by Andrea Speed, A. B. Gayle, Jessie Blackwood, J. J Levesque, Katisha Moreish
Vale’s eyes were like lasers trying to bore through the back of his skull, but Flynn eye fucked him right back, refusing to be intimidated. “Your father deserved worse. And you will get so much worse if you don’t turn it over.”
“Oh yeah, ‘cause threatening to kill me is gonna make me want to help you.”
“You should do it because it’s the right thing, and you’ll want to help yourself. Or anyone else unfortunate enough to fall for your bullshit.”
Flynn’s impulse was to rush him, to throw the old bastard off into the shampoo aisle, but for once he reigned in his knee jerk reaction and simply took a step forward, positioning himself for a solid kick. “Stay away from Aiden.”
“Or what? Are you going to call the police? What will you tell them?” Vale’s grin was now a rictus and slightly mad, making him suddenly wonder how sane he was. Maybe all his cool control was a mask that held back something inchoate and psychotic. “How long do you think it will take them to figure out Flynn Archer’s a phony?”
That was precisely why he wasn’t going to the cops, even though he knew he should. “If you touch Aiden, I will kill you. Get it, old man? I don’t care how many friends you have.”
Vale gave him that empty smile and nodded. Flynn got the distinct sense he was being humored. “It’s cute the way you think you have a chance. If it helps you sleep at night, keep thinking that.” A woman came into the aisle, and Vale pivoted swiftly on his heels, striding away like they hadn’t been having a conversation at all.
Flynn felt like running after him, beating something coherent out of that cold bastard, but that was probably just what he wanted. If Flynn were stuck behind bars, Aiden was unprotected.
He turned back to the shelves of drugs, nearly overcome with despair. What was he going to do?
And what did they think his father had given him?
Haven Falls #131 - Pissing on Your Parade
Henry Vale and Miles Sutherland
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Miles hung up the phone and stared out the clinic window. The sheriff’s office hadn’t been much help. All they’d been prepared to divulge was confirmation there’d been a B&E at Riley’s house and nobody had seen Stan for two weeks.
The weirdest part of the conversation had centred around the fact they’d been acting on an anonymous tip. What was that all about? Flynn had obviously made the call and hadn’t let on who he was. Was he just protecting his butt because he was at a strange house late at night or was there more to it?
The new assistant mortician hadn’t been much help, either. Maybe it was time to talk to Vale himself. He checked his watch. Theoretically he should have had a lunch break two hours ago, but as usual it was a case of grabbing a bite to eat whenever he could. Not that he was all that hungry, a brisk walk with Roofie would be better than stodgy food at the cafeteria. If he was really desperate he could grab a sandwich at Glenda’s.
“I’ll be back in an hour.” Miles gave a quick smile and nod at Millie but left before she could collar him for something else. When he’d first arrived in Haven Falls he’d spend all day inside the Clinic, but now he realized he had to be more proactive in getting time to himself. Before he got Roofie there didn’t seem much point.
The dog greeted him with its usual excitement. Miles fended off the mutt’s attempts to lick his face when he knelt down to put on his lead. “Shit, mate, do they make doggy Listerine? Your breath stinks.”
He gave him a quick pat to settle him down and set off for the town. Although the weather was fine, he didn’t really fancy a walk in the park. Not enough time to spend chatting to cops about any more body parts if Roofie got lucky again. The Sheriff’s office hadn’t provided much more information on that front either. Only confirmation that, yes, it was the same man.
The familiar red and white stripes on the barber’s pole attracted his attention. Miles fingered his beard. He could clip it himself, but it was so straggly he’d probably botch it and end up having to trim more and more to make it even and end up with a goatee. Yuk!
He tied Roofie to the pole and muttered a quick “Stay” which the dog ignored completely, preferring instead to sniff at the tires of the car parked nearby. Inside, Miles was a bit taken aback by the number of people waiting. Looks like he’d have to make a booking. Nothing until the tenth? Shit, this was worse than trying to get an appointment to see the Doctor! He chuckled at his own joke as the door jangled behind him on his exit.
He was just in time to see Roofie cock his leg and christen the front tire of the black Lexus.
