Before The Killing Starts (Dixie Killer Blues Book 1) Read Free

open-mouthed. Did she think this was some
kind of game and he'd pulled the short straw? But there was obviously something
in the way he was looking at her that made her realize she'd strayed into
territory where anything could happen. Her face softened and she put a
conciliatory hand on his arm. Her voice took on a calm, measured tone, as if he
was a patient waking from a coma and she had to give him some important, but
bad, news: Sorry, we had to amputate your legs; deal with it.
    'If I tell you what I
know now, you'll be out that door'—she nodded her head towards the door which
had just opened behind them—'faster than a scalded cat.'
    Evan nodded several
times, his breath exiting through his nostrils. He had to admit—to himself at
least—that she was right about that.
    'Also,' she said
squeezing his arm in a patronizing way so that he knew something nasty was on
its way, '. . . and there isn't any nice way to put this, but you've been waiting
five years already. Another day or two won't make any difference.'
    He felt as if he'd been
slapped.
    Had she really just
said that? You've been waiting five years already.
    'I need help right now.
If you don't help me, I probably won't be around in five days' time, forget
about five years.'
    He didn't believe a word
of it—she was being melodramatic. But he was back where he seemed to spend most
of his life—between a rock and a hard place. He was going to have to do what
she wanted if she was going to help him. Unless he took her outside and beat
the crap—and the information—out of her. That idea was currently a very close second. It wouldn't take a lot to move it to the head of the line. He
stared at his reflection in the mirror, his eyes never blinking, and almost
prayed for her to give him an excuse to erupt.
    'Evan?'
    He rubbed his eyes with
the heels of his hands, his jaw moving tightly, as another hateful hypothesis
intruded into his mind; did she really know something or was she just pulling
his chain, pushing the right button to make him help her? There was only one
way to find out and he hated himself for being so easy to manipulate. He threw
his hands up in the air, unable to put his frustration into words.
    'So, what's this guy's
name?' he said eventually, sucking air up from the floor.
    He saw a flash of
triumph in her eyes.
    'Dixie.'
    He pulled a face.
'That's it?'
    'No, his full name's
Richard LaBarre, but everybody calls him Dixie.'
    'Why? Is he from down
South?'
    She shrugged. 'I don't
know—it doesn't matter anyway. I know he spends a lot of time in a bar called
Kelly's Tavern. That'd be a good place to start looking for him.'
    Evan knew the place; it
was probably the roughest dive in the whole city. No danger, my ass .
    'What do you want me to
say to him if I find him?'
    'Just ask him to call
me.' She handed him a piece of paper with her number scribbled on it.
    'Nothing else? What if
he asks why?' His voice had taken on a long-suffering tone. He wondered if this
is what his life would feel like after a few more years if Sarah ever did come
home. A life of summary orders handed down to him without explanation or the
possibility of non-compliance: do this; don't do that; do this chore now;
what the hell are you doing that for? until he wished that she'd never come
back. If only he knew, because if that's what life was going to turn into, he'd
be out the door right now and Ellie could shove her problems up her (shapely)
ass.
    'I might be prepared to
do everything you ask without a word of explanation,' he said, 'but not
everybody's so amenable. Some people want a reason before they hop to it.'
    'He won't,' she said,
ignoring the jibe, the smug confidence in her voice irritating the hell out of
him.
    Everything she said made
him realize there was a lot more going on that she wasn't telling him (all the
important bits) and here he was about to walk into it all blindfolded. If it
wasn't for the carrot she was dangling . . . Christ, how many more times did