A Purple Place for Dying Read Online Free

hell find you are about four feet shy of having the legal set-back here. And you never heard of the sign ordinance. And the county will find out you got a dirty grill and dirty glasses. And all that junk around looks to me like an attractive nuisance."
    "Homer, if you want me and Sis to keep shut about this, all you got to do is say so."
    "Arnie, if you or Sis should run nine miles into the scrub and whisper this to a gopher, I'll have you working the roads and Sis on laundry, so help me." He turned his back on them and said, "McGee?"
    "That's right."
    "I'm Hardy and this here is Dave Carlyle. We'll wait far the Sherf. He'll be right along. He'll be the one to ask questions. Meanwhile, hold onto the back of your neck with both hands."
    I did as told. The search was quick and professional. Belt, belly, groin, armpits, hip pockets and ankles.
    "Got anything with you?"
    "Suitcase inside."
    "Bring it out, Dave."
    The smaller and older deputy brought it out. He put it on the hood of the sedan, opened it, pawed through it, closed it up.
    "Identification now," Homer Hardy said. "Don't give me your wallet. Just a driver's license, if you have one."
    He put it on the hood of the car, copied information into his notebook, handed it back. "Thank you, Mr. McGee."
    "You're welcome."
    "Hairy comes," Dave Carlyle said. A dusty new station wagon came at high speed, slewed in and stopped in a thick cloud of fine dust. Homer turned to the couple and said, "Get on in there, you."
    They went reluctantly. The Sheriff got out of his car. He was younger than his two deputies. He had a massive chest, squared-off jaw, bull neck, the look of the one-time athlete in one of the contact sports. He wore a faded White Sox baseball cap, a blue and white checked sports shirt worn outside his gray slacks. I guessed he was growing a little belly and made it less conspicuous by wearing his shirts outside his pants.
    "Well?" he said to Homer.
    "This man is Travis D. McGee, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He's clean, and there's just clothes and toilet stuff and one opened bottle of bourbon in his bag there. No objection at all to search. I put a lid on Arnie and Sis and it will stick. We haven't asked this man a thing, so you know as much right now as we do about the rest of it."
    "He'll come with me and you follow along," the Sheriff said. Dave put my suitcase in the station wagon. I got in with the Sheriff. He told me his name was Buckelberry… He said it without a smile. I wondered if he had gotten all that neck and shoulders by objecting to any cracks about his name.
    "Where do we go?"
    "Turn here and go about three miles and there's a gate…"
    "Up at the old cabin, eh? I know the place." He started up quickly. "Who shot her?"
    "I don't know. It was a sniper. A heavy rifle at long range, Sheriff. It hit her high in the spine, from the rear and killed her instantly. I left her where she fell. I couldn't see anybody. I couldn't help her in any way. And I didn't exactly want to give some nut a chance at me if he was still around."
    "When did it happen?"
    "I didn't think to look at my watch until I would estimate ten minutes had passed. My best guess would be the shot was fired at two twenty-five. I took cover. I waited around for about thirty minutes. Then I came down the road to where we'd left her car."
    "The road goes to the cabin."
    "Not with a rock slide across it. We had to leave the car a half mile down the road and walk. When I got back the car was gone. I remembered noticing she'd left the key in it when we left it there. I walked out. I couldn't get a ride. I walked all the way to Cotton Corners. There was no way I could get in touch any sooner than I did."
    "Stray shot?"
    "It's a possibility, I suppose."
    "You hear the shot?"
    "Yes. The slug knocked her down very quick and hard, and I heard it just as she came to rest, so I would guess it was less than a second later."
    We had come to the gate. The other car stopped behind us. Dave hustled ahead and got