The Buck Passes Flynn by Gregory McDonald Read Free Book Online

driven only a short way before pulling off the highway into the diner’s parking lot.
    “I could do with a glass of water,” Flynn said. “Is your water fresh today?”
    The girl came through the door behind him and sat on the counter stool next to him.
    The jaws of the three young men fell slack at the sight of her. One could have played marbles with their eyes.
    “A glass of water for my friend here, too,” Flynn said to the counterman. “Or you might bring us one large glass of water and two straws, we’ve been together that long, we have.”
    Keeping his eyes on Flynn, the counterman went to get the water.
    “You’re Flynn,” the girl said.
    She had one brown eye and one blue eye.
    “Am I?”
    “Francis Xavier Flynn. N.N. 13,” she said. “Believed by most of your friends and your enemies to be dead.”
    “They might be right.” Flynn ran his hand over the sweat and grime on his face. “At that. One should hesitate before correcting one’s enemies.”
    One of the young men down the counter said, “Pretty lady. Uh! Uh! Uh!”
    “I’m Ducey Webb.” She took a piece of paper out of the deep pocket of her skirt and handed it to Flynn.
    He drank his water before looking at the paper.
    Office of the President
The White House
Washington, D.C.
    Flynn—
    This is to introduce Ducey Webb to my favorite assassin. Discussed this Texas-Massachusetts-Pentagon mystery with Atty. Gen. Agree situation is so curious it must be thoroughly investigated. However, as it is most likely a domesticmatter, we would feel less than responsible having it investigated solely by N.N.—an international private organization. Therefore, please work with Ms. Webb, who has carried out successfully many delicate investigations at and for the Justice Department. Atty. Gen. assures me she is tops. Again, thanks for “killing me” without causing me public embarrassment.
    The note was handwritten and neither signed nor initialed.
    Flynn folded the paper and handed it back to her.
    “He writes a nice letter,” Flynn said, “doesn’t he?”
    Ducey put the note back in her pocket.
    Flynn said, slowly, looking at her, “It will be nice knowing you, Ms. Ducey Webb.”
    “I haven’t had much briefing,” she said.
    Flynn drank her water.
    “Uh! Uh! Uh!” said the young man down the counter.
    The face of one of the other young men was beet red.
    “What do you know?” Flynn asked Ducey Webb.
    “Not much,” she said. “I know that three months ago the town of Ada, Texas, became depopulated, over a four- or five-day period. That a resort town in New England closed down, chased its tourists away, and yet still seems able to pay its bills. And that an entire Pentagon Intelligence section has had to be replaced. Someone seems to be dropping one-hundred-thousand-dollar cash packages on people indiscriminately.”
    “Indiscriminately?” said Flynn. “I don’t know.”
    “What could the pattern be?” asked Ducey. “What do the three areas have in common?”
    “You’re ahead of me, Ms. Webb,” Flynn said. “I’m not thinking in terms of there being a pattern yet. First, I’m trying to establish that everyone in Ada,Texas, did receive a package With one hundred thousand dollars in it.”
    “Have you established that?” she asked.
    “Well, I know it wasn’t only the minister and his wife who were so favored. The lady I just visited, down in the gully, she who tends her pigs in an evening gown, received a similar package. If Mrs. Lewis wasn’t forgotten by the mysterious benefactor, it’s doubtful anyone was.”
    Arms folded over his chest cavity, the counterman was continuing to watch Flynn. He had not refilled the water glasses.
    “Then the next question,” Flynn said, “is why everyone in Ada, Texas, received one hundred thousand dollars?”
    “I know you talked with the preacher and his wife,” Ducey said. “What’s their explanation?”
    “Their explanation can be reported easily,” Flynn said. “Their