Page 106 of Blood Moon

“Where are you now?”

“Where I told you I would be. Still parked down the block from the high school. Been here all day. I’m developing piles.”

“No sign of Bowie’s daughter?”

Some smacking, a labored sigh. “Boss, you trust me, right? So I’ve got to be honest with you. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“How’s that?”

“Has it escaped your notice that Bowie seems to beat us at every turn? It’s like… like for the last three years he’s been preparing for the day when all this between the two of you would come to a boil.”

It seemed like that to Tom also, but he would cut out his own tongue before admitting it. He said, “You’re sounding scared of him again, Frank.”

“I don’t want to step on a booby trap, is all.”

“What time does her school let out?”

“Boss—”

“Goddamn it! Stop whining and tell me what time her school gets out!”

“I swear I don’t know.”

“When it does, be there.”

“Sure. And do what?”

“Do I really have to spell it out, Frank?”

The ogre remained silent.

“Frank!Do I really need to spell it out?”

“No.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting to hear from you when it’s done.” He disconnected.

The ogre held his phone in his meaty palm and closed his fingers around it, thinking what a good idea it had been to start recording, days ago, all his conversations with Lieutenant Tom Barker.

Once John was convinced that they’d left behind the man with the hail-damaged car and weren’t being followed by anyone else, he told Beth that she could relax. Since they’d raced out of the park, she’d been keeping an eye on the passenger-side mirror and frequently turning her head to look out the back window.

“We’re okay now,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Then why do you still have your pistol?” She looked down to where he held it in his right hand resting on this thigh.

“Because I could be wrong.”

“That’s becoming a familiar and unsettling refrain,” shesaid, but she settled more comfortably in her seat. “How did you know he was there? When did you spot him?”

“He was in the waiting room of the emergency care clinic.”

She looked across at him, her jaw slack. “You didn’t let on at all.”

“Tried not to.”

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