Dead Before Dying
Chapter One
IN THE AFTERNOON HUSH of the last day of the year, Mat Joubert
thought about death. Mechanically his hands were busy cleaning his
service pistol, the Z88. He sat in his sitting room, leaning forward
in the armchair, the parts of the pistol lying on the coffee table
in front of him among rags, brushes, and an oil can. A cigarette in
the ashtray sent up a long, thin plume of smoke. Above him, at the
window, a bee flew against the glass with monotonous regularity, in
an irritating attempt to reach the summer afternoon outside, where a
light southeaster was blowing.
Joubert didn't hear it. His mind wandered aimlessly through memories
of the past weeks, among chronicles of death, his bread and butter.
The white woman on her back on the kitchen floor, spatula in her
right hand, omelet burnt on the stove, the blood an added splash o ... read full excerpt from Dead Before Dying: ebook
