When Doom Found Violet novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Meet

The lot behind the feed store was gravel, one lamp and a dumpster.

I stood under the lamp at 8:20 with my jacket zipped to my chin and a black recorder taped under my left breast.

Doc had put it there himself, with a stern face and a roll of surgical tape.

"Don't sweat on it," he'd said. "It's good for four hours."

"I'll try."

"And Flower. If you want out, say the word garage."

"Garage."

"Good. Stay loud."

Somewhere past the dumpster, in the dark, a plain white van sat with the engine off.

Doom was in it.

He had hated every minute of the plan, and he had checked the van's doors twice.

Two prospects were behind the feed store, three more were on the road, and the VP waited in the loading bay with a rifle across his knees.

I was not alone.

It still felt that way.

At 8:34, a white sedan rolled in.

Kent got out slowly, favoring his hip, with the stitches still black in his lip.

He had dressed carefully, in a gray suit and a tie I'd bought him.

"You came," he said.

"You said Zane would go in tonight."

"I did."

"That's why I came."

He stopped ten feet from me and looked me over, up and down, slowly.

"You look different."

"I got a haircut."

"No." His eyes narrowed. "You look happy."

"I'm sleeping better."

His mouth twisted.

"In a biker's bed."

"On a mattress with a lock on the door," I said. "Ours had you in it."

He ignored it.

"Give me the phone."

I took the gray phone out of my jacket pocket and held it up between two fingers.

His whole body leaned toward it.

"Where did you get it?"

"It was in your jacket."

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