Read Online Agnes Hahn by RICHARD SATTERLIE - Free Book Online

time to imaginary music.
    “So what did you want to ask about Re-run?” A chortle punctuated the question.
    Best to be blunt—to get to the point before her attention span expired. “Does she ever make any sense?”
    A staccato, nervous laugh shook the bed. “That’s funny.”
    “What’s funny?”
    “Make any sense. I’m not a good one to judge.” This time, she belly laughed.
    Jason watched her breasts bounce with her laughter, and had to force himself to stay on task. “Does she ever seem normal? Talk without repeating herself?”
    “Oh yeah.” She bobbed her head, further bouncing the bed. “I know what you mean. Sometimes. Right after supper. She seems different.” The exaggerated head nods continued.
    “What do you mean, different?”
    “She wants to help. Clean up. She doesn’t repeat herself. And she looks different.”
    “Looks different?”
    The woman took a long guzzle of beer and crushed the can in her hands. She threw it into the corner of the room. “You want another one?” She slid off the bed and hurried out of the room.
    “No, thank you.”
    On her return, each hand held a can. She thrust one in his direction.
    It went to the nightstand, unopened. “What did you mean when you said she looks different?”
    A lunge onto the bed and her leg jiggling intensified. “Most of the time, she smiles. She’s so nice. After supper. When she changes. She frowns.”
    “Frowns?”
    “Yeah. She looks scared. Like she isn’t sure where she is.”
    “Do you ever talk to her when she gets like that?”
    “Once. I asked her if she knew where she was.” She threw her head back and let the beer flow down her throat. A stream ran from the side of her mouth onto her shoulder. The back of her hand swabbed her mouth and partially muffled a cough.
    Jason watched a dribble of beer run onto her breast, nearly to her nipple, baiting him. Eugenia would’ve appreciated a quick lick. He had to stay on track.
    “What did she say?”
    A drip fell to her hip. “When?”
    “When you asked her if she knew where she was?”
    “Oh yeah. She didn’t answer. She looked mad.
    Like she was going to cry. It kind of scared me. I don’t talk to her anymore when she’s like that.”
    “Does she get like that every night after supper?”
    She rolled to him and arched her eyebrows. “I’m ready for another, and I don’t mean a beer. I bet I can get you up for it.”
    “No. Does she get like that every night?”
    The smile left her face. “Not every night, but most.”
    “How long does she stay that way?”
    “Most of the time, only a minute or so. Sometimes ten minutes. No more than that.” A loud laugh. “That’s all I’m saying. Any more conversation comes with another payment.” She reached and grabbed his crotch.
    He pushed her hand away. “I’ll settle for your name.”
    “Uh huh.”

CHAPTER 11
    J ASON PUSHED ON THE GAS PEDAL, AND THE H ONDA RE sponded with a slight thrust of acceleration. He let it slide up, ten past the speed limit, and held it there. On his better days, cleverness was a trait he checked off near the top of his list of positive attributes. The last two days were among his best.
    To stay off Bransome’s radar, he needed a different car. The budget for the job couldn’t accommodate a rental. Wrangling the keys to Agnes’s Honda was a major coup, even if he had it for this one trip. He looked down—under twenty-two thousand on the odometer. A faint hint of new car smell wafted from some untouched, undisturbed corner of the upholstery. Not bad for a latenineties Japanese import.
    He relaxed back into the seat and held down the button to the driver’s side window. A jealous sky hid the sun behind gray clouds that stretched between horizons like a wall-to-wall carpet. The soothing smell of the ocean rushed in, like a breaker, and churned around him. With no risk of a revenge-based speeding ticket, the stiff breeze of illegality further puffed his chest with pride.
    Yesterday, Jason