Cam - 04 - Nightwalkers by P. T. Deutermann Read Free Book Online Page A

Manceford County.
    "Who'd you piss off this time?" he asked.
    "I might have a ghost," I said.
    "You probably have several," he said with a laugh. "Not to mention cat dancers and that wild bunch up there in the Smokies. But you said might--you don't think this is Mr. Breen?"
    Leave it to Bobby Lee to have been thoroughly briefed. "It seems improbable that he could get something like this organized so quickly."
    "On the other hand, he's had seventeen years to plan it and set it up. Getting out to your place and doing the deed would only take an hour."
    He had a point there, I thought. "That means helper bees," I said.
    "Yup, it does. Since it happened on my patch, I've got people pulling that string as we speak. You got someplace to go? I heard you'd bought a big plantation over in Rockwell County."
    "Jungle drums alive and well, I see."
    "Oh, absolutely. You know how it is--we keep track of our more notorious alumni. Seriously, give it some thought: We can work the cop side here, and you make it harder for the mopes to find you. You want me to talk to Sheriff Walker up there?"
    "I was going to do that myself," I said, "but an advance call wouldn't hurt."
    "You assume I'll speak well of you, Lieutenant."
    "As well as you can, boss."
    "You miss it?"
    "I miss the people more than the job."
    "You took a bunch of 'em with you, as I remember. Horace, Tony, Pardee. How's that going for you, your private snoop deal?"
    "Boring," I said. "The Wilmington case was interesting, but the bulk of it is waste management, just like it was on the Job."
    "Waste management," he said. "I like that. Slide your ass down a rabbit hole somewhere, Lieutenant. I'll be in touch."
    "Thanks, boss. I appreciate it."
    I meant that, too. The Manceford County Sheriff's Office was a tribe, and Bobby Lee Baggett was very much the chief. Their unofficial and often-denied motto was "Mess with the best, and die like the rest." I knew the sheriff would put a couple of tigers on this and dig hard.
    "I guess I need to go out to my new county," I told my guys. "Find me some temporary housing."
    "Make sure they take dogs," Tony said with a grin.
    "Make sure you take a weapon or three," Horace said, ever Mr. Practical.
     
    I drove out to the Rockwell County seat and made an office call on the county sheriff. His name was Hodge Walker, and he was a big-shouldered black man with iron gray hair, a deep baritone voice, and a wide smile. I'm no pygmy, but his hand engulfed mine like a gentle laundry press. I'd taken both operational shepherds into his office, and he thought that was just dandy.
    "Bobby Lee Baggett called me earlier," he said. "Didn't know we had us a lawman celebrity up here in little ol' Rockwell County. You're the one broke up that terrorist deal down near Wilmington, right?"
    "I had some competent help." I said.
    He shivered. "Nuclear stuff gives me the heebie-jeebies," he said. "The North Carolina Sheriffs' Association toured the plant near Raleigh one time. We didn't see the reactors, of course, but they had 'em this big pool with some evil shit glowing down at the bottom."
    "Moonpool," I said. "That's what the bad guys went after."
    "I hear you've just bought Glory's End?"
    I'd have been surprised if he hadn't known. I said yes.
    "Beautiful old place," he said. "Some sad aspects to it, too."
    "The train robbery."
    "And the people who made it beautiful," he said, gently reminding me of the county's slave-soaked history.
    "Yes," I said. "I'm fully aware of that aspect, too."
    "So," he said. "Somebody took a shot at you over in Summerfield last night."
    "Somebody did," I said. "Based on how it was done, I believe it was a warning shot. Did Sheriff Baggett tell you I've just acquired a ghost?"
    "He did, and he also said you didn't think this was him."
    I shrugged. "They'll find out, I suppose. In the meantime, I'm looking for someplace to go to ground up here while my restoration project gets under way. Any decent B and B's do long-term rentals