Storm Prey

and peered down the road. Nothing.
    “I guess he has a problem when he gets pissed?” Del suggested.
    “Yes, he does. I’d say he was a sweetheart under it all, except that under it all, he’s an asshole.”
    “Sounds like the relationship isn’t working out,” Lucas said.
    “Well, you know.” She shrugged. “He’s a warm body at night.”
    “How many pit bulls you got?” Del asked.
    “Well ... none. We got a cat.”
    Lucas said, “We’re not here to hassle him. We’re really looking for an old friend of his, Joe Mack. Joe’s not around, is he?”
    “I guess not. Not after he fuckin’ strangled somebody,” the woman said.
    “Hasn’t even called?”
    “No ... uh-oh. Too late.”
    Lucas and Del looked down the road and saw a several-year-old Cadillac rolling toward them, in a hurry. Not a limo.
    “I thought he drove a limo,” Del said.
    “He doesn’t get to bring the work cars home,” she said. The door went back to the one-inch crack. “That’s his car.” And she shut the door.
     
     
    LIGHTER WAS in the driveway one minute later. He climbed out of the Cadillac, a huge man wearing a navy pea jacket, white dress shirt, black pants, white socks, and a massive scowl.
    “Who’re you?” he asked, marching around the nose of Lucas’s truck.
    “Bureau of Criminal Apprehension,” Lucas said. “We’re looking for Joe.”
    “Haven’t seen him,” Lighter said, and he cruised past Lucas on his way to the porch. He was four inches taller than Lucas, six-seven or -eight, with a heavier build. Lucas could feel the weight when he hooked Lighter’s arm.
    “Take the fuckin’ hand off, man,” Lighter said, and Lucas let him go.
    “Not a social call, Phil,” Del said. “We’re talking about kidnapping and murder. If you’ve got Joe in the house, if you know where Joe is, you’re not getting any mercy.”
    “I haven’t talked to Joe in a couple weeks,” Lighter said. His face was red, and getting redder. He was about to blow, Lucas thought.
    “Take it easy, Phil,” he said. He gave himself a few more inches of space. “We’re not saying that you had anything to do with it. We’re just asking you, politely, if you’ve seen him, and we’re telling you the consequences if you’re lying to us. We know he’s an old pal of yours.”
    Lighter stepped closer to Lucas and jabbed a hand in the general direction of Minneapolis. “You know what those fuckers just did to me? I was supposed to get two hundred bucks, plus tips, today. I turned down other work, and I get there and they tell me to go fuck myself. The fuckin’ supervisor’s ass-fuck brother-in-law got the job, and I can’t say a fuckin’ thing or they’ll fire my ass. I been working there for ten fuckin’ years ...”
    “Hey, man, we know nothing about that,” Del said, his hands out, and down, trying to make peace. “We’re just asking ...”
    “... ten fuckin’ years. And you know what I figured out after all that time, the one big thing? The one huge fuckin’ thing?” He held a thick index finger in front of Del’s nose, in a “one.”
    “What’s that?” Del asked, and Lucas winced. Some questions were best left unanswered.
    “I really, really HATE fuckin’ cops,” Lighter said, and he launched himself at Del, who’d moved a step forward.
    Lucas gave him a hard elbow as he went by and they both lost their footing and fell, and they rolled and Del was yelling, “Hey now, hey now,” and then both Lucas and Lighter were on their feet. Lighter launched a roundhouse punch that would have knocked Lucas’s head off, and Lucas dodged it and grabbed his arm, but his arm was like a fence post and Lighter yanked it free and hit Lucas on the forehead with a backhand and Lucas went down again, not hurt badly, but his city shoes gave him no traction in the snow.
    As Lucas was rolling and scrabbling back to his feet, Lighter went after Del and Del hit him, hard, in the chest, with no effect at all—a heavy wool coat was like armor on a guy as big as Lighter—and Lighter grabbed Del by the shoulders and head-butted him, and then Lucas was on Lighter’s back, trying to get an arm around his neck.
    Lighter twisted round and round, and Lucas hung on, best he could, and Lucas, in the spinning, saw Del, his nose pouring blood, coming back into the fight. Lighter suddenly screamed and went down, sideways, and Lucas saw Del coming through on a low roundhouse kick, which had taken out one of Lighter’s