Hector

Chris Eisner

Description

Gabriel is dead. Zooey is missing. Stevenson's war with the Reeves crew was over, or so he thought, but they found out his identity. And so did the police. Stevenson sets out to find Zooey, and the man that killed his family decades ago. But the man reveals more than what happened that fateful afternoon--a betrayal so vile that no one man can be held responsible. Baltimore has stolen from him for the last time. The city will never be the same.

Sujets

• Thriller

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 05 décembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506901817
• Langue: English

Extrait

HECTOR

ChrisEisner
Hector
Copyright ©2016 Chris Eisner

ISBN 978-1506-901-82-4 PRINT
ISBN 978-1506-901-81-7 EBOOK

LCCN 2016935906

September 2016

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this bookpublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted inany form or by any means ─ electronic, mechanical, photo-copy, recording, orany other ─ except brief quotation in reviews, without the prior permission ofthe author or publisher.

A portion of this book’s sale will bedonated to K9s for Warriors, a non-profit organization that provides servicedogs for veterans with PTSD and TBI. For more information, please seewww.k9sforwarriors.org.

About the cover: Samuel Silva has used avariety of mediums, most notably BIC ballpoint pens. He is based in London.

About the editor: Porter Shreve was bornand raised in the Washington, DC area. His book, The Obituary Writer, was a NewYork Times Notable Book. He resides in San Francisco with his wife and twochildren. For more information, see www.portershreve.com.
Every man who is truly aman must learn to be alone in the midst of all others, and if need be againstall others.

