Cover-Up Story Read Online Free

magazine. I was surprised to discover he could read but, looking closer, I saw that it was a girly book. That was more typical.
    They became aware of me suddenly. The harmonica died to a moan. Uncle No’ccount whipped it from his mouth and, for a moment, looked as though he were going to hide it behind his back. Cousin Ezra closed the magazine and sat on it. Cousin Homer wavered, but must have decided he was the only respectably engaged one of the lot. ‘Evenin’,’ he said, quite civilly for him.
    â€˜Good evening,’ I said. ‘How’s the patient?’ Cousin Zeke opened his eyes, but the effort of focusing was too much, and he closed them again. I began to get worried. Seasickness wouldn’t have lasted this long. He should have had his land legs under him by this time.
    â€˜He’s feeling a mite poorly, still,’ Uncle No’ccount said unnecessarily. He glanced at the closed door. ‘You come along by yourself, did you? Nobody waiting outside?’
    â€˜I’m alone,’ I reassured them. ‘I thought I’d look in and see how you’re settling in, and find out whether there was anything I could do for you.’
    Cousin Ezra snorted, wriggled the magazine out from under his rump, and went back to memorizing the blonde on page 12.
    â€˜Nice of you. Mighty neighbourly.’ Uncle No’ccount nodded amiably at me, and the harmonica crept back towards his mouth.
    â€˜Mighta knowed it,’ Cousin Homer said. ‘Y’all didn’t think Bart was gonna come slumming just ’cause Zeke was sick, did you?’
    â€˜Like to see him show up here.’ Cousin Ezra looked up balefully. ‘We’re on our own time. He comes shoving his nose into this hotel, I’ll tell him what he can do.’
    Oh, yes. The cat was away, and the mice were flourishing flick-knives and bragging to each other about how they were going to take him next time he appeared on the scene.
    â€˜About Zeke.’ I tried to call the meeting to order. ‘Does he seem better or worse than he was on the ship? I mean, do you think he needs a doctor – or have you already sent for one?’
    They thought I was mad. It was in every expression. Even Zeke propped one eye open to regard me with a jaundiced look.
    â€˜It will be safer to have a doctor check him,’ I persisted. ‘You’re booked for your first show day after tomorrow. You want him to appear, don’t you?’ A delicate thought occurred to me – I wasn’t sure how much they were paid, but I’d received the distinct impression that Black Bart wasn’t exactly the last of the Big Spenders. ‘You don’t have to worry about the money, you know. We have a National Health Service, it won’t cost you any –’
    I stopped short. They were laughing at me. Not loud honest laughter, but the half-audible snickers that told me I had run afoul of a long-standing situation I knew nothing about. It was in-joke laughter, and I was on the outside looking in. Perhaps they’d explain it, so that I could join in the laughter, and perhaps they wouldn’t. I waited.
    â€˜Hell, boy! ’ Cousin Ezra exploded. ‘He ain’t that kind of sick.’ They burst into guffaws. ‘He’s sick, all right, just like he’s always been. But it’s all in his head. It’s all some kind of psycho – psyoho –’
    â€˜Psychosomatic,’ Uncle No’ccount clarified. It wasn’t until later that I thought the word surprising on his lips. ‘That poor boy’s always like that – every time we travel. Seems his ma took him to a Conjure Woman when he was a-growing up, and that Conjure Woman, she told him he was gonna die away from home. So, every time he gets away from home, he’s like this for the first two-three days. It wasn’t so bad when we was starting out, but it’s been blue murder since we got famous and been