Dave Brandstetter 06 Gravedigger by Joseph Hansen

Author:Joseph Hansen [Hansen, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: detective, mystery, gay
ISBN: 9781480416802
Google: azs3XeWbCfIC
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-05-28T03:26:23.557000+00:00

10

TWO STEPS FROM WHERE Dave sat in the Triumph, a cliff dropped to the beach. He couldn’t see the ocean. It was midnight and the rain still fell. But he could feel it thud against the cliff, and hear it hiss among rocks when it pulled back to strike again. The rain rustled on the car’s cloth top and sifted against the glass. Charles Westover’s five-by-eight address book Dave held propped open on the steering wheel. He read it by the beam of the penlight. He had passed the letter M and still found no mention of Yucca Canyon.

He had left the little car’s parking lights on, its taillights, in case one of those juggernaut trucks decided to lay by on this patch of ground. Now headlights glared in the door mirror to his left. But what rolled up beside him was small and toy fire-engine red. A pickup truck. He had a blank second, then remembered. The door of the pickup slammed. Around its front, through the stab of its headlights, Scotty Dekker came at a jog, the rain turning his hair to taffy strings. He bent at Dave’s window. Dave rolled the glass down.

“Are you all right?” Scotty shouted it so as to be heard above the crashing of the surf. “I recognized your car.” He peered. “You aren’t sick or anything?”

“Just old,” Dave said with a smile. He took off his glasses. “I’ve been reading. What have you been doing? Surfing?”

Scotty laughed, looked up at the rain. “Even I’m not that crazy. No, I’ve been up at my aunt’s in Pismo. I’m just getting home. Good surf up there.”

“That’s why you didn’t call to tell me about Lyle.”

“Did he come back?” Scotty looked stricken. “Oh, wow. I’m sorry, Mr. Brandstetter.” He wiped rain off his face with a square clean hand. “Is he all right?”

“He’s all right,” Dave said, “but he doesn’t know what’s happened to his father.” He reached across to open the door on the passenger side. “If we’re going to talk, you better get in out of the rain.”

“I have to go. My folks were expecting me at six. They’ll be worried.”

“It’s a bit after six,” Dave said, and shut the door again. “Just one question. Did you ever hear Charles Westover mention Yucca Canyon—anybody he knew up there, any time he spent up there, anything at all?”

Scotty ran hands over his wet hair and shook his hands and made a face. “No. No, I don’t think so. No, I’m pretty sure not. Yucca Canyon? What would somebody like Mr. Westover want up there? I mean, that’s pretty raunchy, shacks and hippies and grow-your-own marijuana. It’s all weirdos up there. Isn’t it?”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Dave said. “Thanks, Scotty. You better go before it gets any later.”

“Right.” Scotty smiled, slapped the window ledge, straightened. He said, “I just wanted to be sure you were okay.” He bent again, blinking. “Reading? It’s a funny place to read.”

“It’s an interesting book.” Dave put his glasses on again.

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