Die a Stranger by Steve Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page A

Arizona,” he said. “Not in Michigan.”
    “You’d be surprised.”
    “Yeah, whatever. As long as it wasn’t Vinnie getting flattened by a truck or something.”
    “It wasn’t,” I said. “So you know what? I think we’re both being a little ridiculous. Vinnie’s an adult. He went somewhere to do something and when he’s done he’ll come back. Hell, if we didn’t know he was having the first hangover of his life, we wouldn’t have even thought twice about it. Am I right?”
    “Well, everything he’s been through this week, too.”
    “Of course. But how many times has he taken off for a few days? He never tells us where he’s going. He shouldn’t have to.”
    Jackie thought about it. “Well, no. But—”
    “But what? What else are we supposed to do? When he comes back home, we’ll smack him a few times and ask him where the hell he went. Until then, we’ve both got work to do.”
    He had to agree with me. Maybe not one hundred percent. But then I wasn’t one hundred percent sold on the idea myself.
    We didn’t talk about Vinnie anymore that day. I delivered my fans and my water and did a few fixes on the cabins and eventually ended up back at the Glasgow for dinner. It was me and Jackie. Still no Vinnie.
    When it was dark, I finally went home. As I drove by his cabin, I could see that it was still empty.
    “Sorry,” I said out loud. “I gotta do this, Vinnie.”
    I stopped the truck, got out, and went to his front door. I knew it would be unlocked, like always, like why would you ever lock your door when you live out here in the woods? I opened the door and went inside. When I flipped on the light, I saw the broken glass all over the floor. It crunched under my feet as I made my way to the back of the cabin. I couldn’t breathe. I imagined him lying on the floor in the bathroom, or in his bedroom, or anywhere. Everything coming together in one instant. The simple reason why he never went to work, why nobody had seen him.
    But no. The place was empty. I started breathing again. Then I got the broom out and swept up the broken glass.
    The rest of the cabin was immaculate, as always. It made no sense that he’d drop a glass or a vase or whatever the hell this was, and then leave it.
    “What the hell?” I said. “How did this happen? Were you that drunk? Even so, you’d clean it up the next morning, right? Who leaves broken glass on the floor?”
    The answer came right back at me. Somebody in a hurry, that’s who. Somebody rushing out the door.
    When the place was cleaned up, I turned off the light and closed the door behind me. I left the door unlocked, because that’s what Vinnie would be expecting when he finally came home.
    I stayed up late that night. I wasn’t exactly waiting for him, but I know I would have heard his truck coming up that road.
    I never did.

 
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    The next morning, Jackie didn’t even bother asking me. He could see it on my face. I had a quick breakfast and then I headed out into the day. Sometime during the night it had come to me, that I would get up the next morning and go out and find him. So that’s what I did.
    I looked for Vinnie’s black truck wherever I went, starting at the northwest end of the reservation. When I got to the casino, I took a minute to look through the employees’ section of the parking lot. No black truck there, but then I walked through the whole inside of the place anyway.
    I drove by Vinnie’s mother’s house. The unofficial command center for the whole rez and yet now it was strangely empty. I parked and looked inside her garage window, picturing the truck there and Vinnie inside the house, maybe looking through old pictures or something. But I didn’t see either.
    I knew what I had to do next, but I was already dreading it. I stalled for a few minutes by driving by Buck’s house. He was one of Vinnie’s many second or third or whatever the hell cousins, and a frequent sweat host. The lights were on in the