Shotgun Opera

?It?s on the map,? said the voice. ?Almost to the Kansas state line.?

?I?m going to need two weeks,? she said.

?Out of the question.?

?I?m injured.?

?That goes with the territory. Handle the situation as we agreed.?

Again, hatred for the voice welled up within Nikki. There was the slightest hint of a threat in his tone. Do the job?or else.

?I?ll do my best,? she said.

?See to it.? He hung up.

She had just gotten home. She would not jump on a plane to Tulsa simply because the man with the voice had snapped his fingers. He did not run Nikki Enders. One day, I?m going to find that son of a bitch, then I?m going to make him squirm and cry.

In the meantime, she needed to figure her next move. She brought up a map of the United States on her laptop computer, zeroed in on the area west of the Mississippi. The man with the voice said the little shithole town was close to Kansas. That had possibilities. It was maybe time to call in a favor. She dialed the phone and held her breath, hoping she was doing the right thing.

13

Meredith Jacqueline Cornwall-Jenkins was just taking a marble cake out of the oven when the phone rang. Her husband the tax attorney would be home soon, and her plan was to ply him with London broil and asparagus and little red potatoes and a nice pinot noir, then marble cake and French roast coffee; and then, when the man she loved was complacent and a little sleepy, she?d again bring up the subject of having a baby. They?d been married two years. It was time.

But if that was him calling to say he?d be late, she?d shred him into mulch and put him on the flower beds.

She set the cake on the stovetop and grabbed the phone. ?Hello??

?Hello, Middle Sister. How?s domesticity??

?Oh, crap.?

?Glad to talk to you too,? Nikki said.

?What do you want?? Meredith asked.

?I need you to pop over the state line into Oklahoma and kill a man.?

?I don?t do that anymore. I?m out.?

?Nobody?s ever really out,? Nikki said.

?I am. I teach seventh grade. I drive a Volvo, for Christ?s sake.?

Nikki sighed on her end of the phone, and Meredith knew what was coming.

?We?re sisters,? Nikki said. ?Sisters need to stick together, and I need your help.?

?No.?

?You owe me.?

?Get bent.?

Nikki sighed, paused. When she started speaking her tone had changed, like she was talking about the weather. ?So, how?s John the attorney with the broad shoulders and the square jaw? He was quite a catch, wasn?t he??