Murder by Serpents (Five Star First Edition Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Nash made a hissing sound. Tony frowned. He recognized the sound. Doc was laughing.
     
    “Where do we begin?” asked Wade. He shifted his weight back and forth, foot-to-foot, pacing in place.

    Tony eyed the slumped figure in the driver’s seat. It blocked access to the rest of the car. “The passenger door.” Stepping up to it, he tested the handle. This door was locked. Without hesitation, Tony unlocked it with the ease of a professional thief. “We can at least see this snake, so I’ll open the door on your call, Stan.”

    “Now.” The softly spoken command focused everyone’s attention.

    Stan held the hook in his right hand and a snake bag in the left. He was all business as he focused on the first snake. “Okay, let’s do it, but slowly. We don’t want to scare the poor baby.”

    Praying that Stan moved quicker than the snake, Tony worked the handle and pulled. He eased the door open. Even though he expected it, the hot air, carrying the aromas of death, seemed to rise as a cloud and hover around him until he turned his face into his left shoulder. The nylon smelled cool and sweet in comparison.

    Next to him, Stan’s complexion turned green and gray, but he managed to concentrate long enough to lift the rattlesnake from the seat with the hook. With a gasp, Stan backed away from the car even as he tenderly eased the writhing serpent into the opening of the bag. He whispered sweet endearments to his prize. “Close the door.”

    Tony did. The moment it shut, the men moved away, sucking in great gulps of clean air. Without a word, Wade turned and hustled over to a patch of weeds where he threw up what had to be both his breakfast and previous night’s dinner. He returned almost immediately, even though Tony thought that he did not appear to be a healthy young man.

    “That’s the most awful . . .” Stan started to speak and had to stop. Suddenly he jogged away, holding the bag aloft, and his breakfast joined Wade’s.
     
    When he returned, his face seemed less green but was still ashen. Tony watched the way his hands trembled as he wiped his face with a handkerchief before he tightened the drawstring on the snake bag and placed it on the ground.

    “That can’t be normal.” Stan’s eyes watered and he wiped with the sleeve of his jacket.

    “Oh, yeah?” Wade managed a one-sided grin, but his complexion was far from his usual shade of tan. “I do it all the time.”

    “Not that, you big lout.” Stan punched the much larger, much younger man in the arm and grimaced and moaned as if he had broken his hand. “That.” He pointed to the car.
     
    For his part, Doc Nash, who had followed only to watch the procedure, looked like he was thinking of early retirement, starting immediately. Any amusement on his part had vanished when the door opened. He began easing farther from the car.

    “Hey Stan, your bag is on the move,” said Wade.
     
    Tony guessed that his own color wasn’t normal either, but he was undecided whether it was from the aroma inside the car or from watching the bag with the rattlesnake in it moving toward him. It didn’t require a rocket scientist to see that a cotton laundry bag would provide no defense against fangs.

    Stan lifted the bag as if it contained a treasure and moved it to the other side of the car. “Let’s get that copperhead, and then we can see if there are any more loose in there. If I wait much longer, I’ll never get my nerve back up. The snakes don’t bother me, but whatever is making that smell liked to do me in.” Taking a deep breath, he picked up his equipment.
     
    The second snake proved to be harder to catch. They thought they saw it slip under the back seat, but then it couldn’t be found there. After several frustrating minutes that seemed much longer because of the smell, they decided to start emptying the car, hoping they would see it before it saw them. The first things they removed were a couple of latched crates that held other