The Heartbreak Lounge (37 page)

Authors: Wallace Stroby

He knocked twice, stepped back, waited. He'd parked the Mustang behind the Firebird, left the engine running, exhaust swirling up. The sun was sinking behind bare trees, dark and cold settling over everything. He knocked again.

The door cracked open, the black woman looked out at him. She was dressed in a basketball jersey, jeans. Beside her, a little girl watched him with unashamed curiosity. He could feel the warmth of the trailer, smell cooking food inside.

The woman said nothing, looked at the bandage on his ear.

“Is your husband here?” he said.

“Who?”

“Your husband â¦” then catching himself: “Mitchell.”

“What you want with him? When you people ever going to leave him alone? He had nothing to do with those folks got killed.”

“I'm sorry. I'm not here to cause trouble. I just want to talk to him.”

“You're a policeman, aren't you?”

He looked at the ground, shook his head, then back at her.

“No, ma'am,” he said. “Not anymore.”

Footsteps behind her, then Sweeton was standing there. He wore jeans and a flannel shirt.

“It's all right, Sharonda,” he said. Then to the little girl. “Treya, go back to your room.”

“Why?” she said.

He put his hand gently on her shoulder, still looking at Harry.

“Daddy needs to talk,” he said.

“You don't have to talk to him,” Sharonda said. “You don't have to talk to nobody.”

“It's okay,” he said.

Harry stepped back as Sweeton came out, closed the door behind him.

Harry looked to his right, saw the little girl peering out through kitchen curtains before her mother took her away.

“What is it?” Sweeton said, fear and uncertainty in his voice.

“You know who I am?”

Sweeton shook his head.

“Doesn't matter anyway,” Harry said. He held the black canvas bag out.

“What's that?” Sweeton said.

“It's yours. It's from your brother.”

“My brother?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you get it?”

“He gave it to me, for you. And them.” He nodded at the door. “Don't worry. No one's going to come looking for it.”

“I don't understand.”

“You don't have to. Take it.” He raised the bag. Sweeton looked at it, took it from him, surprised at its weight.

“No one knows,” Harry said. “And at this point no one's left to care. It's all yours.”

Sweeton looked at the bag, sensing now what was in it. Harry took another step back.

“You, uh â¦ want to come in?” Sweeton said.

Harry shook his head.

“No. No need. Merry Christmas.”

He turned and started back to the Mustang. When he got to the car, he opened the door, looked back. Sweeton was still standing there, watching him.

“Merry Christmas,” Sweeton said and seemed to mean it.

Harry raised a hand, got into the car. As he pulled away, the suitcases clunked in the trunk. The cardboard box slid off the passenger seat onto the floorboard.

One more stop. And then the road.

He pulled out onto the highway, gave it gas, the heater blowing warm against his legs. He drove west, darkness in his rearview mirror, stars already sparkling coldly in the sky.

The sun was now just a violet glow on the horizon. But still a glow. A beacon, however long it lasted. And if he drove long enough it would return, as bright as ever. All he had to do was believe it. Hard as that was sometimes.

The night at his back, he drove on.

Also by Wallace Stroby

The Barbed-Wire Kiss

AVAILABLE FROM ST. MARTIN'S/MINOTAUR PAPERBACKS

STUNNING PRAISE FOR WALLACE STROBY'S MYSTERIES

THE HEARTBREAK LOUNGE

“Stroby continues to show a real flair for blending noir into a tightly plotted fireball of suspense in his second novel.
The Heartbreak Lounge
's tense story is complemented by believable charactersâboth heroes and villains â¦ Stroby infuses his action-packed story with unpredictable twists.
The Heartbreak Lounge
continues the high standards Stroby set in his debut.”

â
Florida Sun-Sentinel

“In a brilliant follow-up to his impressive debut, Stroby continues the hard-boiled adventures of Harry Rane.”

â
Kirkus Reviews

“Well-refined prose, vivid descriptions, and mounting tension stamp this hard-hitting follow-up to the acclaimed
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
.”

â
Library Journal

“Stroby's first book about exâNew Jersey State Trooper Harry Rane,
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
, found some tough, sharp new things to say about the often-clichÃ©d character of cop gone wrong. Stroby's second Rane storm is even better.”

â
Chicago Tribune

THE BARBED-WIRE KISS

“Stroby does wonders with his blue-collar characters.”

âThe New York Times Book Review

“A scorching first novel that mixes the melancholic heart of tough-guy fiction with a fierce and violent gangster plot.”

â
Washington Post

“Every so often a debut novel comes along that is so arresting and powerful you just know the author will go on to a fine career. Such is
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
.”

â
Cleveland Plain Dealer

“An excellent first mystery.”

â
Library Journal

“A fast-paced debut â¦ Prepare to have your V.Q. (violence-quotient) challenged to the max.”

â
Kirkus Reviews

“
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
is as gritty and tough as its Soprano-land New Jersey setting, and Wallace Stroby is a no-nonsense guide and a fine writer.”

âC. J. Box, author of
Savage Run

“A new member has been added to the Michael ConnellyâRobert CraisâHarlan Coben club of crime fiction. This work marks the debut of a novelist of great promise.”

âGerald Petievich, author of
To Live and Die in L.A.

“Drawing on his career as a journalist living on the Jersey Shore, Stroby has written a novel that is part Sopranos, part Springsteen, but in all a unique and stunning debut.”

âBartholomew Gill, author of
The Death of an Irish Sinner

“
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
is one of those books that gut-hooks on the first page and never lets you go.”

âJohn Gilstrap, author of
Scott Free
and
Nathan's Run

“Intense and gritty,
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
weaves a melancholy path through the decaying skeletons of the Jersey shore's dead resort towns, a dark, brooding landscape strobed by lightning strikes of passion and mayhem. If James Lee Burke had grown up in Asbury Park, he might have written
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
.”

âF. Paul Wilson, creator of Repairman Jack

“
The Barbed-Wire Kiss
has the melancholy yet stripped-down feel of Springsteen music at its hard-driving best.”

âAsbury Park Press

“The South Jersey setting of this book is as evocative as a Springsteen song, and as rich in character and suspense as a good Sopranos episode â¦ This moody mystery's strong themes of regret, the consequences of life changing choices, and the duties of love and friendship make it a book to seek out, and Wallace Stroby, like his publisher, worth keeping an eye out for.”

â
Flint Journal

“Stroby has managed to write one of the year's best novels to date â¦ It is amazing to think this is a debut author â¦ There is a maturity in the depth of the writing rare with a first-timer.”

â
Deadly Pleasures

GET A CLUE!

Be he fisrt to hear the latest mystery book news â¦

With the St. Martin's Minotaur monthly newsletter,
you'll learn about the hottest new Minotaur books,
receive advance excerpts from newly published works,
read exclusive original material from featured mystery
writers, and be able to enter to win free books!

Sign uo on the Minotaur Web site at:
www.minotaurbooks.com

THE HEARTBREAK LOUNGE

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

St. Martin's Paperbacks are published by St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

eISBN 9781429909280

First eBook Edition : March 2012

ISBN: 0-312-93912-4

EAN: 9780312-93912-0

St. Martin's Press hardcover edition / February 2005
St. Martin's Paperbacks edition / March 2006