Read Online Act of Evil by Ron Chudley - Free Book Online

garden?”
    â€œBehind the shed. I saw her when I went to get my rod . . .” Con grimaced. “Or maybe I shouldn’t tell you.”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter. I don’t care. If Mattie got rid of the gun, she’ll have done a good job. And I’m pleased as hell.”
    Fitz crushed his empty can and tossed it in the direction of the trash. With a grunt he heaved up from the sofa, stamping his cigarette underfoot. The combination of the beer and the confession seemed to have done him good. His movements were almost sprightly and he looked years younger. At the door, he turned to Con, who was still on the couch, watching him with a bemused look. “Well, come on, don’t sit around looking like a funeral, boy. No one’s dead. Leastways, not yet. Let’s go fishing.”

eight
    The City of Duncan, a hundred kilometres north of Victoria, had grown up around the E&N Railway. For much of its existence, it had remained a quiet country town. But now, Hal discovered, it had changed considerably. The center of what was once the old village had become a haven for bookstores, coffee shops, and boutiques. The area around City Hall was now a pleasant pedestrian square, with tables and hanging baskets. Nearby, the railway easement had been transformed into a park, featuring an impressive selection of native carvings.
    Hal found Fran’s Restaurant in a side street across the road from the train station. He could see it from where he parked in the square, and sat regarding the place in indecision. He wasn’t at all sure that he’d done the right thing in coming to meet his brother’s fiancée. But that message: If you care about your brother, there’s something I really need to tell you . What the hell was that about? When he’d first read it he’d been almost perturbed enough to go back to find out. But though Stephanie’s action had been strange, he’d had no feeling of anything actually wrong . Still, it was intriguing, and anyway, he’d never been able to resist a mystery. For an actor, curiosity was a necessity, since it prompted one to dig to the roots of characters and their situations. But too much of it in real life could prove hazardous, as he’d found with that business in LA that his agent had teased him about. But this wasn’t anything like that . This was his brother, for heaven’s sake, and he had to find out what was going on.
    Fran’s Restaurant was a small café with a bright green awning and a couple of trees in tubs outside. The interior was cool and not too dim, a dozen tables with yellow checkered cloths, hanging plants, and framed Audubon prints on the walls. The place was almost empty, four customers in all, none of these being his brother’s fiancée.
    Hal was surprised. Stephanie had said any time after four, meaning, presumably, she intended to wait from then on. It was now four-thirty and she wasn’t here. Had she come and gone? Or was the whole thing just some stupid . . .
    â€œOh, you came! Good!”
    Hal whirled to find his brother’s fiancée standing behind him, seeming to have appeared from nowhere. She was carrying a tray—and wearing the neat uniform of a waitress. Without another word, she led Hal to a table, fetched him coffee, moved off to check on the other customers, and finally returned and sat. Her braid was now pinned in a neat circle at the back or her head. Her broad features, in contrast to the somewhat severe uniform, were open and warmly attractive. “It’s lucky you came when you did,” she said. “We’ll start filling up soon, and then I get busy. But thanks so much for coming!”
    Hal could only stare. “So . . . this is your restaurant?”
    Stephanie looked startled. “Goodness, no. I just work here.”
    â€œYou’re a waitress ?”
    Her voice had a hint of defiance.