Pigeon Blood

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: Well-To-Do People Acting Foolish

  It was weird to see Horace Long looking as ragged as a tramp while riding in the back seat of a taxi. Blair had been waiting for him, sitting on the sidewalk with his back against a broken-down telephone booth. He’d called Horace only minutes before to let him know what was going on. After the cabby pulled the car over to the curb, Horace pushed open the back door, exposing a big grin on his brown lips. “How-do!” he called. “Can I give you a ride, son?”

  Blair smiled. “I sure could use one,” he said, standing up and climbing in.

  “Where to now, boss?”

  “Parkside Drive.”

  “You heard the man,” Horace told the driver, and off they went. After pausing to give Blair a good look, Horace said, “You look like hell, Sheepskin.”

  “I feel like hell. Do you have any whiskey?”

  “No, son. You tapped me dry.”

  “Damn it, Horace! I need a drink!”

  “What you need to do is relax. Just sit back and rest easy. Bring me up to speed on what’s going on with these friends a yourn.”

  Blair snickered, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. You’ll see what I mean when I tell you what happened.”

  First Blair told Horace about Calvin Maxwell’s long-standing liaison with Sarah Massey, and that Cal had been Kevin Massey’s father. Blair also relayed the fact that Calvin knew all along who’d been responsible for Vinnie’s death and never felt compelled to tell anyone. And that was compounded by Calvin’s having paid off Detective Mikel Smith for hiding the truth about Jeremy’s involvement in Vinnie’s death. Then Blair concluded by telling Horace about the information he dragged out of Jeremy Driscall, namely that Corinne knew all along about Cal’s illegitimate son Kevin.

  It always tickled Horace to hear stories about well-to-do people acting foolish. He especially liked the one about Blair’s getting the best of Driscall just minutes before. There was no telling how far into the conversation Blair got before he started dozing off. Two days had passed since he’d last slept, and it was starting to catch up with him. On top of that, his body ached in anticipation of how and when he would get his hands on more liquor.