Page 143 of Five Mountain Daddies

“Yep,” I say, grinning at her. “You knock on doors and people tell you to fuck off until finally someone gives you something worthwhile. It’s not fun and it’s not pretty, but itworks.”

Cora chews her lip for a second. “I don’t know how you doit.”

“You harden up,” I say. I pull her closer to me, laughing. “You’ll harden up too, you littlesoftie.”

She grins at me and pushes me away. “Whatever. Come on, I’ll knock at thisone.”

“Look at you, itching to get your feet wet.” I laugh again as I followher.

We knock on at least twenty doors before we finally get a hit. It’s a young kid, maybe ten years old with straw yellow hair cut in a bowl around his brow. He blinks and points across thestreet.

“Nancy lives there,” he says. “Why you wannaknow?”

“Thanks,kid.”

We turn away from him and head across the street. The kid lingers in the doorway until someone from the inside, probably his mother, yells for him to shut the damndoor.

Cora frowns at me, and I try to smile reassuringly. None of this is new to me, though I haven’t gone door to door like this since I was in a uniform. Now that I’m a detective, I don’t need to knock all day long, but it’s not like I’m above it or some shit like that. You just have to follow certain rules, especially in a place like the police department, where things are very strict andregimented.

The trailer we’re headed to is a little rundown, though not any more than any other trailer in the park. I take a look around the side and back, but I don’t see anything worth noting. Cora hovers around the front, looking a littleuncomfortable.

“Are you sure this is right?” she asksme.

I shrug. “Whoknows?”

“There aren’t any carsaround.”

“Yeah,” I say. “True, but that doesn’t mean nobody’s home. Will you recognizeher?”

She nods. “I know Kristi. I’ve met her once ortwice.”

“Good. I want you toknock.”

She hesitates. “Are yousure?”

“I’m sure. I’m worried she’ll just try and run if she sees me.” I grin at her. “Turns out, I look like acop.”

She laughs softly. “I guess you do.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out. “Okay. Let’sgo.”

“I’ll be right here withyou.”

I follow Cora’s lead up to the front door. I have my hand on my gun, though I try to be subtle about it. I probably don’t need to be so paranoid, but with Cora here I’m not taking anychances.

Cora knocks, and we wait. There’s no sound from the inside at first, so she knocks again, this timelouder.

I hear some movement. Cora glances back at me and knocksagain.

“What?” someone yells from the inside, a woman’svoice.

“Ma’am, this is Cora Lewis,” she calls out. “I’m looking forKristi.”

More silence, but this time I can hear something in there. People whispering to each other, sounding nervous. And then someone says loudly, “Oh, fuck it, just answer the damndoor.”

A younger woman pulls open the door and peers out at us through the screen. Cora blinks at her and smiles, but the woman doesn’t smileback.

“Hi, Kristi,” Cora says toher.

I get a good look at Kristi. She look strung out, with brunette hair streaked by blonde and bags under her eyes like she hasn’t been sleeping much. She’s wearing a gray hoodie with sparkles on the front and she has a cigarette dangling in herfingers.

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