The Last Deep Breath by Tom Piccirilli Read Free Book Online Page A

brother.”
    Harvey opened his eyes.  He was a kid who took everything in stride.  He yawned and scratched his peach fuzz. “Ellie didn’t have a brother.”
    “She did and she does.  Have you heard from her recently?”
    “Been almost a year since we split up, man.”
    “I know.  Have you been in touch since?”
    “You some kind of a crazy fan, man?  Eva Rains always had the craziest goddamn fans after her.  She encouraged that kind of crap.  That what you’re about?”
    Grey decided he might have a little better luck if he used Harvey’s real name.  “Paul, I really am Ellie’s brother.  Tell me what happened before the two of you broke up.”
    A couple of the orgy chicks broke from the shower and hopped into the hot tub.  They giggled and sighed and murmured, oblivious to Grey and everything else.  Harvey kissed one of the ladies and within a minute was almost asleep again.
    So much for this.
    Grey grabbed Harvey by the back of the neck and forced his head under the bubbling waters.  The girls didn’t open their eyes.  For the first few seconds Harvey didn’t even struggle, stoned and just going with it.
    Then he started to struggle a bit, and then a bit more, and then he began to thrash down there.  Grey left him under the foam for another ten-count, then pulled him up.
    Coughing and sputtering, Harvey turned his face to Grey, his eyes finally showing some focus and interest.
    One of the orgy guys walked over and said, “Hey, anything wrong?”
    “No trouble,” Grey said.  “I’m a trained lifeguard.  Get the fuck out of here.”
    He hauled Harvey out of the water.
    “Wait, man, wait...what...?”
    “Okay, now we can dialogue.  My sister.  Have you heard from her since you split up?”
    Harvey Wallbanger’s hands went up in front of his face like he expected to lose what few looks he had.  “No, man, no no!”
    “Tell me what happened.”
    “What happened when?”
    “What happened when you split.”
    “She left, man, she left, that’s all!  She got in deep into heroin, fucking nobody does heroin anymore.  That’s not a righteous high.  It kills everything.  We started fighting, she was costing us jobs.  So we parted ways, totally amicable, I’m telling you.”
    “Who’s Johnny?”
    “Who’s Johnny who, man?”
    One of the girls opened an eye and said, “I think he means her manager, Harvey.  That old fat fucker.”
    Harvey’s eyes lit.  “Yeah, yeah.  That’s right.  Name was John.  Yeah.  John...Raymond.  Right.  That who you mean, man?  John Raymond?”
    The girls over in the claw-foot tub were starting to get into each other, which was sort of distracting.  Grey found a towel and tossed it to Harvey.  “Let’s go talk next door.”

14
     
    Next door was an empty bedroom.  Jesus, there was a guy in a little booth out front but nobody around the house to keep assholes out of your closets.  The hell kind of town was this?
    Harvey sat on the bed.  With his crank covered over he looked a little pathetic, like a child held after class.  Grey was worried he might start crying.  For this he’d been carrying Monty’s .32?
    “Tell me more about Ellie’s manager.”
    “There’s nothing to tell, man.  After we decided to split up I got new representation with Monty Stobbs.  You heard of him?”
    “Yeah, I have.”
    “He didn’t want anything to do with Ellie.  She was already getting a bad rep in the business.  Once your reputation goes like that everybody in the industry knows.  No one wants to work with you, nobody wants to hire you.”  Harvey started to get a little animated again, talking with his hands, mauling the air.  “Our agent dumped us because we were a package team.  I had my career to think about.  So we broke up and I went with Monty and she found this other guy, John Raymond.  Said he was more than an agent, said he was a manager.  Was going to get her parts in straight movies.  Was going to have her do TV.  He