Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
“What is it, then? I’m…busy.”
Yeah, with your fuck du jour, apparently. “I need to talk to you. I’m coming to see you. Today.”
19
MILES
* * *
We pull up in front of a rundown house on the outskirts of Billings. Back in the thirties it must’ve been prime real estate, but now? It backs up to the interstate, and the roof looks one windstorm away from being blown off.
There are more weeds than grass in the front yard. A rusty bucket sits in the cracked driveway. A dog barks from a neighbor’s house as I walk around the truck to take Sadie’s hand.
“You grew up here?” I ask, trying to think of her as a child in this environment.
She shakes her head and sighs. “No. I lived with my mom.” Her gaze eats up the same grim scene as me. “It looked better when I saw him last.”
Sadie didn’t say much on the drive, other than giving me directions. I didn’t push because the answers she’s looking for seem to lie with her father alone. We can talk and talk but we won’t get anywhere.
I open the rickety screen door and Sadie bangs on the door. No doorbells in a place like this.
It’s opened a few seconds later by an older man who bears a passing resemblance to Sadie. Same hair color—although his is mixed with gray. Same eyes, but bloodshot and tired looking. Other than that, Curt Hopkins looks nothing like his daughter.
He scoffs. “I don’t know why the fuck you came.”
What’s with his attitude? The prick.
She holds up a hand so I stay quiet.
“Joey’s dead,” she says.
He doesn't reply—in fact, he doesn’t look all that surprised—just steps back and lets us inside.
The stench of stale cigarette smoke is overpowering. A white porcelain ashtray next to a threadbare couch is overflowing with butts, and the walls are tinged with yellow from the smoke. A haze of it blurs the air.
A platinum blond woman with sun-damaged skin dressed in a stained T-shirt and tiny shorts comes in from what appears to be the kitchen. She skates her gaze over Sadie and focuses on me. She actually licks her lips.
Man, in her dreams. I feel like I need a tetanus shot just looking at her.
Sadie’s dad drops onto the couch, which squeaks beneath his heavy load. He clearly hasn’t exercised in years—his beer belly tells the tale. Is he trying to kill himself with bad habits?
“Rainey,” Curt tells the woman, “get me a beer.”
Sadie tenses beside me but doesn’t say anything to her father about the beer at ten in the morning.
“How’d you hear about Joey?” Curt finally asks.
“Coroner called me.”
Interesting. The coroner didn’t call Sadie. We heard it from Peterson. But perhaps Sadie doesn’t want to tell her father she’s a cop.
Curt doesn’t offer us a place to sit, and Sadie doesn’t move from inside the doorway. We’re not staying long. Good. I feel like I need to take a bath in penicillin already.
Rainey returns and hands Curt a can of Schlitz. She grabs a cigarette packet from under her butt, pulls out a smoke, and lights it.
Sadie clears her throat. “Do you know why Joey might’ve been on Bridger land?”
Curt perks up and wipes his mouth with his forearm after he takes a swig from his beer can. “Bridger? You mean that rich fucker?”
Sadie nods.
“Last I saw Joey, he was working for a freight company. Said he got a new assignment. A big one.” Curt flicks his gaze to me. “Who the hell are you?”
“Bodyguard,” I say. No way in hell am I telling him who I am. Or what I am to his daughter.
Curt grunts. “How’d he die?”
Sadie shrugs. “We don’t know yet.”
“Then why the hell are you here? If you don’t have money or something, we’ve got nothing to talk about.”
I set my hand on Sadie’s shoulder to remind her she’s not alone. I don’t want her in this fucker’s company a second longer than she needs to be, family or not.
“Did he leave any stuff here?” she asks.
I never thought of that. This place is tiny. An old miner’s shack or something. No way her dad and brother both fit in this place, especially if Rainey lives here too.
“In the garage. He left a pile behind. Not sure the condition it’s in.”
Sadie eyes her father, who’s lighting a cigarette of his own. “I’ll go see what he left.”
“Take it, otherwise it’ll go to the dump.”
Rainey climbs in Curt’s lap, her gaze never straying from me. She sticks out her tits—clearly outlined since she’s not wearing a bra—and winks at me.
Using my hold on Sadie’s shoulder, I turn her around and steer her outside. I ensure the door is shut behind us.
We both take deep breaths. We’ll have to wash our clothes to get the scent of smoke out.
“Back there.” She points around the back of the house.