Malice by Robert Cote Read Free Book Online

adjusted it lower. “You know how it is when you have a big secret: It’s gotta come out sometime. One day he comes in and tells me she’s called it off. Said her and her husband were trying to work things out. Can’t remember ever seeing him that upset.”
    Alex put his hat back on. He couldn’t believe all this had been going on. “Anything else you can tell me?”
    “Truth is, I have no idea where he is, Deputy. Could be three states away by now, especially if he’s on a bike. Like I told you, those hands of his were made for fixin’ bikes. He’s a darn good mechanic.”
    Alex thanked the old man and opened the door to leave. The tiny bell rang overhead. Before the door could close, he heard ol’ man Wallace shouting from inside. “If you find him, you tell him he still has a job if he wants—” The door slammed shut, muffling the rest.
    Alex started his cruiser and drove away.

Chapter 9
     
     
    “Am I in the hospital?”
    Lysander’s mother crossed her arms over her belly, an expression of dismay plastered all over her face.
    Samantha’s eyes grew wide. “A nice man carried you home from the park and then I called the ambulance. Your parents have been worried to death over you.”
    Yeah, sure they have , Lysander thought.
    The door opened and two men entered the room; the first wearing a doctor’s white lab coat, the second corduroy pants and a loose sweater. They both looked at Samantha. Reluctantly, she leaned over Lysander and whispered, “I’m glad you’re all right.” Then she rose and left the room.
    In so many words, the man in the white coat proceeded to tell Lysander that he had suffered a seizure that very well might have killed him. The doctor’s round, pudgy face made Lysander think of old women and how they loved pinching the cheeks of little children.
    “Lysander,” said the large man in the white coat as he turned to indicate the man standing next to him: quiet and casually dressed. “I’ve spoken to your parents and we think you should speak with Mr. Avery here. He’s not a shrink. And he’s not here to judge you. He’s a therapist and he just wants to talk.”
    Avery approached the side of Lysander’s bed slowly and threw the others a look which told them he wanted to be alone with Lysander. The others shuffled out of the room in a ragged line. The doctor was the last to go, shutting the door behind him.
    Avery held out his hand. “Hello, Lysander. You can call me Jack.”
    Lysander kept his hands by his side.
    Avery sat down. “Lemme make something clear to you. I’m not here to be your buddy, Lysander. Nor am I interested in whether or not you like me. You have a very serious condition. A lot of people don’t get up and walk away from what you have, and the doctors here aren’t sure what’s causing it.”
    Lysander studied the deep lines in the man’s face. He seemed weathered, beaten up by the world, but there was a wisdom hidden in those eyes that he couldn’t deny.
    What did he need Avery for when he knew perfectly well how the problem had started?
    The old man had been sitting by himself in the kitchen with the lights out. The phone was off the hook, and his father was gripping the receiver in one hand.
    Lysander stood there, not sure what do to.
    His father ignored him until he realized he wasn’t going to leave. His gaze rose and met Lysander’s. His eyes were puffy and mapped with red lines.
    Lysander went to the fridge. He would make his own dinner.
    “Your little brother died today, Lysander.”
    He froze as he reached for the processed cheese.
    “Dr. Johnson says a miscarriage in the third trimester could have killed her.”
    He didn’t look back. His tiny face crumpled.
    “When she got the call. When she fell,” his father paused, tilted the whiskey back and then crushed an ice cube between his back molars. “The fall must have ...”
    The cheese fell to the floor with a clean slap. Lysander half turned, his voice quavering.
    “It wasn’t my