Hung Out To Die: Lukas Boston - Private Investigator Book Two
Page 13
‘Please don’t, sir,’ Beth said, beside them.
‘Only trying to help, Pete,’ Lukas said. ‘The bastard wanted to shoot me. With an antique shotgun.’
‘I’m sure that would hurt more than a normal shotgun,’ Beth said.
Also wrapped in a blanket, standing next to Lukas, Carrie sniffed, ‘We both could have been killed.’
‘You should have answered your phone,’ Lukas said.
‘We might have drowned.’
‘You should have taken your jeans off.’
‘We could have lost everything. All my stock, all of Roger’s books…’
‘Yes, a shocking loss, Carrie.’ An extra thirty seconds on the bomb timer and he might have convinced her about the jeans, damn it.
‘All of Stuart’s art…’
Lukas stayed quiet.
‘I said, all of Stuart’s valuable art.’
‘The criminal world can be cruel sometimes, Carrie.’
There was a silence.
‘I suppose you kind of saved my life,’ Carrie said reluctantly. ‘Thanks, Lukas.’
‘You’re welcome.’ Lukas felt his phone vibrate, a precursor that it was about to ring.
‘Do you want to take me out to dinner again tonight?’
Lukas said, pulling out his phone, ‘Are you suggesting that, in a bizarre sort of way, you can express your gratitude by allowing me to take you out for dinner again? Okay, why not?’
Carrie leaned close, whispering in his ear. ‘I usually like to have crazy sex after a third date, but since you saved my life I’m prepared to bring it forward a day. Is that okay?’
Lukas nearly dropped the phone. ‘Sounds reasonable.’
The caller was Karen. She was excited, talking fast.
‘Lukas? Bad news, I’m afraid the painters need another fortnight, so I need to stay longer. You’re all right with that, right? The good news is I’ve just spent half my life savings at the supermarket and completely filled your refrigerator with food and beer. And guess what?’ She went on before Lukas could get a word in. ‘I have been slaving for hours here at home learning to cook a special dish for us tonight. Bloody hell, it was like my worst nightmare, but I know you’ve been pissed off that I haven’t been contributing and I made a huge effort. The place is a mess, but it’s going to taste great. What time are you going to be home?’
‘Ah…’ Lukas said. It didn’t help that Karen had called the apartment home twice. It was worrying.
‘Shit, don’t tell me you’re not coming home, Lukas. Not after everything I’ve done, you bastard.’
‘Ah…’ Lukas tried again.
‘Make it back by seven o’clock, Lukas. Pick up some wine on your way home too, will you? I seem to have drunk a lot while I was cooking.’
She hung up.
There was that word again, home. Twice more.
‘Problem?’ Carrie asked suspiciously, his night of crazy sex plainly hanging in the balance.
He tried to smile casually, his brain racing for an answer—a brilliant response. Something really clever.
‘No, no problem,’ he said.
At least this gave him a few hours to come up with something better. No problem at all.
END
TURN THE PAGE FOR AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEXT LUKAS BOSTON MYSTERY, A KILLER GROOVE
A KILLER GROOVE
The bar room air was thick with smoke machine mist, the moving lights cutting coloured beams through the haze, splashing off the walls and ceiling. On stage the music faded away untidily as the band stopped playing one by one, each of them becoming aware something was wrong. In the silence you could hear the shocked whispering of the small crowd as it began pushing across the dance floor for a closer look. The place stank of spilled alcohol, body odour and a faint whiff of vomit—and now something else. The smell of burnt flesh. Stunned, they gathered around and stared in disbelief.
The show was over. Killing the bass player in the middle of a song will do that.
The group’s lead singer, a stunningly attractive girl half the age of the others, threw her hands to her mouth. ‘Oh my God, is he all right? What’s wrong with him?’
The guitarist edged across to see. A mixture of revulsion and fear stopped him from bending down too close and touching anything, particularly not the body with its wide sightless eyes and frozen grimace of agony.
‘He’s cooked,’ he reported and glanced towards the bass amplifier. Wisps of smoke arose from it. ‘He’s been fried, I reckon.’
‘I told him to stop drinking and taking that shit,’ the drummer called from behind the kit, annoyed.
‘No, he’s cooked as in dead, Jimmy. Not cooked as in buggered.’
‘Oh... shit, are you sure?’
‘As a dodo, mate.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘Exactly what I was thinking.’ The guitar player, called Marco clicked his tongue in dismay and couldn’t help wondering if they’d still get paid for the gig. He needed the cash.
The girl let out a sob. ‘For God’s sake, shouldn’t someone give him CPR or something? The kiss of life? He might not be properly dead yet.’
They all exchanged a glance, not relishing the idea. ‘Nah, I think he’s properly cooked,’ Marco said. He was closest and most likely the one expected to do it. The bass player’s open mouth showed a string of saliva and tobacco-stained teeth. He’d always had bad breath.
One member of the audience, his face animated with horror and excitement, said, ‘Is this part of the act? It’s just part of the show, right? That’s awesome.’
It wasn’t an unreasonable question. All of the band members and many of the nightclub patrons wore gothic black clothing complete with grinning skull motifs and satanic crosses. Death was a common theme, but just not the real thing.
‘Well it is now,’ Marco told him ruefully. ‘But it’s kind of hard to follow.’
END EXCERPT
AUTHOR’S NOTE
If you enjoyed Hung Out To Die If You Don’t and have a few moments spare, posting a brief and honest review of this book on Amazon will be of tremendous help to myself and to other readers, too. Of course, if you didn’t like this book, I’d like to know that as well. Feedback from readers is important and I’ll appreciate all comments and suggestions for making my books better.
Thanks, Logan May.
Serious Stuff…
HUNG OUT TO DIE
by LOGAN MAY
This Ebook Kindle edition published in January 2017
Copyright for all editions owned by Logan May.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Logan May is a pen name for G.M.Hague. (Graeme Hague) Check my website at www.graemehague.com.au for more Lukas Boston books not listed here.
In the interests of allowing readers to freely exchange this Ebook between their own personal devices I’ve not applied any Digital Rights Management restrictions myself, although there may be some DRM in place beyond my control according to the format you’ve purchased (for example, Amazon’s Kindle). Therefore I’d appreciate it, if you didn’t support digital piracy by freely distributing this book. If you’d like any information or simply want to get in touch my website is at www.graemehague.com.au and my email address is mailbag@graemehague.com.au. My Facebook page is under the name Graeme Hague.
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