Page 24 of Snow Going Back

‘Oh,come on!’ Langston exclaimed.

‘Jesus, we werefifteen, Jerry!’ Mike said, joining him. ‘Areyouthe same idiot you were at fifteen? Actually, don’t answer that.’ He shot Jerry a filthy look.

‘I’ll remember that, Jerry,’ Langston said accusingly. ‘Next time I’m talking to your wife. You wait.’

Jerry opened his arms wide, a slightly panicked smile on his face. ‘Aw, come on, guys, I wasn’tserious…’

‘Shut up, Jerry,’ Mike ordered, annoyance still sharpening his tone.

‘Yeah, let Mike think,Jerry,’ Langston said, a trace of amusement in his voice now as he stepped back and folded his arms over his chest. He turned his gaze to meet Kate. ‘He’s still tryin’a figure out what’s going on here.’

‘Whichis?’ Mike asked him exasperatedly.

‘Beats me,’ Langston answered. His casual shrug and easy half smile were at odds with his intense glare. ‘I got back into town this morning and ended up crashing my truck, when some crazy tourist decided to stop in the middle of anintersection,’ he began.

Kate let out an affronted gasp at the unfair spin he’d put on the event and glared back, but kept quiet, still not exactly sure what was happening here.

‘You stop?’ Mike asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Langston – or Sam, as it appeared was his first name – gave a scornful look that clearly said,Come on, who cares about stop signs?Mike shrugged back as if to say,Well that’s your own fault then, buddy.

‘Well, that wasn’t the end of my karmic kick up the ass for it,’ Sam continued verbally. ‘Squad car rolled out from behind the bushes and there was my old friendHealy.’

‘Damn,’ Jerry said with a low whistle.

‘I wasn’t in the best mood,’ Sam admitted. ‘So he managed to book me.’

‘Ahh, he’ll dine out on that formonths,’ Mike said with disgust.

‘Yep.’ Sam took a deep breath in and released it slowly, his deep blue eyes still boring into Kate’s.

The jittery panic in her chest heightened, and she looked away, wondering why she suddenly felt likeshewas the person in the wrong. She definitelywasn’t, she reminded herself.Shewas the victim here.

‘I got out about an hour ago,’ Langston continued. ‘So Ifinallycame home, took off my jacket, walked in here to?—’

‘Thisisn’tyour home!’ Kate blurted out, jumping on the lie like a lifeline. ‘You don’t live here.’

‘What?’ he asked, seemingly shocked.

‘Lady,he lives here,’ Mike replied, looking at her like she was insane.

‘No, he doesn’t! This house is –was– Cora and William Moreaux’s house. I have no idea whereyoulive, but it’s not – it’s – it’s…’

She trailed off as her brain suddenly connected the fact that these cops had known him since adolescence, to the probability of them knowing where he lived. She bit her lip grimly and eyed him warily.

‘You livehere?’ she asked slowly.

He nodded.

‘Whoareyou?’ she asked with a frown. ‘Who were you to?—’

‘Whois he?’ Mike almost yelled in disbelief. ‘Lady, who inthe hellareyou? You come in here and stir up all sorts of crazy and then askhimwhoheis?’

There was a crackling noise, and a voice on the end of the police radio asked the officers to report in. Jerry walked out of the room to reply.

‘I-I’m the lawyer,’ Kate stuttered, feeling like a complete fool. ‘I didn’t know you existed,’ she said to Sam, hearing how lame that sounded as the words came out. ‘No one told me…’

‘Ahh, ofcourse.’ Realisation dawned on Mike’s face. ‘I completely forgot.’ He turned to Sam. ‘You’ve been away. You won’t have seen the paper.’

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