—RomainRolland
ForJoshua and Amanda
1



Stevenson waited in the alleyway next toDarrens' house hours after nightfall and no one had passed by. Rats occasionallyscurried between his feet and a lone bat buzz-bombed him but the street andsidewalk were empty of pedestrians or cars, parked or driving. He stood againstthe wall halfway back, Zooey's car keys in his hand. He held them tight, a keypoking out between each finger, not wanting to hear the familiar jingle onlythey made. Driving her car without her in it made every traffic light longerthan it should have been. Her hair tie was wrapped around the gear shift, herraven hair tangled throughout, and a few strands had somehow gotten around thekeys.
Just keep making mehappy. That's all I want from you.
Just before midnight,Darrens walked past, and Stevenson crept up behind him.
“Who the—” was allDarrens got out. Stevenson cupped his mouth and dragged him backwards to thealley, barely needing both arms to do it.
“Shut up,” Stevensonhissed through clenched teeth. He felt a gun in Darrens' waistband and pulledit out, recognizing the .38's grip. He dropped it and spun Darrens around bythe shoulders, pulling him nose-to-nose. Darrens sighed, smirked, and Stevensonlet him go.
“What the fuck youwant?” Darrens backed up against the wall and patted down the bunched upwrinkles on his coat, hands trembling.
“I need your help.”
Darrens looked up anddown the alley. “Thought you was done? You told me,” voice deepening, “ it'sover .”
Stevenson leaned againstthe wall. “It's not.”
“How's your face?”
Stevenson said it wasfine, not to worry about it. He traced the peeling wound adhesive on his templeFolger had placed hours before, looking at the man who had put the wound thereto begin with. He thought he'd never see Darrens again, thought he could escapethe city's grasp with the Girl from the Lab. Live out the rest of their days onthe Green with Carminda and Gabriel. Teach her how to ride Hector. Maybe getGoddard Quarry up and running again.
“Glad you're carryingthat,” Stevenson said, pointing to the dark ground where the .38 lay somewhere.
“Got to. Been sometalk.”
“About?”
“About shit going down.Knott and them acting strange so most of us are packing. We ain't supposed tobut fuck it. I don't know what all they wrapped up in but I ain't getting tookout on account of their stupid asses.”
“You're still workingfor them?”
“Ain't got a choice.Tried to tell you that.”
Darrens. Gaunt, even inthe dark. Running jacket with a hooded sweatshirt, the hood barely on. Pants onproper, belted. Boots tied tight. It was the uniform of the Reeves crew. Noflash. Nothing to look twice at. Just another man on the street, wandering.
“It's me.” Stevensontook a few steps down the alley, his back to Darrens. He watched the streetlampflicker on the corner. It had gone off and on all night but the flicker seemedto be its last breath. Collins stood under it, staring back, M16 at low-ready.
You gon' kill him too,Bulldog?
Stevenson said, “Theyfigured it out.”
“How?”
“They don't know aboutyou. I'm sure of that.” He turned around. “That thing with Knott being in thehospital?”
“Tink said he had ahernia.”
“It was no hernia.”Stevenson stepped forward until he could see Darrens' face. “What did you hearabout the dog fight?”
“At Stillman Point?Bunch of foolishness. There was a fire. People got thrown out the top floor.”
“Anything about a maskedman?”
Darrens looked away,nodding slowly. “Pup said something about a man with a pink suit and a mask. Sodid Tink.”
Stevenson took the gasmask from inside his bomber jacket and handed it over. Darrens turned it aroundso the eyepieces were looking back at him.
“Did you ever get a lookat Adrian's hand?”
Darrens nodded andStevenson produced a Ziploc bag from his pocket. He put it on top of the maskbut Darrens wouldn't look at it. Kept staring up at Stevenson.
“They killed my friend,”Stevenson said. “The police weren't doing anything about his death. Just likeyour brother. Forgotten.”
“Why they want to killyour friend?”
Stevenson told him aboutthe Felix Knott malpractice suit, all the while thinking of the indentation ofFelix Knott's multiple signatures on the notepad in Coleman's office. When hefinished, Darrens stole a glance at the thumb, a pale prune surrounded incondensation. Darrens handed it all back, then rubbed his hands on his jeans.Stevenson tucked it away.
“They've killed anotherfriend of mine and they've taken my girl.”
Darrens cocked his head,squinted one eye. “Your girl?”
Stevenson nodded.
Darrens said, “Lastdrop-off I did, Knott just got off the phone with this dude named Apollo. Saidsomething about a bait dog. About taking her somewhere. Didn't say nothingabout killing nobody.”
“Taking her where?”
“I don't know. Just saidthere was a dog, like Pup said, and they took her. When they said her, I thinkthey meant a person."
Stevenson reached in thejacket and took out a pack of Marlboros. He had bought them and a box of Bergercookies before he and Lamb had visited Metal Church. No reason for the purchaseat the time, but his hands manipulated the pack without looking at it. He litup and put the pack away.
Darrens said, “ThatApollo, he's nothing but the devil, and I don't mean some broke-ass stickup boyneither. Him and his crew is straight up evil. I seen them once and I didn'tfeel right for a week. The girl that ride with them? Damn. I mean just...damn.”
“What do they looklike?”
Darrens described them,two men and a woman.
“The big one got thedreads and the little one, he's dark. Got a gold tooth.”
“With a champagneglass?”
“Yeah. You seen him?”
The night of Coleman'smurder, staff members were being interrogated all over the Pit. One thing theyall kept saying about the killer: gold front tooth, with a bubbling champagneglass on it.
Stevenson said, “Do youknow where I can find Knott? Right now?”
“Naw. I don't meet upwith them 'til tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“On the corner ofquadrant 3 at noon. Tink said don't nobody go to Bean Street. They'll drop offat the quadrants for the week.”
“Why can't you go toBean Street?”
Darrens shrugged, saidhe didn't know.
Stevenson stepped on therevolver and he picked it up, rubbing alley dirt off. He unlatched the cylinderand whipped it with his wrist. Three bullets were missing.
“I gave this to youfully loaded.”
“I was practicing.”
Darrens made a gun withhis fingers, pointing down the alley, as if to prove himself. Stevenson handedthe revolver back. Told him to be careful.
Darrens said, “Hate totell you this, but she's dead if they got her. Or she wishes she was dead.”
Stevenson sprangforward. Darrens, revolver in hand, froze.
“Don't say that.” Heclenched Darrens' shoulder. He was seconds ahead of present time and saw TommyDarrens in a heap in the alleyway, no breath visible in the cold air.
“Sorry, yo.” Darrensstill held the revolver down. “I'm just telling you from experience. Ain't nopoint in hoping for the best. I quit that a long time ago.”
Stevenson let go butheld his ground and still Darrens kept the revolver pointed away. WhenStevenson took a step back, Darrens tucked it in his waistband.
Stevenson flicked hiscigarette and headed out.
“Where you going?”Darrens asked.
Stevenson glanced athim, kept walking.
Darrens stood at themouth of the alley. “If I don't see you,” he said.
Stevenson stopped. Thesidewalk was flat cookie dough under the three-quarter moon, dotted with clumpsof dirty snow. The streetlight had gone out for good, but Collins was stillthere, in the shadows. His chin straps swayed in the breeze, fluid dripping offthe tips.
“Thanks,” Darrens said.
“We're not finished yet,you and I.”
They didn't speak. Stoodthere for some time but didn't say a thing.
2



“I don't know what else I can tell you,”the nurse said, flopping into the chair at one of the desks in the doctor'soffice. She took one of a half-dozen pens from her hair bun and held it likeshe was going to write down whatever the detectives said. “Other than I've beenhere for thirteen hours and I was supposed to be off an hour ago.”
“Rough night?” Viterelloasked, eyeing the office's innards.
“I just removed twoweek’s worth of stool from somebody that ended up dying, then had to tell theirwife that the most important person in her world was gone. Know what she did?”
“What?”
“She spit on me.”
Watkins shut the doorand leaned back on it, draping her coat over her arm. Viterello sat at theother chair, looking the nurse over. She was his age, tired, the kind of tiredignored for decades while the body did what it was told, trudgi