Free The Cypress Trap: A Suspense Thriller by JC Gatlin Page A

mad at you
and—”
    “She
stays mad at me.”
    “Still,
I don’t feel good about leav’n her in the truck,” Darryl said.
    “She
didn’t want to come out on the boat and she didn’t want to stay in town,” Owen
said. “What could she do?”
    “I
don’t know.” Darryl seemed to be thinking about it. “Is she really mad about
some kids harassing you, or is this more about all those trades look’n to get
paid?”
    Owen
thought about the question a moment. “That and other things.”
    Darryl
turned his head and pushed his glasses up farther along the bridge of his nose.
Sweat dripped down his forehead. “Let me give me you some money. A loan, until
you find another line of work.”
    “Don’t
need it. Don’t want it.”
    “Is
she making you sell the boat?” Darryl wiped his brow again. “Let me buy it from
you. That way it stays in the family.”
    “I’m
not sellin’ my boat.”
    “Okay,”
Darryl said. “Then I want to do something. Things have been going great for me.
Business has been—”
    “I
don’t want to hear it.”
    “Okay.”
Darryl tucked the rod and reel under his arm and bent down to open his tackle
box. He pulled out a half-eaten Snickers bar. Taking a step as he unwrapped the
bar, he slipped and fell to his knee, nearly dumping all his lures and hooks
across the bow of the boat.
    Owen
ignored it. After giving Darryl a chance to cast his line, he said, “Who starts
a business sculpting statues out of cheddar cheese, anyway?”
    “I
don’t know.” Darryl shrugged. “There’s a market for cheese sculpting. Grocery
stores. Sporting events. Festivals.”
    “But
cheese?”
    “I’m
lucky, I guess.” Darryl brought his hand to his shirt pocket and patted it as
if there was something hidden within it. He looked over at Owen. “Hey, bro,
there’s something I been mean’n to tell ya—”
    Owen
didn’t let him finish. “You still seeing that Puerto Rican chick?”
    “Yeah,”
he said, chewing on the candy bar. “And all her friends are models.”
    “Shut
up.”
    A
breeze caught the candy wrapper and swept it over the side of the boat. It
floated on top of the water and Darryl stretched his left arm as far as he
could to reach it. He grasped it, then recoiled back into the boat. “It’s not
as exciting as you think.”
    “You’ve
got a hot Spanish woman in your bed every night.” Owen cleared his throat, then
said under his breath, “Doin’ better than me.”
    “Maybe
not.”
    “Why
you say that?” Owen reeled in his line. “I already told you Rayanne hasn’t let
me so much as put a finger on her since, well, you know.”
    “I
know.” Darryl’s voice was sympathetic, and then he chuckled. “My girlfriend
doesn’t know this, but every time we have sex, I put a dollar in an envelope.
I’m using that money to buy her a birthday gift.”
    “And?”
    “And
so far she’s gettin’ a McChicken.”
    Owen
looked at his buddy and watched him hook another lure and cast it over the side
of the boat.
    After
a couple minutes of silence, Owen cleared his throat. “I’m thinking about
moving away.”
    Darryl
shot him a sideways glance. “Where ya goin’?”
    “I
was thinking … Australia.”
    “Why
Australia?”
    “I
don’t know. I mean, you know, it’s far away.” Owen reeled in his line. “I
figured it would be good to get away from everything for awhile.”
    “If
you want to go really far away, why don’t you go to Japan?”
    Owen
turned aside and shook his head. “I don’t want to go to Japan.”
    Darryl
wasn’t listening. He added, “They’ve got these cool robots now that you’d swear
on your mother’s grave was a real live person.”
    “I
don’t care. I knew this guy who went there and he said it sucked.” Owen cast
his line again. “So why would I want to go there?”
    Darryl
pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose again and stared at him. “So you
think that going to Australia, you’ll be getting away from all your