Hard Row by Margaret Maron

Author:Margaret Maron [MARON, MARGARET]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: FIC022000
ISBN: 9780446198288
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2007-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

While Mrs. Samuelson showed Richards and Denning over the house and the nearer outbuildings, Dwight called Reid Stephenson as he had promised and asked him to notify the Harris daughter before it hit the news media. “And you might as well tell Pete Taylor so he can pass the word on to Mrs. Harris.”

Then he and Jamison drove along a lane that was a shortcut over to the farm manager’s home. Trim and tidy, the white clapboard house appeared to date from the late thirties and sat in a grove of pecan trees whose buds were beginning to swell in the mild spring air. No one appeared when Dwight tapped the horn, but through the open window of the truck, they could hear the sound of tractors in the distance and they followed another lane past a line of scrubby trees and out into a forty- or fifty-acre field. Two tractors were preparing the ground for planting. A third tractor seemed to be in trouble. It was surrounded by a mechanic’s truck, two pickups with a Harris Farms logo on the doors, and several Latino and Anglo men.

As the two deputies drew near, a tall Anglo detached himself from the group.

“Mr. Lomax?” Dwight asked. “Sid Lomax?”

The man nodded in wary acknowledgment. He wore a billed cap that did not hide the flecks of gray at his temples and his face was weathered like the leather of a baseball glove, but if the muscles of his body had begun to soften, it was not evident in the way he moved with such easy grace.

“Lomax,” Dwight said again. “Didn’t you use to play shortstop for Fuquay High School?”

Lomax looked at Dwight more carefully and a rueful grin spread across his face. “I oughta bust you one in the jaw, bo. You played third for West Colleton, didn’t you? Can’t call your name right now, but damned if you weren’t the one got an unassisted triple play off my line drive in the semifinals with the bases loaded, right?”

“Dwight Bryant,” Dwight said, putting out his hand. “Colleton County Sheriff’s Department.”

“Yeah?” Lomax took his hand in a strong clasp. “Reckon I’d better not punch you out then.”

“Might make it a little hard for my deputy here,” Dwight agreed as Jamison smiled.

“Man, we were supposed to go all the way that year,” he said, shaking his head. “Oh well. What can I do for you?”

“You’ve heard about the body parts been scattered along this road?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m afraid it’s your boss.”

“The hell you say!” His surprise seemed genuine. “Buck Harris? You sure?”

“We’ve just compared the fingerprints with those in Harris’s study here. They match.”

“Well, damn!”

“When’s the last time you saw him?”

Lomax pulled out a Palm Pilot and consulted his calendar. “Sunday the nineteenth at the Cracker Barrel out on the Interstate. I was having dinner with my son and his wife after church and he stopped by our table on his way out. I walked out to the car with him because he wanted to firm it up about moving most of the crew on this place to one of our camps down east.

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.