Free Reluctant Detective by Finley Martin Page A

tonight. Okay? We’ll talk in the morning.”
    â€œHot date tonight?”
    â€œAren’t you the bold one?”
    â€œDidn’t answer my question, Mom.”
    â€œThe hottest thing I’ll see tonight is a bowl of chili at BJ’s Diner.”
    â€œHave you ever considered getting a life, Mom? Everyone’s doing it.”
    â€œI don’t have time for a life. I’m a mother. G’night.”
    Anne had a smile on her face when she hung up. Then she shivered. The chill of night rolled in waves through the empty window frame. Her hand reached for the heater switch and turned it way up.
    A life would be good , she thought.

14
    The gleam of a streetlight illuminated a startling tattoo extending the entire length of Sean McGee’s right arm. On it, a grinning skeleton rode a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Eagle wings spread from the sides of the machine, and the road on which it sped transformed from a pavement of aces and eights into the trunk of a rattlesnake which circled Sean’s wrist and bared its fangs on the back of his hand. Sean turned his Chevy Super Sport north onto North River Road, and suddenly the snake on his arm struck at the skinny frame of the passenger alongside him. Sean’s backhand cracked across the side of Carson White’s head.
    â€œFor crissake, man, what’d I do?” Carson cringed against the door to get away from him. His hands grabbed the leather suitcase between them and braced it as a shield from more blows. The big ring on Sean’s finger caught him on the temple. Carson could feel a welt rising.
    â€œYou dumb fuck! You dumb fuck! I told you to jimmy the doors, not break windows. How much attention can one dumb fuck create?” The Chevy’s engine was roaring. Sean glanced at the speedometer. Then he quickly took his foot off the accelerator and slowed down.
    â€œI saw a camera case in there and the door wouldn’t give. I couldn’t think of anything else to do.”
    â€œYou couldn’t think… you couldn’t fuckin’ think! You don’t make noise. That’s what ya fuckin’ do. You coulda popped doors for an hour and no one woulda caught on.”
    â€œDo ya think that guy saw us?” asked Carson, half afraid that his query would draw another smack from Sean.
    â€œHe saw somethin’. That’s why he hollered. And you can bet he called the cops.”
    There was a long silence between them. Sean turned onto University Avenue and headed back toward the centre of town. University Avenue was busy with traffic and bright with street lights and fast-food storefronts. Carson was about to ask Sean why he decided to take this busy street where people could see them, but he held his tongue.
    As if he had read Carson’s mind, Sean muttered, “If you sneak along back streets, the cops take note of ya. Here…,” he said with a sweep of his hand, “it looks like ya got nothin’ t’ hide. That’s how ya think.”
    Sean turned again off University Avenue toward Carson’s house. There was another long silence until Sean pulled along the curb half a block from the kid’s house.
    â€œAnd ya never got the camera from that last car.” It was a state ment, not a question, and Carson felt a coldness in Sean’s voice.
    â€œNo. The case was empty.”
    â€œSo ya took that suitcase instead.”
    â€œYeah. There could be lots of valuable stuff in there.”
    â€œWell, I’ll tell ya what I’m gonna to do, kid. I’m keepin’ the stuff in the trunk. You keep the suitcase. That’s gonna be your cut. Then tomorrow, maybe, you can impress your little girlfriends with the half-dozen used panties and the greasy lipsticks you’re gonna find in there. Or maybe you’ll really hit the jackpot with some salesman’s sample kit of floor tiles.”
    â€œBut…”
    â€œGet out!” Sean reached over, but the kid