Barclay, Linwood Novel 08 - Never saw it coming

Kirk’s eyes landed on her.
    “Shit, I raced back here for the kid, but you’re already here. You couldn’t have called me?”
    “I just got dropped off a second ago,” Keisha said. “Did you do it? Did you get the bag?”
    He smiled triumphantly. “I got the bag.”
    If there were half a dozen weights on her shoulders, she felt one of them float away. “Oh thank God. It was still there? It hadn’t been opened?”
    “Still there, not opened,” he said. “You think I don’t know how to get things done?”
    “Okay, that’s good. Thank you.”
    “You get the five grand?”
    She nodded tiredly. “I got it.”
    He slapped his hands together. “Did she get cash, like I told her?”
    “She got cash.”
    “Let’s have a look.”
    She pointed to her purse, which she’d dropped onto the couch. He dug into it, found the envelope, and peered inside. He riffled his finger across the tops of the bills.
    “Sweet,” he said. “Have you counted it?”
    “Gail wouldn’t cheat me.”
    “We should go out for dinner tonight and celebrate,” Kirk said.
    “I don’t feel like celebrating.”
    “Come on. Live a little.”
    Keisha glared at him. “What’s wrong with you?”
    “Huh?”
    “All the stuff that’s gone down today—I nearly died! A man is
dead
. This police woman, Wedmore, is sniffing around me, and I think she knows what happened. And you want to go out and celebrate?”
    He had the money out of the envelope and had turned the bills into a thick fan. “You have to live in the moment, babe. And at this moment, we’re loaded.”
    “I almost gave it back,” she said quietly.
    “You what?”
    “I almost gave it back. I’m not taking advantage of people like this any more. You don’t think today was some kind of message? Huh? You don’t think maybe somebody’s trying to tell me something?”
    He sneered. “Oh, that’s bullshit. Sometimes shit just happens. Then, the next day, different shit happens.”
    She shook her head and walked into the kitchen. He followed her in, saying, “Where you wanna go? Come on. The li’l fucker likes Chinese. We’ll go someplace he likes.”
    “His name is Matthew.”
    “Come on, you know I’m just goofin’ around.”
    She leaned against the counter and sighed. “What did you end up doing with it?” she asked.
    “With what?”
    “The bag. Where’d you finally dump it?”
    “Oh, it’s still in the truck,” he said offhandedly. “I was planning to get rid of it soon as the kid showed up. Go to the mall, get a snack, drop it off back of the place.”
    Keisha wondered if she should just turn herself in. It’d be faster. “You’re not serious.”
    “Yeah, I raced back ’cause you wanted someone to be here for the kid. Figured you wouldn’t be home in time. I’ll get rid of it, don’t worry.”
    “So that bag, it’s here, sitting in the driveway?”
    “Don’t worry. It’s all under control. Where is the kid, anyway?”
    “I don’t know,” Keisha said. She left the kitchen and went to the front door to watch for Matthew, saw Kirk’s truck parked by her car.
    She couldn’t see the bag in the back of it.
    “Kirk!” she shouted. “I don’t see any bag!”
    “It’s there,” he said wearily. “It’s just tucked up under the rear window, is all.”
    She was going to go out and see for herself, but stopped when a dark vehicle stopped at the end the driveway. An unmarked police car. Rona Wedmore got out, looked at the house, saw Keisha standing in the doorway, and smiled.
    “Perfect,” Keisha said.

Twenty-nine
    As Detective Wedmore walked past Kirk’s truck, she glanced into the cargo bed, empty save for the green garbage bag with the red tie at the top. Keisha opened the door wide as Wedmore mounted the three steps.
    “Detective,” she said.
    “Ms. Ceylon,” Wedmore said, nodding. “Mind if I come in?”
    Keisha admitted her into the house. Wedmore saw Kirk standing there and said, “Hi, how are you? I’m Detective Wedmore with the Milford police.”
    Kirk’s right hand was busy stuffing the five thousand in cash into the back of his pants, so he awkwardly extended his left. Wedmore accepted it as though she always shook hands that way.
    “Hey,” he said with false cheerfulness. “I’m Kirk. Nice to meet you.” He flashed a smile.
    “What’d you do to your face there?”
    He touched his scratched cheek. “Nothin’,” he said.
    “I had an interesting chat with Mrs. Beaudry,” Rona Wedmore said to Keisha.