Mausoleum by Justin Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

talk them out of it, but only to maneuver them into meeting my price.
    â€œNot hard enough.”
    â€œThey’re running scared. I even told them you would nail the killer any second.”
    â€œI hope not to disappoint you.”
    â€œGot a suspect?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDoes this suspect have a name?”
    â€œNot before I have cuffs on him. What’s for lunch?”
    â€œBLT salad. Or the smoked wild Sockeye salmon.”
    She looked at the menu, again. “I don’t see Sockeye.”
    â€œIt’s in my refrigerator.”
    â€œNo way, Jose.”
    â€œSmoked it myself. Applewood. That fell off Scooter’s tree when he wasn’t looking.”
    â€œSorry.”
    â€œCan’t hurt to ask. So when are you cuffing this suspect?”
    â€œSoon as we find him.”
    â€œFunny time to take the afternoon off.”
    â€œI’m learning to delegate.”
    I looked at her closely. Something was definitely off kilter. I was usually the one who asked questions, hoping she would toss me a crumb of a crumb in exchange for a crumb or two. Now she was asking questions. The change did not make either of us comfortable. I said, “Let me make a wild guess.”
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œYour suspect.”
    â€œWhat about him?”
    â€œYou don’t like him. You don’t think he’s the guy.”
    â€œYou’re dreaming, Ben.”
    â€œI’ve never seen you doubtful before. It’s a shocker. Like discovering that Superman can’t fly.”
    Her smile got a little tight. Something else I had never seen before. Normally Marian smiled like she meant to or didn’t smile at all.
    â€œWhat’s his name?”
    â€œYou know I can’t tell you that until we go public.”
    â€œSo why lunch? Other than the pleasure of our company.”
    â€œI thought maybe you might have some take on Grose. Different than everyone else’s.”
    â€œWhich is?”
    â€œWhat we just said. Unpleasant rich outsider with no respect for traditional values.”
    â€œPeople don’t get murdered for that.”
    â€œI know .”
    â€œHappen to interview my cousin Sherman?”
    â€œWhy do you ask?”
    â€œI can’t find him. I was wondering if maybe you were looking to interview him and he got scared.”
    â€œHe has no reason to be. Arnie talked to him Sunday.”
    â€œNo reason? You’re telling me Arnie didn’t bring up his parole?”
    â€œI am not going to discuss interview ethics with you, Ben. But I will tell you that your cousin Sherman has never struck me as a killer…Even though prisons are full of people who didn’t usually do what they were convicted for doing,” she added with a smile that said that she was a pro who regarded me as a vaguely-amusing amateur.
    â€œWho do you like better than your suspect? Sherman or Donny?”
    She shook her head.
    â€œHow soon before an arrest?”
    â€œI don’t know, Ben. He’s hiding and he’s good at it.”
    I sat up straight. “A bad guy? A genuine bad guy?” Instead of three “gossiple” husbands who were friends of mine, or a thief who was a cousin, or a grave digger whom I had always liked.
    â€œAs opposed to what?”
    â€œA pissed-off, disgruntled whatever. You say he’s good at it, like he’s some kind of a pro. Doesn’t that make the shooting a professional job?”
    â€œNo. I don’t mean it was a hit.”
    I said, “When the Navy trained me for ONI, no one passed Assassination 101 before he mastered double head shots.”
    She said, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.
    I said, “And since nobody heard a shot, maybe a silencer?”
    She said, “This was a bad idea.”
    â€œDid he leave any prints or was he too slick?”
    â€œI’m outta here.” She started to stand.
    I said, “Back to the menu…And