Expecting to Die (Alvarez & Pescoli)

“How can you say that? When they find out that we knew about Destiny, that—”

“Shhh!”

“But what if they find out?”

“They won’t. Just be cool.”

“I can’t!”

A beat. “Fine.” Another beat, and then he said, as if he’d just made up his mind, “Let’s meet. I’ll talk you off the ledge.”

She bit her lip, glanced out across the backyard to the hedgerow of arborvitae, saw something—a rat? Squirrel? Small cat? She couldn’t tell in the darkness. The shadowy creature skittered away, sliding deep into the undergrowth.

Goose pimples marched up the back of her arms and she shivered.

“Linds? You still there?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t lose it. I’ll meet you. Later. Midnight. You know where.”

“Not at the Reservoir—”

“Of course not. The other place!”

And then he was gone and she was left with the muted sounds of a crowd roaring its approval from her dad’s TV, and the smell of cigarette smoke curling through the cracked caulking surrounding the old garage’s only window.

For the first time in her life, she envied her parents with their drab, boring lives. He worked for the railroad, had for as long as she could remember. His thrills were double cheeseburgers at Shorty’s, the all-night diner, playing pool with his buddies, or just hanging out in his man cave.

Lindsay’s mother still worked part-time at that preschool Lindsay had attended years ago, volunteered at the local animal shelter, played Bunco with a group of friends one Monday night a month, and sang in the church choir. Their lives were planned out, no worries, no damned drama.

She felt a tear start to well in the corner of her eye, but she willed it backward. No time for that. She had to meet him in a little while.

Hopefully he had a plan.

CHAPTER 14

Since Pescoli couldn’t beat ’em, she decided to join ’em and attend the meeting of the Big Foot Believers with her daughter. They parked in the courthouse lot as it was after hours, then hiked the two blocks to the building that had originally been built by the Sons of Grizzly Falls, a fraternal organization with secret meetings where, it had been rumored, men had met, drank, played cards, and brought in prostitutes all under the guise of working for the betterment of the community. The organization slowly dissolved and the building had been sold to the city. Since World War II, the Sons Building, as it was called, had been city hall, the police department, and the town library, but over the years each of those entities had moved on, and now the building was used to house meetings, art festivals, adult education classes, and the like. The latest rumor was the city was ready to sell the building to a developer who wanted to turn it into a mall of some sort. As far as Pescoli knew, negotiations on the sale were stalled and specific groups such as the Big Foot Believers were still able to rent out space.

Bianca tried not to limp on her way into the building, but she winced a little as she headed through the massive double doors and into a wide hallway with soaring ceilings, complete with stained-glass skylights. The architect who had designed the edifice had spent three years in Europe and had been greatly influenced by medieval architecture. While most of the buildings in Grizzly Falls were constructed with wooden western facades, even, in some cases, adorned by hitching posts, or were long and low, built in the style of mid-century strip malls, not so this enormous structure. The Sons of Grizzly Falls building was thick and square, like a fortress. Built of concrete and stone with huge, exposed cross timbers and high ceilings reminiscent of a cathedral, it had withstood two fires and over a hundred and fifty Montana winters.

Wide stone steps led to huge doors, through which they entered into a grand hall with thick columns and a marble floor inlaid with tile. People were milling around the center area, some climbing the steps, voices muted but echoing slightly.

Smaller rooms branched off the cavern

ous hallway. One door was shut firmly, a handwritten sign posted over the carved panels:

BIG FOOT BELIEVERS MEETING

MOVED TO ROOM 211

Come and meet Hollywood Producer

Barclay Sphinx

Visitors Welcome!

Please: No cell phones