Read Online Repairman Jack [07]-Gateways by F. Paul Wilson - Free Book Online Page B

splashes as frogs leaped off the bank for the safety of the water. A black bird stood on the far bank, its chevroned wings spread and held toward the sun as if storing up solar power. The pond stood full and clear, its perimeter rimmed with healthy looking grass and reeds. Beyond it lay a grassy marsh that seemed to stretch forever north and south, but ended at a stand of tall cypresses about a mile due west. Jack knew it was west because the sun was dipping behind the treetops.
    He turned and checked out the front of his dad’s place. A front porch, covered but open, held a small round table and a pair of chairs, all white. Some sort of flowering vine was trying to crawl up the supporting columns. The floor of the front porch was bluestone slate. A picture window dominated the wall to the left of the door, but vertical blinds hid the interior. He pulled open the screen and tried the front door. Locked, just like the rear.
    “Here’s the key,” Anya said.
    Jack turned to find her bustling from her green lawn across his father’s brown one, a key held up in her left hand, a cigarette in her right. Oyv paced her.
    “Your last name’s Mundy?” Jack said. “Any relation to Talbot?”
    “The author? Possibly.”
    “King of the Khyber Rifles was one of my favorite books as a kid.”
    “Never read it. Here’s the key.” She pressed it into his palm.
    He waved his arm at the vista. “Looks like you two landed prime locations.”
    “Yes, quite a view. Of course, I was one of the earliest residents so I had my pick. I’m such a part of the scenery they hire me for temp work when they need help. Mostly it’s just stuffing envelopes or applying address stickers to advertising brochures. At minimum wage, I won’t get rich, but it gets me out of the house. It lets me pull a few strings, too. I helped Tom get this place when it went up for sale.”
    “Really?” He wanted to ask her why she’d do that for a stranger but didn’t know quite how to put it. “I guess he owes you for that.”
    “He owes me more than he knows.” She pointed to the jeweled watch on her wrist. “Don’t forget, hon: drinks at my place in an hour.”
    “I’ll have to take a rain check on that,” Jack said.
    “So, you don’t want to drink with an old lady? I understand.”
    “Hey, come on. That’s not it at all. I just want to check with the police on my dad’s accident. You know, find out how it happened, if it was his fault, that sort of thing.”
    She frowned. “Why?”
    “Because I want to know.”
    “Go tomorrow.”
    He shook his head. “I want to know now.”
    “Why?”
    “Because that’s the way I am.”
    She shrugged and began to turn away. “Suit yourself.”
    “Can I ask you a question?” Jack said. “Two questions, actually.”
    “Ask away, hon. Doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”
    “Okay. First thing is, how come that pond’s full and all the rest are empty?”
    “That one’s fed by an underground channel from the Everglades.”
    “The Everglades?”
    She gestured to the grassy marsh and the distant cypresses. “There it is. Thomas’s place and mine are just about as close as you can legally build to the Everglades. Next question? I don’t mean to hurry you, hon, but there’s a bottle of wine chilling on my kitchen counter and it’s calling my name.”
    “Sorry. I just want to know how you keep your grass so green in this drought.”
    “Just a knack, I guess. You could say I’ve got what they call a green thumb.”
    “Sure it’s not just a wet thumb?”
    She frowned and jabbed an index finger at him. “And if I do, so what?”
    “Nothing, nothing.” Jack held up his hands in a defensive gesture. “I just don’t want to see a good friend of my dad’s getting in trouble.”
    She relaxed and puffed her cigarette. “Well, okay. I guess it’s natural to think I’m watering. I’m not, but no one’ll believe me. Would you believe a couple of members of the board came by and threatened to turn me