Page 16 of Lord Have Mercy Part Four: Big Son

“Good. Awesome. But.” She took a deep breath, and Barbara lifted a hand – it was a soothing gesture. “Do you know anything? About Boyle? About where Remy might be?”

Barbara said, “I might know something.”

Six

“You know Felix Lécuyer, right?”

Colin O’Donnell slammed his locker shut and whirled around in an obvious display of panic. “Uh, what?” His dark gaze narrowed. “Who are you?”

He looked bigger up close. Taller, broader. At this distance, Harlan could see the uneven shave on his jaw, and smell the ripeness of a young man beneath his slathering of Speed Stick deodorant.

Harlan’s tongue went thick, and clumsy, and everything he’d planned to say evaporated in that sudden, shocking moment of attention, though he’d asked for it. He took a few deep, squealing breaths while Colin stared him down, and his face got stern, and Harlan became afraid that Colin might hit him for no reason.

“Um!” He threw his hands up, shielding his face.

“Dude,” Colin said, with clear disdain. “Chill.”

Harlan wanted to walk away. Colin was so cool. Cooler than Harlan ever could be. He was wearing an AC/DC shirt and his leather jacket with all the grommets. Was looking down at Harlan – God, he was so tall, so broad – like Harlan was nothing more than an insect in his path.

“Um,” Harlan tried again. “Aren’t you friends with Felix?”

Colin darted a look around the hall. “Um. Not really.” His posture indicated he was about to walk off any moment.

“But,” Harlan said, too loud. A gaggle of sophomore girls at their lockers glanced over, curious. “Um. Do you know him?”

“Yeah?” Colin shrugged his backpack higher and sent him a skeptical look. “Why do you wanna know? He’s a loser.”

“I just…” Harlan hadn’t planned on Colin speaking to him, so he didn’t know what to do now. “Um. I was wondering. Could you…” Oh, God, this was so dumb. Fuck. “Introduce me to him?”

Colin gaped. Then he coughed, and glanced around the hall. Then he grew serious, when he realized Harlan wasn’t running. “Yeah, but, why the fuck?”

Why was a good question. But Harlan wasn’t going to reveal as much. He said, “I’ve seen him around. I’m just curious.” Then, since Colin was wavering: “He seems really cool. Hunting gators and all that.”

Colin’s face transformed. He sneered. Even hawked and spat on the school hallway floor. “He’s nothing. His mom’s an actual whore.”

Harlan felt punched. “What?”

The bell rang. Colin glanced away, distracted. “Like, his mom’s totally a madam. Whatever.” Then he walked away.

But Harlan asked around.

And asked, and asked.

When he finally found her, and got through her doorwoman, Dee was more than accommodating.

“Oh, you’re a young one,” she purred, when Harlan walked into her bedroom. “Come here, let me look at you. Oh, you’ll do fine.”

He wound up on his back, with her astride him, and she was talented. Rode him like she was riding in the Kentucky Derby.

After, she lit a cigarette at her dressing table, and said, “It’s an extra hundred for the cuddling.”

“Are you Felix’s mother?” he asked.

She paused, then took a deep drag, and gave him a sharp look. “What?” she asked, in the tone of someone who already knewwhat.

“Felix Lécuyer. You’re his mother, right?”

She snorted, and took a long drag. “I don’t know what you’re–”

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