The Hunting Wind: An Alex McKnight Mystery by Steve Hamilton

Author:Steve Hamilton [Hamilton, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9780312980269
Amazon: B003J564LM
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2002-04-15T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

It’s a little over two hours from Grand Rapids to Farmington. On a day when you’ve been up since before dawn, it feels like a hard two hours. I found the house on Romney Street, the same house where Randy and I had been handcuffed in the basement and shown both barrels of a shotgun. It didn’t look any different than the first time I had seen it. It was still the same brand-new split-level ranch in a neighborhood of brand-new split-level ranches. But I knew I would never forget it.

It was after four o’clock when I got there. The driveway was empty. No little red car, and no truck with ladders on it, which meant no Delilah and no Leopold. I didn’t know if Anthony had a car, or if he drove around in his father’s truck, or if he just stayed home all day lifting weights. No matter what, I was sure that Madame Valeska, or whatever the hell her real name was, probably didn’t get out much, not if she had to lug around that tank of oxygen.

When I knocked on the door, I got none of the above. An old man wrestled the door open, trying very hard to get out of its way without falling over. He had a wooden cane in his left hand, but he wasn’t leaning on it. When he finally had the inside door open, he stood there and looked at me. He must have been a tall man at one time, maybe twenty years ago. Now he was stooped over and a good six inches shorter.

“Hello!” I said. “Is anyone else here?”

He just stood there behind the storm door.

“Anybody?” I said. “I need to speak to somebody. I’m a friend of the family.”

He cocked his head. The man couldn’t hear a word I was saying through the glass. So I opened it.

“Hello!” I said.

He tried to grab the door handle. “What are you doing?”

“I need to speak to somebody,” I said. “Is Leopold here? Or his mother?”

“Close that door!” he said.

“Excuse me, sir,” I said, stepping into the house. I had just enough room to edge by him without knocking him over.

“You can’t come in here!” he said. “Who are you?”

“Sir, please take it easy. My name is Alex. I need to know who’s home right now.”

“Nobody!” he said. “It’s just me! And you have to get out!”

“Where’s Leopold?” I said. “Is he out on a painting job?”

“You can’t be in here!” he said. “Out with you! Out!”

“Sir, where is Leopold?”

“I’m going to call him right now!” he said. “I’m going to tell him you’re in his house!”

“Good. Please do that. I need to talk to him.”

“You can’t just walk into his house like this!”

“Sir, will you please relax and go call him?”

“I’m going to call him right now!”

“Listen, I’ll wait right here,” I said. “You go call him.”

“You get outside!” he said. “You can wait outside for him!”

“This will be much more comfortable in here,” I said. “Now please, go call Leopold.

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