Crazy Like a Fox (Lil & Boris #3) (Lil & Boris Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page A

jurisdiction. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, though that could’ve been the pollen count from the gigantic arrangement Maury Morse had sent on behalf of the town. It had gladiolus, fern, baby’s breath, and a dozen bright flowers I had never seen a name for. Even I had sneezed, and I don’t have allergies.
    “It’s like this, Lil,” Kurt said in that soft-drawling way he has that is a complete lie. The man was a drill instructor in the Marines before he came home. “We only found you by a bit of luck, and it was strange at that.”
    Not words to make me feel warm and fuzzy all over, but I didn’t get picky. Alive was alive. “I’m grateful no matter what.”
    “Give credit where it’s due, your boys put it together.” Kurt waved his hat at Tom and Punk, who blushed identically. “They asked me if I knew anyplace someone could hide a sheriff, and we hit every one I could think of. It’s luck that I knew about that particular one.” To my amazement, Kurt turned pink around the ears. “It was my grand-daddy’s before the feds took the land. Otherwise…” He gave a shrug. “Well, it’s a helluva good set-up for a still.”
    Okay, I was on some good drugs, but I wasn’t that out of it. “Wait, how’s that ‘strange’?”
    Tom deferred to Punk, who also got a little red around the edges. What ailed those boys? “Well, I know you got no close neighbors on Littlepage Road, but I figured it was worth asking Missy. You know.”
    I did. Missy Campbell was a military widow with three kids and a marginal income from working at the Food Mart. She saved her husband’s pension for the kids’ education, and made up the differences by entertaining men in the wee hours. None of us made a fuss about it. She did what she had to do, and from what rumor brought to my ears by way of Aunt Marge and Bobbi, she was smart enough to do it with condoms.
    “Turns out, her younger boy’s all about cars right now,” Punk went on earnestly, “and I figured maybe if there’d been a strange one they’d have seen it. Turns out he did. Kid’s got a mind for cars like I don’t know what. Like one of those savants or something.”
    I wasn’t surprised Punk knew the word “savant”, but I saw Kurt was.
    “He told me about every car he’s seen this whole last week, make, model, color, he even got partial plates on them, yours included.” Punk grinned fleetingly. “Anyway, he tells me that Sunday after lunch he sees a Ford F-150 XLT, super-crew cab, four-by-four, whole nine yards, real fancy truck, he said. Even gave me the last four of the plate, got the color on it too. Dark blue pearl. He’d looked it up on the Ford website.”
    I started to appreciate why they said “strange luck.” How many kids paid that much attention?
    “He thought maybe it was a new one for your cousin’s place. Then it comes back maybe fifteen minutes later, and he thinks maybe it’s just someone who got lost or turned around. Seeing as we don’t see too many new trucks like that around here,” Punk commented dryly. The truck in question had cost someone a cool forty grand by the sound of it, and that didn’t fit in Crazy. Or our county.
    Tom butted in with a quick, “I didn’t even think to ask Missy’s kids.”
    I said, “Good thinking, Punk,” and I meant it. He went pinkish again.
    “So we got a hit over in Kurt’s jurisdiction,” Punk concluded.
    “Any sign of the truck?” I asked. It’s not fun having a cop brain. I didn’t even ask if they’d found Tall and Shotgun. I knew that if they had, I’d have been told.
    I’d find out later how much my cop brain had missed in that conversation. Damn drugs.
    “Not yet, but the guy it’s registered to is not one of my favorite customers,” said Kurt. “Washed out of the Army.” Kurt’s cough indicated his opinion of those who lacked the wherewithal to get through the US Army’s basic training program for cannon fodder. “Last name’s McElroy. He’s got some