Clint Faraday Mysteries Collection B :This Job is Murder Collector's Edition Read Online Free PDF Page A

in Chiriqui Grande, but little was known
there. There were the usual stories about who was trying to steal
whose land and how they were going about it. One story caught his
attention a little. It would fit what he suspected, but was the
wrong person and wrong location. Almirante wasn’t much
different.
    He got back to his place late enough that he
went to dinner with Judi and Ben to be caught up on the latest
gossip. Not much new. Both of them knew what to try to learn if
they didn’t know why. He would go to Popa in the morning. The
answers were there if he could find the right questions.
     
    Neighborly Visit
    It was a little rough on the bays, but Clint
got to Isla Popa around eight o’clock. Most of the men were at work
that late. Many of the women were at home. Clint stopped to talk
with Dona and Yajaira and have a cup of coffee. They didn’t know
much about any of the things happening off the island and knew of
things that had happened on the island only from what they saw and
heard. They did know that a body was found up toward the
southeastern tip. There was some problem about that whole mess
because of the way those people from Colón were trying to force
people off their land there. The Martín family had started a big
row about it, but had suddenly become silent. Paulo used to come to
the little store/bar at least twice a week with his wife and young
daughter, but hadn’t come in at all for more than two weeks.
    Those people trying to buy the land for a
fourth of what it was worth were nothing but gangsters and cheap
thugs. The body found was working with someone that had something
to do with that and so were two or three others.
    Clint thanked them and headed for his boat.
It was a little rough on the tip, but he went around and found the
dock to Martín’s place in a little indentation in the shoreline. He
went in to see a bright shiny new sign that said to keep out.
Privado. He went in and tied to the dock. A man Clint had seen a
few times around Bocas and Almirante came from the house with a big
obvious thug type. Clint waved and the thug said, “Hey, gringo
stupido! Can’t you read?”
    “ Yeah, fuckhead. What do you want me to
read to you?
    “ Hi, Paulo. Haven’t seen you around
town for a few days and was wondering if the storm did any damage
here. Some places were hit pretty hard by the winds.”
    The thug grabbed at Clint, who spun and came
up under his chin to knock him into the water. He grabbed for the
pistol in his belt when he came up, but Clint was over him with a
pole that had been laying on the dock. He very calmly said to bring
his hands up empty or he would suddenly be fish food.
    The thug brought his hands into view and
began swimming toward the rocky shore at the dock base when Clint
waved him that way. Clint walked along above him with the pole at
the ready. When the hood got to where he could stand he moved on in
with his hands held at head level. Clint reached out and took the
revolver from his belt when he was in knee deep water and told him
to come on out onto the shore. He turned around on the bank and
swung at Clint, throwing his other arm up to ward off the pole –
which Clint had already dropped as he slipped to the side. The thug
expected him to come up like before and was ready for an attack
from that direction.
    Clint didn’t come up like before. He came in
from the side to where the thug had to twist toward him just in
time to have a jarring right hook knock him to his knees. Martín
cried for Clint to stop! He was making everything worse!
    Clint saw the fear in Martín’s eyes. He put a
couple of things together right then and knocked the thug over his
ear with the pistol butt. The thug dropped and was sprawled on the
ground.
    “ Tell me about it,” Clint demanded.
“What’s it about?”
    “ I don’t know!” he wailed. “They want
this land for some reason. I won’t sell so they took my wife and
daughter somewhere and say they will kill them if I don’t