Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan

Author:Harry Dolan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller
ISBN: 9781101517000
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Published: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

LARK STOOD IN the center of the bare living room, his eyes half shut against the unforgiving light from the kitchen. Paul Rhiner was a gray silhouette rimmed in a white glare. His right arm rigid, holding his pistol level, the muzzle less than a foot away from the bridge of Lark’s nose.

Paul Rhiner, one of the deputies from Whiteleaf Cemetery. The one who had shot Terry Dawtrey as he tried to escape.

Lark took deep breaths, tried to get the pain in his head to hold still. He was vaguely aware of the touch of Walter Delacorte’s gun at his back. He felt the floor solid and steady beneath him. Progress. He tried to focus on minor discomforts: the bite of the handcuffs on his wrists, the stiffness of his arms.

Delacorte had pulled him backward through the doorway, through the kitchen, to the living room—a slow reverse march as if they were traveling back in time. Rhiner had followed, closing the door behind him. His pistol had never wavered.

Now they were continuing the conversation they had begun in the hall.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Paul,” Delacorte said. “I don’t know how you managed it. Did you follow me the whole way?”

“You’re not that hard to follow, Walt,” said Rhiner.

“Well, what you want to do now is walk away,” Delacorte said. “Get yourself home and stay there. That’s where you belong.”

“I like it right here,” said Rhiner. “This is him, isn’t it? The rifleman from the cemetery. He’s not made up. He’s real.”

“Walk away, Paul.”

“You know I can’t, Walt. I need to talk to him. He killed old Charlie Dawtrey. That’s how everything started. I need to know there’s a reason for what happened.” Rhiner’s eyes shifted to Lark. “You killed Charlie so they’d let his son out of prison. Isn’t that right?”

Lark nodded.

“And you meant to kill Terry Dawtrey. That was your plan.”

“Yes,” Lark said.

“Why?”

“He needed killing.”

“That’s not a reason. There must be more to it. I have to know.”

Delacorte said, “There’s no reason, Paul. He did it because he’s a goddamn nutcase.”

“No. I need to understand.”

“There’s nothing to understand.”

Something like desperation in Rhiner’s eyes. “I need this, Walt. He has to talk to me. After that, you can take him in. But he talks to me first.”

Lark bent his body forward as if he were leaning into the wind. He pitched his voice low.

“Do you really think he’s going to take me in?”

“What?” said Rhiner.

“He never showed me a badge,” Lark said. “He hasn’t read me my rights.”

Rhiner’s pistol dropped slightly and doubt entered his eyes.

“What’s going on, Walt?”

Delacorte’s voice was cold. “I’ll tell you what’s going on. You’re putting your gun away. You’re driving home and you’re forgetting all about this.”

“Ask him if he’s called the local police,” Lark said. “Shouldn’t he have done that as soon as he tracked me down?”

The barrel of Rhiner’s pistol traced a small circle in the air. “I don’t like this, Walt. What’s the plan here?”

“I told you the plan. You leave. I deal with him.

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