“Charming. I’m sure you’re violating an ordnance by letting your beast piss on the street,” Henry Vale said, walking up with a steaming paper cup full of coffee. This town was truly full of rubes and idiots, and this one looked like he was trying to make himself look like a toilet brush. It was probably appropriate for Miles, the damn doctor.
“Actually, mate, he’s not pissing on the street, he’s pissing on the tires.” Miles resisted the urge to hit the bloke. The smirk had been enough to try his patience. Something about the undertaker really got his goat. He seemed to think he was in some way superior to the rest of humanity. “It’s not your car is it?”
“It is, and there’s such a thing as gravity, Mr. Sutherland. Piss runs downwards, which I thought you’d know. Oh, wait, you’re not a urologist, are you? How would you know?”
In some men a response like that may have made Miles smile, but there hadn’t been any sense of levity in the words. “You don’t have to be a urologist to know about gravity, mate. Ever heard of Newton? Anyway, piss is one of things we all have in common, the question is whether you can take it or not.” He patted Roofie’s head. The dog was sniffing the undertaker’s shoes now.
“My car is not your dog’s toilet, nor is anyone else’s car. I advise you curb your mutt before it gets you both in trouble.” Miles was certainly trying his patience. Deliberately? Perhaps. He had yet to meet a single doctor who wasn’t an arrogant sack of shit.
Miles folded his arms and leaned against the pole. He could have pulled Roofie back, but he decided not to. This man was a first class prick. Until now all their dealings had been cursory... whenever Stan hadn’t been around, but this was different. He was getting personal. “Are you threatening me just because my dog did what every dog has done since time immemorial? How do you propose I stop him. Make him wear a nappy?”
“Since when is truth a threat?”
Okay, the best form of defence is attack. “Speaking of truth. I met your new assistant earlier today. I hadn’t known Stan had left. His gear is still at his house, but it looks like someone has broken in and trashed the place. You wouldn’t know where he is would you? I need to contact him about something?”
“As do I. He skipped out on me with no notice. I still have his final check, even though I loathe giving it to such an irresponsible person.” Vale paused to sip his coffee, and size Sutherland up. How much did he know?” “You say his house has been broken into? Have you called the police?”
Miles narrowed his eyes. Years of studying patients had made him pretty good at working out whether they were telling him the whole story or not. Vale was one of those people who might not actually lie, but would only disclose what he wanted to. “The police are aware of the problem.” He wasn’t going to say any more until he’d spoken to Flynn. “By the way, I wouldn’t have called Stan irresponsible. He may have had his quirks, but he was meticulous about doing his job correctly. I never had any cause to fault his work.”
“Perhaps not, but he was not your employee. Those last few weeks, his work suffered terribly. He even mixed up some remains, giving the wrong names to some poor sods. I had to straighten that out before the families discovered it. It was probably best he left, as I was going to fire him. Say, since you know him so well, can you tell me what was troubling him?”
Miles laughed. Who was this guy kidding? One minute he was ripping him a new one and now he w
as trying to smile and be pleasant. It wasn’t working. “Ever heard of patient confidentiality, mate? I wouldn’t tell you in a month of Sundays. In any case, I still find it hard to believe he’d make a mistake like that. He took his job very seriously.”
Vale smirked at the Aussie doctor. He didn’t know shit. “Taking your job seriously and doing it well are two different things. It was a mistake to hire him.”
“That still doesn’t solve the question of his current whereabouts. No way would he just leave town like that, even if he had made a mistake. Something seems fishy to me. If you hear anything let me know.” Vale probably wouldn’t on principle, but Miles wanted to show that as far as he was concerned the question of Riley’s disappearance was not going to be forgotten. Not by him anyway. Stan had been genuinely scared. If only he’d told him more about who and why.
The dog was still sniffing around his feet, so Vale gave it a swift kick in the haunches, just to move it along. He wanted to kick it harder, to splatter its guts all over the sidewalk, but there were too many people around. “Curb your animal, would you? Not all of us find animal waste charming.”
