Bill Crider - Dan Rhodes 09 - Death by Accident by Bill Crider Read Free Book Online Page B

of hand.  He didn’t recall that Pep had been involved, however.
    “Did Pep fool around with other men’s wives?” Rhodes asked.
    Tuffy straightened and crossed his arms over his chest.  “I wouldn’t know about that.  You don’t see a whole lot of weddin’ rings out at The County Line.”
    “What about Gary Heckethorn?  You know him?” 
    “Seen him couple of times.  I know him to talk to.  Why?”
    “He’s Yeldell’s cousin.  He was with him at The County Line now and then.”
    “You’re tryin’ too hard, Sheriff,” Tuffy said.  “I don’t think John knew Heckethorn any better’n I did, and we didn’t know Pep Yeldell very well, either.  I don’t think John’s killin’ has anything to do with Yeldell.”
    Rhodes was pretty sure he agreed with West, but he still didn’t like the idea of two accidental deaths so close together, and he didn’t like the fact that he was no closer to finding West’s killer than he’d been when the accident happened.
    “You let me know when you find out somethin’ you can get your teeth into, hear?” Tuffy said.
    Rhodes promised that he would.
     
    C lyde Ballinger’s funeral home had once been one of Clearview’s finest homes, a family mansion with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and landscaped grounds that covered an entire block.  But times had changed.  The last member of the family that owned the house and property had died, and Clyde had bought the old estate for his business.  He had his office in back of the funeral home, in a little brick building that had been the servants’ quarters.
    Rhodes didn’t know about the rest of the building, but the room where Clyde had his office was cluttered with the old paperback books that Clyde bought at garage sales.  They generally didn’t cost him more than a quarter, and he argued that they gave him a lot more entertainment than some fat new novel that he’d have to pay six-ninety-nine for.
    He was sitting at his desk reading something called China Coast by Don Smith when Rhodes came in.
    “Is that a good one?” Rhodes asked.
    “Darn right,” Ballinger said, putting a thin slip of paper in the book to mark his place.  He closed the book and looked at the back cover.  “It says here, ‘a real nose-busting adventure.’  Now is that the kind of thing that makes you want to read a book or not?”
    “I’m not sure,” Rhodes said.
    “Well, it makes me want to read it.”  Ballinger put down China Coast and picked up another book that lay on his desk.  “I found this one today, too.”
    He held it up so Rhodes could see the cover.  A Fiend in Need by someone named Milton K. Ozaki.
    “They don’t write ’em like this anymore,” Ballinger said, giving the book a little shake for emphasis.
    “I’ll bet they don’t,” Rhodes said.
    Ballinger put the book down.  “You probably didn’t come by to talk about great literature, though, did you?”
    “Not today,” Rhodes said.
    Ballinger looked at the ceiling.  “Or football?”
    “Especially not football.”
    “Guess you must want to talk about Dr. White’s report on Pep Yeldell, then.”
    “You guess right.”
    Ballinger opened a desk drawer and took out a small stack of papers.
    “Got it right here.  He finished a little while ago.”
    He handed the papers to Rhodes, who started reading.  Ballinger watched for a second, then picked up China Coast and opened it to his place.
    After a while, Rhodes said, “So Yeldell drowned.”
    Ballinger marked his spot in the book again.  “That’s what Dr. White said.  Water in his lungs.”
    “What about the bump on his head?”
    “Looks like he was hit by a tree limb.  It’s all in there about the little pieces of tree bark in the scalp.”
    “I saw it.  Dr. White saved the bark, I’m sure.”
    “He’s got it all bagged and tagged.  Took blood samples, too.  Those are ready to go to the lab.”
    “I’ve got a tree limb in the evidence locker at the jail that I want to