The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

like?’
    ‘Hard to say. Never really showed
his face much. Kept it hidden underneath a dark hood most of the time. Had a
real gravelly voice though.’
    ‘What was his name?’
    The man shrugged. ‘Never told us
his name. We only knew him as the man who drank bourbon. At least that’s how we
knew him before he went out into the street and faced down all the bikers on
his own. No one in the village will ever forget that. What he did, it makes me
shudder to think about it. We thought the bikers were bloodthirsty and
merciless. This guy was worse than all of them put together. These days we know
him better as the guy who saved our village. Lakeland’s a nice place to live
again now. Hell, people can even go out at night.’ He picked up his glass of
rum and took another sip before adding, ‘Although they don’t.’
    Beth sneaked forward and nudged
Sanchez to one side so she could speak to the stranger. ‘I’m Beth Lansbury,’
she blurted.
    The man smiled at her. ‘I’m very
pleased to meet you, Beth,’ he said.
    ‘The man you speak of, his name is
JD. Do you know where he is now?’
    The stranger took another sip of
his rum and set the glass back down on the bar. ‘Can I get another drink?’ he
asked Sanchez.
    ‘Rum again?’
    ‘Uh huh. Make it a double this
time.’
    Sanchez grabbed the bottle of rum
from the back of the bar and hurriedly poured the man’s drink so he could hear
the rest of the conversation. The man accepted the drink and made no attempt to
pay for it. He turned back to Beth.
    ‘He said he’d made a deal with the
Devil. It didn’t make a lot of sense but he said he had to travel around the
world, ridding places like Lakeland of the undead. Guess he’ll do a good job of
it.’
    ‘Did he say if he was coming back
here any time soon?’ Beth asked, her voice revealing a hint of desperation.
    ‘Not any time soon. He said he
won’t stop until every last undead muthafucker is in Hell where they belong. I
guess he’s got a lifetime’s work ahead of him.’
    Beth looked disappointed. ‘And he
asked you to come here and tell me this?’
    The man reached inside his jacket
and pulled out a small piece of cloth. ‘Nah, he just said to give you this.
Said you’d know what it meant.’
    Beth snatched the cloth away from
him and unfolded it. Her fingers were trembling. Sanchez peered over her shoulder
to get a good look at it. It was just a brown cloth with a red heart sewn into
the middle. Within the heart, sewn in blue letters, were the initials JD. Beth
turned around, clutching it tightly against her chest. There were tears welling
up in the corners of her eyes.
    Sanchez understood how she was
feeling and offered some comforting words. ‘As messages go,’ he said, ‘it’s a
bit vague, isn’t it?’

 
 
 
    THE END (maybe…)