Free Hailstone by Nina Smith Page B

going to do to her wasn’t about to happen today.
    “Tell me about the process,” she said. “Is it dangerous?”
    He shook his head. “Not dangerous at all...unless you resist.”
    “Has anybody resisted before?” She leaned forward.
    “I didn’t know,” he said. “I didn’t know he was going to be so difficult. The devil held him fast.” The last words slurred. He snored.
    Magda lost no time. She dragged the briefcase out from under the couch and set the laptop up on the coffee table. She typed in the password and dragged the table over in front of John.
    Then she fished in John’s shirt pocket, found his phone, tapped out a message to Preacher and replaced it in his pocket.
    She didn’t have long to wait after that. Preacher walked the short distance from his house to hers. When he reached the end of the driveway, Magda went and shook John awake.
    He opened bleary eyes. “Magdalene? What’s wrong with me?”
    “You fell asleep. Wake up now, Preacher’s here.”
    His confused look fell on the laptop. “What? Why?”
    “Oh, you said something about keeping him updated, I don’t know with what, and you got out this old thing. Then you fell asleep. I won’t interrupt you, I know it’s men’s business.” She patted him on the shoulder and went to greet Preacher at the door.
    “Magdalene.” Preacher looked her up and down.
    “Preacher.” She jerked her head at the lounge room. “John said you might come over. He’s in there.”
    Preacher nodded and went straight into the lounge room. Rude.
    Magda grinned when the door closed in her face. She knelt down and peered through the keyhole. She could just make out Preacher leaning over John’s shoulder to see the laptop. John didn’t look in a good way at all. They talked in low voices for a few minutes. She knew when they opened up the first porn file, because Preacher’s hair almost stood on end in shock. Then he started shouting.
    She retreated down the hall for a few minutes. The shouting got more frantic; she could hear John protesting his innocence. A thud made her flinch. Had Preacher actually hit him?
    Magda went back to the lounge room and opened the door. “Is everything okay?”
    “Look at this!” Preacher roared. His pointed finger quivered over the laptop, where a picture of a man doing something entirely indecent to another man covered the screen. “I can’t believe someone I took to my house and home could be leering at this filth!”
    “John?” Magda gave him a look of disbelief. Maybe when this was all over she’d go into the movies, she thought. Acting was too easy.
    “Magdalene, tell him,” John begged. “This is not mine. I would never have these things.”
    “Perhaps it’s some kind of accident.” Magda went over to the laptop and closed the image.
    Preacher calmed slightly. “An accident?”
    “You know, some kind of virus in the computer? I’ve heard you can get anything when you go on the internet.” Magda opened a different file. She covered her eyes. “Oh my God! John!”
    Preacher leaned over her shoulder and was confronted with a close up photo of an erect penis tattooed with a butterfly. “Magdalene, you are too innocent,” he said. “This filth is here on purpose.”
    Magda shut down the image and gave John her best look of betrayal. “John, is this what you do when you’re away from me?”
    “They’re not mine!” John grabbed for the laptop. Preacher pushed him away.
    Magda opened up Jonah Sand’s file. “This one is different, Preacher,” she said. “What does all this mean? Who’s Jonah Sand?”
    John groaned and put his face in his hands. Magda scrolled to the bottom of the page. Preacher leaned over her shoulder.
    “Suicide?” Preacher sounded subdued. “You had a suicide and you didn’t tell me?”
    Magda went down further and scanned the new article she’d pasted in there for the second time. “What’s this Centre they’re talking about, John? Is this why the police rang? Did