Return of the Reaper novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Terms

Doyle stood in Noelle's hallway in his jeans and nothing else, with the phone pressed to his ear.

"How did you get this number?" he asked.

"Doyle. We have known each other since you were twenty-one," Harlan said, almost hurt. "I know what you eat for breakfast."

"My daughter is out of your building."

"Yes. It was very well done. I'm told you used a nurse's laundry."

Doyle said nothing.

"I won't ask for her back," Harlan went on, like a man being generous.

"The boy overstepped. But a Cavanagh man is dead on my stairs, and you owe the family one."

"I owe you nothing."

"You owe me a man. Ray Lowry will sit at my table on Saturday, in the old tasting room at the Gaslight."

"He will not get up again."

"I don't do that anymore."

"You did it last night."

The words sat in the hallway.

"If you refuse," Harlan said, "a tow truck was seen in Eden this morning."

"The plates belong to a pawnbroker with a very nice white farmhouse. Old wood burns so fast."

Doyle's hand closed on the phone until the case creaked.

"Touch that house," he said quietly, "and I come for you first."

"There he is," said Harlan, delighted. "I've missed him."

The line went dead.

Doyle dialed the gray phone.

Abel answered on the first ring.

"She's awake," the old man said. "She asked for pancakes. I made them from a box, and she ate four."

"Abel, Harlan knows the farm."

"Then I'll sit on the porch with the shotgun. I've been waiting years for someone to try."

"Keep her inside."

"I will. Doyle."

"What?"

"Tell her you love her when you call back. It doesn't have to be about anything else."

When Doyle turned around, Noelle was standing in the bedroom doorway in his torn shirt.

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