Page 101 of Road Queens
“I will never apologize for that.”
“That whole lack of remorse thing? That’s gonna keep you in prison for a looooong time.”
“I’m aware, child. But when you were here the other day, I told you Marcus Garner moved to England. Then I gave it some thought and took another look at his letters; they’re all still locally postmarked. So he either, one, utilizes a forwarding service; two, I misheard him; three, hedidgo to England but never wrote me while he was there; four, he intends to go abroad, just not in the time frame he suggested to me—”
“Or he lied.”
“Yes. My miscalculation was assuming he meant to move but hadn’t yet. But once I started pondering, I realized there could be a more sinister explanation.”
“Fuck a duck sideways!”
“Hello to you, too, Sidney. How I loathe being on speakerphone ... as I was saying, once I realized I could be in error, I utilized my phone privileges. I have two minutes left.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t even need two seconds. And your timing is amazing, gotta go, Iris, bye!” Sidney bawled.
“Mom, we’ll catch up later, and I’ll tell you the whole story—”
“What a delightful change of pace.”
“I’ll see you Friday.”
“Ah, yes, the third visit this week. You’ve broken your own record of ... one. I knew you were up to something, young lady.”
“Yep, can’t fool you, got it.” Cass disconnected. “Holy shit.”
“You’re wrong, though,” Amanda said.
“What are you talking about?” Cass asked. “It makes perfect sense.”
“What I mean is, we don’t ‘gotta go.’ And you all know why.”
There was a short silence, broken by Cassandra’s tentative, “We do?”
“Are we still pretending this isn’t an investigation?” Sidney asked, exasperated. “Because it’s definitely an investigation. Probably since the day whenever the hell this all started. So, yeah, we ‘gotta’ go. We’ve come this far; we’re sure as shit not gonna stand down now. Right?”
Amanda turned to Dave. “Please tell us you have a meeting with Marcus Garner today or an address where we can ambush—I mean, go see him.”
“He’s kind of a loner,” Dave warned.
Yeah, no doubt. And possibly a murderer.
“Why a mausoleum, though?” Cassandra asked. “That seems overdone, somehow. And why build it all these years later? And why does the September deadline matter? Wanda’s dead, she’s not going anywhere.”
“Well.” Amanda slid off her stool. “Let’s go ask him.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Sean led the way; he’d hopped in his car, and the rest followed in Sidney’s minivan.
“Thought you’d be giving your fuckbuddy another ride,” Sidney said. “No pun intended. Naw, that’s a lie, pun definitely intended.”
“I want to talk to Marcus Garner right now, not waste time working out who’s riding with whom and in what vehicle. Plus, that’s too long a drive without appropriate gear. ATGATT, right?”
“And you wanted to dish.”
“I did not, in fact, want to dish.”
“You’re pro-dish and you know it! So you might as well spill the tea on Beane’s boinking.”
