Read Online Devil Red by Joe R. Lansdale - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Joe R. Lansdale
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hat.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Et tu?” Leonard said.
“Now he’s trying to show some education,” I said.
Marvin just looked at him.
Leonard slowly removed the hat and placed it on his knee. “All my life people have been jealous of me.”
“Keep tellin’ yourself that,” Marvin said. “So, what June told you, it’s pretty much right. We’ll just have to take her word on her brother and the toy train.”
“Oh, man,” I said. “That was something I could have gone to my grave without knowing.”
Marvin nodded. “Yep. Me too. What June didn’t tell you, and probably doesn’t know, but what my phone calls just found out, is about two weeks ago, Evil Lynn, real name Ray Lynn Gonzello, Godzilla to June, had a prisoner start somethin’ with her over who knows what. Godzilla beat her down like she was tenderizin’ meat. Then she challenged a fellow ass-whipped prisoner to cut her. Let her get to the shiv she’d just taken away from her. Wanted to show her that it wouldn’t hurt. That any wound she got would heal. That she was in fact a vampire.”
“Uh-oh,” Leonard said. “This isn’t going to end well.”
“On the nosey,” Marvin said. “Fact was she didn’t heal up at all. Got stabbed under the armpit and bled out faster than you could say ‘Oh, shit. I’ve been stabbed under the arm and it hurts like a motherfucker.’ According to what I got here, Godzilla had some actual last words.”
“I’m guessin’,” said Leonard, “it’s not the stuff about ‘Oh shit, I’ve been stabbed under the arm.’ ”
“Kind of sad, really,” Marvin said. “She said, ‘I’m just a girl.’ ”
“Nothing like experience to put things into perspective,” I said.
“What I’m thinkin’,” Marvin says, “is every day she’s eating crappy food in the cafeteria, and she’s not suckin’ blood—I don’t think—and she’s behind bars like a zoo animal, no vampire powers at work, and she still didn’t get it. That’s the part amazes me.”
“The knife was the only kind of explanation she understood,” I said.
“Now here’s some more CliffsNotes. A year back, Trip, real name Tammy Trip, the vampire’s assistant, was found dead in her apartment, hanging from a doorway. Drove a big nail there, attached a short noose made of two woven nylon stockings, and hung herself. She was all dressed up in her best black duds. Course, according to my buddy over in Camp Rapture who works for the cops, cop who found her said she had shit herself and her tongue was hanging out so far and so thick, they thought she had a partially deflated balloon in her mouth.”
“Dressin’ up don’t help much,” Leonard said, “if you end up with shit down your legs.”
“Six months ago, one of the other girls, one who stayed in the car with Mini, name was Joan Carter, was found in her bedroom with a hypodermic needle no longer full of heroin in her arm. She had been dead a few days. Her dog ate most of one of her legs and a large chunk out of her naked ass, but was kind enough to do all his pissin’ and shittin’ in one corner of the room.”
“Leonard can’t even do that,” I said.
“Then we go back to Mini and her boyfriend,” Marvin said. “They were killed two years ago.”
“Seems like belonging to or being associated with the vampire clan brings a person bad luck,” I said.
“Yep,” Leonard said. “But I do have a suspect. Van Helsing.”
Marvin ignored that. He said, “Now, I hate to tell you this part, and I suppose when I do, Leonard, you can put the deerstalker back on. Cop over in Camp Rapture tells me that a bunch of them thought from the start the bodies of Mini and Christopher’s boy had been killed somewhere else and dumped. And it wasn’t the first time they’d seen the devil head symbol, but all of that was kept hush-hush.”
Leonard put the hat on, lounged loosely in his chair. “Yeah, baby,” he said.
“So the cops weren’t as stupid as we
“Thank you,” I said.
“Et tu?” Leonard said.
“Now he’s trying to show some education,” I said.
Marvin just looked at him.
Leonard slowly removed the hat and placed it on his knee. “All my life people have been jealous of me.”
“Keep tellin’ yourself that,” Marvin said. “So, what June told you, it’s pretty much right. We’ll just have to take her word on her brother and the toy train.”
“Oh, man,” I said. “That was something I could have gone to my grave without knowing.”
Marvin nodded. “Yep. Me too. What June didn’t tell you, and probably doesn’t know, but what my phone calls just found out, is about two weeks ago, Evil Lynn, real name Ray Lynn Gonzello, Godzilla to June, had a prisoner start somethin’ with her over who knows what. Godzilla beat her down like she was tenderizin’ meat. Then she challenged a fellow ass-whipped prisoner to cut her. Let her get to the shiv she’d just taken away from her. Wanted to show her that it wouldn’t hurt. That any wound she got would heal. That she was in fact a vampire.”
“Uh-oh,” Leonard said. “This isn’t going to end well.”
“On the nosey,” Marvin said. “Fact was she didn’t heal up at all. Got stabbed under the armpit and bled out faster than you could say ‘Oh, shit. I’ve been stabbed under the arm and it hurts like a motherfucker.’ According to what I got here, Godzilla had some actual last words.”
“I’m guessin’,” said Leonard, “it’s not the stuff about ‘Oh shit, I’ve been stabbed under the arm.’ ”
“Kind of sad, really,” Marvin said. “She said, ‘I’m just a girl.’ ”
“Nothing like experience to put things into perspective,” I said.
“What I’m thinkin’,” Marvin says, “is every day she’s eating crappy food in the cafeteria, and she’s not suckin’ blood—I don’t think—and she’s behind bars like a zoo animal, no vampire powers at work, and she still didn’t get it. That’s the part amazes me.”
“The knife was the only kind of explanation she understood,” I said.
“Now here’s some more CliffsNotes. A year back, Trip, real name Tammy Trip, the vampire’s assistant, was found dead in her apartment, hanging from a doorway. Drove a big nail there, attached a short noose made of two woven nylon stockings, and hung herself. She was all dressed up in her best black duds. Course, according to my buddy over in Camp Rapture who works for the cops, cop who found her said she had shit herself and her tongue was hanging out so far and so thick, they thought she had a partially deflated balloon in her mouth.”
“Dressin’ up don’t help much,” Leonard said, “if you end up with shit down your legs.”
“Six months ago, one of the other girls, one who stayed in the car with Mini, name was Joan Carter, was found in her bedroom with a hypodermic needle no longer full of heroin in her arm. She had been dead a few days. Her dog ate most of one of her legs and a large chunk out of her naked ass, but was kind enough to do all his pissin’ and shittin’ in one corner of the room.”
“Leonard can’t even do that,” I said.
“Then we go back to Mini and her boyfriend,” Marvin said. “They were killed two years ago.”
“Seems like belonging to or being associated with the vampire clan brings a person bad luck,” I said.
“Yep,” Leonard said. “But I do have a suspect. Van Helsing.”
Marvin ignored that. He said, “Now, I hate to tell you this part, and I suppose when I do, Leonard, you can put the deerstalker back on. Cop over in Camp Rapture tells me that a bunch of them thought from the start the bodies of Mini and Christopher’s boy had been killed somewhere else and dumped. And it wasn’t the first time they’d seen the devil head symbol, but all of that was kept hush-hush.”
Leonard put the hat on, lounged loosely in his chair. “Yeah, baby,” he said.
“So the cops weren’t as stupid as we
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