Up in Smoke Read Online Free PDF Page B

really sure, Bernie. But I got to tell you that big surge of adrenaline rushed right through me. The one I’m always waiting for. I thought, this is it, I’m dead, just because some asshole doesn’t like what I think.”
    â€œWho is the guy Art scooped up?”
    â€œPencil for the local paper. He just had a question and somebody behind pushed a little too close. Probably an accident, but he gets to spend the night being questioned by the highway patrol. And probably Hampstead’s chief of police and her trusty sidekick.”
    â€œWho pushed him?”
    â€œHow could I know? It was just a crowd.”
    â€œRight,” Bernie said, and wondered if the governor was lying.
    *   *   *
    Rain poured down in sheets, lightning forked through the black sky. Susan pulled into the parking lot, dashed to the building and in through the door Parkhurst held open. She stopped to take off her raincoat.
    â€œHe’s in the interrogation room,” Parkhurst said. “State guys had a go at him.”
    â€œWhat’d they get?”
    â€œNothing.”
    She followed Parkhurst down the hallway and into the interview room. Ty Baldini, reporter for the Hampstead Herald, sat on the edge of the long table, feet in tattered jogging shoes, dangling. Late twenties, would have brown hair if it hadn’t been shaved so short you couldn’t tell what color it was, small silver earring, thin intelligent face, jeans, Emerson sweatshirt with the snarling wildcat on the front. He slid off the table when he saw her.
    â€œWhat did you do with the knife?” she asked.
    â€œThere wasn’t any knife!” Ty hauled enough air in though his nose to inflate a dinghy. “How many times do I have to say it? I didn’t have a knife. I never saw a knife. There never was a knife.”
    â€œA witness saw you with one,” Parkhurst said.
    Ty rubbed a hand across his shaved scalp. “He’s lying.”
    Parkhurst waited, skeptical.
    â€œOr mistaken,” Ty added in a flash. “Look, I can understand the spooks crawling up my ass but you guys know me. What reason would I have to hurt the governor?”
    You could be a secret Republican,” Susan said.
    A corner of his mouth twitched. As pissed as he was, getting even that close to a smile surprised her. “I was trying to get a quote for the paper. For the paper,” he insisted, then took a breath and continued with less volume. “I started to ask a question and boom somebody barreled into me. I went crashing into him. Next thing I know, twenty-five guns are pointed at my face and they’re hauling me off to beat a confession out of me.”
    Susan leaned forward and put her palms flat on the table. “Who bumped into you?”
    Ty took in a deep breath as though pulling in a big dose of patience. “I don’t know. I told them that about ninety times. No matter how much I say it, I don’t know. A million people were in that auditorium and the governor was working through the crowd shaking hands and—” He shrugged. “You don’t think I did anything, do you? I mean, you guys know me. You have to know I wouldn’t hurt the governor.”
    â€œWho was near you?”
    â€œYou’re kidding, right? A million people. All milling around and trying to get their hands shaken—” He broke off, looking puzzled. “Shook—?”
    â€œYou were there for the governor’s speech?”
    Ty nodded.
    â€œWas there anybody in the crowd who stood out in any way? Anyone you noticed for any reason?”
    â€œNo. I don’t know. I wasn’t looking. I was focusing on the governor. He’s some speaker, you know? It was just a crowd. A bunch of faces jammed together. Most of them damp because it was pissing rain. All excited about seeing the governor and—”
    â€œWhat?” Susan said.
    â€œThese people had to pay money to get