Read Online At Risk of Being a Fool by Jeanette Cottrell - Free Book Online Page B

sent up when I did. Only he got sent to the pen.” He jerked his thumb to the east. “He was some older than me, got tried as an adult. He jumped the wall on a work release thing a few months back. Shit, you’d think they’d know he’d run. Work release,” he snorted in disgust. “Anyway, cops called me, checking up on all his homeys, see if he called us. But I haven’t heard from him since we got caught.”
    “Uh huh,” said Mackie, a certain reservation in her voice.
    Ricardo shot her a look. “Yeah, well, he sure don’t fit into my life now, and that’s a fact. I got no room for that kind of risk. Thing is, I figured he headed for Vegas, or L.A. or something, long gone, no problem. But with that bomb Saturday, I got to thinking. He wasn’t just the easiest guy to get along with.” His eyes flicked around the room, settled on Mackie, jerked away. “Look, Mackie, just keep an eye on Quinto for me. And you, too, Jeanie? My bro, he’s not, he’s—” He stood up, and hooked his thumbs into his belt. “He’s an artist, he’s got no . . .” He loosed his hand, and swung it up into the air helplessly.
    “No survival skills,” Mackie said.
    He exhaled. “That’s it. That’s it, right on. I keep wondering, what if Matt grabs Quinto, gives him some shit story. Matt’d sucker him right in.” He shook his head. “This is nuts, he’s gone, he’s off in Mexico for all I know. It’s just, I got to thinking. That’s why I called you a few days ago, figured I’d ask. Then I couldn’t say it, and you asked me down, and I figured, what the hell. Made more sense to talk to you face to face. So just, kind of, watch out for my bro, will you? He don’t always got good sense.”
    “No problem,” said Mackie.
    Ricardo looked at Jeanie, questioningly.
    “Absolutely,” said Jeanie.
    Ricardo sighed. “Great, that’s good. You call me if he gets into something, I’ll come down and shake him up. It bugs me, him being so far away. I get down to see him a good bit, but what’s an hour or two a week? You got a better chance than I do, keeping tabs on him.”
    “Jeanie does. I don’t, not so much.”
    “Right, I figured. And Mackie, maybe you’d talk to Danny for me? Ask him the same? I couldn’t catch him right now, the kid would’ve seen it.”
    “Sure thing,” said Mackie, warmly reassuring.
    Ricardo clapped a hand on Jeanie’s shoulder, and the other on Mackie’s, grinning his relief at them. Jeanie hid her surprise. He’d even overcome the “never touch” rule. Perhaps Quinto would too, in time.
    “We’ll watch out for Quinto,” she vowed. “Never you fear.”
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Sorrel’s fingers shook as she wrote on the tablet in sprawling letters. One box of file folders, almost full; one and a half boxes of pencils; a bunch of printer cartridges. Mechanically, she looked at Carol’s list of printers, hunting for spare cartridges for each one. It was stupid, all those different kinds of printers. Why couldn’t they use the same kind? Or use that big laser printer down the hall? But no, Carol had a printer. Hilda had a printer, hauled down from the judge’s office. Most of those anal-retentive types down the hall had printers, and they were all different.
    God, she couldn’t think. What the hell was she going to do?
    She lined up the cartridges on the counter, sorted them, and started again.
    “Are you all right, Sorrel?” asked Dorrie, resting a hand on her shoulder.
    Sorrel slid out from under it. She closed her eyes and throttled down the anger. Dorrie didn’t mean anything. She was trying to be nice. “I’m fine. Thanks.” Sorrel had to force out the words.
    “Boy, doesn’t the security get to you? Seems like every time I head to the restroom, they’re running that metal detector over me.” Dorrie’s laugh floated over her shoulder as she ran her fingers over the shelves of file books. “I told that one cop, John, his name is. I said look, if I wanted to kill Hodges,