Chapter Thirty-Two:
Rudd sat in his frayed lawn chair nursing a Canadian Club whiskey and washing it down with warm beer. The sun had slipped below the horizon hours before and he was watching Nick’s house with keen interest. Suzie was still there. He knew for certain. Rudd had paid very close attention and hadn’t seen the girl leave. And the light from the Nick’s master bedroom was casting shadows across his lawn.
Rudd had been in Nick’s house enough times, in his endless quest for Cloey’s naughty secrets, to know the layout of the upstairs bedrooms. And the guest room was still dark, as was most of the house. So Nick had Suzie all to himself in his bedroom and, Rudd figured, with a body like Suzie’s, they weren’t up there playing checkers. He experienced the bite of jealousy.
Nick had
