Death Of Dreams (Manny Rivera Mystery Series Book 11) by Rich Curtin

Author:Rich Curtin [Curtin, Rich]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rich Curtin
Published: 2024-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

19

RIVERA DROVE BACK to the office and grabbed a mug of coffee from the break room. He closed his office door and sat down. His in-basket contained a report from the Medical Examiner which he picked up and scanned. It added nothing to what he already knew. Derek Webster died from a bullet to the back. Except for his prosthetic feet, he’d been an otherwise healthy man. Attached to the report was a transparent evidence bag containing the bullet extracted from the victim.

Rivera had some thinking to do about his case, but first there was one item he wanted to wrap up. He picked up the phone and called Lucas Nichols.

“Mr. Nichols, I’ve talked with the father of one of the boys who have been vandalizing your property. I don’t think you’ll be having any more trouble with them.”

“Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I know. David Smith called me. He’ll be bringing the three boys out here tomorrow to repair the damage to the ghost town and return the items they took. And as I told you, I’m not interested in pressing charges.”

“Good. We’ve all done silly things at that age.”

Nichols laughed. “I know I have. I’d be too embarrassed to mention some of the crazy stunts I pulled as a kid. Thanks for your help, Deputy.”

That done, Rivera could now scratch the Nichols Ranch diggings off his list of possible motives for killing Derek Webster. No one involved had anything to gain from his death. Rivera now had only two remaining possibilities, the work being done for the private investigator, and the effort by the local ranchers to eliminate the wolf threat.

The phone on his desk rang. The caller identified himself simply as Eddie, withholding his last name. He had a deep, gruff voice and sounded like a man who was sure of himself.

“Sam Stickle said you wanted to talk to me.”

“That’s right. Thanks for the call. I’m investigating the shooting of Derek Webster in the mountains yesterday. You were a client of his. What can you tell me about what he was doing for you?”

There was a long pause. “I’m not breaking any laws. I represent a group of ranchers concerned about the wolves that were released in the mountains. My job is to search for them and if I spot one, report its location to my clients. The ranchers take it from there. I hired Webster to help with the search. I was paying him to spot wolves for me.”

“So they could be eliminated.”

“I suppose. What the ranchers do after I find the wolves is none of my business. But my opinion is that the people who released the wolves in the mountains had no business doing that. That’s not the kind of thing you just suddenly spring on a community without first having public meetings and discussions.”

Rivera noted the implied assertion that Eddie’s job didn’t include killing the wolves he located. The deputy wasn’t so sure he believed that. “When did you start working

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.