AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sorry I’m adding to that.”
“No, you’re not,” he said, cutting her a look, a hint of a smile turning one corner of his mouth.
His wife had a long and consistent history of doing the right thing (in her mind) first and apologizing later. She was as stubborn as the day was long when it came to her beliefs about anything. She would stand in the face of a roaring lion if she had to. She had stood up to him more than once when no grown man would have. That attitude got her in trouble as often as not, but he loved her for it fiercely.
“No,” she admitted. “I’m not sorry. I’m not sorry at all. I just wish it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“It won’t be, not after the initial explosion.”
“The shrapnel is so unpleasant, though.”
“Me, I’m more concerned about what we’ve got going on here. Your missing person and my missing person just happened to know each other?”
“Could be a coincidence.”
“You know how much I like that word,” he said. “Not at all. And Marc Mercier’s wife told me he spends his free time with the guys he went to high school with.”
“I asked B’Lynn about Robbie’s friends. She said she didn’t know if he had any left. With his drug history and your guy’s anti-drug history, it wouldn’t seem like they’d be hanging out in the same circles.”
“But your Mr. Fontenot is allegedly clean now, yeah? It’s a decade on since high school. If he’s making a fresh start, runs into old buddies…who knows?”
“Well, we know that body on the slab in there isn’t Robbie, and Robbie’s been gone more than a week. Your guy disappeared when? Saturday?”
“Maisyeah, butgonedoesn’t necessarily mean dead or missing. I’ve requested Marc Mercier’s dental records. If there’s enough jaw left on the one side of the mouth of our corpse, we might be able to compare. Otherwise we’re waiting on DNA results to eliminate him. Christ knows how long that’ll take.”
“You need to text me a picture of him,” Annie said. “I’ll show Robbie’s neighbor and his mom.”
“Same here. Text me that picture of your guy.”
They turned the corner into the ER waiting area. Beyond the big glass doors, the gaggle of reporters had grown while they’d been inside. There were TV cameras now as the afternoon countdown to the five-o’clock news began. As the doors slid open, the reporters shouted a chorus of all the same questions they had asked before.
He hated dealing with the media, but he stopped to address them nevertheless. They had their uses, and he had his responsibilities.
“I have no new information for you regarding the identity of the victim found outside of Luck this morning. As I stated earlier today, the victim is a white male, age twenty-five to thirty-five, with dark hair and dark eyes. If anyone in the public has any information, please call the sheriff’s office tip line. That number is three-three-seven—”
“You lying son of a bitch!”
Kiki Mercier had pushed her way to the front of the small crowd. Now all eyes turned toward her in her bib overalls and work boots, her short hair standing up in ragged tufts, as if she’d been pulling at it.
“I asked you was he dead and you said no,” she said, stepping forward. “He’s dead in there right now, isn’t he? That’s my Marc in there, and you wouldn’t tell me!”
“Mrs. Mercier,” Nick said quietly, well aware the TV cameras were rolling, “I don’t know any such thing.”
“You’re lying!” she cried, tears welling in her eyes as she took another step forward. “You told that bitch wife of his! You told her, but you wouldn’t tell me. I’m his mother! I want to see him!”
She was close enough now Nick could smell the whiskey on her breath.
Luc Mercier rushed up behind her, red-faced. “Jesus, Ma, stop it! You’re making a fool of yourself!”
“Don’t you talk to me like that!” Kiki snapped. “You’d be only too happy if your brother was dead!”
“For fuck’s sake, shut up!” Luc said, his voice low and tight. “You’re drunk!”
“Don’t you tell me what to do, Luc Mercier,” she barked back. “You’re only here to drive the damn truck.”
She turned back toward Nick, losing her balance and falling against him. “I want to see my son. Right now!”
Nick turned, pulling Kiki with him. He looked to Annie and said, “Find us an empty room. Quick.” To the uniformed deputy standing sentry at the doors, he said, “Keep these people out here.”
