Read Online Dead Money by Ray Banks - Free Book Online Page A

as close as I could.
    I popped the boot and sat with it open for a minute, letting the fresh air and water get to it. I was in no hurry to get back out there. I'd been drenched enough and I was starting to stink worse than the dog. Cold sweat had crusted in the small of my back. The rest of me was covered in what smelled and felt like a thick crust of hair, blood and mildew.
    Looking this bedraggled might help my case with Cath, but I liked the suit and I wished I'd brought a coat.
    A sudden gust of rain lashed across the windscreen so loud it sounded like hail. I snapped awake. My stomach twitched, and I remembered what I was supposed to be doing.
    The weather was a shotgun blast to the face. I squinted against an ice-cream headache and groped my way along the side of the car. My hands were numb by the time I reached the boot and ducked my head under. Rain dripped off my nose, and when I sniffed it back, I caught a whiff of the dog into the bargain. It hadn't got any fresher.
    This was going to be tricky. I didn't need to test the path to know it was slippery, so I didn't fancy risking it with the dog.
    Needs must, Alan.
    I slid my hands under the dog and hauled it out of the boot. Swear to God, it had turned into a fucking sponge on the way over here. Either I was a lot weaker than I'd been a half hour ago, or else Fido here had soaked up enough water to keep an African village going for a week. I buckled at the knees as I brought it out, scraping against the back of the car. I struggled to keep upright, didn't feel the dog slipping out of my hands until its head was almost touching the ground. I went off-balance trying to catch the bugger, ended up with one knee in a puddle. As I felt the water soak through what was left of a pretty nice suit, I let the dog fall to the ground. Rain beat down on the back of my neck. I must've looked like I was about to propose.
    "Fuck it. Fuck it."
    I staggered up and back a few steps, soaked to the bone.
    Something gnawed at the inside of my stomach. I kept my lips pressed tight together to hold in the scream that was building in my chest.
    This ... fucking ... just ...
    Counting to ten didn't work. The tide was already on the way back to crash against the rocks.
    I looked down at the dog. It looked back up at me with one glassy eye.
    "What the fuck are you looking at, eh?"
    I kicked it once. Felt as if I'd stubbed my toe so I kicked it again, harder this time. And before I knew it I'd kicked six out of twenty-five ribs to splinters and I'd staggered back a few steps. I leaned on my knees, my breath a rasp in my throat. I wiped my nose and coughed up a lump of something that tasted more like bile than phlegm. I spat it at the dog.
    I needed a drink.
    So I left the dog where it lay, slumped back behind the wheel of the Rover and drove home. Cath opened the front door before I got a chance to put key to lock.
    "Oh my God, what happened to you?"
    "I told you." I kicked off my shoes and went past her into the flat. "I had an accident."
    "In the rain?"
    I peeled off my sopping jacket and looked for somewhere to throw it. "It's raining, yes."
    She took the jacket from me and held it at arm's length. "You need a shower."
    "Thank you, yes."
    And that was the last we spoke for a while. I stood under the shower until I was pink and raw from head to foot, and Cath tossed me a fresh towel to dry myself off. When I came out of the bathroom, she'd poured me a brandy.
    "How you feeling?" she asked.
    "I've been better." I sat down on the sofa next to her and reached for the drink.
    "So what happened?"
    "I hit a dog."
    "With the car?"
    I looked at her. She was serious. For someone on her pay grade, she could be dense sometimes. "Yes, with the car. It came darting out in front of me. It was raining, I couldn't swerve."
    She frowned. "Did you kill it?"
    "Not like it was premeditated, Cath."
    "I know."
    "Not like I went out tonight looking for something to run over." I said. "I mean, Jesus, you should see what