Page 20 of Something Like Hail

“Oh.” Harold lookeduncertain. “I don’t know. Let me ask.” He pulled out his phone atthe same time Noah felt his rumble.

“Speak of the devil.” Noahread the lock screen. Marcello had sent him another message. Muchlike the one from the previous day, this included a name, time, andlocation. “New assignment.”

“Who’d you get?” Haroldasked, busy texting.

“Doug Francis.”

Harold’s head whipped up. “What?”

“Doug Francis,” Noahrepeated.

Harold scowled. “You know what? I’d bettercall Marcello about that check. Be right back.”

He swept from the room, head shaking. Noahglanced back down at his phone, struggling to decipher from theminimal information what could be so upsetting. The name wasinnocent enough, as was the address. He looked to the kitchen doorwhen he heard Harold’s voice, which had grown momentarily loud.

“—fucked up—”

That’s the only snippet he couldunderstand.

When Harold returned to the kitchen, hisface was flushed, but he was smiling. “No problem on the check.What you owe Marcello will come out of your hourly wages. Whateveryou get from clients…” He grimaced. “You’ll have earned it, trustme.”

He made it sound like the worst was yet tocome.

“Oh-kay,” Noah said,feeling uneasy. “Any pointers when it comes to Doug?”

The muscles of Harold’s jaw clenched. “Ididn’t tell you about George because of the image we’re workingon.”

“Innocent small-townboy.”

“Right. With Doug, hedoesn’t want anyone to know what’s coming. That’s what he gets offon. So I can’t tell you anything. Just make sure you choose a safeword that you won’t forget.”

Ah. Sadomasochism. Noah didn’t find itappealing, but he wasn’t concerned. As a kid, anytime he got intotrouble meant being on the receiving end of his father’s belt.Including the buckle. He doubted Doug could dish out anything morepainful than that.

Harold looked miserable. “Sorry, man.”

“It’s fine,” Noah said.“I’m tougher than I look.”

“I hope so. Listen, I gottatake a shower.”

“Oh. Okay. I’ll headout.”

“No! Stay and chill. It’lljust be a second. Make yourself at home.”

Short of a proposal, these were the wordsNoah wanted to hear most. Once he was alone, he did a happy dance.Then he strutted goofily from the kitchen into the dining area,where the little model village was set up. Noah turned on the lightto see it better, trying to recognize details that might reveal ifit was a recreation of Austin or somewhere else. The model’ssetting could have represented most states, although the littleplastic people were nearly all male. And shirtless. Or wearing evenless clothing! Noah bent over to examine a public pool and the tinymuscles on display. He hadn’t known such figures existed!

When he heard the shower stop, he turned offthe light and went to the couch. A Rubik’s Cube on the coffee tablecaught his eye, so he grabbed it and started twisting the colorfulrows, pretending to be into it even when Harold entered the roomand spoke.

“That thing pisses me off!”he said, nodding at the cube. “Got it in my stocking last year. Alump of coal would have been better.”

“Then why do you keep it?”Noah asked, glancing over casually. Yes! The bathrobe was back!Just one layer of fluffy cotton between him and a naked body.Helovedthebathrobe.

Harold plopped down on the couch. “I keep itbecause I plan on solving the fucker. The second I do, I’m going totake a hammer to it.”

“I had one when I was akid,” Noah said. “All you have to do is peel the stickers off andput them back on again in the right order.”

“Cheater.” Harold elbowedhim. “Hey, do you wanna smoke a bowl?”

Why not? Twenty minuteslater they were laughing nonstop while watching a showcalledKey & Peelehe had never heard of. Hell, he probably wouldn’t recognizeany television show these days, but it sure felt good to dosomething so normal. After cracking up through two episodes, Noahfelt a little tired. The high made everything so cozy. He stretchedand yawned. When his mouth tried to close again, a finger was inthe way.