Joan Hess - Arly Hanks 08 Read Online Free PDF

up a strand of wire to allow my deputies to crawl into the yard.
    Ruby Bee gave me a hard look. "So he's taking advantage of the situation. That don't mean he created it. You didn't find any footprints, did you?"
    "No, but I didn't find any traces of extraterrestrial involvement either. I'll run a cornstalk over to the county extension lab this afternoon and let them examine it with the proper equipment. In the meantime, don't start spreading any crazy stories, okay? Maggody's been the butt of a lot of jokes in the last few years, and I still hear about certain events every time I go by the state police barracks. Just this one time let's not go totally hog-wild."
    "I do not gossip," she said with a prim frown, then hustled over to the nearest group to expound on the impeccable roundness of the circles and the very peculiar absence of footprints any closer than ten feet. Estelle was kind enough to contribute the statistics.
    There wasn't anything more for me to do, I decided as I headed for the gate. If I was lucky, I'd get back results from the lab before we had a three-ring circus on the hillside. I had a bleak suspicion that the clowns were already on their way, crammed in their car like naked Pentecostals.
    "Arly Hanks," called Mrs. Jim Bob with her customary charm, "Brother Verber and I need to have a word with you."
    I reluctantly veered toward them. "Any word in particular or just a word?"
    Brother Verber's ruddy face looked a little pale, and his forehead was beaded with sweat. He sucked on his lip for a moment, then said, "What's this I heard about cattle mutilations right here in Stump County? Is there a blossoming satanic cult in our midst?"
    "Where'd you hear about it?" I asked him. "And what exactly did you hear, for that matter?"
    "I cannot reveal my sources," he said piously. "As a minister I took vows to protect the identity of any wretch who comes to me to confess to sinful and lascivious behavior. You'll just have to respect the confidentiality of the pulpit and answer my questions."
    I smiled sweetly. "Good heavens, has hell frozen over? I must run home and get my ice skates."
    Mrs. Jim Bob failed to appreciate my wit. "Now listen here, Chief Hanks, I've had enough of your smart mouth to last me a lifetime. Something is going on around here, and whatever it is stinks worse than a buzzard's nest. It's your responsibility to get to the bottom of it."
    I decided not to tickle her nose with the stalk of corn, although it might have been a pleasant diversion. "Okay, Brother Verber, you go right ahead and protect the confidentiality of the pulpit till the cows come home -- the ones that aren't mutilated anyway. I've got some business at the county extension office."
    I left them fuming and walked down the road to the highway. I looked wistfully in the direction of the Missouri line but went on back to the PD and made a call to be sure I'd be welcome at the county extension office. After a small detour by the Dairee DeeLishus, I and my cornstalk left for Farberville.
    Being a dedicated law enforcement agent and all, I ate the chill dog in the car.
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
    Ruby Bee hurried back to the kitchen to see how the blackeyed peas were holding up, barely avoiding a collision with Dahlia in the doorway. "Take menus to the folks in the last two booths," she said, "and ask the men in the first booth if they want dessert. If they don't, hustle 'em out the door and seat that couple standing in the back."
    Dahlia nodded and trudged away to do as much of that as she could keep straight. It was awful hard what with the jukebox blaring catchy tunes and folks jostling for stools at the bar. Her feet were already getting achy, and she hadn't been there but mebbe two hours. There was such a crowd waiting in the back that the noon rush might not let up till happy hour. It seemed like ever'body in Stump County that watched the news the night before had come to Maggody to take a look at the crop circles in Raz's