Unconventional

I sighed, placing my hands on my hips. I couldn’t get Edgar out of my head. I needed to know who he was, how he arrived here. What he knew about the horde my uncle was chasing. How long he might’ve been looking for it.

“Did he say anything before he left?” I asked.

“Nah. Went home one day, never came back.”

I approached my next question with an uncomfortable tightness in my stomach.

“Think he… found anything?” I asked in trepidation. “You know, with that metal detector he was always swinging around?”

“Besides the rusted-out junk he was always collectin’?”

“Yeah.”

Nolan tugged at his chin and shrugged. “Couple a’ old coins now and then,” he grunted. “Pennies mostly. A few silver shillings. Nothin’ to write home about. Nothin’ good.”

Nothing he showed you, anyway, I thought to myself.

“He was a good worker, when he actually worked,” said Nolan. “Toward the end, he was swinging that thing half his shift. The animals seemed to get along with him well enough, though. Not as much as they love Chase,” he added quickly, “but well enough.”

My mind wandered back to Chase, coming here periodically to feed and water the horses. He did it for Nolan, maybe. But he did it also because he loved it. And the animals loved him.

It was one of the cutest things in the world.

“This guy Edgar…” I said, shaking my head clear. “Any idea where I can find him?”

“Probably at his flat,” said Nolan. “Over in Tranent.”

“And would you be willing to part with that address?”

The old man’s eyes glowed with an inner mischief. “Not supposed to,” he said matter-of-factly. “But after what the bastard did?” He let out a chuckle with a cough attached to the end. “Come back into my office and I’ll dig it up for you.”

Sixty-Four

MADISON

> “Is that him?”

The man practically flew out the door of his apartment complex, and went straight into a running walk. He had long legs attached to a spindly body. His movements reminded me more of a bird than a human.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “That’s the guy.”

Julian turned the key and started his truck. The engine roaring to life was a bit noisy, but our quarry didn’t turn his head.

“You sure?”

“Definitely.”

The address Nolan provided was at the ass end of Tranent. All the way to the southeast, at the edge of the residential district.

We pulled away from the curb, rolling slowly along. Julian and Noah were in the front, with me laying lower, on the back bench seat. I felt like we were in one of those detective shows. The ones where you always see the perpetrator glance back over his shoulder, and take off running.

“Don’t go too fast,” I said.

Noah chuckled. “Yes, boss.”

“I mean it. If he takes off…”

“You don’t think we can chase him down?”