“Scared he’d piss on your shiny patents, are you?” Miles yanked on Roofie’s lead, pulling him back out of harm’s way. “I wouldn’t be too concerned. He does have some standards, and from the look of things, he doesn’t like your shoes anyway.” The corner of Roofie’s mouth was curled up in a little snarl. The dog yelped slightly as he tried to lunge forward again but was restrained by Miles’s grip on the shortened lead.
“I’ll be sure and inform my tailor of its disapproval,” Vale replied, pulling out his car keys and unlocking his door. Philistines. Sutherland might just poke around, but he’d find nothing on Riley that would connect back to him. Riley was gone now, and nobody cared about him. He was just another disposable person, the kind that fell through the cracks of the world every day and no one ever noticed. The world had billions of people like that, and he for one was grateful, as it made his job so much easier.
Haven Falls #132: Marking Territory
Flynn Archer, Miles Sutherland, Aiden Parker
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Flynn thought it was nice to know he could indeed feel stupider. So he hadn’t totally plumbed the depths. It wasn’t comforting.
He gave himself credit for being better at tailing than Vale, or at least he didn’t stick out. Of course, he had some experience with it. Still, where did he expect Vale to go? To the scene of the crime? It was idiotic. Vale was only hiding stuff that wasn’t completely tangible. Other than the hands, he was an expert at getting rid of evidence. Would he make such a rookie mistake?
Flynn gave up and went and ordered a latte, hoping the caffeine would make him smarter. Still, he sat at an outside table and kept a watch on Vale as he talked to someone on the sidewalk down the way, before getting into an expensive black Lexus. Nice car. Way too pricey for a mortician, wouldn’t you think? Curious. Flynn took out a pen and scribbled down the license plate on a napkin, then wondered why. Was he a cop? What the fuck was he going to do with a license plate number?
Mentally kicking himself for continuing to be a complete moron, he noticed the guy Vale had been talking to was Miles, walking his mutt again. Flynn would have given it a biscuit if it had just bitten that bastard. He was going to ignore him, but then he made eye contact with Mad Max. Goddamn it. “Hey,” he said casually, raising his hand in greeting.
“Hi,” Miles blinked in surprise as he caught sight of Flynn sitting at one of the tables outside Glenda’s. That was the second time today he’d thought of someone and seen them soon afterwards. Was he getting psychic or something? “Just the man I wanted to see.” He pulled out a chair and sat down; Roofie was wagging his tail and trying to lick Flynn’s hand. “Sit, boy.” To his surprise, Roofie did, taking advantage of the table’s shade to get out of the hot sun.
“No, go ahead, have a seat,” Flynn said sarcastically, giving the mutt a pat on the head. He couldn’t remember its name, but it probably didn’t matter. In his mind, it would always be Hand Eater. “Were you just talking to Vale?”
Miles blinked in surprise. “Have you met him? I wouldn’t have thought you knew the man.”
“Fuck yeah, I know him, and he’s a psychotic bastard. What, he a friend of yours too?”
“Professionally I’ve had some dealings with him, though I knew Riley better.” Miles eyed Flynn. He hadn’t sounded too friendly when he mentioned Vale’s name, but who knew. Flynn was a strange bod. Hard to tell when he was being serious sometimes. “I was just trying to find out if he knew where Stan was.”
Flynn grimaced and picked at the cardboard sleeve on his latte cup. “Getting information from that fuck is like trying to get blood out of a vampire. Good luck.”
“Hm, so I wasn’t wrong, the guy is an arrogant prick. He told me that Riley had left town because of some mix up with bodies.”
Flynn shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe Vale mixed up Riley with a corpse and buried him by mistake.”
“Are you saying Riley’s dead? Vale muttered something about giving the wrong names to some poor sods, but he didn’t say he was dead.” Miles sat straighter in his chair, all amusement suddenly gone. “Did you find something at Stan’s place after I left last night?”
“Just a mess.” Should he tell him about the journal? He might wonder why he hadn’t turned it over to the cops, so he decided not to. But eventually, he might have to bring someone into this. Flynn felt a brief spasm of guilt as he realized he’d rather have Vale go after Mad Max than go after Aiden.
