Family Night Read Online Free Page B

around all looking scared. Good. It’s about time someone feared him for a change. Though it wasn’t him they feared at all. It was The Mask. He longed to be the Mask again. It’s as if it was calling his name.
         “Eddie!” Margie called from the bedroom, startling him out of his trance.
         “What?”
         “Don’t forget to take the trash out!”
         “I already took it out!” He said.
         “That’s what you said last time, and you forgot to do it. The can is already full!”
         “I took it out already!”
         “If you forget this time, I’ll beat your ass.”
         He stood and walked to the bedroom.
         “Do you have to say shit like that? Threatening to beat me up?” He asked her from the doorway. She was lying in bed watching TV.
         “What are you gonna do about it? Hell, I know I could kick your ass. You’re just a pathetic excuse for a man. You got a tiny dick too.”
         He shook his head and walked away. She wasn’t like this when they first met or got married. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to her. Gradually, over the years, she got angrier and angrier, with that anger the nastiness came out. All of it directed at him. Sometimes the kids, but she usually flipped out on him, and usually over nothing.
         While Eddie knew he hadn’t been the perfect husband over the years, she was just as much to blame for not getting what she wanted out of life. She always wanted him to get a better job, but he had been happy working in IT. He was good at it, and the pay wasn’t great, but good enough. That was until his job got outsourced to India. He hadn’t found a job since.
         She was an administrative assistant, but her attitude had gotten her fired one too many times. Now she worked at a convenience store. He’d looked for other work, but with twelve years working in IT, he wasn’t qualified for much else. So here they were. Money was tight, but they managed. It still drove her crazy that she had t o work while he stayed at home though he had work of his own to do now.
         “I don’t know why you’re walking away!” She was still yelling. “You know it ’s true!”
         He did his best to ignore her as he rewound the newscast on the DVR to watch his story again. As he watched, in the background he saw somet hing. He saw someone actually. He paused the TV and moved in for a closer look. Was that a detective? There was a beautiful Latina walking around the crime scene. She had a badge around her neck.
         “And who are you?” He whispered while watching the screen. Moving closer, he studied her face . Taking out his phone, he dialed the police department. They had an automated system, after listening to a string of recordings, he finally reached a person.
         “SAPD, Sgt. Carter speaking,” the voice on the other end said.
         “Umm, yes. About that body they found by the underpass the other day. The one that was all messed up. I uh, I might have some information about that.”
         “Ok,” the man said, unimpressed.
         “Yes. Um, who is the detective working on that case?”
         “One moment sir.” The officer placed him on hold for several minutes. No hold music played though. Just a string of don’t drink and drive public service announcements. Finally the officer came back on. “Sir? That would be Detective Julie Castillo. So any information you have should be directed to her. Would you like her voicemail?”
         “Uh, no. I’ll just call during the day. Thank you.” He said and hung up.
         He reached next to the couch and grabbed his computer bag and pulled out his laptop. This is one area his IT experience will come in handy. He had some homework to do tonight.

Chapter 8
     
         Eddie sat in the van, looking out the back window. Being Texas, most cars came with tinted windows to withstand the heat. Since Julie Castillo