Hyenas Read Free Page A

big guess,” I said. “Any reason to have it?”
    “These guys, they’re a real tough bunch,” Kelly said. “And as you can tell, I’m not so tough.”
    “You take a good fall, though,” Leonard said.
    “You still don’t have any serious reason we should believe your brother is about to be part of a robbery.”
    “I heard them talking. I was sort of sneaking around, and I heard them say they needed a driver. The guy talking was the one Donny calls Smoke Stack. That’s the name they all call him. I guess cause he smokes all the time. I don’t allow it in the house, but he smokes anyway. I asked him not to once, and he just lit up and smiled at me, went in the back room with Donny. Hell, even Donny is tougher than me. He grew up different. He grew up tough. I can almost guarantee you these guys are going to rob another armored car, and they’re going to pull Donny into it.”
    “Still a little lame,” I said. “But, if you think you got something, go to the police. We know the chief over there. I’m not sure he likes us, but he did get some humor out of the photos of your buddy with his head through the sheet rock. So right this minute, he sees Leonard as a comedian.”
    “I go to the police, they’re going to run Donny in, and he’s a good kid, really. He was living at home, and our Mom died. A heart attack. She was overweight, didn’t take care of herself. Went to hell after our dad ran off with another woman and went up North somewhere. She died, I moved back home. But I wasn’t able to do it right away. I had a job in Austin, and I had to find another one up this area. I work at the University, doing janitor work.”
    “What did you do before?” I asked.
    “I was a computer specialist, and I made half a mil a year. Now, I got just enough to buy gas for the car and bread for the table. I kind of thought Donny wasn’t doing so good and needed me here. Last time I saw him, before Mom died, I could tell he was making some bad decisions. But the bottom line is these friends of his. I don’t like them, and I’m sure they’re the guys.”
    “That’s your instinct?” I said.
    “Yeah.”
    “Well,” Leonard said, “instinct is all right, but it can be you telling yourself something and thinking you’re enlightened. Gut instinct tells people to believe lots of things, and most of them are wrong. And, Kelly, this isn’t our problem. It’s a police problem.”
    He shook his head. “No. The police pick up Donny, his life is ruined.”
    “He robs an armored car, a bank, he might get a bullet through his head,” Leonard said. “That ruins things too.”
    “Yeah, that can cut a career short,” I said.
    “Last night, I went to that bar looking for help. I didn’t tell the details to those guys, but I said I was looking for someone could do a little rough house work. Those guys were recommended to me by a fellow I know. And then there was that whole thing about one of them calling you a name, and it all getting started…I think they started it just to show me how tough they were. Next thing I knew, I was in it with them, you know, part of the pack, and then I’m down, and one guy’s got his head through the sheet rock, and you’re chasing the other guy outside. And you’re older than them.”
    “Watch it,” Leonard said.
    “All I’m saying is, after I saw that, I decided maybe you were the guy instead of them.”
    “I don’t know,” Leonard said.
    “Donny, he really looks up to this Smoke Stack. He wants to impress him. The guy’s got muscles on muscles and he’s just mean. Just mean.”
    “The gut instinct again?” Leonard said.
    “Yeah.”
    “Well,” Leonard said, “in cases like that, the gut is often right. We still know a shark when we see one. That’s why we crawled out of the water and became men in the first place. Only thing is, some of the sharks crawled out after us.”
    “That would be the lawyers,” I said.
    “I told Smoke Stack and his buddies not to come