“Why didn’t you give your name when you made the call? The sheriff’s office said it was an anonymous phone in. Then they started asking me all these questions about how I knew about it. Had to do some quick thinking.” Miles watched Flynn’s face; he was hiding something, but what?
“That’s what I was trying to avoid. My life is hard enough without the stench of bacon making things more difficult.”
“Well, if it’s any help, I didn’t mention your name. Just said I asked a passerby to call as I didn’t have my cell with me. Not sure if they bought it, but things were pretty hectic when I rang, apparently there’d been another shooting overnight.”
Aiden was out for his after school walk with Dante when he saw Flynn sitting outside of Glenda’s with another man he didn’t recognize. There was a dog with them too. Flynn didn’t seem to notice him yet, so Aiden decided that for once he was going to sneak up on him and surprise him. Only Dante seemed to have other ideas. He saw Flynn, wagged his tail, barked, and then pulled hard on his leash. Aiden struggled to hold him back and frowned. He was going to have to get him a harness. He was just too big.
“Hi Flynn,” Aiden said as he approached the table. Dante completely ignored the other dog and put his paws on Flynn’s leg and stretched up to lick his face. Okay, a harness and more obedience classes, he thought, hiding a grin.
“Wow, school’s out already?” Flynn had totally lost track of the time, which was typical. He really needed to pick up a watch. He grabbed Dante by the muzzle affectionately, and told him, “You can lick my face when your breath doesn’t smell like the Long Island landfill, okay buddy?” He petted the dog and helped him get off him, before shooting a smile up at Aiden, who seemed to be looking at him questioning. What?
Oh shit. He was going to have to introduce them, wasn’t he? Flynn wondered if he could scribble ‘Ixnay on Iley-ray’ without being noticed.
Miles checked his watch, he really should be getting back to work. He stood and pulled Roofie’s lead. The mutt was trying to be friendly to the other dog but was being ignored. Obviously too lowly for a pure bred. The contrast in their looks was nearly as marked as the contrast Miles made with this young good looking guy. Flynn might be trying to act unconcerned, but Miles had noticed a tension there immediately. Interesting.
“Umm, Aiden, this is Miles Sutherland. He’s Crocodile M.D. or something. Miles, this is Aiden Parker, the hottes
t teacher on this or any coast.”
Miles reached out and grasped the proffered hand. The blush in Aiden’s cheeks at Flynn’s remark would have put a fire engine to shame. “Pleased to meet you. You’re obviously healthy, or I’d have met you before this.” He didn’t let go straight away interested to see if the blush could get any deeper. He wasn’t playing fair, but he didn’t care. Flynn had annoyed him a couple of times lately, and if he could get a reaction this way he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. Besides the teacher had managed to go a shade darker when he scratched his finger slightly against the palm before he let go.
Aiden glared at Flynn for the comment but smiled at Miles despite the heat on his face. “Second year teaching, so I’m not as prone to whatever the students get. Nice to meet you as well.” He glanced down at the man’s dog and smiled. Dante seemed to finally notice the mutt and was sniffing him, tail still wagging. He wondered if Flynn had gotten sick and that’s how he knew the doctor, but didn’t ask. None of his business.
Flynn watched the two of them carefully, narrowing his eyes at Miles. If he was even thinking of flirting with Aiden, he was going to tackle him, see how good his rugby skills really were.
Roofie had finally managed to attract the other dog’s attention and they were doing the usual circle dance, trying to sniff each other’s butt. Before his mind could sink completely into the gutter, and imagine doing the same with the cute baby-faced teacher, he pulled on Roofie’s lead. “Sorry, I have to get back to work. Nice meeting you... Oh, and Flynn... If you do hear of anything about Riley, you will tell me, won’t you.” He nodded at them both and dragged Roofie away.
Bastard! Flynn glared daggers at him, for all the good that would do. He’d have accused Miles of mentioning Riley on purpose, but he didn’t know he was lying to everybody in this goddamn town. Maybe he suspected he was lying, though, and for that he was going to get the asshole. Maybe put up a fake Craigslist ad in Miles’s name, looking for kinky sex from overweight midgets, with his phone number listed? Easy enough. Miles might be into that kind of thing anyways.