Doom Weapon Read Online Free

wind, the smells of death were pretty harsh.
    “Let’s go downstairs and get some coffee.” A couple seconds after he said it, he was in the hall, waiting for me. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing I was ready to get out of this room, too. By now I’d picked the last of the glass from my back. That was the last memory I wanted to have of this place.
     
    We sat in an alcove where travelers played pinochle. Barlow brought us hot coffee. Through the doorway I could see two deputies and two men from the funeral home going up and down the stairs.
    He got right to it. He didn’t give a damn about the murder. All he cared about was that his name came before mine in the newspaper story. “This is my jurisdiction.”
    “Technically, I can take over if I need to.”
    He nodded his white-maned head. “Yes, that’s true up to a point. But I can make your life hell if I want to.”
    He turned to the kid deputy who had appeared in the doorway and said, “Mr. Ford and I need to be alone here, Hayden. You know how to take care of things.”
    Hayden had a shitkicker grin and a pug nose and he looked harmless. “You comin’ back upstairs, Uncle Mike?”
    “A night for uncles, I see.”
    Terhurne scowled at me.
    “I’m not coming back upstairs unless you screw up and force me to, Hayden.”
    Hayden blushed. He wore a sheepskin that looked a couple sizes too big for him. He looked like he wanted to crawl down inside and hide. “I was just askin’ is all, Uncle Mike.”
    “You heard what I said, Hayden. Now get the hell out of here.”
    Hayden went away.
    “He’s just helping out. My regular night man has got the croup. If that meets your approval, that is.”
    “Uncle Bob, Uncle Mike. A lot of uncles.”
    He brought the mean out in me, the way some people do. I wanted to smash his asshole face in. I expected he wanted to do the same to mine.
    He asked me to go over my story again but he figured out fast that I didn’t have much to add. Girl awakens me says she needs help, Uncle Bob on fire escape. Three shots. Dead.
    “You wouldn’t try and bullshit a bullshitter, would you, Ford?”
    “Not as big a bullshitter as you.”
    He actually smiled. “I guess I had that coming. I mean it’s some story. If you weren’t a federal man as you say you are, I’d half expect you did in Uncle Bob yourself.”
    “I ran downstairs into the alley and shot him and then ran back upstairs so I could get glass in my back.”
    “You got glass in your back?”
    “You want to see it? Molly got some, too.”
    “She’s got one fine pair on her.”
    “Yeah, you said that.”
    “You thinkin’ she’s kinda beholden to you?”
    “I’m thinkin’ I came here to find Grieves. Or find out what happened to him, anyway. And I’m thinkin’ that Molly knows something about him. And I’m thinkin’ that maybe if I find out who killed Uncle Bob I can find out where Grieves is.” I drank some coffee. He watched me. He definitely wanted to do some work on my face, too. I set my coffee down. “What you’re thinking is that for whatever reason, you want all the glory in this.”
    I started rolling a cigarette. I waited for him to say it. I had to give him some help. “So what do you want, Sheriff?”
    “Me? Hell, I just want to clean up this murder is all.”
    “I’m sure you do. But that’s not the only thing you want. The way I’ve been insulting you, most lawmen would have tried to shoot me by now. But not you. That means you’re willing to put up with my guff because you want something.”
    He leaned back in his chair. He was one of those men who could swagger sitting down. “You’re no dummy.”
    “Thanks for the compliment. Now let’s talk about what’s really on your mind.”
    He leaned forward, stared right at me. “I’ve got my pride.”
    “That doesn’t come as a shock.”
    He sighed and leaned back. “Like I say, I’ve got my pride. And I’m not used to askin’ people favors. Not around here,