The Midnight Within

Chapter 28

Sitting alone on the moss-covered stone wall that separated the Quick-Mart from the cemetery, Trez watched the cars pull in and out of the lot. At his feet a pile of candy wrappers danced, blown this way and that by the cold breeze that came in off the lake. He knew he should go home, but home was a bleak and hurtful place right now. It was a place he tried to avoid as much as possible.

Trez lived in one of the tiny shotgun houses on the other side of the tracks and next to the trailer court tucked away from view of any cars that drove down Lake st. It was a whole different world than the affluent area that Britt came from. With their pools, sweeping lawns and views of the lake, the riches had it all. All Trez could see from his window were the crumbling walls of the crack houses and weedy empty lots. They had been threatening to clean up the area for years and never had.

The wind picked up as the clouds rolled in, sweeping the baby fine white hair out of his eyes and scattering the wrappers across the lot and into the weeds. The arc sodium lights kicked on, letting him know that Detective Cooper would be driving past in about ten minutes to refill his bottomless cup of coffee. He had seen a van go by a few times, the music so loud he could feel his teeth vibrate from the base. If you had any kind of wheels at all, that's what you did in Disdain. You drove up and down Lake, sometimes going around the lake or out onto it if it was the middle of winter.

Not feeling like being run off by the cop he jumped down and headed towards the light and noise of the dairy Queen on the corner. DQ had been one of the few places Thane had liked to go with him, otherwise they hung out at the farm, helping Chester. Tossing the butt of his smoke aside, he was surprised to see the Stanger sitting at the pumps. Zakk might know where Daniel was so he headed over to the empty car, perching himself on the hood like a living gargoyle until Zakk came out.

" Hey Zakk. Have you seen D? "

" Get off my car Shithead. " Zakk barked at him as he opened the car door, sliding in behind the wheel. He was not in the mood to talk to anyone, especially Trez.

Trez laughed, jumped off the hood and ran around to throw open the passengers' door. He was in with the door shut even before Zakk could lean over and lock him out.

" You do know that there was a horrible accident last night right? Nick is dead and they think Daniel had something to do with it? " Zakk stared balefully over at Trez. " So tell me why he would anywhere near this dump of a town? "

" Yeah, well Amanda King's mom works dispatch and they know it was an accident, turn out Nick was drunk and fell down. He bashed his head against on of those pyramid things In Daniels room, unless you think D actually bashed Nick's head in with it. I would have if I was D. "

" I don't know where he is, we had a fight last night. I have not seen him since he dropped me off at home. " It sounded pretty hollow to Zakk but Trez was not even listening to him.

" We should tell him that he needs to go in and talk to them. He needs to get this shit cleared up."

" We. " Zakk arched an eyebrow at Trez, the half smile disappearing from his lips.

" You can't bullshit a bullshitter, Zakk. I know you know where D is. "

" Get out! " Zakk reached over Trez to push open the stanger's door.

Trez's face fell as Zakk glared at him. He should have known Zakk would react this way but it still hurt to hear the anger in Zakk's voice. " So I guess a ride over to Haake is out of the question? "