Operation Whiplash Read Online Free PDF Page A

After that it was the prison hospital for me, and a long, painful facial reconstruction.
    Mingled emotions flooded Jed’s expressive features as he recalled the situation, too. Disapproval was counterbalanced in his face by—what? Lingering friendliness? Grudging admiration? “Man, I never thought I’d see you in this town again!” he blurted.
    “Neither did I,” I returned.
    “Not that you didn’t do the town a favor by gettin’ rid of Blaze Franklin an’ a couple of his crooked friends,” he went on.
    “My pleasure,” I said. Franklin had starved my partner to death, trying to get him to reveal the hiding place of a sack of money my partner and I’d liberated from a bank in Arizona. I wanted to move the conversation onto safer ground before Jed’s emotions crystalized adversely. “Have you seen Hazel?” I asked.
    His face brightened. “Had dinner with her Tuesday,” he said promptly. His boyish grin returned. “I still can’t get her to go to bed with me.” He stopped, the grin fading. “I feel like I’m sayin’ things to a stranger when I look at you now, instead of jokin’ about ‘em like in the old days.”
    “Have you seen her since Tuesday?”
    “No. Matter of fact, she was supposed to call me last night if she was free for dinner. I didn’t hear anything from her. Why? Is somethin’ wrong?”
    “What do you imagine it would take to bring me back to Hudson, Jed?” I countered. “Considering how I left it.”
    He nodded slowly. “Trouble for Hazel,” he said. “But what? She didn’t say anything Tuesday night. Everything seemed fine. I didn’t ask her directly about you—” he smiled apologetically “—but she gave me the feelin’ you were together.”
    “You didn’t ask because you had a duty to perform if you knew I was on the scene?”
    He shook his head emphatically. “No duty. I resigned from the department more’n a year ago. I got tired of bein’ assigned to keep the kids out of the back seats of their cars in Locust Park. I really didn’t have the time to give to it, anyway.”
    I had the answer I needed. Jed was his own man, and that man I was almost sure I had no need to fear. “Hazel sent a messenger to get me,” I explained.
    “Get you?” he echoed puzzledly.
    I ran through the situation for him. “Naturally I went to Nate’s office as soon as I got into town,” I continued. “Which was ten minutes ago.” I paused for emphasis, and Jed looked at me expectantly. “Nate Pepperman’s street door and office door are unlocked, and he’s sitting in his swivel chair with his throat looking like a shaved pussy.”
    Jed’s hazel eyes dilated as his quick mind translated the image. “You mean—” He drew a stiffened forefinger across his throat.
    “That’s what I mean. There’s dried blood a quarter-inch thick on the top of his desk.”
    “Christ! Ol’ Nate dead?” Jed drew a quick breath. “Holy cow! Who’d—”
    “He’s been dead at least a day, maybe longer,” I cut in. “Why wouldn’t his body have been found?”
    “Nobody to report him missin’. Nate’s a bachelor. Was a bachelor,” Jed corrected himself. “An’ he always did work crazy hours. Like me. I remember now he was supposed to be at a cookout last night. People wondered where he was.” He shook his sandy head in mute wonderment. “Ol’ Nate never bothered anyone.”
    “Jed, you don’t get your throat cut if you haven’t bothered anyone.”
    “Yeah, I s’pose so.” He was staring blankly at the counter top. His tone sharpened as he looked up at me suddenly. “An’ you don’t know where Hazel is now?”
    “Correct. I was hoping you’d know.”
    “Sure wish I did. I don’t like the sound of this at all, you know?”
    “I know.”
    “I sure wish there’s somethin’ I could do.”
    “Maybe there is, Jed. I know you always keep an ear to the ground about what’s going on in town. Think back about anything you may have heard about Nate Pepper-man’s