“Dad,” Liam said. “Son,” Charles said. He held out a hand. Liam took it. His father’s grip was warm and strong and didn’t linger. “How have you been?” “Swell,” Liam said. One dark eyebrow went up, but all his father said was, “I was sorry I couldn’t make it back in time for the funeral.”…
Read more “I was sorry I couldn’t make it back in time for the funeral.”
“You suicidal son of a bitch!” Wy said, eyes blazing. “That is the last time you go up in a plane with me, I don’t care how much the frigging state is paying! You could have been hurt! You could have been killed!” She wound up and hit him again, this time her clenched fist…
“Liam!” Wy said involuntarily, and started forward. “Sir?” Trooper Prince said. “How did you get here?” The man turned his head toward them, bringing it full into the light from one of the windows. Wy halted. So did Prince. He was tall, broad-shouldered and long-legged, with thick dark hair going a distinguished gray at the…
“Why are you telling me all this, Ms. Choknok? I had heard–“ He hesitated. She stood up and brushed off the seat of her pants. “You had heard that Kelly McCormick was my blue ticket out of Newenham.” “Well, yes.” She offered him a chilly smile. “He was. My parents are so scared I’m going…
Read more Not just intelligent, Liam thought, positively Machiavellian.
“Where was the trial?” Her smile was approving. “Right here in Newenham.” “Acquittal,” he said. “You got it. Just like last six cases where anyone could be bothered to bring charges. Probably one out of every two jurors from a panel generated from this judicial district is thinking to himself, There but for the grace…
Liam went back to watching the sky. Either everyone had slowed down or in the short space granted to him he had adjusted to the pace of the job. He felt like someone had switched him from 45 to 33 1/3. Everything took on a dreamy, slow motion quality. There was plenty of time to…
Read more He felt like someone had switched him from 45 to 33 1/3.
“They busted me down to trooper,” he said. “Just before they transferred me here.” She said slowly, “That’s what you meant yesterday, when Corcoran called you sergeant, and you said no, just trooper.” “Yes.” “What happened, Liam?” He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Buck stopped on my desk. Barton was right to do it.” He…
Read more “Just when you thought it was safe to come back to life.”
Liam rifled through the various statements he’d taken at the airport the day before. Nobody saw nobody doing nothing, he reflected sadly. At a conservative estimate, culled from Gruber’s statement, at the time of Bill DeCreft’s death there had been at least ten small planes in the act of landing or taking off, one…
Read more “Gosh,” she said in thrilled accents, “we’ve never had a depositer murdered before!”
The Old Fart was a foot shorter than the trooper, which he rectified by hoisting himself up on a stool. He turned to Liam and stuck out a hand. “Moses Alakuyak, shaman.” His beer and Liam’s single malt arrived. Moses held out his bottle of beer and Liam clinked his glass against it. “To women,”…
It hadn’t taken them long, once they got him inside; the man who had been separated from the rifle was seated in a chair and immobilized with enough bright yellow polypropylene line to restrain King Kong. He was maybe thirty years old, five-eight, thickset, with matted brown hair and terrified brown eyes that stared at…