Smoke Stack by Andrew Gruse

Author:Andrew Gruse [Gruse, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780578646619
Published: 2020-04-06T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

A hot shower didn’t lift Zack’s spirits the next morning. Nor did the sunshine through the windows and the raucous birdsongs in the yard. It was almost nine, and it was much-needed sleep. But it was a new day, and his mind raced. Derek Willows. How do I find him? Where could he be? Did he really run away? I need to deal with Jules, but this isn’t the time.

He heard footsteps at the doorway, and Julie appeared at the bedroom door. She stopped at the doorway. “Hey, you have company. Put a shirt on.” She disappeared just as quickly.

Before Zack could answer, she was gone. That went as expected. He slid on his socks and found a long sleeve dress shirt. Zack left it untucked and rolled up the sleeves. Why won’t anyone search the Clyde Forest of Spirits? And what was psycho number 1 doing outside the house?

Zack walked down the stairs, turned the corner and there stood Brian Sedowski, insurance investigator. He smiled and walked to Zack with his hand extended. Zack shook his hand.

“Mr. Stack, I’m glad to finally catch up to you. You’re a hard man to find,” Brian said. “Which is quite a feat in this small town.”

“Call me Zack,” Zack said. “I’ve been called a lot worse so hard to find I’ll take.” Zack offered Brian a seat and sat on the couch across from him. Julie appeared with a glass of orange juice and sat beside Zack. “What can I do for you?”

Brian leaned back in his chair and pushed his black-rimmed glasses up his nose. “I’d like to hire you.”

“To do what?”

“Investigate the school fire.”

Zack shook his head. “I’m not a fire investigator. I’m sorry, but you have the wrong guy.”

“No, I don’t,” Brian said. “The cause of that fire isn’t going to be found on site. The rain that already fell, the rain in the forecast, the search for the car, and now the boy, I could go on, but the site has been contaminated.”

“I’m already on a case to find the missing boy,” Zack said.

“That’s the best part,” Brian said. “I heard you believe they may be connected.”

“You heard that?”

Brian smiled. He reached into the pocket of his windbreaker and pulled out what looked like earbuds for a phone or music source. “The last two days after their inspector Pritchett pretty much blew smoke up my ass about the cause of the fire in his mind, I decided to hang out in town. I ended up most of the time at Ma & Pa’s Diner eating, having coffee, just passing the time,” Brian explained.

“That seems like a common theme at that diner,” Zack said.

“I wear these, people think I’m listening to music or something and talk freely. What they don’t know is that sounds are amplified by these things. I can hear just about everything in the diner. Amazing piece of technology,” Brian said.

“I need a pair of those,” Julie said and nudged Zack.

“So, because I’m getting stonewalled, I decided I’d pull out of town.

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