Read Online Gone Cold by Douglas Corleone - Free Book Online Page B

I go over and present him with the photo?”
    I shook my head. “Not right away. And not alone. Too risky. Think maybe you can lure him outside?”
    “I can try.”
    “Let’s call that plan A, then.”
    “And plan B?”
    “I’ll let you know plan B soon as I think of it.”
    *   *   *
    Twenty minutes later, Zoey was alone in the back corner booth with Kinny Gilchrist. I was anxious for her to draw him outside so that he and I could have a word, but she seemed to be enjoying his company, which shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Ashdown notwithstanding, my sister clearly had a thing for bad boys. The younger the better.
    Finally I glimpsed her lift a pack of cigarettes off the table and motion toward the door. Kinny shook his head, wrapped his bony arm around her bare shoulders, and dug a platinum Zippo out of his tracksuit. I glanced at the bartender, who seemed to be paying them no mind—even as the kid lit Zoey’s cigarette a foot or two below a conspicuous sign that read: NAE SMOKIN OR YER OOT ON YER ARSE .
    Enough, I thought. I need to move things along.
    I drained my pint of Tennent and abandoned my barstool. But just as I started toward the corner booth, the Gilchrist kid stood up and signaled a couple of his boys. Then he turned toward the restrooms. One of his boys, the brawnier of the two, followed him to the toilet. The other took Gilchrist’s seat in the booth beside my sister.
    I continued toward her. As soon as the Gilchrist kid vanished behind the door marked BOG , I leaned across the table and said, “My apologies, Miss. But do you happen to have an extra smoke? I left mine at home, under the delusion that I’d actually be able to abstain for a few hours. But I’m a lost cause. Now I’m afraid it’s either bum one or head home early.”
    With the lit cigarette clasped between her lips, Zoey lifted the pack to offer one to me. But the boy pressed her hands back down to the table and said, “That last part sounds like an idea, mate. Have a safe ride home an’ all.”
    As I leaned in a bit closer, my eyes instinctively narrowed. Calmly I said, “Nothing against you, but I think the decision is hers. Mate.”
    His hands moved away from Zoey’s and clenched into fists, his nails biting into his palms. In the vicinity of his left temple, a prominent vein pulsed. The outer corner of his left eye twitched. I could see in his gaze that he was fantasizing about doing violence to me.
    He said, “Naw so long as she’s sitting in Kinny Gilchrist’s booth, it ain’t.” His Scottish burr apparently swelled with his sense of indignation.
    I leaned in closer still.
    “Who the fuck,” I said slowly, raising the volume of my voice with each syllable, “is Kinny Gilchrist?”
    Several of the surrounding patrons fell silent at the mere mention of the Gilchrist name.
    I waited as the young Scot took my measure, his lips curling up in a canine snarl, revealing a set of rotting teeth and an advanced case of gingivitis.
    The answer to my question finally came from just over my shoulder.
    “ I am, aren’t I?”
    I straightened my body and half turned to look into the kid’s eyes. I sensed fire behind them but little else. Thought, The hell with it . If Zoey can’t get the little prick outside, I will.
    “Well, Kinny,” I said, “you might choose your friends more wisely. Wouldn’t want someone sullying your good name now, would we?”
    He took the bait, stuck his skeletal face in mine. “Do you not ken who you’re fucking with? Or are you totally mental?”
    He was grinding his teeth, though I wasn’t sure whether it was a physical manifestation of his anger or a result of the lines of coke he’d just snorted in the men’s room.
    “Look,” I said, “I came over here to bum a cigarette. But if it’s a fight you want, why don’t we step outdoors?”
    His face drained of color. Beads of sweat formed on his upper lip, which had started to tremble. He didn’t understand how someone