The Specter by Jonas Saul Read Free Book Online Page A

Halifax or maybe take the bus so she could read on the way. It had been so long since she’d read a good book.
     
    In the car, she had been worried when Aaron had asked her how she knew his car. And he wanted to take her to the police station. She couldn’t believe it. Her deal would have been off if she walked through the door to a police station. They had been explicit in their arrangement. No police. Only information. Talk to whoever comes around asking for Joanne. Make sure they’re not cops. Find out why they’re asking and who they are. The man with the money said he would decide how important the information was. Once she talked to anyone, there would be a large payout. Enough that she could retire is what the man had said.
     
    She sat in a corner booth without ordering anything. The girl behind the counter kept staring at her, but she brushed her away, pointing at the other seat as if she was waiting for someone. Eventually everyone in the coffee shop averted their eyes, trying to be polite.
     
    She wanted a smoke but everything in Toronto was smoke free now. She could barely smoke in her own apartment, it was so strict.
     
    Outside, the sun beat down relentlessly, heating the already humid air into the mid-thirties. She thought about the heat that Aaron had brought down on himself by showing up at the strip club. She didn’t care. She wouldn’t. It wasn’t her deal. It had nothing to do with her. All she had to do was tell him a story and then let her new employer know that she did, along with the plate number. As far as she was concerned, her job was done and she hadn’t hurt anybody.
     
    The man she met at the club three nights before sounded like he had a Russian accent. The man on the phone was curt and to the point, but she could hear his Russian accent too.
     
    So why did they want me to tell the brother that the guy at the club was British?
     
    She had no idea what was going on and she really didn’t want to know. Before Joanne and Jan left work that night, they all had been given a story if anyone came asking questions. She was told the next night that Joanne and Jan had quit and moved away after having been paid off for their help. If her brother hadn’t been close to her and didn’t know where she’d moved, it had nothing to do with her.
     
    A black Mercedes pulled into the parking lot. No one got out. She wondered if it was her ride.
     
    The driver honked the horn.
     
    Nancy got up and walked over to the car. The tinted window on the passenger side lowered an inch. She leaned down.
     
    “Nancy?” the driver asked.
     
    “Yeah.”
     
    “Get in. We have your money.”
     
    Nancy opened the door and slipped into the comfortable leather seat, the air conditioning hitting her like a fridge door.
     
    “Very nice,” she said.
     
    The driver pulled out and got on Dixie heading south toward the highway.
     
    “Where to?” he asked.
     
    “My place.”
     
    He looked at her and then looked back at the road.
     
    “Oh, right, sorry … I live two blocks from the House of Lancaster. Easier that way. No need of a car. I walk to work.”
     
    This little bit of information didn’t seem to impress the driver. He sat rigid, watching the road, not open for a conversation at all.
     
    There was movement in the backseat. Nancy turned to see who was with them, but her vision went dark as something hit her in the face.
     
    She slumped down and fell out of the seat, her butt hitting the floorboards as she screamed and flailed at her eyes. A fire of pain flared inside her head as her hands grabbed the object on her face. It felt like two knives were sticking out of her eye sockets.
     
    Her mind raced and her hand flailed as the pain rose higher to match her screaming. Convulsions hit her body, knocking her hands off the knife handles.
     
    She curled up on the floorboards of the Mercedes, all ninety-five pounds of her, spilling blood and brain fluid onto the carpet, wondering what