Murder Takes to the Hills Read Online Free PDF Page A

green, navy or gray, and the make may have been anything from Kia to Acura. Actually, we’re just looking for anything with front-end damage, and there will be some damage. They really walloped the old guy.”
    “How is he?”
    “Conscious but looney tunes, possibly for good.”
    “Oh, dear,” I sighed. “Well, fortunately the sun is over the yardarm. Come on in.”
    Sonny folded into a chair at the kitchen table.
    “Do you have a beer? I’m afraid anything stronger will have me asleep before you tell me your tale of mortal danger for good old Cassie. Mom made it sound like we should ask for the National Guard.”
    “She may be right.” I fished a bottle of beer out of the fridge and set it in front of him with a glass, which he ignored. He did not, however, ignore the pack of cigarettes and lighter I had tossed onto the table earlier. “ Dammit , Sonny, don’t you ever buy your own?”
    I made myself a light bourbon and water and sat down.  
    He shook his head. “Not when someone is about to tell me a Harmon story. I deserve all the perks I can get.”
    I told him the Harmon story, and his reaction was much like Mom’s.
    “If only it hadn’t come from Harmon. It just doesn’t make sense that three men planning some sort of crime, possibly ending in murder, would casually discuss it on a park bench with a guy painting a fence right behind them.”
    He had brought forth one of my own early thoughts. “I know, but maybe they didn’t know he was there. If he was down toward the corner of the fence, I think there are a couple of shrubs that would pretty well conceal him, and he wouldn’t be making much noise…especially if there was any traffic to override it. And doubly so if Harmon was concentrating on them, not the paintbrush.”
    “I guess it could be,” he agreed. “But it seems a god-awful complicated way to bring dope to a Pittsburgh suburb! You’d at least have to have some merchant vessel meeting a smaller fishing boat or pleasure craft at sea and bringing the dope into Ptown . Then a private charter plane from here to a non-airport where it would cause all sorts of interest, landing in the middle of the night. And, finally, as they said: what do they do with an uncooperative pilot?”
    He tapped his cigarette thoughtfully into the ashtray. “I think I’d just pick up the ‘cargo’ somewhere in Texas or Florida, toss it in a pickup with a camper modification and toodle up the highway. Two men could be in the front and one catching some sleep in the camper part. They could drive straight through, and if they obey the speed limit and don’t have an accident, there’s no reason to stop them.   Harmon has them doing this the hard way, and those guys are rarely fools. Hell, Alex, they probably want to charter her plane to ferry—you should pardon the pun—four or five of our sweet boys for rent, to entertain at the church supper.”
    “That’s not nice.”
    “It makes more sense than bringing in drugs via every place but the Oval Office.”
    “You could send Harmon down to Washington to investigate. That should make the six o’clock news.”
    Sonny laughed and reached for another cigarette.   Was he this heavy a smoker when they were his?
    “Well,” he placed the lighter back on the table. “What we can do is this: I’ll talk to Cassie. If she doesn’t have a whole different tale to tell, we’ll put Hatcher into some greasy coveralls and send him out to play Cassie’s mechanic for a day or so and see what we come up with. She can kind of play along with them and see if they furnish anything factual. If they even show up again.”
    “Sounds good to me,” I agreed.
      “I’m beginning to feel human,” Sonny said and got up to get another beer. “Freshen your drink?”
    “No thanks, I’m okay for now.”
    Just as he turned back to the table, Cindy came in the door.
    She was wearing a navy blue linen suit and white blouse with a deep V-neck. She had on navy and white shoes