Kill Clock Read Free Page A

for their mother to return.
    He was beginning to relax when Hilda growled, a sound Pearce rarely heard. He looked to see what was causing it and saw Devon tugging hard on the wee man's tail.
    "Stop that."
    "Why?"
    "It's hurting him."
    "Why?"
    "Yeah." Kirk wiped his nose with the back of his arm. "Why's it hurting?"
    Devon let go of Hilda. "Would it hurt if I had a tail?"
    "That's dumb." Kirk picked up Hilda and set the dog on his lap. "You're a stupid poof, Devon."
    "Am not!" She threw up. All over herself. Without the tiniest hint of what was about to come. "Scusey me." She burped and started to grin. Lucky she'd let go of Hilda or the dog would have been a spewy mess too. "I did a puke."
    Jesus Christ. Where was Julie? What if their mother had dumped them? The stench floated from the back and Pearce thought he might throw up too. He'd cleaned up plenty of dog puke in his time, but the human variety was a different story.
    He opened his window. Leaned out. Caught a glimpse of Julie coming out of a shop about fifteen feet away, looking around as if she was trying to spot someone she knew.
    She hadn't run off. Thank God.
    "He's hungry!"
    Pearce turned to look in the back and saw Hilda at Devon's side, lapping away at something, tail wagging like it did every mealtime.
    Oh, Jesus.
    He grabbed Hilda and lifted him into the front. The dog wasn't happy. Pushed against him, wanting to get back to his unexpected snack.
    Kirk said, "Your dog eats sick."
    Then Julie opened her door. "What's that stink?"
    "Your daughter."
    "Oh, she throw up again? She does that. You OK, babe?"
    Pearce put his hand over his nose. "Don't suppose you have something to clean it up with?"
    "Should do." Julie climbed in. "Surprised your dog didn't want it. If that was Sheba, she'd have polished it off in a heartbeat."

7:30 pm
     

    Julie found some wet wipes in the glove box and mopped up the mess as best she could. She tied up the gunk in a plastic carrier bag and gave it to Pearce.
    "Thanks." He got out of the car. The sun was breaking through the clouds, the shadow of the nearby bus shelter stretching across the pavement. The rubbish bin a few feet away, already overflowing, was the only one in sight.
    The plastic rustled as he poked it into a gap between a greasy polystyrene fish and chips box and a navy blue sock clarted in tomato sauce. Or something worse.
    He checked his fingers to make sure he'd avoided the gunk. Gave them a sniff just to be sure. Slight trace of onions, but nothing too bad.
    Julie reached across and opened the car door for him.
    Her cigarette smoke didn't entirely mask the smell of sick but it was an improvement.
    She switched on the ignition. "Where was I?"
    He turned his head to face her. "You were telling me about your boyfriend."
    "Mike, yeah." She pulled out without indicating. "So I was." She drove for a while, cigarette burning between her fingers.
    "So, you going to tell me what he did?"
    "Mike!" Kirk's voice. "That's my daddy! Where's Daddy?"
    Julie leaned towards Pearce. "Keep your voice down."
    Seemed as if she was having trouble remembering her lines. Maybe he should help her along. He whispered, "He didn't kill anyone, did he?"
    "Daddy! Bollocks!"
    "No, he didn't kill anyone." Julie looked up, raised her voice. "Shut your cakehole, Devon."
    Pearce stroked Hilda's chin. It was wet and a bit sticky so he stopped. "That's good, then."
    "Not necessarily." A fingernail of ash fell onto Julie's sleeve.
    He looked at her. "You wanted him to kill someone?"
    "Not me." She brushed at the ash. Made a grey smear, and rubbed it with her thumb. " Banksy wanted him to kill someone."
    "Who's Banksy?"
    "You know, the loan shark."
    "Never heard of him."
    Her eyes narrowed. "You worked for Cooper, right?"
    "A bit."
    "Banksy was one of Cooper's collectors. You don't remember him?"
    Pearce thought for a moment. "You mean Kevin Banks? He's moved up?"
    "Branched out on his own after Cooper went to jail."
    "So Banks is a loan shark now?" He