tree.
He got up off the ground and said, âIâm beginning not to despise you.â
âNice to hear,â Decker said.
âYou didnât go inside.â
âItâs not my house,â Decker said.
âPrecisely,â Skink grumped, clomping onto the porch. âSome people wouldâve gone in anyway.â
Daylight added no nuances or definition to Skinkâs appearance. Today he wore camouflage fatigues, sunglasses, and a flowered shower cap from which sprouted the long braid of silver-gray hair.
He poured coffee for Decker, but none for himself.
âI got fresh rabbit for lunch,â Skink said.
âNo thanks.â
âI said fresh.â
âI just ate,â Decker said unconvincingly.
âHow was the funeral?â
Decker shrugged. âDid you know Robert Clinch?â
âI know them all,â Skink said.
âLanie Gault?â
âHer brotherâs the big tycoon who hired you.â
âRight.â Decker had been relieved when Ott had told him that Dennis Gault was Lanieâs brother. A husband would have been disconcerting news indeed.
Decker said, âMiss Gault thinks thereâs something strange about the way Bobby Clinch died.â
Skink was on his haunches, working on the fire. He didnât answer right away. Once the tinder was lit, he said, âGood rabbit is tough to come by. They tend to get all the way smushed and thereâs no damn meat left. The best ones are the ones that just barely get clipped and knocked back to the shoulder of the road. This one here, youâd hardly know it got hit. Meatâs perfect. Might as well dropped dead of a bunny heart attack.â Skink was arranging the pieces on a frypan.
âIâll try a bite or two,â Decker said, surrendering.
Only then did Skink smile. It was one of the unlikeliest smiles Decker had ever seen, because Skink had perfect teeth. Straight, flawless, blindingly white ivories, the kind nobody is born with. TV-anchorman-type teethâSkinkâs were that good.
Decker wasnât sure if he should be comforted or concerned. He was still thinking about those teeth when Skink said: âI was at the Coon Bog Saturday morning.â
âWhen it happened?â
âRight before.â
âThey said he mustâve been doing sixty knots when the boat flipped.â
Skink basted the sizzling rabbit with butter. He looked up and said, âWhen I saw the boat, it wasnât moving.â
âWas Clinch alive?â
âHell, yes.â
Decker said, âThen the accident must have happened after you left.â
Skink snorted.
âDid he see you?â Decker asked.
âNope. I was kneeling in the trees, skinning out a rattler. Nobody saw me.â He handed Decker a hunk of fried meat.
Decker blew on it until it cooled, then took a small bite. It was really very good. He asked, âWhat made you notice Clinch?â
âBecause he wasnât fishing.â
Decker swallowed the meat, and out came a quizzical noise.
âHe wasnât fishing,â Skink repeated, âand I thought that was damn strange. Get up at dawn, race like mad to a fishing hole, then just poke around the lily pads with a paddle. I was watching because I wanted to see if heâd find what he was looking for.â
âDid he?â
âDonât know. I left, had to get the snake on ice.â
âChrist,â Decker said. He reached into the frypan and gingerly picked out another piece of rabbit. Skink nodded approvingly.
Decker asked, âWhat do you make of it?â
Skink said: âIâm working for you, is that right?â
âIf youâll do it, I sure need the help.â
âNo shit.â The pan was empty. Skink poured the gloppy grease into an old milk carton.
âBass were slapping over that morning,â he said, âand not once did that fucker pick up a rod and cast. Do you find that
Robert Dugoni
John Hagee
Anne Saunders
Justin Woolley
Steve Cash
Robert James
Sam Wasson
W. Freedreamer Tinkanesh
Jeyn Roberts
Melissa Senate