Build My Gallows High by Geoffrey Homes Read Free Book Online

‘Depends on things, huh?’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ Caldwell said.
    ‘Red Bailey’s out of town,’ Ellis spoke casually, not looking at the bulky figure in the green uniform.
    ‘I heard that.’ Caldwell moved on up the street. Ellis looked after him, grinned and went back inside.
    The game warden glanced at his wrist watch, started moving faster. Some men on the hotel steps called to him. He returned their greeting but didn’t stop. He knew well enough they wanted him to so they could tell him Bailey was out of town. The thought filled him with anger. That red-headed son of a bitch! That ugly, worn-out bastard! Someday he was going to kick the guy’s teeth in. If he kept on hanging around Ann, by God, he certainly would kick his teeth in. He transferred his anger momentarily to Ann Miller. She should have better sense. Running after the guy like a high school kid—chasing him all over the goddamned place. And him old enough to be her father, almost.
    He throttled his emotions because he was in front of the white, one-story building that housed the Miller Realty Company and he could see Ann through the open door. She sat at her desk, banging away at a typewriter, her dark head bent a little. Jesus, she’s pretty, Caldwell thought. The love he had for her almost choked him. He felt his face getting red.
    Trying to be casual he sauntered in and stood there flicking dust off one coat sleeve. Ann looked up, gave him a small smile, went on with her work.
    ‘You’re looking pretty sharp,’ Caldwell said.
    ‘Am I?’ She typed another line, pulled the paper from the machine, ran her gaze over the typed script.
    ‘Little thin.’ Caldwell picked the paper knife off her desk and pretended he was a knife thrower. ‘Looks like you could use some nourishment. Maybe some lunch.’
    ‘Be with you in a minute,’Ann said. She left her desk and went into her father’s office. Caldwell followed, grinned at the paunchy gray man with a pencil behind one ear. Canby Miller, forgetting his stomach was bothering him, said cordially, ‘The boy himself. Hi there, Jimmy. Why ain’t you out there rousting campers around?’
    ‘Nobody’s going to break the law for quite a while—unless they use dynamite.’ Caldwell leaned against the door frame and some of his self-confidence came back. Anyway, Canby liked him a lot. That gave him at least one strike on Bailey because Ann thought much of her father and mother and did just about what they told her. Like working here in Bridgeport when what she had wanted was to go to Reno or L.A. or New York.
    Miller scrawled his name at the bottom of the letter Ann had given him, then started reading it through.
    ‘Come on,’ Caldwell said. ‘Hurry it up, you old slave driver. Let the girl get her lunch.’
    ‘Didn’t you want to see me?’ Miller spread fake disappointment over the words.
    ‘What for? Why, all you do is try to sell a man insurance he don’t need or some broken-down piece of land an Okie wouldn’t want.’
    ‘And what do you do?’ Miller sneered genially. ‘Pick up poor unfortunates who haven’t got two bucks for a fishing license. Look at that badge. You haven’t polished it for a month.’
    ‘That’s so it won’t scare people.’ Caldwell felt better now. Yes, sir, Candy liked him, wanted him for a son-in-law. That was swell. Canby was one swell guy.
    ‘When you going to start working,’ Miller asked, ’and stop running around playing fly cop?’
    ‘When you stop robbing widows.’
    Miller patted his stomach, grew serious. ‘Well, we put it over.’
    ‘We sure did.’
    ‘A real steal,’ Miller said proudly. ‘That fool didn’t take the trouble to find out what land was worth around here. When you going to move out?’
    ‘Couple of weeks.’
    ‘You sure got a real buy. You can thank Canby Miller for that, son. Maybe Canby isn’t the best operator around California but he’ll do until a better one comes along.’
    ‘Someday you’re going to break your