Part 11 (2/2)
”Simple, really. All you need is a computer. It's a matter of public record that Lyle and Charles Kenton own this house.”
Jack made it sound as if he'd done the search. But Abe had been the one. He was better at that sort of thing.
Jack wandered over to the picture window and examined the bullet hole, noticed how it had been plugged with some sort of glue.
”Looks like a .32.” He turned to Lyle. ”You have the slug?”
Lyle nodded. ”Want to see it?”
”Maybe later.”
”Did some checking up on you too,” Lyle said. ”Or tried to.”
”Really.” Jack would have been surprised if he hadn't. ”Find my website?”
Another nod. ”Charlie did.”
”Repairmanjack.com,” Charlie said with a hint of disdain. ”Pretty beat site. Nothin' but a box to send you email.”
”Serves my purposes.”
Lyle fingered the end of one of his dreadlocks, twisting it back and forth. ”I asked around some. Found someone who's heard of you, but he didn't think you were real. He heard you mentioned by someone who knows somebody whose sister's uncle hired you once. Something along those lines. Like you're some kind of urban legend.”
”That's me. Urban legend.” Jack hoped to keep it that way. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the pierced window. ”Just one shot?”
”One's enough, don't you think? Tried to burn us out last night but I chased them off before they could get the fire started.”
”Guns, fire...heavy stuff. You've really p.i.s.sed someone off.”
”I guess so.”
”Makes the Chick pamphlets look like a joke.”
Lyle frowned. ”Chick? What're you...?”
Jack picked up one of the Menelaus Manor brochures and shook out another of the Christian fundamentalist tracts he'd found last night.
He saw Charlie grimace and gaze at the ceiling, so he handed it to Lyle, saying, ”Got to be careful who you let into your waiting room.”
Lyle frowned as he flipped through the pamphlet. ”Yeah, I do.” Then he flung it against his brother's chest. ”How many times have I-?” He cut himself off and glared. ”Later, bro.”
Jack took a mental step back and watched the pair, trying to get an angle on what was going on. A little tension between the Kenton brothers. Then he noticed the WWJD pin on Charlie's s.h.i.+rt.
A Born Again? Part of a spiritualist con? Crazy. It explained the Chick pamphlets, but nothing else.
He wondered how or if that played into why he was here.
Jack cleared his throat. ”Any idea which of your compet.i.tors might be behind your troubles?”
Lyle shook his head, setting his dreads in motion. ”I don't recall saying it was a compet.i.tor.”
Is this the way we're going to play it? Jack thought as he glanced around. He needed to break through the My-name-is-Ifasen-and-I-am-a-true-psychic facade if this was going to work.
”Okay, then... what else have these mysterious bad guys. .h.i.t you with?”
”Tried to spook us out this morning by playing games with the doors and windows, then they wrecked the Channeling Room.”
”That's why the windows are draped outside?”
Lyle nodded. ”They're trying to scare off my clients.”
”Clients?” Here was a chance to see if he could get a rise out of Ifasen. ”That's probably how they think of themselves. But let's call them what you call them: sitters... marks... fish.” As Lyle stared at him, Jack smiled and shrugged. ”I used to be in the game.”
”Game?” Lyle said, his expression going stony. ”This is no game. This is my life.”
”And your livelihood-a good one, most likely. But you probably already knew I was onto you. I figure you saw me notch my billet last night.”
No reaction. The Kenton brothers might as well have been statues.
Time to push a little harder.
”By the way, which one of you sneaked into Junie Moon's apartment and hid her bracelet?” Jack pointed to the younger brother. ”I'm betting it was Charlie here. Am I right?”
Charlie's gaze flicked to his brother and back, telling Jack he'd scored a bull's-eye.
”You're accusing us of a crime,” Lyle said. His lips had thinned, eyes had narrowed to slits.
”One I've committed myself. The medium I worked for used to send me on errands like that.” It was SOP: rifle the sitter's purse while the lights are out, cut a duplicate house key, then pay a visit when n.o.body's home. ”When it works, it's a beaut, isn't it.”
”I wouldn't know,” Lyle said, still not giving an inch.
Jack tried again. He stepped back and checked out the overhead light fixture.
”That where you stashed the bug? Lady I worked for bugged her waiting room and listened to the sitters as they hung out. Pulled all sorts of inside info from their chatter.”
The brothers went into statue mode again.
”Look, guys,” Jack said, ”if we're going to be working together, we've got to be straight with each other.”
”We're not working together yet.”
”Fair enough. How about I take a look at what they did to your Channeling Room?”
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