Finding Susan by Dakota Kahn Read Free Book Online Page B

clenched teeth. “I’d like to quit bothering Miss Becker as soon as possible.”
    “I still feel so terrible, Mr. Mortimer,” Kate said, and she shot Blake a quick dirty look that he couldn’t figure.   “The minute I get this kitchen up to snuff, I’m going to treat you to a great big steak dinner.”
    “Aww, that’d be swell, Miss Becker.   I could catch some squirrels and....   oh, I bet you rather have cow-steak.” His face fell, and he started to look even sadder.  
    “Well, we’ll see,” Kate said.  
    Joe Bob looked up at her and nodded sagely, then he downed the rest of his glass of water in one gulp.   “Ready to go, Mr. Office Spanner.   Miss Becker, could you grab hold of my things?   I think I’m gonna need help walking to the car.”
    “Oh,” Kate said, and her face looked like a new wave of guilt had crashed upon its shore. Seeing that made Blake a bit more cheerful. So the woman was actually capable of remorse. He’d never have guessed. If they could just stop this constant snarking between them, maybe…  
    No. He grimaced. Don’t even think it. The first order of business around here had to be to get her to head back out of town, pronto. Talk about a magnet for trouble—she just naturally seemed to draw disasters around her. It would be better if she went to have her next crisis somewhere else.  
    But Blake wasn’t feeling quite so bad anymore.   Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was his innate dislike of poor Joe Bob, but Blake was quite ready to call it a night.  
    With a bit of assistance from Kate, he was able to prop Joe Bob on his shoulder and walk him to the front door.   The big galoot pressed all of his weight down on Blake’s shoulder, making him stoop as he walked.   Blake wondered if Joe Bob was really feeling all that bad, or if he was just milking it.  
    Kate walked ahead of both of them, carrying the string of dead animals at arms length like it was a...   well, string of dead and stinky animals.   At least that was worth a chuckle, Blake thought, but he didn’t laugh.   All of this was the exact sort of thing he didn’t need.
    Complications led to thinking and decision-making, and even in as innocuous a situation as this a wrong decision would have consequences, and those consequences would lead to others.   That was exactly what he was trying to stay away from.  
    Kate leaped down the porch and draped the string of dead things along the hood of the squad car.   She then hugged herself against the cold, making the curves that her t-shirt suggested all the more explicit.   That was another distraction that Blake didn’t need.  
    Oh well, eyes forward, he should be fine.
    “Watch out!” Kate shouted, her hand shooting out in front of her as if she could catch the pair of men as they suddenly found themselves hurtling towards the ground.   The front boards of the porch were particularly rotten, and with the full weight of the two men being brought right down on one of the worst of them, that section of the porch decided to go.  
    Joe Bob was lucky, since he had Blake to break his fall.   After an instant of pain as Blake both hit the ground then was doubly struck by over two hundred pounds of man on top of him, Kate supplied the appropriate denouement with her snorts of laughter.   Blake didn’t even think she heard him say goodbye, but just before he left she gave him an appropriate farewell:
    “So, when are you going to come back and fix my porch?”

Chapter Four

    “Come back and fix my porch, can you believe that woman?” Blake said, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.  
    “Gosh, Mr. Officer Spanner, I like Miss Becker.   She’s sure nice to me.”
    Blake grunted.   “Only man I ever met who thinks the person who hits them with a taser gun is nice.”
    “She didn’t mean nothing by it,” Joe Bob said.  
    Blake glanced at him, wincing at the string of dead things in his hands, hoping he wouldn’t leave