The Penny Ferry - Rick Boyer Read Online Free PDF

poison gas. Sometimes it goes by the name prussic acid. Same
deal though. Instant death. Let's take this stuff back to the house
for a mock-up."
    The lab boys were all over the place. They had
Robinson and his two dogs covered and placed on litters in the living
room. The print guys were dusting windowpanes, doorknobs, chrome
table legs— everything that would take a print. They blew powder
all over the place, swept big soft brushes over surfaces, lifted
prints off with special Scotch tape. It was absorbing to watch them,
like watching bricklayers or blacksmiths.
    One guy was working on the wallpaper that had been
scorched in the hallway. He was delighted when we handed him the
empty and burnt-out Kentucky Club can. When the can was placed
against the wall under the small table the scorch mark began right
above its lip and fanned out and upward. You could almost visualize
the big flash the explosion had made, probably blowing the metal lid
up against the table. The cord ran back under the carpet runner,
under the bedroom door, and into the wall socket with some to spare.
Enough cord was left for a person to stand behind the door staring
through the peephole with the pieces of cut cord in his hands. When
he sees Robinson come up the hall, he touches the wires together.
Boom! Poison gas in the hall. Robinson falls, dogs charge the door in
a death agony. We acted it all out. The pieces fit.
    The lab man fiddled with bottled solutions and test
paper. He took scrapings from the can and the wallpaper.
    "Potassium-cyanide," he said softly as he
watched the solutions change color. "Or prussic acid; take your
pick of names. Lethal within seconds."
    " What do you think, Larry? Pro job?"
    The man nodded and left, taking the evidence with
him. We sat at the kitchen table now that the crew was through
dusting. My brother-in-law sighed.
    " Nice going with the can and stuff, Doc. Gotta
hand it to you. Well, the big boys got Johnny at last. A simple gas
bomb, made with everyday things impossible to trace, but deadly, and
built with a lot of experience. Poor guy. And I guess you're out of
luck as far as the dental piece goes too."
    "Good God, Joe! Mary! She's been in the Lucky
Seven all this time. Do you think—"'
    We hustled downstairs and around the corner. There
was I quite a crowd around the bar now. It was getting on toward
evening. Mary was nowhere to be seen. We asked the barkeep and he
nodded in the direction of a crowded table.
    The men around the table were huddle-tight. They were
yelling encouragement at invisible parties. We approached and saw two
arm wrestlers at the table. One was a wiry guy about my age with
rolled-up sleeves and tattoos. His arms were stringy and pretty
thick. He looked strong. The other combatant was Mary. She seemed to
be winning.
    The crowd's chatter increased. Money was changing
hands. Mary's face contorted with effort and pain as she pushed to
put the man down.
    "Come on, Mare!" shouted Joe.
    " Hey, you know that broad?" asked a
bystander. "Man, is she strong!"
    "And mean," I added.
    " Yeah?"
    There were three more shot glasses near her left
hand, all empty. But then I saw a bottle snake in and out, and one of
the glasses was full. Mary reached for it with her free hand and
knocked it back. Now where the hell did she learn that? As her head
went back she saw my face and slammed the glass down.
    "Hi good-lookin'!" she called. And lost the
match.
    Her opponent, sensing her lack of concentration, made
a final assault and slammed her hand down on the table. Some of the
crowd booed, but I couldn't tell if it was directed at the opponent
who took advantage or at Mary's defeat. A half-dozen guys were headed
for the bar to buy Mary some more liquid candy cane; I stepped in and
snagged her.
    "That's the nicest place!" she exclaimed as
she tripped along the cracked sidewalk between us. We helped her
negotiate it now and then.
    "Those guys were just trying to get you drunk,
Mare. They weren't being nice," said