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We’ve been over this, too.
I don’t respond and neither does Reece. He just finishes switching from jeans into a black pair of sweatpants. When he’s finished, he holds his hand out for me and helps me down. Keeping my hand, we lock up the black Ford Explorer and head toward the entrance, passing a row of beach-style bicycles chained up together and three tables with mismatched chairs.
“Gray cars are more common than black cars,” I say to lighten the mood.
Glancing back at the SUV, he says, “Yeah, but you like black.”
“You like black, too.”
He looks at me again. “But I like you more, so I got you what you like.”
When he opens the door for me, I pass through, shaking my head. He considered my preferences when stealing a car.
“Good evening,” a woman says, coming through a doorway filled with a curtain of beads. “How can I help you?”
Two cats lounging in the middle of the floor barely even acknowledge our presence, making us go around them to meet her at a cluttered counter.
“Checking in,” Reece tells the receptionist. “For James Jones.”
“Yes, I remember. You said you’d be late.” She goes over to the computer and types in something. “Coming up from Fox Hollow, right? Did you hear about the explosion down there?”
A single shake of his head, Reece pouts his already plump bottom lip out.
“It’s been all over the news.”
“We were on a self-guided tour, checking out some outdoor art exhibits.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about those, but have never done one. How was it?”
“Good. Very easy. You just download the audio from an app and follow the directions, listening while it tells you all about the area’s history.”
I fight not to side-eye him as I scan for security cameras, thankfully finding none. The Catskills are an art collector’s haven with every form of art you can imagine, with some of the galleries outside even, but how did Reece come up with that idea so quickly?
“What kind of explosion?” I ask because it seems like the proper thing to do. Curiosity is human nature. But also, I didn’t hear anything about an explosion and I was in Fox Hollow most of the day.
“A car explosion outside a bar called… I can’t remember now. It was a prison reference. What was it again? The Slammer maybe?”
“The Pen?”
“That’s it.”
“Was anybody hurt?”
“Sadly, there was one casualty. A man. An employee of the bar. He went out to get something from his car, nobody knows for sure, and while he was in there,poof.” She snaps her fingers. “The whole thing went up in flames.”
Something inside the Explorer smelled like gasoline, but I didn’t come across anything in the back that’d be the source.
Maybe because Reece was the source.
I finally give in and look over at him again. He did change before we came in here, although I assumed that was because he’d just kidnapped a person and didn’t want to take any chances in case he was spotted.
This is why I use sap to start fires. It’s odorless and you only need a small, concealable amount.
“Crazy,” I say.
Nodding, Reece pushes out that bottom lip of his again.
“All right, if I can just get a form of ID and a valid credit card from ya.”
