BooksBarbecue
Back The Empress File Save as PDF
Chapters (20)
  1. Prologue
  2. CHAPTER 1
  3. CHAPTER 2
  4. CHAPTER 3
  5. CHAPTER 4
  6. CHAPTER 5
  7. CHAPTER 6
  8. CHAPTER 7
  9. CHAPTER 8
  10. CHAPTER 9
  11. CHAPTER 10
  12. CHAPTER 11
  13. CHAPTER 12
  14. CHAPTER 13
  15. CHAPTER 14
  16. CHAPTER 15
  17. CHAPTER 16
  18. CHAPTER 17
  19. CHAPTER 18
  20. CHAPTER 19

“I called this Brown guy, the landowner. He didn’t make any bones about the land being for sale. He sounded pretty anxious; he was also curious about why anybody would want it.”

“That’s an element in a good con job,” I said. “Somebody suddenly sees value where nobody else could see it. It makes them wonder what’s going on.”

“I hope,” John said. He had been taking in my costume and now cracked a smile. “You look like you’re in a movie, like an artiste. You oughta dab some paint on your shirt.”

“We all look like we’re in a movie,” I said. “We’ve gotta be careful not to overdo it.”

“You see the Beemer out in the parking lot?”

“Yeah

“

“Love that car. It turns the head of every goddamned good-looking woman in Memphis-“

“A small exaggeration,” Marvel said.

“I didn’t know the power of cars on women,” John said, a light in his eye. “I really didn’t.”

“Just drive carefully,” LuEllen said. “That thing is costing us a fortune.”

“Did you check Ballem’s office?” Marvel asked LuEllen.

“Yeah. Going into the building could be tough. The door is right out in the open. People in small towns keep an eye on strangers. Especially at night.”

“This help?” Marvel asked. She tossed a key ring with two keys on it to LuEllen. “The brass one’s for the building door, and the other one’s for the outer office door. Couldn’t get one for Ballem’s personal office without asking somebody we were afraid to ask.”

“This is great,” LuEllen said. “Once I’m inside, I can handle his office.”

“When are you going to do it?”

I shrugged. LuEllen hated to give away any kind of security. “Sometime this week probably,” I said. I picked up my shoulder bag, opened it on the bed, and took out LuEllen’s Nikon F4, along with an instruction book.

“The camera’s all set up,” she said to John as I handed it over with the book. “The film is loaded, and it’s on silent mode. You’ll have to focus it when you get there and lock in the exposure.” She dipped into my bag and took out another piece of gear. “This is the radio control

“

John peeled his coat off, and Marvel moved forward on the bed to peer at the camera. “Show me how to do this, exactly,” he said. “I don’t want to fuck up.”

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

Small-town people tell a story on themselves, an illustration of their closeness to their neighbors. Folks in small towns don’t use the turn signals on their cars, they say, because whoever is behind them knows where they’re going to turn.