Free Caruso 01 - Boom Town by Trevor Scott

successful than most.”
    “When’s the last time you saw him?”
    “That night.”
    “You got a name?”
    “Frank Peroni.”
    “Like the beer,” Tony said.
    “Exactly.”
    Tony got the name of the lock company from the bartender, and then he and Dawn went out front. He was half expecting to find the two rent-a-cops waiting for him, but they were nowhere to be seen. Tony and Dawn stood out front by his truck.
    “Remember what I said at my place earlier today?” Dawn said.
    “If Melanie ever bores you.”
    Unexpectedly, the entire truck shook, followed by a whining from the back end.
    “What the hell was that?” Dawn asked.
    “That’s Panzer.”
    “A tank?”
    “You’ll have to see him. He’s built like one.”
    “I didn’t know you were a dog person, Tony.”
    “I wasn’t. Remind me to tell you the story about how I got my hands on this beast.”
    She pointed a finger at his chest and said, “I will.”
    Tony thanked her for her help, got in, and drove off, the fading image of Dawn in his rearview mirror making him wonder if he was going in the right direction. After all, he had only been out with Melanie a few times. Not even close to point of no return, a place he had rarely allowed himself to reach.

    62
    TREVOR SCOTT

CHAPTER 10
    Tony had told Melanie he would be at her place in an hour.
    It took him an hour and a half.
    She lived on one of the buttes on the west side of town in a large three bedroom place she had acquired, compliments of a cheating-bastard ex-husband. Her words. He had been a prominent lawyer in town until his proclivity for young flesh, an apparent perk of a criminal ethics class he taught at the local community college, became public knowledge. Irony is a funny thing, but not to the feminist judge who caught the divorce case.
    Melanie’s ex-husband moved back to California about a year ago, his tail firmly between his legs.
    Melanie told Tony her house was worth about five hundred thousand in today’s market. It was too big for her and her two cats, but she kept the place more as a constant reminder of how not to live life, than for any other reason.
    Tony parked the F250 in front of the third garage door, let Panzer out of the back, and then walked the stone path to the front door. A light snow was falling, sparkling in the spotlight that clicked on by his movement.
    Panzer found a place among the junipers to relieve himself.
    Melanie was waiting at the door for him, having changed into a pair of jogging shorts that resembled silk men’s boxers, and an aerobics top that left her flat belly open.
    “I was beginning to wonder if you were coming,” she said.

    BOOM TOWN 63
    “That’s entirely up to you.” He turned and watched his dog run from tree to tree. “You sure it’s all right for Panzer to terrorize the neighborhood?”
    “He’ll be fine. I’d let him in, but, as you know, my cats are de-clawed and never leave the house. They can’t really defend themselves against that monster of yours.”
    “Panzer? He’s still a baby.”
    “Yeah, well, I think my little girls would be one-bite snacks.”
    Tony yelled for his dog. “Panzer!”
    Seconds later the dog sat on the stoop next to him.
    “ Schlafen heir ,” Tony said, pointing to the ground.
    Melanie smiled and escorted Tony inside, closing and locking the door behind him.
    “You sure he’ll be all right there?” she asked him. “It’s snow-ing.”
    “He’ll be fine. Couple hours I’ll put him in the truck.”
    “What were you telling him?”
    “Oh, I told him to sleep there. He’s bi-lingual, but his first lan-guage is German.”
    They went into the living room, which was a step down from the foyer. A fake gas fire was blazing, surrounded on both sides and all the way to the vaulted ceiling by smooth river stones. It looked like the same workmanship as that at Barb and Dan’s burned out house, without the recent charcoal coating. The overall affect of the room, which was ultimately important to