Page 45 of Bait and Switch
Elton was quiet for several minutes, clearly going over what Stevens had told them and probably trying to figure out what he hadn’t. Gabe sipped his too-cold coffee and waited.
Finally, Elton spoke. “What do you think about going to have a chat with Kelly Perkins?”
“Who’s that?”
“Calvin and Dwayne’s mother, Rizzi’s sister. I should probably drop by and give her my condolences anyway, even if I always knew those boys would come to a bad end. My thinking is that if the brothers were somehow involved and Dwayne’s death is related, she might have an idea about what it this all is, or she might not. Hard to tell with her sometimes.”
“Let’s do it. We’re just spinning wheels here anyway.”
Elton slowly rose to his feet, and Gabe could almost hear his joints popping. Bowie scrambled out from behind the recliner and headed for the door.
“You too?” Gabe said to the dog.
Bowie just looked at him with a decidedlyduhexpression.
SIXTEEN
Gabriel
Wednesday afternoon
It wasa five-minute drive from Elton’s to the Perkinses’ homestead. Elton spent every mile of it telling Gabe he needed to be on his best behavior. And when he veered right onto an overgrown gravel driveway, he said it one more time just for good measure.
“Fine,” said Gabe, raising his hands in surrender, “I get it. I’ll practice being seen and not heard.”
“She’s … volatile.”
“I never would have guessed,” grumbled Gabe, “considering the way her sons are so calm, cool, and collected.”
Obscured by trees and shrubs at first, the driveway opened up after about five hundred feet to reveal not a single house, but a compound of three. Closest to Gabe and Elton squatted a mid-century single-story home, overseeing the other two structures.
The owners had missed the memo about regular maintenance, not a surprise after theDeliverance-styledriveway. Two older mobile-ish homes had been squeezed in on the back of the property, and they didn’t look like they were in any better condition. Dingy was the nicest word that came to mind. One of them had a motorcycle parked out front, and from the parts strewn around it, Gabe figured the bike didn’t run.
Most of the time, Gabe knew better than to judge a book by its cover, but damn, these folks were making it difficult. Very, very, difficult.
“Tell me this is one of those beauty-is-on-the-inside situations.”
Elton stopped his truck next to a shiny white Lexus and set the parking brake.
“Remember what I told you,” he said, giving Gabe a hard stare.
“Behave, Gabe,” he parroted. “You’d think I was twelve, not coming up on forty-five. Did Casey get to you when you went to the dentist the other day? Honestly, what have I ever done that indicated I can’t behave myself? When it’s absolutely necessary, I can.”
Elton stared at him again, longer and harder this time. “Just behave. She’s not going to make it easy for either of us.”
It occurred to Gabe as they crossed the lawn toward the front door that he hadn’t asked what their approach would be or how they were going to go fromcondolences on your son being found shot deadtodo you know what the hell is going on around here and whyorthere’s an epidemic of death and could it have anything to do with the current fuckery.
“Fine, I promise that I’ll follow your lead.”
“See that you do.”
The door opened after the first knock. Gabe figured Kelly must’ve heard them coming and been watching them through the drab curtains that effectively kept any natural light from making its way inside the house.
The woman in front of them was likely in her mid- to late-fifties. The phrase “rode hard and put away wet” came to mind and had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with life in general.
“Elton Cox, what are you doing here?” Her somewhat bleary gaze moved to Gabriel, assessing him in a way he found distinctly uncomfortable. “And who’s your friend?”
Without answering, Elton stepped inside, moving past Kelly Perkins as if she’d invited him in for tea. Gabe followed. When in Rome and all.
