The Hinky Velvet Chair Read Online Free

to him?
    “No, no. Dawes will do,” Virgil amended. “But you’re not my
son. You don’t know me, you don’t know Griffy.”
    To Clay’s amazement, Griffy made a protest in her throat.
    Virgil rounded on her with a What? look in his eye.
    Griffy said nothing.
    Clay got goose bumps.
    Virgil said, “You can stay Clay Dawes, but you’re not my
son, you’re, hm, what? A shill, a fool, a bumbling worshipper of new age
theories, a woo-woo wonder, a clown.” Clay felt every word like a punch in the
gut. “I happen to have a use for someone like that right now.”
    “I want him here for the birthday party,” Griffy said.
    Virgil inclined his head. “You can stay five days. I’ll be
through with you by then.” It wasn’t clear from his gesture or his glance
whether he was talking to Clay or Griffy.
    Griffy stumbled out, looking pale.
    When she had gone, Clay blurted, “Why are you torturing her?
That woman has put up with you for eighteen years! You don’t have to marry her
or anything. But if you plan to dump her, wouldn’t it be decent to pay her off
and pack her off?”
    Virgil started fiddling at his workbench. “Got a job going.
Oh, and for the next five days, she’s my sister.”
    “What?!” Clay
already knew this, and it infuriated him.
    “You can remind her. I have to keep correcting her tells.
She’s like a sheet of glass.”
    Clay exploded. “I can’t believe you’re running a con in your
own house!”
    “Job came to me,” Virgil said, peering through a loupe.
    “Griffy deserves better than this!”
    “She gets what she’s earned.”
    “If this is just a job, you owe her an explanation!” I’ve got to stop shouting. How did Virgil
do this to him? Anytime he wanted, bam, he could destroy Clay’s hard-won Buddha
calm.
    Virgil aimed the loupe at him. “The last time you got
foolish over her, you stomped out of my house and didn’t come back for three
years.”
    His chest got tight. “You asked me to come back.”
    Virgil held still. “All right, I asked you to come back.” He
took the loupe out of his eye. “So is this another fit of gallantry?”
    “I won’t abandon Griffy, and neither should you.” Why
couldn’t he tell the old man off?
    Because last time he went off on Virgil, he’d had to leave
the house at age seventeen and support himself through college. Virgil had
cancelled his credit cards, appropriated his bank accounts, and sent a
repossessor after his car. Clay considered he’d got off lucky.
    “So you’ve come to keep the old man honest?” Virgil showed
his teeth. “Then I guess you had better stay, if you want to protect her
interests.” He stuck the loupe in his eye and turned back to his tinkering. “You’ve
gone sentimental, boy.”
    Without thinking it through, Clay lashed out. “I’m here on
business.”
    “Good. Maybe you’ll finally make some money.”
    “It’s not a con. I’m done with that. I told you a week ago,
I’m an investigator with the Department of Consumer Services.”
    “Yeah, yeah.”
    Clay hardened his voice. “The department received a
complaint against a Sovay Sacheverell. My partners will be showing up today. I
expect you to cooperate.” Wow, he sounded like Jewel, facing down a crook and
laying down the law.
    Virgil turned toward him with amusement and disbelief in his
face. “Why should I bother helping you?”
    “Because your new girlfriend is a black widow?”
    “Blah. You can’t even make an arrest. You’re here because
Griffy boo-hooed on your shoulder and ‘you want to see justice done,’” Virgil
said meanly. “Like last time, when you thundered at me to ‘do the right thing.’
That was about Griffy, too.”
    “If you think you can con a murderer, you’re playing with
fire. Worse, you’re playing with Griffy’s life. What if she decides to get rid
of Griffy first, to clear her path to you?”
    “Murderers make excellent marks. They don’t dare scream when
you take ’em,” Virgil said.
    Clay noted