Read War at Home: A Smokey Dalton Novel for Free Online Page B

frowned. I had heard that, but I hadn’t paid much attention to it. The Students for a Democratic Society had been influential in organizing the protests at the Democratic National Convention the previous August. Daniel had come to that convention early. I never determined if he had been an SDS member; in fact, I had never thought to ask.
    “You think Daniel’s there?” I asked.
    “I did, but he’s not.”
    “How do you know?”
    Malcolm smiled at me. “I went there. The whole thing is nasty and pointless and stupid, but to my surprise, Daniel i sn’t part of it.”
    “Did you spend a lot of time there?” The Chicago Coliseum was a large place
    “Enough,” he said.
    “Enough to be sure Daniel’s not in Chicago.”
    “Yeah.” Malcolm grinned at me. “That’s one palefaced group of radicals, Bill. There are blacks, sure, but they st i ck out like raisins in a bowl of sugar. I talked to everyone who could’ve been Daniel or could’ve known him. He i sn’t there.”
    I sipped my tea. Althea had sweetened it like the southerner she used to be. “Did you talk to anyone who was here from Yale?”
    Malcolm nodded. “They don’t like him.”
    Somehow that didn’t surprise me. “Why’s that?”
    “I guess he told them they were a bunch of idiots who wouldn’t know revolution if it bit them in the ass.”
    I let out an involuntary laugh. “That’s one way to make friends.”
    “That’s our Daniel,” Malcolm said. Malcolm and Daniel had gone to high school together. Malcolm had had to drop out to take care of his dying mother; Daniel went on to Yale. Malcolm never quite forgave him for that.
    “Did you get any idea where he might be?”
    Malcolm shook his head. “I talked to his friends here, too. They haven’t heard from him.”
    Then he set his ice tea down and grinned at me.
    “So I’ve already done the job, right? You don’t need me after all.”
    “Actually, I do,” I said. “I’m thinking of going to New Haven personally to see what I can find.”
    “Out east?” Malcolm frowned. “That’s pretty far. Can Mrs. Kirkland afford that?”
    “No,” I said. “That’s why money’s an issue.”
    “You got her the teaching job, Bill. You don’t owe her anything.”
    “I owe her a lot,” I said. “But I have other reasons for wanting to head east.”
    Malcolm studied me for a minute. Then he nodded. “The Blackstone Rangers.”
    He was the only one among my friends who knew the depths of my involvement with the gang. He knew that I had made not one but several bargains with them, and he’d been around gangs long enough to know that the bargains would come back to haunt me.
    “Yes,” I said.
    “You leaving for good?”
    I shrugged. “If I can find some place better. But don’t tell anyone please. That’s up to me.”
    He rolled the ice - tea glass between his hands. “So why’re you talking to me?”
    “I’m taking Jimmy,” I said. “I’ll need help caring for him when I’m working and I’ll need help finding Daniel Kirkland.”
    “You’re serious about this?” Malcolm asked.
    I nodded. “If I can provide Grace with a few answers, I’ll be able to pay her back for the kindnesses she’s shown Jimmy over the past few months.”
    “I don’t think she’s done for him more than she’s done for anyone else,” Malcolm said.
    “That’s my point,” I said. “She’s been amazing.”
    He sighed. I could almost hear his thought. She’d been amazing with her own children as well. Only it hadn’t stuck with Daniel.
    “Money’s an issue because she’s not going to pay you,” he said after a moment.
    “That’s right,” I said.
    “So you can’t pay me.”
    “That’s right , too,” I said. “But I’ll pay all the expenses. You won’t have a dime out of pocket.”
    “How’re you gonna afford that, me and Jimmy and all that traveling? Your rich girlfriend?”
    I’d never heard Malcolm refer to Laura that way before. It startled me. “I have some of my