2,000 Miles to Open Road (Barefield)

by Trey R. Barker

  Day tight compartments. Damage control.

  And then the call.

  It was late, after eleven, and he was getting ready for bed, last scan of the horizon with the living-room scope, quick look at the news. He let it ring, heard his own voice say, "Leave a message, I'll phone you back." Giving him a chance to work up to responding, avoid those wanting to get too close.

  Hesitation: the caller thinking it over, a salesman deciding to call back when the occupant might pick up, set the hook before the fish had a chance to wriggle off. Wrong time, though. Salespeople invariably called at dinner.

  Finally a deep breath, a female voice, heavy and deliberate--drugged if he had to guess, maybe plastered. "I was hoping this is the Wil Hardesty who knew my son, Denny." Pause: "Denny Van Zant? I'll call back when someone's--"

  Wil had the receiver up by then, little echos reverberating. "Maeve?" All he could say.

  "Wil? It's good to hear your voice."

  He'd never have recognized her if she hadn't said the name, so different was the voice. Foggy and uncertain, a 45 played at 33. Not the Maeve Van Zant he remembered: quick and vivacious, a slim blond woman seemingly just off a fashion runway, never a hair out of place.

  Denny's mom. Denny Van Zant.

  Lord.

  Trying to recall how many years now: fifteen since the military funeral at Westwood, the long lines of black limousines and white crosses. Twenty-eight or thirty beyond that.

  "How are you, Maeve? It's been too long."

  "So it has," she said with sadness--or maybe it was the filter it was coming through. "Wil, I can't talk right now, but I need to see you. I'd heard that you...looked into things for people. Something we could keep between us." Pause. "You always were like family. You know that, don't you?"

  "Sure, Maeve. You still living down in Newport?"

  "Oh my, not for years. We're in Malibu now." She gave him the address, 114 Ocean View Terrace.

  He asked for directions, wrote them down.

  "How's Mr. Van Zant?"

  "He's fine." Not much there in her tone. "Wil, I hate to trouble you, but can you make it tomorrow afternoon? That way we can take our time. Catch up a little."

  "How's two? And it's no trouble, Maeve."

  "Two o'clock, then. I'm glad."

  "Me, too," he said, finally giving in to where his thoughts had spun off. "How's Trina?" he asked. "Still married to the--" But by then Maeve Van Zant had hung up and he was left holding the receiver and looking out at distant lights.

  Other titles from Down and Out Books

  By J.L. Abramo

  Catching Water in a Net (1)

  Clutching at Straws (1)

  Counting to Infinity (1)

  Gravesend (2)

  By Trey R. Barker

  2,000 Miles to Open Road (1)

  Exit Blood (2)

  By Richard Barre

  The Innocents (1)

  Bearing Secrets (1)

  Christmas Stories (1)

  The Ghosts of Morning (1)

  Blackheart Highway (2)

  Burning Moon (2)

  Echo Bay (2)

  By Milton T. Burton

  Texas Noir (1)

  By Reed Farrel Coleman

  The Brooklyn Rules (1)

  By Don Herron

  Willeford (2)

  By Terry Holland

  An Ice Cold Paradise (1)

  Chicago Shiver (1)

  Warm Hands, Cold Heart (2)

  Wounded Lion (screenplay) (2)

  By David Housewright & Renee Valois

  The Devil and the Diva (2)

  By Bill Moody

  Czechmate (2)

  By Gary Phillips

  The Perpetrators (1)

  Scoundrels (editor) (2)

  By Bob Truluck

  Street Level (1)

  Saw Red (1)

  The Art of Redemption (1)

  Flat White (2)

  By Lono Waiwaiole

  Wiley's Lament (1)

  Wiley's Shuffle (1)

  Wiley's Refrain (1)

  Dark Paradise (1)

  (1) Available as eBook

  (2) Coming in 2012