wastes.”

It was popular enough that people traveled there regularly to see the genetically engineered monsters duke it out. Fred raised no suspicion when he booked travel to Wilson 6 under yet another assumed name. But before he departed Micovi, he had to see if Carney had found anything. And if that meant another round of food at Mister Sam’s, well, that was yet another expensable meal. Hopefully Quentin wouldn’t mind if Fred was a big tipper.

Sunset came and went. A good two hours after darkness fell, Fred sat at a table at Mister Sam’s, a half-eaten slab of ribs in front of him. After a while, nothing but bones remained, and still no sign of Carney. Mister Sam sat behind his counter, watching Fred eat. It should have felt uncomfortable, but Mister Sam watched people eat the way a master painter watched people admire his work.

Fred was ready to give up and head for the shuttle port when the door swung wide and Carney came rushing in like a man late for an important date. He spotted Fred, and relief seemed to wash over him. He headed for the table.

“What’ll you take, son?” Mister Sam asked automatically from behind the counter.

Carney was stopped dead by the question. Then he looked on the verge of panic.

“Uh,” he stammered. “I don’t... have any money.”

Fred came to his rescue. “Get him some brisket, will you, Mister Sam?”

The kindly proprietor nodded his bulbous chin. “Coming right up.”

Carney slipped into a chair across from Fred, smiling.

“I don’t need to eat,” he said.

“It’s the least I can do. It looks like you’ve been running around some.”

Fred let the kid get some food and drink in him before he pressed Carney about what, if any, information he’d been able to gather.

“I asked around,” Carney began around a mouthful of brisket. “The women at the replenishing stations love to talk, but it seemed like none of them had anything to say about the girl. I spent all day asking around. I was ready to give it up. Wasn’t even going to come here. Then I got lucky. I found an old friend of hers, from when they were kids.”

Fred’s synapses began to fire a little faster upon hearing that. His instinct was to dig into Carney and squeeze every relevant fact out of him, but he stayed silent and let the kid finish on his own.

“The woman’s name is Amanda,” Carney said. “Amanda Sparrow. She’s around the age you said. Anyway, Amanda said Jenny... Jeanine... ran away years ago.”

“Ran away where?”

“She said Jeanine talked about stowing away and making it to Quyth space. Said that was the last time anyone saw her.

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