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Just Thieves

Gregory Galloway
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. 1
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 2
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 3
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. ACCOMPLICES AND EASY MARKS

Cover

Cover for Just Thieves

Other Titles

ALSO BY GREGORY GALLOWAY

As Simple as Snow

The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand

Dedication

FOR MICHAEL

(1959–2018)

Epigraph

dingbat

“In times of terror, when everyone is something of a conspirator, everyone will be in a situation where he has to play detective.”

WALTER BENJAMIN

“The criminal is the creative artist.”

G. K. CHESTERTON

1

1

THE HORSE

WE DIDN’T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED, BUT WHEN WE WOKE UP THERE WAS A DEAD HORSE IN THE STREET IN FRONT OF THE HOTEL. The sun wasn’t up but it was light out, that part of the day I like best, not quite day but no longer night. It feels like the start of something. You can go out and see the world and not be bothered. Usually. But now there was a large dead animal in the street, and a small crowd, five or six people with nothing better to do than stand around and take pictures. “Don’t look at it,” I told Frank, knowing he wouldn’t listen. There was no saddle, no bridle, and no blood, nothing but a large gray horse dead in the middle of the road. It must have just happened too; there wasn’t a cop or fireman, or any official-looking person around to deal with a corpse in the street. Just people like us, headed out for the day with things to do, never expecting to have a dead horse literally thrown right in our way.

We were supposed to be on our way to work, but this would change things, alter the entire day, if I knew Frank. He’d have to think about it. He’d have to think about it a lot. We should have stayed there, in the street with the horse, maybe, in retrospect, so he could take a good look at everything. Let him take it all in and work it all out right there. That’s what we should have done. Maybe the whole day would have gone different; maybe the whole thing. In the moment, though, I thought the sooner I got Frank away from the horse, the sooner he’d stop thinking about it. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been wrong like this. “Let’s go,” I said and Frank didn’t seem to want to stay anyway, so we walked into the nearest diner and took a booth in the back.