CHAPTER 2Anything that Tommy said or did was perfectly okay with Earl. He knew that he was—well, say inexperienced; and he admired his partner. Tommy had taught him practically everything he knew about his job. There were lots of little extras to be made; the trick was to make them without getting caught. Little by little, just by keeping his ears open, Earl was catching on. When Tommy told him to stop clicking his lighter, he stopped doing it. “Going to get this fixed tonight,” he said, and put it in his pocket. When Tommy said the blonde girl was jail-bait, and that a guy who’d take advantage of her like that ought to be jugged, Earl nodded in slow agreement.
“She’s beautiful.” He pronounced it beauty-full, reaching forward to turn on the ignition.
“The guy’s one of these artists. Prob
