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An old h school His only motorbike experience, an old dirt racer Every weekend out with his cousins, to the botto back to hi around the farmhouse Once on the other side, he&039;d break for the road The cold wind bit hard into his naked flesh
He sped past the front porch, black guys spilling out, white eyes wide But they didn&039;t have guns drawn He was going to make it
A car parked at the end of the drive The driver&039;s door swung open Another black guy stepped out He wore a red suit, black shirt, and no tie He flicked a cigarette away, and his hand went into his jacket DelPrego kneould coo still had the410 across his lap He took it in one hand, kept the bike steady with the other He lifted the shotgun level with his chest, arun was heavy He pointed it directly at the red suit blocking his path He spurred the bike faster It shot forward, a thunderingIvanhoe
The red suit pulled a silver autoo heard and felt the second slug whizz past his ear
He pulled the trigger and the shotgun belched fire, kicked out of his hands, and tu knocked the red suit back across the car, his chest exploding in blood
Shots behind DelPrego now But he was already leaning low over the handlebars He&039;d found the road and opened the bike up for all she had A wild, bare-assed streak across eastern Oklahoht
For Christ&039;s sake" Jones panted "You trying to givestroke here?"
Bob Sht of stairs "Sorry, Boss We&039;re alht" Sometimes the boss scared him Smith didn&039;t knohat to do those ti froesting the boss hire a nurse Jones had chewed hi Mount Everest" Jones sucked breath
"You want a hand, Boss?" Smith reached for the old man&039;s elbow
Jones swatted him away "Lay off I can make it"
They made the fifth floor and Jones took a an had told the boss to listen for the oofy to Smith, but he cupped a hand to his ear and listened A faint tune echoed through the halls
"Benny Goodman," Jones said
S man stood quietly with his hands folded in front of hiht, nodded at Smith They followed the music, and Smith let the old man set the pace
Not for the first time, Smith wondered how he and the boss had ended up in bumfuck, Oklahos The boss still had a lot of connections and more than a few enemies So when it was tis There had never been any question that So wherever Jones went
They arrived at an office door Jones knocked, didn&039;t wait for an answer, and pushed the door open Smith&039;s hand drifted into his jacket, a habit froun butt when they walked through a strange door Never can tell what&039;s on the other side
A wild-haired man scribbled fiercely at his desk He looked like a cross between Santa Claus and Charles Manson There was a colored kid on the sofa reading a book Both looked up as Smith and Jones entered the room
Jones asked, "You Valentine?"
"Who are you?"
"Jones I&039;an," the old man said "He said you&039;d look at my poems"
"He lied"
"What?"
"I don&039;t do that Look at poems, I mean"
Jones frowned "Maybe I made a mistake You&039;re the professor?"
"Yes"
"You won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry?"
"Yes"
Jones threw up his hands "Then what the hell is this?"
Smith stirred behind the old man He didn&039;t like it when the boss was unhappy The colored kid watched the whole thing with big eyes
Jones said, "Morgan mentioned you enjoyed your privacy Maybe I should pay the dean a visit"
Valentine blinked "Hell and blood" He held out a hand "Let me see the poems"
Jones nodded Smith handed the folder of poetry to the professor, then stood in a spot where he could see the door and the whole room
Jones sat on the couch and turned to the colored kid "Who are you?"
"Harold"
Jones pulled a cigar out of his coat pocket, handed it to Harold Jenks "Sar, and bit off the end He lit it, puffed The old ar aroain, looked Jenks up and down "So what&039;s your story?"
Morgan got Sheristrar&039;s office and drove to his apartment Nobody home He called four more tietting down to crunch ti desperate He had no idea where students kept the the ca for Ellis didn&039;t seean parked on campus and went to Albatross Hall He locked his office door behind hiht, didn&039;t want people to see it shining under the door and knoas there He especially wanted to avoid Dean Whittaker
He got on the phone and dialed the hospital, where some clerical person told hiers hovered over the Touch-Tone pad, and Morgan realized he didn&039;t know Ginny&039;s home number It had never occurred to him to ask for it She&039;d always just been there, showed up on his doorstep Another call to the registrar produced her nu tian didn&039;t want to talk to Ginny&039;s father, but he needed somebody to help him track down Ellis Ginny probably knew all the student hot spots
Morgan found the bottle in his desk drawer A few belts would help hiut He hadn&039;t eaten anything, and his storabbed the phone, dialed quickly before he changed hisup, but Ginny answered after twelve rings "Hello?"
She sounded good, Morgan thought, voice strong He wasn&039;t sure what he&039;d expected Morgan opened hiscame out Maybe Ginny didn&039;t want to talk to hian whispered He didn&039;t want anyone walking by his office to hear hian?"
"Yes"
"Are you in the library or soan raised his voice slightly "How are you feeling?"
"The doctors said it looked worse than it really was A lot of bruising"
"Uh-huh"
"My parents were here, taking care of me," Ginny said "But I sent them home"
"Uh-huh"
"IAnd my father has this anal streak He&039;s always-"
"Ginny, I need a favor," Morgan said "And I need it fast"
A pause "What is it?"
Morgan explained
"Have you tried the Black Student Union?" Ginny asked
"There&039;s a Black Student Union?"
"Let an said "What then? Call you back in an hour?"
"No I&039;ll o could not feel his ass His frozen balls had shriveled and retreated But he didn&039;t dare stop until he reached Lancaster&039;s apartawked, but so far no cops Some luck
He parked the Harley in front of Lancaster&039;s place, looked around, didn&039;t see anyone He sprinted to Lancaster&039;s door His bones ached, teeth chattering He pounded on the door "Come on, Tim"
No answer
He knocked louder, looked over his shoulder So far nobody had seen, but sooner or later somebody would notice the crazy pervert
He tried the knob It turned He pushed the door open and darted inside, shut it behind him He let hi
He walked through the little apartment, found the bedroom, and pulled open Lancaster&039;s dresser drawers He found a pair of boxers Sweatpants He put theet soo couldn&039;t re his parents, anything He went to the bedrooone
He slid open the closet door When the body fell out, it took DelPrego a split second to realize what he was looking at He screamed, stumbled back, tripped on the corner of the bed, and spun into a rack of coo landed hard on the floor, breathing hard, heart kicking its way out of his chest
He crawled to the body "No," he whispered
Lancaster looked like he wasup, jaw slack DelPrego studied his face It somehow didn&039;t look like Lancaster, the life sapped out of hirabbed the body, shook it wildly, without reason "Tiathered Lancaster in his aro&039;s throat, co pain His fingers dug into Lancaster&039;s clothes, his skin He willed this not to be true But Timothy Lancaster III was dead Gentle, silly, pretentious, naive, kind Tied into the kitchen He flung the refrigerator door open, and it slaainst the counter He jerked open the lettuce crisper at the bottom where he&039;d unpacked and hidden the cocaine Lancaster never had any food in the refrigerator He&039;d never used the crisper He looked at the stash of coke, the throaty, strangled growl still co out of hio had killed hi it there
He pulled out the crisper, went through the house, and flung it into the bathroom The thin plastic shattered on the tile floor, the little Baggies of white powder spilling DelPrego started grabbing Baggies He tore them open, a white frenzy of powder He du the side of the bowl, the sink, getting it all over his clothes
He didn&039;t stop He screaoddamn cocksuckers, you fuckers, fuckers, sons of bitches" The tears and snot ran down his face, left tracks in the white dust on his skin
He sank against the tub, drew his knees up to his chest He cried and felt dizzy, his throat raw and dry fro, his eyes red and hot