Free The Dead Past by Tom Piccirilli Page A

the pillars of the community on trial."
    "No, I didn't know him," I said.
    Lisa took Doug's hand and pulled it into her lap. "Was your grandmother the one to find him?”
    “Jim Witherton , our next-door neighbor did."
    "I'd hate to think of that nice lady having to see something as hideous as that. Considering . . ."
    Karen tittered happily as she struck a pose of delighted, morbid curiosity. "We heard that your grandmother's dog—what's its silly name?—that the vicious thing got to the body before the police arrived and there was hardly any meat left on the ol' boy by then."
    I expected this kind of talk. "That's the rumor mill adding more gusto to the tale, Karen."
    "We figured," Doug said. "It just sounded too much like what a person would make up to throw a little spice into this town. I liked the hoochie girl bit. The local stations and papers are having a field day with it, of course. All except for the Gazette . Family-oriented, you know."
    "I wouldn't want Merlin's turkey to lose his place on the front page."
    Lisa touched Doug's wrist lightly. It made me sort of claustrophobic and gave me the creeps a little to see how they were always on top of each other, petting and caressing and tugging. She frowned. "Recall what Mrs. Hollinback told us?"
    "Jesus, don't remind me," he said.
    "She went on for hours, literally hours, all day long at the carpet store yesterday, gossiping with anyone who slunk in the door until her puffy cheeks were blue. So excited she couldn't catch her breath for yabbering so much, alternately getting flushed and turning blue, looked like she was going to have a heart attack. People are outdoing themselves this time, saying it's everything from a serial killer to police corruption. They all want to meet Hannibal Lecter , and want him to say that line about the Falfa beans and hear him say 'Chianti.'”
    "You don't show up much," Willie Bolan said, grinning. He'd learned from his wife and had a smile nearly as wide. "But when you do, you give the town a helluva perk."
    "It's nice to be needed," I said.
    Karen didn't like having the gore taken out of the story. "Well, I heard it straight from Mary Jean Resnick about that savage dog of yours, Johnny, and I've never known her to lie before. She heard it straight from . . ."
    Willie tried to drop his cheesey smile but couldn't quite do it, trained corners of mouth snapping back up. He drew his chin down and shot Karen a look. "Mary Jean Resnick is an asshole."
    "Don't you are dare say that, Willie!"
    "What are you doing back, Jon?" Lisa asked. Her Tinkerbell voice grew even softer than usual. Not like a whisper, but low and meaningful, lips barely moving. She turned her eyes down as if ashamed of having asked. She knew what I was doing here, the only reason why I always came home.
    I understood she wasn't asking a question so much as giving me a warning, hoping that for once I'd stay out of trouble. Her baby-doll face turned once more to me and she worried her lips into a grimace.
    "I'm meeting someone," I said.
    "Hope she's got a personality," Lisa said. "I never liked that Michelle you used to bring around."
    "I did, but only for a while," I said. "I'm sorry I've got to run, but this is important. It's been great seeing you all again." They responded in kind and I shook the guys' hands and hugged the ladies. Willie pinched Karen's ass and she squealed in my ear and gave him a playful slap.
    I got out of there, and as I walked away Doug Hobbes said it again. "Spice."
    ~ * ~
    Over the next twenty minutes I made a half dozen more circuits of the place and didn't run into Tons Harraday . Almost eleven and I was sweating and annoyed and the music gave me a headache. I decided to wait for him in the parking lot for a while, and if he didn't show by midnight I'd pay him another visit at his house, carrying a couple of steaks for his Dobermans.
    Near the door, the sharp crack of breaking glass sounded to my right, and a hush fell over the immediate area.