Read Online BLACK in the Box by Russell Blake - Free Book Online Page B

I’d say it’s the smartest thing I can do.”
    “Honey, it’s almost Christmas…”
    “I know. The first Christmas of my new life without you and your stinkpot cat.”
    Black cursed silently. “I forgot all about Mugsy.”
    “You ever notice you forget about most things that don’t involve you, you, you? You should be used to it by now. Anyone relying on you finds that out the hard way sooner or later.”
    “Sylvia, come on. Let’s not do this over the phone…”
    “Black, I’m flying home tomorrow. We’re done. It’s over.”
    “What? Sylvia!”
    “You heard me.”
    She waited for him to say he was coming home, not to leave, that they could work it out.
    “Don’t do this,” Black said. “I can’t leave right now, but sweetheart, please don’t do this. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
    Black listened as the line clicked and his phone beeped. “She hung up on me,” he whispered to himself in disbelief. He pressed speed dial as he headed back to the front of the store to retrieve Mugsy from the car. The call went to voice mail.
    He tried again with the same result. This time he left a message. “Sylvia, please. Calm down. Don’t do anything stupid. I mean, rash. Don’t do anything rash. Call me when you get this.” He paused as he neared Mary’s station. “I…I don’t want to lose you.”
    Even as he disconnected, he shook his head at his inability to voice anything more meaningful than his fear of losing her. Maybe she was right to ditch him. Maybe she’d be better off without him.
    Maybe she’d seen him accurately and didn’t like the image.
    Mary looked up as he neared, startled. He took in again how anxious she seemed, but shook it off.
    “Can you open the front door? My cat’s in the car. It’s way cooler in here.”
    “Oh. Certainly,” Mary said, standing.
    Black noticed she had sweat on her forehead in spite of the air-conditioning. “Are you feeling all right?”
    “What? Why?”
    “You look a little green.”
    “To be honest, I haven’t slept a wink. I think it’s catching up to me.”
    Mary led him to the front entrance and twisted the lock open. The twin glass doors slid aside with a whoosh, and Black marched out to the Cadillac, noting that it had gotten uncomfortably warm while he’d been inside, the Santa Ana wind now hot as a blast furnace.
    Mugsy glared hate at him from the recesses of the cat carrier as he hoisted it with a grunt and carted it back to the store. When Mary saw Mugsy, she smiled for the first time since Black had met her and knelt to look into the crate.
    “Oh, my goodness! Look at you, you handsome devil. Got an appetite, huh?” She looked up at Black. “What’s his name?”
    “Mugsy. It’s probably a good thing there’s plenty of ventilation in here. One of his superpowers is the ability to silently clear a room in seconds flat,” Black said.
    “Mugsy! That’s adorable. Well, if he wants company, he can stay with me,” Mary said, eyes locked on the feline’s bloated face.
    “Forever?” Black asked hopefully.
    “Oh, I wish my apartment allowed pets. He’s a handsome prince!”
    “He’d eat you out of house and home in no time.”
    Mary trailed Black to the office he was using, and he placed Mugsy on the floor. He turned to Mary, who was hovering just outside. “Don’t worry. He’ll be fine. Back to work for me.”
    “Aren’t you going to give him some water and let him stretch his legs?”
    “It was like wrestling a bear getting him into this thing.”
    “I’m good with cats. I can water him and watch him while you’re working.”
    “No, it’s better you don’t risk it. He’s like Hannibal – it’s not safe to get within ten feet of him.”
    “He’s a butterball. Look at those eyes.”
    “You’ve been warned. He’ll be fine in the carrier for a few hours. He’s obviously got enough resources stored to last a month without eating, easy.”
    An odor like rotting corpses drifted from the crate and Black