Blood Line by Rex Burns

Author:Rex Burns [Burns, Rex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-4797-6
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com / Open Road
Published: 2012-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

13

TO WAGER’S WAY of thinking, September was the finest month in Colorado: The afternoon thunderstorms of summer gradually ceased as the air grew cooler and drier; the sunlight had a pleasant little sting to it, a half-heat, half-chill that hinted of the coming icy winds; even the sky turned a deep blue that no other month had. Those kinds of days often carried into early October, too, but as that month passed the weather changed: unsettled, spells of harsher cold, splatters of rain; and late October always seemed to bring sleet or snow. At least Wager’s memories of Halloween brought up pictures of jumping over slush puddles on the way to another doorbell, of being half blinded by an inky-smelling, rain-wet mask whose mouth hole was frayed from his damp breath, and of trying to guess if those bigger kids, sprinting noisily down the sidewalk and wearing smears of face paint or bandannas as token costumes, were friends who would join his group or enemies who would grab their sacks of candy and run off into the night of misrule and threat yelling, “Thanks for the treat, turkeys!”

But now, Wager’s ghosts and goblins didn’t wear masks and they didn’t come during just one season; sometimes they were unknown but constantly nagging, like the killers of John Erle and Julio. Other times, they wore a name like Neeley and his so-called witness, Nelda Stinney. Yet Wager would just have to try and keep that spook clear of his thoughts because he wasn’t being paid to worry about it. Wager’s lawyer was, and he had to keep reminding himself of that.

Still, last night he had dreamed, and in that dream he wandered among a crowd of well-clothed people, begging help from deaf ears and feeling a shocking anxiety as he suddenly realized that he was naked and in a moment the rest of the world would realize it too and cover him with laughter and derision. And that moment came closer and closer with increasing panic. He woke himself up with his own hoarse voice before the worst happened, but he didn’t need a shrink’s license to recognize the feeling of helplessness he would have if he lost his job as a cop. A cop was what he was—he was a uniform, even more than being Gabe Wager or his mother’s son. Dewing had warned him that his job was on the line, and he had heard those words, but it had taken a few weeks for the threat to really sink in. Because Neeley was a dirtball. He had gotten what was coming to him. Wager should not have to suffer any repercussions from doing his job. But he knew enough of the court system not to trust it. Juries and judges had done some strange things despite evidence or justice, and Wager did not at all enjoy the feeling of having his life and career in the hands of anyone other than himself. That included his lawyer or a possible jury, and it especially included Kolagny, who had been named the city’s attorney in the case.

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