The Invisible Hand - A crime novel

Chapter 71

                 

I try to keep an eye on the RV. Taw makes sure I'm too busy for that. Has one of the guys give me a pressure washer. A bucket. A broom.

"Get cleaning, worm," the roughneck says.

It's dirty work. Mud is everywhere. The pressure washer does a fine job. Too fine. It blows the mud back onto me. I'm soaked through my coveralls after just five minutes. Should've worn another set of clothes.

I think to ask some questions. To get a feel for "the market" for Les. But I never get a word out. Don't want the mud to get in my mouth.

The washing is interrupted a few hours later. A roughneck walks up. Motions to a pallet. It's stacked with 80-pound bags.

"Take the bags there," the roughneck says and points. "Empty them into that machine there."

I'm not sure what's inside these bags. But I know one thing. After moving 20 of them, I'm bone-bending exhausted. Good thing there are only 30 more on the pallet.

Over and over, I empty the bags into the machine. My stomach growls. I glance at a clock. Just about lunch time. I could slip away, check up on Sam.

But no one is interested in lunch. The work only picks up. I spot a roughneck eating chips on the way to a portable toilet. Looks like that's it.

I finish with the bags. Head over to the toilet. Figure I'll go inside. Then quick run over to the RV.

I pass by the roughneck coming out of the toilet. He walks with a limp. Nods to me.

"You Lou's replacement?" he says.

"Yeah. Filling in for him," I say.

"Good. He was a shitty worker. A real ginzel."

Ginzel. Not sure what it means, but it's probably not good.

"How's that?" I say.

"Couldn't focus on nothing. But Taw kept him on anyway. The guys liked him around anyway," the roughneck says.

"Oh, OK," I say.

The roughneck cracks his neck. "Did Lou tell you about anything else? Other things he did out here?"

I get where he's going. We go behind the toilet. I make a quick sale. Even if everyone knows about this stuff, it's better to not make it obvious.

I slip back into view. That's when something catches my eye.

The door to the RV. It's open.

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