Page 31 of The Dead Come to Stay

Jo watched the water run in swirling eddies around the retired Mill wheel. It had been a weird two days. Even for Jo, whose

days never seemed to be normal. But reflecting on the last eleven hours was an exercise in mild embarrassment. You weren’t

supposed to sleep too soundly after a head injury, and someone needed to make sure. MacAdams argued about this and lost, then

proposed sitting in the lobby. Its horrible foam sofas would keep anyone awake. Which wasn’t true; Jo could sleep anyplace,

so she ensured wakefulness by making free with the EZ pod coffee maker in the corner... and then eating all the peanut

M couldn’t be sure, though. Time ain’t been especially kind to him.”

“You were sure enough to drop a glass,” MacAdams muttered, mostly to himself. He should have known that the woman who carried

eleven pints without spilling a drop wouldn’t smash a glass for no reason.

“ Then I see the obit. No family, you say.” Tula’s voice stayed light, even jovial. But MacAdams watched the cord in her neck contract

like a pulley system. “And then —thieving. Well, of course. Had to be him.”

“Hold up, hold up,” Green said, waving her hands. “What are you talking about?”

“The artifacts in York. Of course, it was all petty theft, fencing goods and minor cannabis dealing back then. We’d not been

married a full year yet before I discovered the loose floorboard where he’d been hiding his loot. Gave him hell about it.”

“But you didn’t go to police, I take it. Didn’t you think that might be trouble?” MacAdams asked. Tula laughed at him, but

it wasn’t the usual musical sound. Harsh notes.

“Let’s see—me da was in the IRA, me brother locked up for making pipe bombs.

What kind of trouble ought I to have been looking out for, James MacAdams?

” Tula twined one finger into her locks.

“I should have known, though. It wasn’t gonna stop with stealing watches and old trinkets.

He started house-breaking with a couple of his boys.

They got in with a gang, and soon it was every weekend.

Right up till he knocked over a petrol station and was caught on film. ”

“Ah,” said Green.

Tula gave her a wink. “Greedy fool,” she agreed. “That’s when I last caught him taking our emergency money from the tin.”

Tula slid off the stool and took up the paper from the bar. “Police were looking for him. And more dangerous sorts, too. Not

to worry, he’d be back for me .”

Tula cast the paper down.

“But he never planned to come back. Didn’t even warn me I might be in danger myself, but I figured that out pretty quick.

Crime bosses aren’t exactly a forgiving sort.” She gave MacAdams and Green a wry smile. “Lotta bad things about having a thug

for a da, but some good. I got out, clean.”

“You’re saying he left you there to get killed?” Green asked. She looked at MacAdams. “How’s this the charming guy who wins

over lady colleagues?”

MacAdams didn’t have an answer and didn’t need one. Tula had hers ready.

“He was just like that. Had a way of listening to you, made you feel he hung on every word. With women, anyway. Was a right bastard with other men.” She leaned on the bar