Privileged to Kill Read Online Free PDF Page B

somebody’s front step, with those busy streets on each side.”
    I hadn’t thought of the streets of Posadas as busy.
    Crocker continued, “So I was just ambling along, thinking I’d go over to that convenience store that’s just a bit south. Maybe see if they had any newspapers or magazines. There was about half a dozen youngsters there, and that’s the first time I saw the village police.”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “Well, I was just leaning my bike up against the side of the store, kind of around the side there, behind the telephone booth, when the black-and-white drives up. The officer gets out and he starts talking to the youngsters kind of mean-like.”
    “Mean-like?”
    “Well, his tone of voice was hard, if you know what I mean. I couldn’t hear just what the argument was, but after just a little bit the officer grabs one of the kids by the arm and swings him around so he thumps up against the car. He sure had a swagger to him, that young fellow did.”
    “The youngster, or the police officer?”
    “The policeman. Anyway, I just tried to mind my own business. I went inside the store and got talking to the clerk—young fella there surprised me by knowing something about the area. We shot the breeze for maybe ten minutes, and he told me of this old mining town east and south of here that I should visit. I said I would, and he gave me a copy of one of his Mining West magazines. I sure did appreciate that. He’s the one who suggested I might camp out over in that grove of trees at the end of the athletic field.”
    “And did you?”
    “Yes, sir, I did.” He grinned. “I leaned my bike against the fence at the end of the football field and found me a nice spot in the middle of them trees. Had it all arranged just fine. And then seeing as how I didn’t have enough light to read by, and it was early yet, I hopped over that low fence there and plunked myself down right under the goalposts. Had me a night sky view all the way to Peru, I guess.”
    “And that’s where you stayed?”
    He nodded vehemently.
    I looked down at the folder. There had been no time for Thomas Pasquale to fill out the reams of paperwork still facing him.
    “When did you see the police officer again?”
    Crocker pursed his lips. “Well, like I say, I don’t carry a watch. But it was after the kids left from across the way.”
    “What do you mean by that? Across the way where, and what kids?”
    “Sure enough, over behind the school. There was a couple cars full of them. Kind of sidled around behind the gymnasium, there. One of the cars left after a bit, but the other stayed on. Now and then I’d hear voices coming’ across. They were just doing what kids do, I guess.” He squirmed uncomfortably.
    “Did they ever see you?”
    “I don’t think so. If they did, they never let on. And then the other car, it left, too.”
    “And you have no idea what time that was?”
    “No, sir, I don’t.” His face brightened. “I was sure enjoying my grandstand view of Orion, though.”
    “Orion?”
    “The constellation. I was staring at it, letting my mind wander here and there, way up there where those stars were.”
    “And after the kids left, things were quiet?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Then what happened?”
    His forehead creased. “Sometime later, this young police officer arrived. I’d gone back in the trees, and I guess I’d drifted off. I woke up when I heard the car pull in on the other side of the field, right across from where the big bleachers and speaker’s building are. He got out, jumped that little fence there, and darned if he didn’t jog right across the field to the bleachers. That’s when I got up and walked on over to the fence.”
    “But by this time the two other vehicles that you saw earlier had gone?”
    He nodded. “That’s why I was curious, I guess. I saw his light over under the bleachers for a bit, and then he come out like his tail was afire.”
    “When did he see you?”
    “I