The Town by Chuck Hogan

Author:Chuck Hogan [Hogan, Chuck]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781439196502
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2004-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

24

THE SURV

ON A SURV, MURPHY’S LAW reigns: forgetting your camera is the only way to guarantee that something photo-worthy will happen.

Tailing Desmond Elden that drizzling Sunday afternoon brought them to St. Francis de Sales at the top of the real Bunker Hill (the famous monument actually stood atop Breed’s Hill; Dino assured Frawley it was a long story) for a May wedding, with Magloan, the car thief, apparently the groom. Frawley decided against risking entry, waiting curbside with Dino until it was over, then falling in with the attendees making their way down to the Joseph P. Kennedy Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a stand-alone brick building located at the foot of the hill, behind the Foodmaster.

Dino stayed parked out on School Street until the last of the stragglers arrived, then crept into the parking lot, tucking his Taurus in deep next to a pale blue Escort with a photographer’s name spelled out in gold stickers on the side window. From there they had a decent side view of the entrance, wipers clearing away the drizzle once every fifteen seconds or so. Beyond the VFW post, the city stood high and wide, looming like a wall.

Dino said, “They say rain is good luck for a wedding.”

“You had hail, I take it.”

“Worst drought in fifty years. When are you gonna get busy, get yourself some wedded bliss?”

“When I can afford it.”

Frawley had spoken to Claire Keesey a few times since their pre-date, once setting plans, to meet for drinks at the Rattlesnake, but the late-afternoon robbing of an Abington bank—a crackhead counter-jumper so junkie-sick and nervous he’d puked on his own gun—forced Frawley to cancel on her at the last minute. Judging by her remarks, it seemed that the piano mover was out of the picture.

The wipers slicked the rain-smeared windshield clean, Frawley watching a guy in black exit the post, jogging down the front steps to the street without umbrella or coat.

“Your generation,” said Dino, smiling. “So cautious. So afraid of marriage. But then somebody suggests skydiving, and everyone’s fighting over parachutes.”

Frawley said, “Dean, hit these wipers again.”

Dino did. Frawley saw the guy in the tuxedo, now halfway across the street, turned and talking to a jacketless guy standing outside the door.

“That’s MacRay,” said Frawley.

“Which? On the road?”

“I think. And the other one, that’s Coughlin.”

Dino rolled down his window but the rain drowned out the conversation. It didn’t look like an argument, but it didn’t look like See ya soon either. MacRay continued away across the street, Coughlin watching him a few moments before ducking back inside.

“What do you think?” said Dino.

Frawley watched MacRay cut into the mall parking lot outside the 99 Restaurant, shoulders hunched against the rain. “Don’t know. Home is that way.” He pointed to the hill behind them.

“Could be just ducking out for a Certs. What are we doing here, anyway? It’s not like they’re gonna knock over their own wedding reception.”

Frawley was pulling on his red rain shell. “You take off, Dean. I’ll jump here.

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