BTW when you are done reading this chapter. If you think reason should make sense go to TheMapThinker.com
Cody was thin, as many drug users are. He was also a reader. What he liked to read was true stories about people who broke the law and got caught. If Cody had a talent it was not getting caught. The police knew he used, everyone knew he used. But no one could catch him with anything on him. Everyone knew he never worked, but he always had money. Not a lot of money, but he always had just enough.
One thing Cody never did was to go around bragging to people. But Lonnie wasn’t people. Lonnie worshipped Cody. A worship Cody basked in. He enjoyed impressing Lonnie with all of his knowledge and skills.
He taught Lonnie how to steal cars. He taught him where to sell the cars after he stole them.
But you don’t keep stealing cars. Pretty soon someone will be watching for you. So he taught Lonnie how to disable burglar alarms by deactivating them at the phone lines. Taught him how to enter houses, not by windows or doors, but through shafts where the swamp coolers were.
The beauty of it was, once the burglary was accomplished, the swamp cooler replaced, the phone line reconnected, there was no evidence of forced entry.
People invariably blamed the theft on a family member. Often the crime was never reported to the police.
Still you did not want to keep doing it too long.
Drugs was a third way to profit. Dealers got caught because it was their business. They did it all the time. Sooner or later they sold it to the wrong person, or one of their buyers got in a bind and rolled over on them. Cody got in and out quick. Buy a bunch. Roll it over to known buyers. Get rid of it. By the time the cops got on to you, if they ever did, you were clean. No evidence of anything.
And once your stock was gone deny, deny, deny.
Cody, who made a point of never revealing anything to anyone, loved to impress Lonnie. And today he had something to impress him with.
Lonnie was a special case. He did everything Cody told him to do. He did it just the way Cody told him to do it. He did it when Cody said to do it. When Lonnie was around Cody felt like a God who could walk on water. And he knew that if belief alone could make it so, Lonnie’s belief would have enabled him to do it.
Cody was thin. Lonnie was thinner. Cody was tall. Lonnie was taller. Cody had dirty blonde hair. Lonnie had dark brown, almost black hair. To an observer they could have been brothers.
“Guess who gave me a call today?”
“Somebody with some good stuff?”
“Better.”
Lonnie thought hard. “That chick you were hoping to get?”
“Almost as good as that.”
“I’m out. I dunno.”
“Remember Mr. Penn?”
“The CIA agent?”
“Lonnie. Don’t be blatting that around. You know he can’t confirm or deny any association with The Company.”
Lonnie was impressed. Cody basked like a seal in the sunlight.
“Special electronics job. Gonna get at least five hundred dollars out of it. And it will only take me a couple of hours.” Cody let the amounts sift in to Lonnie so he could get his full admiration before continuing. “He is going to take me up to the safe house to do it in a day or two.”
“Wow.” Lonnie only dreamed that one day he could be as over the top as Cody.
(c) 2013 All Rights Reserved
The Homewrecker Series (tm) 
Characters feel real. Love L. C., but still hoping for a little more physical description of the cop and men in Dinner. Isn’t CIA referred to as “The Agency” or did you call it The Company for another purpose?
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We are glad you love L C.
You are quick.
Both in the lack of descriptions and in the possibility there might be some discrepancy in Cody’s relationship to the CIA.
Too much description at this point might give away too much information the reader will connect later.
One of the attempts here is that a second reading of the novel will reveal things a first reading could not.
It is supposed that CIA agents refer to The Agency as “The Company” because every briefcase carrying executive and sub vice president refers to the company they work for as “The Company”. This provides a degree of anonymity common to everybody.
However, if there is a discrepancy, and you notice it, you may be on to something other readers will have to wait to discover.
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