The Man Stalking Me Said Stop Working Alone, and the Kind Vet Was the One Who Let My Tire Down novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: The Lift Bridge
The man in the Haugen jacket walked up the middle of Superior Street with his hands in his pockets.
He was wide and young and chewing gum.
He stopped ten feet from Matt and looked past him at me.
"Miss Kallio," he said.
"Mr. Haugen sends his regards."
"He can send them to the county clerk," I said.
"He says you've got something that belongs to the county."
The driver smiled around his gum.
"He says you could hand it to me right now and go back to your shift.
"Nobody gets hurt on a cold night."
Matt moved.
He did not lunge.
He stepped sideways once, so that his shoulder was between me and the man.
"Say her name again," he said in his even voice.
The gum stopped.
"I said Miss Kallio."
"That's the last time," said Matt.
Behind me the bookstore's lock turned over.
Pavel stepped out onto the pavement in his canvas coat, with his glasses swinging on their cord.
Four men from the ore dock came out behind him, in work jackets and rubber boots.
They said nothing.
They stood on the sidewalk in a row with their hands loose at their sides.
The driver looked down the row, and I watched him count.
He took the gum out of his mouth and flicked it into the gutter.
"Mr. Haugen's going to hear about this," he said.
"He's going to hear everything," said Pavel.
"I'll write it out for him myself.
"Tell him the dock opens on Monday, same as always."
The driver climbed into the salt truck and backed it out of the lane with the warning bell ringing across the empty street.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Man Stalking Me Said Stop Working Alone, and the Kind Vet Was the One Who Let My Tire Down are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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