Prologue
460 Words
Prologue
BISHOP
I’ve f****d up royally.
Releasing a ragged breath, I dial Jax’s number in the dead of night. It’s late. The sun hasn’t cracked on the horizon, and I should have been asleep hours ago. But I can’t sleep.
The events of the day have played over and over in my head like a bad re-run, and I call one of the only friends I seem to have left. I know what time it is here in Annecy. I don’t think to give a f**k what time it is in London. And his voice is rightfully gruff when he answers.
“Jackson f*****g Reed.”
“Now, is that any way for a ‘round-the-clock’ private investigator to answer the phone when a potential client calls?”
“When it’s three-thirty in the goddamned morning, it is.” I can hear the growing smile in his voice. “What’s up, Bish?”
“I’ve f****d up royally, Jax,” I say, sitting on the couch.
“Yeah? What else is new?”
“I’m serious,” I grunt. “It’s bad. Really bad.” I light a cigarette in the pitch-black living room, leaning over. “You know how much I hate asking for favors…”
“I know, man,” Jax commiserates. “Anything I can do?”
I flick the cig between my fingers, thinking: Is there anything he can’t do? Was it really only six weeks ago that we’d eaten, drank and been merry? Only a month and a half since she’d been shot… and nearly rendered dead on the operating table? Couldn’t have been.
It was strange, really. How a beautiful night could have turned out so wrong, how a happy occasion could have turned to horror so quickly. It was only an hour before the shots rang out that I had admired her from afar, pictured every inch of her pretty bared legs wrapped entirely around my head. I’d been a fool. Sloppy at my job. And karma had wound up kicking my ass in ways I couldn’t even have imagined. I puff on my cigarette, making a decision.
“Yeah,” I finally answer Jax. “There is something you can do.” I lean into my phone, nearly whispering. “How soon can you get to Annecy?”
“France? Bish… most of my work is done here in London.”
“I know.”
“I hope you know it’s going to cost ya.”
“I know.”
“You’ll owe me for the rest of your f*****g life…”
I sigh, blowing out smoke. Yeah… I know.
He hesitates on the line, and I imagine Jax is thinking about all of the s**t he knows I’ll get him into. I already know what his answer will be before he says it.
“I’m in,” he exhales.
“Great,” I say, dragging on the cig. I put it out on the coffee table. “How soon can you get here?”
“Noon, at least. I’ll need a cup of coffee when I land.” He pauses. “And I’ll need to know what the hell you’ve gotten yourself into…”
- Writer
