Dirty Harry 05 - Family Skeletons by Dane Hartman Read Free Book Online Page B

I’ll give it to you, by God! You’re asking for it!”
    The Magnum was out and in his hand almost before Harry knew it. He pointed it up in the air and pulled the trigger. The resounding boom turned heads across the length of eight city blocks. All the birds resting in trees nearby took off, darkening the night sky even more. Harry didn’t care. He had fired the gun to serve one purpose. It worked. He got Tom’s attention.
    Both the young man and Christine had stiffened at the loud report. Tom whirled to see Harry running at him. He leaped off the girl’s body and charged in the opposite direction. Harry slowed when he neared the brunette. She was slightly bruised and her clothes were scuffed, but other than that she looked all right. Harry had to make sure before he continued.
    “Are you all right?” he called as he neared.
    She gulped a few times, sat up with her hands flat on the ground, and replied, “Yes, I think so.”
    “Go back to the church,” Harry said, picking up speed. “Stay there. I’ll be back.” Then he sped by, going right after Tom.
    The young man tore across the way, passing the gazebo and sending another squadron of birds into the air. They rose lazily and drifted back down just as Harry charged through the same location, scattering them again.
    Callahan could see some brightly lit stores through the trees. He could see a parking garage, a clothes store, a Dunkin’ Donuts, and the Muffin House Christine had mentioned before. Next to that was a large movie-theater marquee. Tom was heading right for it.
    Atop the marquee it said “A Sack Theater,” and below that the legend, “The Savoy I & II.” Tom charged across the street, narrowly missing a few screeching cars himself, and right inside the place. Harry took the moment the cars had stopped to shift into fourth and followed in Tom’s wake before the traffic started moving again.
    As he ran past, Harry saw that the box office out front was closed. Pulling open the glass door he charged into a long hallway lined with movie posters, which ended in another set of doors. Surprisingly, they didn’t lead to the theater, they emptied out into an alleyway.
    Harry stopped in that street for a second. Across the narrow way was another set of doors and another box office. He looked down both sides of the alley for any sign of Tom. He was nowhere to be seen. Harry ran to the second set of doors. He saw Tom trying to elbow through two burly ushers to get in a side door along the hall.
    The cop ripped open the door in front of him and roared down the red-carpeted hall, his gun still out. The ushers leaped into the theater and ran into the men’s room. Tom had wanted to go through the theater and out the exit doors, but that plan was ruined by Harry’s appearance. Instead he ran farther down the wide, well-lit hall.
    The movie posters were getting bigger and bigger as Harry went farther and farther. Suddenly to his left a much larger theater appeared, its lobby rising two stories and a big chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. It was one of Boston’s classic old theaters turned into one of the last of the movie palaces. Tom seemed unconcerned. He raced right by it and out the rear doors to another street. Harry saw him go right and quickly followed.
    The cop raced out and stopped dead in the middle of a thin, heavily traveled back street. Dozens of shoppers scattered when they saw his gun still clutched in his right hand. But look as he might, Harry could no longer spot the young man.
    Cautiously, Harry put his gun away and went right. Next door to the Savoy was another theater, the Paramount. But it had fallen on harder times. It was locked up tight, its last attraction being a porno flick, the posters of which were still gathering dirt along the wall. The only thing between the theaters was a snack bar. Its doors were open. Harry looked inside.
    The room was large and long, stretching back hundreds of feet. Beyond the relatively small soda