Stone Cribs: A Smokey Dalton Novel

by Kris Nelscott

  Lacey smiled, and Norene jumped up and down. Mikie held out her order form. “Now?” she asked, with the finesse of a used-car salesman.

  “Leave him alone,” Franklin said. He appeared in the kitchen doorway. He was wearing a suit. The jacket was wrinkled, and he looked tired.

  His eyes didn’t twinkle like I would have expected them too. Usually his daughters’ antics amused him.

  He studied me as if no one else was in the room. “What happened this time?”

  The girls glanced at each other, then slid into the living room. They started discussing the cookie order forms.

  I took that as a cue. Franklin was still angry at me.

  Jimmy walked past Franklin into the dining room. Jimmy wore clothes I didn’t recognize—a shirt that seemed too big, and pants that were a little too short. Had I forgotten to bring him a change of clothes?

  I probably had.

  He stood between me and Franklin, glancing back and forth between us.

  I extended a hand to him. Jimmy crossed the room and took it. His hand was warm and sticky. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “You don’t look fine,” Jimmy said.

  “I haven’t had much sleep.”

  Franklin leaned into the living room.

  “Girls,” he said. “Go help your mother.”

  “Da-ad.”

  I could recognize Lacey’s disgusted tones even though I couldn’t see her.

  “Daddy, we’re just—”

  “I said go, Mikie.” Franklin crossed his arms. Even I wouldn’t mess with him when he was in that mood.

  Norene skipped out of the living room, across the dining room floor toward the kitchen door. She waved at me as she passed, flashing me a bright grin.

  Mikie still clutched her order form and stomped past her father, head down. Lacey opened her mouth to argue with him, but Franklin pointed at the kitchen.

  “Go,” he said again.

  Jimmy’s grip grew tighter on my hand.

  Franklin waited until Lacey’s voice rose in the kitchen, reciting her protest to her mother. There was laughter in Althea’s voice as she responded.

  But I couldn’t concentrate on them. Instead, Franklin came up behind Jimmy and put his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder.

  “I think we should have a conversation, Smokey,” Franklin said.

  I shook my head. “Not tonight.”

  “What happened, Smoke?” Jimmy asked.

  Franklin’s gaze met mine. He hadn’t said anything to Jimmy, just like I had asked him to. But now Franklin was staring at me with disapproval.

  He would never have run off like I did. He would have reported what little he knew and hoped the authorities took care of it. At best, he would have gone to some of Bronzeville’s leaders, and asked them for help.

  But he wouldn’t have left Jimmy with friends while he went to find a killer.

  Jimmy was looking up at me. He was a good kid. He had a difficult life, but he was making the best of it. And he was stuck with me, a man who didn’t always do the right thing.

  I owed him an explanation. Secrets wouldn’t help either of us.

  This wasn’t about Franklin. This was about me and Jimmy.

  I crouched, so that I was at Jimmy’s eye level. I didn’t have to go as low as I did a year ago. He had grown significantly since Martin died.

  Jimmy’s brow was furrowed. His eyes were wide as he studied me.

  I took his other hand, so I was holding both of them now. I said, “Truman Johnson got killed.”

  Jimmy’s head went backwards just a little, the only sign of his shock. His expression didn’t change, however, and I worried that he was learning the wrong things from me.

  “The policeman?” Jimmy asked.

  I nodded.

  Jimmy frowned. He had met Johnson, but they hadn’t really known each other. Oddly enough, Jimmy knew Sinkovich better.

  Jimmy blinked a few times, his frown growing deeper. I recognized the look. He was thinking about the times he had met Johnson.

  After a moment, Jimmy said, “I liked him. He was a good man.”

  I tensed. Franklin crossed his arms. Here it was, yet another example for Jimmy of men who did the right thing and died. But I had started this conversation. I had to finish it.

  “Yes,” I said to Jimmy. “Truman Johnson was a good man.”

  Jimmy nodded. He seemed to think for a moment, and then he asked, “Did you get the guy that killed him?”

  Franklin shook his head slightly, as if he couldn’t believe this conversation was going on in his dining room.

  “Yes,” I said. “I did.”

  And as I spoke, I braced myself for his reaction. Jimmy had been so unpredictable lately, so difficult. I had no idea what he would think of being left alone so that I could “get the guy” who had killed a good man.

  To my surprise, Jimmy smiled slowly. He nodded, and squeezed my hands, as if he were comforting me.

  “Okay, Smoke,” he said softly. “I can live with that.”

  And, I realized, I could too.

  ABOUT KRIS NELSCOTT

  Kris Nelscott is an open pen name used by USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

  The first Smokey Dalton novel, A Dangerous Road, won the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery and was short-listed for the Edgar Award for Best Novel; the second, Smoke-Filled Rooms, was a PNBA Book Award finalist; and the third, Thin Walls, was one of the Chicago Tribune’s best mysteries of the year. Kirkus chose Days of Rage as one of the top ten mysteries of the year and it was also nominated for a Shamus award for The Best Private Eye Hardcover Novel of the Year.

  Entertainment Weekly says her equals are Walter Mosley and Raymond Chandler. Booklist calls the Smokey Dalton books “a high-class crime series” and Salon says “Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.”

  For more information about Kris Nelscott, or author Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s other works, please go to KrisNelscott.com or KristineKathrynRusch.com.

  THE SMOKEY DALTON SERIES

  in order:

  Novels

  A Dangerous Road

  Smoke-Filled Rooms

  Thin Walls

  Stone Cribs

  War At Home

  Days of Rage

  Street Justice (March 2014)

  Short Stories

  Guarding Lacey

  Family Affair

  COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

  STONE CRIBS

  Copyright © 2013 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

  Published by WMG Publishing

  Cover and Layout copyright © 2013 by WMG Publishing

  Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing

  Cover art copyright © 2012 by Marsil/Dreamstime

  First published in 2004 by St. Martins Press

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  The Smokey Dalton Series

  Acknowledgments

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-one

  Twenty-two

  Twenty-three

  Twenty-four

  Twenty-five

  Twenty-six

  Twenty-seven

  Twenty-eight

  Twenty-niner />
  Thirty

  Thirty-one

  Thirty-two

  Thirty-three

  Thirty-four

  Thirty-five

  Thirty-six

  Thirty-seven

  Thirty-eight

  About Kris Nelscott

  The Smokey Dalton Series

  Copyright Information