The Devil You Know by P.N. Elrod Read Free Book Online

table.”
    “They’ve been around for decades. If there was any spot on their reputation the whole town would know.”
    “Doesn’t have to be the company, just one person working for it. Say he has a body to get rid of, what better place than a site like this? Miss Francher’s well-known as a recluse so there’s not much risk that anyone will ever dig the wreckage up once it’s buried. He could have brought in our friend over there, dropped him in when no one was looking, and bulldozed.”
    “My God . . . ”
    “What?”
    “I wonder if Laura might have seen something of it. She could have gotten the idea to put Maureen . . . ”
    I put a hand up. “Knock it off. There’s no knowing, and it wouldn’t help anyway.”
    It took him a moment to get his mind back to current concerns. “Very well. We’ll speculate that some man associated with Stannard Construction did as you said. If that’s so, then why did they rent this equipment knowing I’d be doing the very thing they did not want?”
    “The one who dumped the body could be long gone. Who did you talk to?”
    “Mr. Stannard dealt with me personally now as he did seven years ago.”
    “I could ask if he acted suspicious, but—”
    “He was perfectly normal. Curious, of course, about my wanting to do the work myself this time.”
    “Which you whammied out of him?”
    “What a ridiculous word. I influence d him to mind his own business.”
    “And by doing that. . .”
    “Yes, I see. Even if he had the strongest objections to an excavation I’d have caused him to forget about them by default. Only I cannot see the fellow involving himself in such a illicit matter.”
    “You know anyone else in his company?”
    “No, why should I?”
    “Then we change that. Let’s visit Stannard, you do your evil eye influence on him, and get some answers.”
    “It’s far too late and much too early,” he said, looking up at the stars. “We’ve an hour and a quarter before dawn. I suggest we arrange lodgings for our poor friend there and get cleaned up. First thing in the evening tomorrow we will seek out Mr. Stannard.”
    I checked my watch, and damned if he wasn’t on the nose about the time. “Lodgings? What have you got in mind, more snow?”
    “There’s plenty about. Pack it around him and pull the tarp over all. It’s going to be cold tomorrow.”
    It seemed better to not ask how he knew that. He either had some internal instinct about the weather or had read the forecast in a paper. I just wanted this night to end with me washing off the stink and burning my work clothes.
    We got tin buckets previously used for hauling dirt, grabbed hand shovels, and mined nearby snow drifts. It was cleaner, faster work than our previous clawing around in the pit. In a short while the remains were under a couple feet of dingy white insulation. Barrett folded the tarp over.
    “Can’t keep him there,” I said.
    “I know, but there’s no deciding what to do about him until we learn more.”
    We went back to the edge of the pit to see if we’d missed anything. It was a dangerous place, slippery, with shards of broken wood and nails sticking out. More than once I’d gotten caught on a nasty, mud-coated surprise, getting bruised or drawing blood. I’d taken to vanishing down there and re-forming up here to avoid the perils in between. With a grim amusement, Barrett had done the same.
    “I hope that’s enough covering for the poor man,” he said. “It would be dreadful if   some animal got—”
     
    * * * * * * *
     
    * * * * * * *
     
    I blinked, or thought I blinked. My world was black, painfully cold, and something hideously heavy pressed my body from every direction, holding me fast. I was unable to move. Bolts of agony shot through me when I tried. A vivid memory of being buried in cement flashed through my sluggish brain, and the blackness dissolved to a familiar, weightless gray as I vanished.
    Struggling to full waking, I felt around, encountering dense