Free Hook and Shoot by Jeremy Brown Page B

now.”
    â€œThat’s called an alias,” Burch told me. “And I’m not in a meeting. He didn’t even call my number. It’s a forwarding system that—”
    â€œShut up.”
    â€œRight.” He nodded and winked, our secret.
    â€œOkay, thank you for calling. I’ll let him know.” Vanessa poked at the phone, dropped it in the bag. “I guess that guy wants Mr. Sheridan—er, Burch—to come to his storage facility. He said somebody broke into the unit.”
    We got Burch into the shower, clothes and all. The hot water brought him around. As soon as he started swearing at me I left to get cleaned up. I put the new suit on—even better the second time—and met Burch and Eddie in the foyer. Eddie wore a light gray suit with a black turtleneck underneath that covered his mottled neck.
    â€œI’m starting to remember what happened,” Burch said. He was in his limo driver costume.
    â€œNot a whole lot to remember.”
    â€œWe’re not done in there.” He tilted his head toward the back of the house.
    â€œI think one of us is.”
    â€œYou see what you two assholes have done?” Eddie said. “We need
one
guy to go check on the thing from last night. But guess what? We’re all going, because my head of security has a concussion, and I’m not staying here alone with him, and I sure as hell can’t send him by himself. Congratulations. You’re wasting my time and putting me at the scene of a felony. Ready? Let’s fucking go.”
    Burch punched the location into the dashboard GPSand got in back with Eddie, his legs still a little unsteady.
    I drove with the privacy panel up and ran through the worst-case scenarios for what waited at the storage unit. I was at number seventeen when I arrived at the open gate.
    There was a small pickup parked inside. A skinny balding guy got out and approached my window. He wore faded jeans and a green T-shirt with a breast pocket bulging with the outlines of coins. The weight of it pulled his neckline down, but it didn’t seem to bother him.
    â€œBack here,” Burch said.
    The skinny guy changed vectors. “Mr. Sheridan?”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    I saw on the display panel that the back window was halfway open. I cracked mine.
    â€œI didn’t call the cops yet. I’m Mike, by the way, the site manager. I was doing my morning sweep and saw your unit had some damage to the door. I called you right away.”
    â€œAnybody been inside?”
    â€œWell, I think somebody has, but it wasn’t me. I gotta file a report, that’s policy, but didn’t know if you’d want to take a look first.”
    â€œI appreciate that. Any other units get broken into?”
    â€œJust yours. Which is another reason I called. Ifigured it was something specific.”
    â€œDon’t spend too much time thinking about it,” Burch said.
    â€œNo, don’t worry about that. But once I do the report, I can tell you what the owner’s gonna say. He doesn’t want any trouble for the other customers, you know?”
    â€œWe’ll find another facility. Thanks.”
    â€œLike I said, his call, not mine. Go on back. I’ll wait here in case you need anything.”
    I parked the same way Burch had the night before. He and I stood outside the storage unit and stared at the black hole in the steel door. The entire lock system had been cut out with a torch and placed on the ground.
    â€œTidy,” Burch said.
    Behind us, the limo window slid down a few inches. “Hurry,” Eddie said. The window went back up.
    Burch pulled the pistol out and checked the chamber. His hands had a light tremble. Maybe I’d hit him too hard.
    â€œYou okay?”
    â€œFuck off.”
    Maybe not.
    I lifted the door and stepped aside. Burch led with the gun and cleared the space. The foul mattress set was still there, chuckling. I had a brief hope it had