04.28.07

Mallory v1.04

Posted in Writing, Samples, Mallory at 2:47 pm by Bryan

First, the ado.

Um… I got nuthin’.  Okay, on with the show.

Pirates!  Unbestinkinlievable.  We’re looking for pirates.  And I’m pretty sure they’re not out there on the high seas flying the ol’ skull and bones, wearing eye patches, and sayin’ ”Argh” to the parrots sittin’ on their shoulders.

I shoulda told this girl to get outta my office when I had the chance.

To top it all off, any minute now the cops are going to be looking into the mysterious death of a local thug, trying to figure out how he managed to stab himself with his own knife.  For a criminal mastermind, this guy wasn’t too bright.  First he tells me everything I want to know, then he tries to take the gun away from me.  Did he think I was just a tourist?

“Have you ever killed anyone before?” Tab asked from the bed.

“Yeah.”  I didn’t look at her.  Just kept my head down studying the map.  I really hoped Tab had something under that t-shirt she was wearing.

I rubbed my brow in an effort to kickstart my brain.  Hell, maybe it was just to block the glare from the desk lamp.  Whatever.  I was getting a headache.  Truth be told, I think I was actually trying to erase the vision seared into my mind’s eye.  The blood was almost black.  Goober’d bled out in less than ten minutes.

There were four marinas on the the island.  With any luck, these guys had put into one of them recently and I’d be able to find somebody who wasn’t currently dead to talk about it.  I needed to get Chloe here.  I needed someone with experience to help with this case.  And I needed to get my mind off the fact that Tab was definitely not wearing a bra under that t-shirt.  Jeez, my head hurt.

“Do you ever get over it?”

“No.  You get used to it, but you never get over it.”

I decided to call Chloe in the morning.  She’d be pissed off that I woke her, but she’d be happy to get out of town for a while.  Then I’d take a look around the first marina, alone.  No more risks with Tab.

She was quiet.

I turned to see if she was okay, and what I saw nearly broke my heart.  She was sitting up on the bed, arms wrapped around her knees, just shivering.  Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she didn’t cry, not really.  Just shook.  I couldn’t help it.  I went to her.

Thank God she’s wearing panties, I thought.

“I was so scared,” she said.

“I know.”

“When he went at you like that…”

“I know,” I said again.

I held her tight, whispering that everything would be all right.  I hated lying to her, but she’d realize soon enough that her life would never be the same.  It’s not every day a girl stabs a guy in the liver.

Didn’t expect that, did you?  Yeah, me neither.  Can’t wait to find out what happens next. 

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