Read Online When Last Seen Alive by Gar Anthony Haywood - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Gar Anthony Haywood
Ads: Link
feelings hurt,” Winnie said.
“Hell, yes, I did. I couldn’t flush the toilet for a year without thinking about that fish.”
He tried to keep a straight face when he said it, but he couldn’t. One look at him, and everybody cracked up again. Worthy fell out of Winnie’s chair, he was laughing so hard.
Finally remembering what he was doing here, Gunner headed for his phone in the back, paused on his way to ask Mickey if he had any messages.
“Mrs. You-Know-Who’s called you twice,” Mickey said, a little smile on his face. “She wants to know what’s goin’ on.”
Gunner knew “Mrs. You-Know-Who” was code for Connie Everson and was sharp enough not to waste his landlord’s uncharacteristic use of discretion by speaking her name out loud. It had been almost two days now since her last visit to his office, and he hadn’t spoken to her since. Maybe a little impatience on her part was understandable at this point.
“Anybody named Sly call?” Gunner asked Mickey, hoping his new field assistant had something to report.
“Sly? Who’s that?”
“Kid I hired to do some work for me.”
“He ain’t out watchin’ the councilman, is he?”
So much for discretion, Gunner thought. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Did the boy call or not?”
Mickey shook his head, said the only calls Gunner had received were from the lady he’d already mentioned.
Gunner put a call in to Sly as soon as he reached the phone on his desk, but the boy’s mother said he wasn’t home, she hadn’t seen him all day. She sounded like the worrying type, the kind of mother who would disapprove of her son shadowing a city councilman for the sole purpose of capturing his adulterous activities on film, so Gunner just left his name and number and said a quick good-bye before she could grill him. He didn’t feel up to lying to anyone’s mother today.
His next call was a more painful one to make. He would have preferred to put Connie Everson off until he had something of substance to tell her, but he’d been doing that now for two days and she was obviously tired of being avoided. And since it wasn’t too late to stop payment on her last check …
“That’s impossible,” Everson said after he’d told her he was still waiting for her husband to hook up with the woman she wanted him found with.
“Impossible?”
“Yes, impossible. He was with her yesterday , Mr. Gunner. How could you not know that?”
“Yesterday? Where?”
“I have no idea where. But they were together, I assure you. And if you didn’t see them—”
Gunner didn’t know what to say. Why the hell hadn’t he heard from Sly Cribbs if what Everson was telling him was true?
“Believe me, Mrs. Everson, if they had been together yesterday, I’d know about it. You must be mistaken.”
“I am not mistaken. Although I may very well have been mistaken in hiring you for this job.”
“Mrs. Everson …”
“No more excuses, Mr. Gunner. I told you two weeks ago that I wanted this done quickly and efficiently, and you assured me then that you would handle it that way. Now, I don’t know if you were feeding me a line, or exaggerating your capabilities, but either way, you’re going to get me the photographs I require by this time tomorrow, or issue me a full and complete refund of my retainer. Do I make myself clear?”
“A refund? You—”
The line went dead with a loud click before he could accuse her of joking.
Which she hadn’t been, of course. Connie Everson wasn’t the kind of lady who went around making threats just to get a laugh. She was going to try and get her money back if Gunner couldn’t produce the desired results tomorrow, and a fight would ensue when Gunner told her he’d put two weeks into her husband’s surveillance and that amount of his time was going to cost her something , fruitful or not.
An ugly lawsuit seemed to loom on the horizon unless Sly Cribbs already had the pictures Gunner’s client was
“Hell, yes, I did. I couldn’t flush the toilet for a year without thinking about that fish.”
He tried to keep a straight face when he said it, but he couldn’t. One look at him, and everybody cracked up again. Worthy fell out of Winnie’s chair, he was laughing so hard.
Finally remembering what he was doing here, Gunner headed for his phone in the back, paused on his way to ask Mickey if he had any messages.
“Mrs. You-Know-Who’s called you twice,” Mickey said, a little smile on his face. “She wants to know what’s goin’ on.”
Gunner knew “Mrs. You-Know-Who” was code for Connie Everson and was sharp enough not to waste his landlord’s uncharacteristic use of discretion by speaking her name out loud. It had been almost two days now since her last visit to his office, and he hadn’t spoken to her since. Maybe a little impatience on her part was understandable at this point.
“Anybody named Sly call?” Gunner asked Mickey, hoping his new field assistant had something to report.
“Sly? Who’s that?”
“Kid I hired to do some work for me.”
“He ain’t out watchin’ the councilman, is he?”
So much for discretion, Gunner thought. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Did the boy call or not?”
Mickey shook his head, said the only calls Gunner had received were from the lady he’d already mentioned.
Gunner put a call in to Sly as soon as he reached the phone on his desk, but the boy’s mother said he wasn’t home, she hadn’t seen him all day. She sounded like the worrying type, the kind of mother who would disapprove of her son shadowing a city councilman for the sole purpose of capturing his adulterous activities on film, so Gunner just left his name and number and said a quick good-bye before she could grill him. He didn’t feel up to lying to anyone’s mother today.
His next call was a more painful one to make. He would have preferred to put Connie Everson off until he had something of substance to tell her, but he’d been doing that now for two days and she was obviously tired of being avoided. And since it wasn’t too late to stop payment on her last check …
“That’s impossible,” Everson said after he’d told her he was still waiting for her husband to hook up with the woman she wanted him found with.
“Impossible?”
“Yes, impossible. He was with her yesterday , Mr. Gunner. How could you not know that?”
“Yesterday? Where?”
“I have no idea where. But they were together, I assure you. And if you didn’t see them—”
Gunner didn’t know what to say. Why the hell hadn’t he heard from Sly Cribbs if what Everson was telling him was true?
“Believe me, Mrs. Everson, if they had been together yesterday, I’d know about it. You must be mistaken.”
“I am not mistaken. Although I may very well have been mistaken in hiring you for this job.”
“Mrs. Everson …”
“No more excuses, Mr. Gunner. I told you two weeks ago that I wanted this done quickly and efficiently, and you assured me then that you would handle it that way. Now, I don’t know if you were feeding me a line, or exaggerating your capabilities, but either way, you’re going to get me the photographs I require by this time tomorrow, or issue me a full and complete refund of my retainer. Do I make myself clear?”
“A refund? You—”
The line went dead with a loud click before he could accuse her of joking.
Which she hadn’t been, of course. Connie Everson wasn’t the kind of lady who went around making threats just to get a laugh. She was going to try and get her money back if Gunner couldn’t produce the desired results tomorrow, and a fight would ensue when Gunner told her he’d put two weeks into her husband’s surveillance and that amount of his time was going to cost her something , fruitful or not.
An ugly lawsuit seemed to loom on the horizon unless Sly Cribbs already had the pictures Gunner’s client was
Similar Books
